Proverbs 8:22–29

Of the Messiah, the Personal Wisdom.

THE ORIGINS AND THE BLESSINGS OF THE PERSONAL WISDOM. — V. 22. The Lord possessed Me, brought Me into being, the reference being to the eternal begetting of the Father by which the Son was brought forth from eternity, Ps. 2, 7, in the beginning of His way, as a revelation of His innermost essence, before His works of old, before the creation of the world.

V. 23. I was set up from everlasting, ordained, inaugurated, established, from the beginning, or ever the earth was, from the primordial times of the earth, the eternity of the personal Word being asserted again and again. V. 24. When there were no depths, I was brought forth, when the great oceans had not yet been made; when there were no fountains abounding with water, that is, the hidden springs from which the floods of the deep broke forth, Gen. 7,11. V. 25. Before the mountains were settled, placed in position by the Creator, as He laid the foundation of the earth, before the hills, was I brought forth, v. 26. while as yet He had not made the earth nor the flelds, literally, “the open spaces,” the deserts, as distinguished from the habitable part of the earth, nor the highest parts of the dust of the world, literally, “the first of the dust particles of the world,” that is, the first clods of the earth.

V. 27. When He prepared the heavens, I was there; when He set a compass upon the face of the depth, the horizon all around serving as a circular boundary with reference to human eyes; v. 28. when He established the clouds above, fixing and securing them in their place, to prevent a sadden outpouring of their contents; when He strengthened the fountains of the deep, subduing them, setting their bounds, keeping them in check by His laws; v.29. when He gave to the sea His decree, setting its bounds after the division of water and dry land, Gen. 1, 9. 10, that the waters should not pass His commandment, no farther than He permitted them to go; when He appointed the foundations of the earth, settling its foundation pillars in the work of creation.