Proverbs 8:30

craftsman: God's wisdom shaped creation, bringing order from chaos.

one brought up--an object of special and pleasing regard. The bestowal of wisdom on men is represented by its finding a delightful residence and pleasing God.

That it is an intelligent and divine person that here speaks seems very plain, and that it is not meant of a mere essential property of the divine nature, for Wisdom here has personal properties and actions; and that intelligent divine person can be no other than the Son of God himself, to whom the principal things here spoken of wisdom are attributed in other scriptures, and we must explain scripture by itself. If Solomon himself designed only the praise of wisdom as it is an attribute of God, by which he made the world and governs it, so to recommend to men the study of that wisdom which belongs to them, yet the Spirit of God, who indited what he wrote, carried him, as David often, to such expressions as could agree to no other than the Son of God, and would lead us into the knowledge of great things concerning him. All divine revelation is the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, and here we are told who and what he is, as God, designed in the eternal counsels to be the Mediator between God and man. The best exposition of these verses we have in the first four verses of St. John's gospel. In the beginning was the Word, etc. Concerning the Son of God observe here,
I. His personality and distinct subsistence, one with the Father and of the same essence, and yet a person of himself, whom the Lord possessed (Pro 8:22), who was set up (Pro 8:23), was brought forth (Pro 8:24, Pro 8:25), was by him (Pro 8:30), for he was the express image of his person, Heb 1:3.
II. His eternity; he was begotten of the Father, for the Lord possessed him, as his own Son, his beloved Son, laid him in his bosom; he was brought forth as the only-begotten of the Father, and this before all worlds, which is most largely insisted upon here. The Word was eternal, and had a being before the world, before the beginning of time; and therefore it must follow that it was from eternity. The Lord possessed him in the beginning of his way, of his eternal counsels, for those were before his works. This way indeed had no beginning, for God's purposes in himself are eternal like himself, but God speaks to us in our own language. Wisdom explains herself (Pro 8:23): I was set up from everlasting. The Son of God was, in the eternal counsels of God, designed and advanced to be the wisdom and power of the Father, light and life, and all in all both in the creation and in the redemption of the world. That he was brought forth as to his being, and set up as to the divine counsels concerning his office, before the world was made, is here set forth in a great variety of expressions, much the same with those by which the eternity of God himself is expressed. Psa 90:2, Before the mountains were brought forth. 1. Before the earth was, and that was made in the beginning, before man was made; therefore the second Adam had a being before the first, for the first Adam was made of the earth, the second had a being before the earth, and therefore is not of the earth, Joh 3:31. 2. Before the sea was (Pro 8:24), when there were no depths in which the waters were gathered together, no fountains from which those waters might arise, none of that deep on which the Spirit of God moved for the production of the visible creation, Gen 1:2. 3. Before the mountains were, the everlasting mountains, Pro 8:25. Eliphaz, to convince Job of his inability to judge of the divine counsels, asks him (Job 15:7), Wast thou made before the hills? No, thou wast not. But before the hills was the eternal Word brought forth. 4. Before the habitable parts of the world, which men cultivate, and reap the profits of (v. 26), the fields in the valleys and plains, to which the mountains are as a wall, which are the highest part of the dust of the world; the first part of the dust (so some), the atoms which compose the several parts of the world; the chief or principal part of the dust, so it may be read, and understood of man, who was made of the dust of the ground and is dust, but is the principal part of the dust, dust enlivened, dust refined. The eternal Word had a being before man was made, for in him was the life of men.
III. His agency in making the world. He not only had a being before the world, but he was present, not as a spectator, but as the architect, when the world was made. God silenced and humbled Job by asking him, "Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Who hath laid the measures thereof? (Job 38:4, etc.). Wast thou that eternal Word and wisdom, who was the prime manager of that great affair? No; thou art of yesterday." But here the Son of God, referring, as it should seem, to the discourse God had with Job, declares himself to have been engaged in that which Job could not pretend to be a witness of and a worker in, the creation of the world. By him God made the worlds, Eph 3:9; Heb 1:2; Col 1:16. 1. When, on the first day of the creation, in the very beginning of time, God said, Let there be light, and with a word produced it, this eternal Wisdom was that almighty Word: Then I was there, when he prepared the heavens, the fountain of that light, which, whatever it is here, is there substantial. 2. He was no less active when, on the second day, he stretched out the firmament, the vast expanse, and set that as a compass upon the face of the depth (Pro 8:27), surrounded it on all sides with that canopy, that curtain. Or it may refer to the exact order and method with which God framed all the parts of the universe, as the workman marks out his work with his line and compasses. The work in nothing varied from the plan of it formed in the eternal mind. 3. He was also employed in the third day's work, when the waters above the heavens, were gathered together by establishing the clouds above, and those under the heavens by strengthening the fountains of the deep, which send forth those waters (Pro 8:28), and by preserving the bounds of the sea, which is the receptacle of those waters, Pro 8:29. This speaks much the honour of this eternal Wisdom, for by this instance God proves himself a God greatly to be feared (Jer 5:22) that he has placed the sand for the bound of the sea, that the dry land might continue to appear above water, fit to be a habitation for man; and thus he has appointed the foundation of the earth. How able, how fit, is the Son of God to be the Saviour of the world, who was the Creator of it!
IV. The infinite complacency which the Father had in him, and he in the Father (Pro 8:30): I was by him, as one brought up with him. As by an eternal generation he was brought forth of the Father, so by an eternal counsel he was brought up with him, which intimates, not only the infinite love of the Father to the Son, who is therefore called the Son of his love (Col 1:13), but the mutual consciousness and good understanding that were between them concerning the work of man's redemption, which the Son was to undertake, and about which the counsel of peace was between them both, Zac 6:13. He was alumnus patris - the Father's pupil, as I may say, trained up from eternity for that service which in time, in the fulness of time, he was to go through with, and is therein taken under the special tuition and protection of the Father; he is my servant whom I uphold, Isa 42:1. He did what he saw the Father do (Joh 5:19), pleased his Father, sought his glory, did according to the commandment he received from his Father, and all this as one brought up with him. He was daily his Father's delight (my elect, in whom my soul delighteth, says God, Isa 43:1), and he also rejoiced always before him. This may be understood either, 1. Of the infinite delight which the persons of the blessed Trinity have in each other, wherein consists much of the happiness of the divine nature. Or, 2. Of the pleasure which the Father took in the operations of the Son, when he made the world; God saw every thing that the Son made, and, behold, it was very good, it pleased him, and therefore his Son was daily, day by day, during the six days of the creation, upon that account, his delight, Exo 39:43. And the Son also did himself rejoice before him in the beauty and harmony of the whole creation, Psa 104:31. Or, 3. Of the satisfaction they had in each other, with reference to the great work of man's redemption. The Father delighted in the Son, as Mediator between him and man, was well-pleased with what he proposed (Mat 3:17), and therefore loved him because he undertook to lay down his life for the sheep; he put a confidence in him that he would go through his work, and not fail nor fly off. The Son also rejoiced always before him, delighted to do his will (Psa 40:8), adhered closely to his undertaking, as one that was well-satisfied in it, and, when it came to the setting to, expressed as much satisfaction in it as ever, saying, Lo, I come, to do as in the volume of the book it is written of me.
V. The gracious concern he had for mankind, Pro 8:31. Wisdom rejoiced, not so much in the rich products of the earth, or the treasures hid in the bowels of it, as in the habitable parts os it, for her delights were with the sons of men; not only in the creation of man is it spoken with a particular air of pleasure (Gen 1:26), Let us make man, but in the redemption and salvation of man. The Son of God was ordained, before the world, to that great work, Pe1 1:20. A remnant of the sons of men were given him to be brought, through his grace, to his glory, and these were those in whom his delights were. His church was the habitable part of his earth, made habitable for him, that the Lord God might dwell even among those that had been rebellious; and this he rejoiced in, in the prospect of seeing his seed. Though he foresaw all the difficulties he was to meet with in his work, the services and sufferings he was to go through, yet, because it would issue in the glory of his Father and the salvation of those sons of men that were given him, he looked forward upon it with the greatest satisfaction imaginable, in which we have all the encouragement we can desire to come to him and rely upon him for all the benefits designed us by his glorious undertaking.

Then I was by him, as one brought up with him,.... He was then, and from all eternity, "by him", or "with him" (q); which denotes his co-existence with God, and his relation to him as his Father; his nearness to him, his equality with him, and his distinction from him: he was by him when the names of God's elect were put down in the book of life; he was by him and with him in the council and covenant of grace and peace; and so in the creation of all things, and has been ever since; not as a onlooker, but as a party concerned; and not as subordinate and inferior to his Father, but equal with him. The word translated "brought up", is differently rendered; Symmachus and Theodotion render it "strengthened"; as Christ was set up in his mediatorial office, he was strengthened in it by his Father; and was in his view, council, and covenant, the man of his right hand, made strong for himself: the Targum renders it "faithful", so the Tigurine version; as Christ was to him that appointed him, faithful to all he promised and was intrusted with. Many translate it an "artificer" or "workman" (r), as in Sol 7:1; and so Christ was a co-worker, a worker with God in the making of all things, the heavens, earth, and sea, and all in there; not as an instrument, but as a co-efficient cause of them; which is a proof of his proper deity, and equality with God. But others think the word has the sense of nursing, or being nursed, educated, or brought up. Some (s) take it actively, as in Ruth 4:16, Esther 2:7; and interpret it of Christ's nursing the creation, or cherishing, supporting, and preserving all creatures in their being when made; particularly of his nourishing and cherishing the church and people of God committed to his care. Others (t) passively, of his being "brought up", as our version; and so the Latin interpreter of the Targum renders it "nursed up at his side"; which expresses the tender regard of his Father to him, as his begotten Son; in whose bosom he lay and was bore, as a nursing father bears his son in his bosom, Numbers 11:12; and by whom, as Mediator, he was trained up in the performance of his office;

and I was daily his delight; or "delights" (u); exceeding delightful to him. The Father loved the Son from all eternity, with a love of complacency and delight, John 17:24; this delight was founded in relation to him, in sonship; and in likeness, he being the express image of his person; in sameness of nature, he being of the same nature and perfections with his Father: and he delighted in him as a workman, in the works which he did, being the same he saw him do; and in him as Mediator, in his constitution as such, and in engaging as a surety, to obey and suffer in the stead of his people, Isaiah 42:1; he not only delighted in him day by day, throughout the six days of the creation, when he was by him as a workman, but before, and even from the days of eternity; from the date of his commencement as Mediator; in the foreviews of his human nature, obeying and suffering in it; and of the salvation of the elect by him, and of his own glory in it;

rejoicing always before him; being always in his presence, and acceptable to him; rejoicing in having the same nature and perfections with him, and in the relation he stood in to him; and also in the view of the works of creation and redemption he would be jointly concerned in with him; which joy always did and ever will continue. There is a mutual pleasure and delight which the Father and Son have in each other, and in all that they are concerned; and especially in what respects the salvation of the chosen people. The allusion in the word used in this clause is to children's playing in the presence of their parents; which is a diversion to the one, and a pleasure to the other.

(q) "cum eo", V. L. "apud eum", Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, &c. (r) Sept. "cuneta componens", V. L. "artifex vel opifex", Gejerus; so Schindler, Colossians 90. (s) "Nutritius", Montanus, Pagninus, Baynus; "educans", Junius & Tremellius. (t) "Alumnus", Vatablus, Piscator, Mercerus; "alumna", Schultens; "in sinu gestatus filius", Cocceius; so Gussetius, p. 77. and Noldius, p. 379. No. 1884. and Stockins, p. 71. (u) "deliciae", Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius, Gejerus, Michaelis; "obleclationes", Schultens.

By him; conversant with him, and united to him, as was said before.

As one brought up with him; as one tenderly and dearly beloved by him.

Rejoicing always before him; he and I had constant, and intimate, and sweet converse together.

In Pro 8:28, Pro 8:29, these two features of the figure of the creation of the world return (the beginning of the firmament, and the embankment of the under waters); hence we see that the discourse here makes a fresh start with a new theme:
28 "When He made firm the ether above,
When He restrained the fountains of the waters;
29 When He set to the sea its bounds,
That the waters should not pass their limits
When He settled the pillars of the earth;
30 Then was I with Him as director of the work,
And was delighted day by day,
Rejoicing always before Him,
31 Rejoicing in His earth,
And having my delight in the children of men."
We have, with Symmachus, translated שׁחקים (from שׁחק, Arab. shaḳ, to grind, to make thin) by αἰθέρα, for so the fine transparent strata of air above the hanging clouds are called - a poetic name of the firmament רקיע. The making firm עמּץ is not to be understood locally, but internally of the spreading out of the firmament over the earth settled for continuance (an expression such as Psa 78:23). In 28b the Masora notices the plur. עינות instead of עינות with לית as unicum (cf. Michlol 191a); the transition of the sound is as in גּלית from galajta. The inf. עזוז appears on the first look to require a transitive signification, as the lxx and the Targ., the Graec. Venet. and Luther (da er festiget die Brnnen der tieffen = when He makes firm the fountains of the deep) have rendered it. Elster accordingly believes that this signification must be maintained, because בּ here introduces creative activity, and in itself is probably the transitive use of עזז, as the Arab. 'azz shows: when He set His עז against the מים עזּים (Isa 43:16). But the absence of the subject is in favour of the opinion that here, as everywhere else, it is intransitive; only we may not, with Hitzig, translate: when the fountains of the flood raged wildly; but, since 28b, if not a creative efficiency, must yet express a creative work, either as Ewald, with reference to מעוז, fortress: when they became firm, or better as Fleischer, with reference to מים עזים: when they broke forth with power, with strong fulness. Whether the suff. of חקּו, 29a, refers back to the sea or to Jahve, is decided after the parallel פּיו. If this word is equivalent to its coast (cf. Psa 104:9), then both suffixes refer to the sea; but the coast of the sea, or of a river, is called שׂפה, not פּה, which only means ostium (mouth), not ora. Also Isa 19:7 will require to be translated: by the mouth of the Nile, and that פי, Psa 133:2, may denote the under edge, arises from this, that a coat has a mouth above as well as below, i.e., is open. Thus both suff. are to be referred to God, and פיו d is to be determined after Job 23:12. The clause beginning with ומים corresponds in periodizing discourse to a clause with ut, Ewald, 338. בּחוּקו is the same form, only written plene, as Pro 8:27, בּחקו = בּחקּו = בּחקקו.
(Note: One might regard it as modified from בחקקו; but that שׁוּרי, Psa 102:12, is modified from שׁררי, or הורי, Gen 49:26, from הררי, is by no means certain.)
Pro 8:30
In this sentence, subordinating to itself these designations of time, the principal question is as to the meaning of אמון, Hofmann's interpretation (Schriftbew. i. 97) "continually" (inf. absol. in an adverbial sense) is a judicious idea, and אמן, to endure, remains indeed in אמת (stability); but in this sense, which נאמן represents, it is not otherwise used. Also מהימנתּא (believing, trusting) of the Targ. (Graec. Venet. πίστις, as if the word used were אמוּן) is linguistically inadmissible; the Hebr. האמין corresponds to the Aram. haimēn. One of these two only is possible: אמון means either opifex or alumnus. The meaning alumnus (Aquila, τιθηνουμένη; Meri and Malbim, אמון בחיק האל, ἐν τῷ κόλπῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ) would derive the word from אמן, to support, make firm, take care of; the form ought to have a passive sense (Symm. Theod. ἐστηριγμένη), as גּדול sa ,)חם, twined, pressed, strong, great, and be pointed נקד (with a moveable ā, different from the form בּגוד, חמוץ, Isa 1:17); and אמון, in the meaning nursling, foster-child, favourite (Schultens, Euchel, Elster, and others, also Rashi and Kimchi, who all find in אמון the meaning of education, גידול), would place itself with אמוּן, fostered, Lam 4:5, אמן, fosterer, אמנת ,reret, foster-mother. This is the meaning of the word according to the connection, for Wisdom appears further on as the child of God; as such she had her joy before Him; and particularly God's earth, where she rejoiced with the sons of men, was the scene of her mirth. But on this very account, because this is further said, we also lose nothing if אמון should be interpreted otherwise. And it is otherwise to be interpreted, for Wisdom is, in consequence of קנני (Pro 8:22), and חוללתי, which is twice used (Pro 8:24-25), God's own child; but the designation אמון would make Him to be the אמן of Wisdom; and the child which an אמן bears, Num 11:12, and fosters, Est 2:7, is not his own. Hence it follows that אמון in this signification would be an ἅπαξ λεγόμενον; on the other hand, it really occurs elsewhere, Jer 52:15 (vid., Hitzig l.c.), in the sense of opifex. This sense, which recommends itself to Ewald, Hitzig, Bertheau, and Zckler, lies also at the foundation of the ἁρμόζουσα of the lxx, מתקנא of the Syr., the cuncta componens of Jerome, and the designation of Wisdom as ἡ τῶν πάντων τεχνῖτις of the Book of Wisdom 7:21. The workmaster is called אמון, for which, Sol 7:2, אמן, or rather אמּן (ommân), Aram. and Mishn. אוּמן; not, perhaps, as he whom one entrusts with something in whom one confides or may confide in a work (vid., Fleischer, loc), but from אמן, to be firm, as one who is strong in his art, as perhaps also the right hand, which has the name ימין as being the artifex among the members. The word occurs also as an adjective in the sense of "experienced, skilful," and does not form a fem. according to the use of the word in this case before us, only because handicraft (אוּמנוּת) belongs to men, and not to women; also in the Greek, δημιουργός, in the sense of τὰ δημόσια (εἰς τὸ δημόσιον) ἐργαζόμενος, has no fem.; and in Lat., artifex is used as a substantive (e.g., in Pliny: artifex omnium natura), like an adj. of double gender. It is thus altogether according to rule that we read אמון and not אמונה (after the form בּגודה); also we would make a mistake if we translated the word by the German "Werkmeisterin" work-mistress, directress (Hitzig), for it is intended to be said that she took up the place of a workmaster with Him, whereby chiefly the artistic performances of a חרשׁ artificer are thought of. This self-designation of Wisdom is here very suitable; for after she has said that she was brought forth by God before the world was, and that she was present when it was created, this אמון now answers the question as to what God had in view when He gave to Wisdom her separate existence, and in what capacity she assisted in the creation of the world: it was she who transferred the creative thoughts originally existing in the creative will of God, and set in motion by His creative order, from their ideal into their real effectiveness, and, as it were, artistically carried out the delineations of the several creatures; she was the mediating cause, the demiurgic power which the divine creative activity made use of, as is said, Pro 3:19, "Jahve has by Wisdom founded the earth," and as the Jerusalem Targ. Gen 1:1, in connection with Pro 8:22, translates: בחוּכמא ברא יי ית שׁמיּא וית ארעא.
But - this is now the question - does the further unfolding of the thoughts here agree with this interpretation of אמון? That we may not misunderstand what follows, we must first of all represent to ourselves, that if אמון meant the foster-child, Wisdom could not yet, in what follows, be thought of as a little child (Num 11:12), for that would be an idea without any meaning; to rejoice [spielen = play] is certainly quite in accordance with youth, as Sa2 2:14 shows (where שׂחק לפני is said of the sportive combat of youthful warriors before the captain), not exclusively little children. So, then, we must guard against interpreting שׁעשׁוּעים, with the lxx and Syr., in the sense of שׁעשׁוּעיו - an interpretation which the Targ., Jerome, the Graec. Venet., and Luther have happily avoided; for mention is not made here of what Wisdom is for Jahve, but of what she is in herself. The expression is to be judged after Psa 109:4 (cf. Gen 12:2), where Hitzig rightly translates, "I am wholly prayer;" but Bttcher, in a way characteristic of his mode of interpretation, prefers, "I am ointment" (vid., Neue Aehrenlese, No. 1222). The delight is meant which this mediating participation in God's creating work imparted to her - joy in the work in which she was engaged. The pluralet. שׁעשׁועים is to be understood here, not after Jer 13:20, but after Isa 11:8; Psa 119:70, where its root-word, the Pilpel שׁעשׁע (proceeding from the primary meaning of caressing, demulcere), signifies intransitively: to have his delight somewhere or in anything, to delight oneself - a synonym to the idea of play (cf. Aram. שׁעא, Ethpe. to play, Ethpa. to chatter); for play is in contrast to work, an occupation which has enjoyment in view. But the work, i.e., the occupation, which aims to do something useful, can also become a play if it costs no strenuous effort, or if the effort which it costs passes wholly into the background in presence of the pleasure which it yields. Thus Wisdom daily, i.e., during the whole course of creation, went forth in pure delight; and the activity with which she translated into fact the creative thoughts was a joyful noise in the sight of God, whose commands she obeyed with childlike devotion; cf. Sa2 6:21, where David calls his dancing and leaping before the ark of the covenant a 'שׂחק לפני ה. But by preference, her delight was in the world, which is illustrated from the Persian Minokhired, which personifies Wisdom, and, among other things, says of her: "The creation of the earth, and its mingling with water, the springing up and the growth of the trees, all the different colours, the odour, the taste, and that which is pleasing in everything - all that is chiefly the endowment and the performance of Wisdom."
(Note: Vid., Spiegel's Grammatik der prsisprache, p. 162, cf. 182.)
She also there says that she was before all celestial and earthly beings, the first with Ormuzd, and that all that is celestial and earthly arose and also remains in existence by her. But the earth was the dearest object of her delight in the whole world; to help in establishing it (Pro 3:19) was her joyful occupation; to fashion it, and to provide it with the multiplicity of existences designed for it, was the most pleasant part of her creative activity. For the earth is the abode of man, and the heart-pleasure of Wisdom was with (את־, prep.) the children of men; with them she found her high enjoyment, these were her peculiar and dearest sphere of activity.
Pro 8:31
Since the statements of Wisdom, as to her participation in the creation of the world, are at this point brought to a close, in this verse there is set forth the intimate relation into which she thus entered to the earth and to mankind, and which she has continued to sustain to the present day. She turned her love to the earth for the sake of man, and to man not merely as a corporeal, but especially as a spiritual being, to whom she can disclose her heart, and whom, if he receives her, she can bring back to God (Book of Wisdom 7:27). There are not here express references to Gen 1 or Gen 2. In יום יום (day for day, as Gen 39:10, cf. Est 2:4, יום ויום) we have not to think of the six days of creation. But inasmuch as the whole description goes down to בּני אדם as its central-point, it denotes that creation came to its close and its goal in man. The connection of תּבל ארץ is as Job 37:12, where ארצה for ארץ is wholly, as לילה, חרסה, and the like, an original accusative.