receive--here we commence where the first proverb left off.  Secondly, hide the

commandments. The word indicates that one has discovered a treasure and "lays it up".

Thirdly, incline the ear: the word means "to prick up the ear" as does an animal; it is

rendered "attend" (Prov. 4: 1, 20; 5: 1; 7: 24), "hearken" (I Sam. 15: 22), "mark"

(Jer. 23: 18). Fourthly, then shalt thou bend thy heart toward discernment. Here we

reach the end of the first stage, receive, hide, hearken, and the heart bends toward

discernment.  The A.V. commences verse 3, "yea, if"; the Hebrew ki-im is better

rendered "for if", or "but if", and marks a new departure.

First, cry after discernment and understanding; the heart now begins to pray; this word

is used for prayer over and over again. Secondly, seek it as money, and search for it as

for hid treasure; here earnestness is evident, the bending of the heart has led on to a

definite desire. Thirdly, then shalt thou discern the fear of the Lord, and find the

knowledge of God. Where, it may be asked, shall we search, or where shall we dig?

Verse 6 supplies the answer: His inspired Word is His treasury. All that we have seen is

comprehended in "the beginning of knowledge", which is necessary to understand the

point of these Proverbs and the words of the wise.

We now come to a practical issue: "the fear of the Lord is to hate evil" (8: 13). No

lesser word is compatible with the truth. Evil cannot be considered neutral, much less

friendly, by those who fear the Lord. Fools hate knowledge (1: 29), and instruction

(5: 12). The wise hate evil.

By  noticing  the  structure  of  references  above, it will be seen that the

member B1 | 8: 13, "Hate evil", is balanced by the member B2 | 16: 6, "Depart

from evil". This has already been written in Prov. 3: 1, and 13: 19 declares that it is

an "abomination" to fools to depart from evil. ("A wise man feareth, and departeth from

evil: but the fool rageth, and is confident", 14: 16). The departing from evil is the very

highway along which the upright walk (16: 17). Hate is as active as love: if love impels,

hate repels. The order of this instruction is noteworthy. Departure does not come first;

hatred first; the heart and the motive, then departure, the feet and the motion. It is an

elementary law, as much a law as anything so named by science, that they who fear the

Lord will hate evil and depart from it. No sophistry can alter this, and the wise will keep

it before them as their infallible guide. Some may say, "Let us do evil that good may

come". Of such the apostle says their "damnation is just". They eat the fruit of their own

ways. This makes us suspicious of any line of teaching that looks upon evil with any

other eye than that of hatred. God may use evil, even as the very chapter under notice

(16:) declares, but we are not God, and our attitude is not to be regulated by our ideas,

but His commands.

We now proceed, and discover that not only is the fear of the Lord the beginning of

knowledge, but that it is also the beginning of wisdom (9: 10). It is useless to reprove a

scorner (8), for he lacks the essential to wisdom. A wise man being reproved will love

(8), he will increase in wisdom (9), the reason being that he has been initiated, he fears

the Lord; the next verse says, "for by me thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy

life shall be increased" (11). This is the next item in the list of references, for 10: 27