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“ ‘Solomon’s design,’ writes Matthew Henry, in driving us off from the world, by showing us its vanity, is to drive us to God and to our duty, that we may not walk in the way of the world, but by religious rules, nor depend upon the wealth of the world, but on religious advantages.’ The very tone of these verses indicate that there is a special intimacy of communion with God when His people enter into the solemn exercises of worship. Therefore, when we come into His courts to engage in formal worship, we are exhorted to put a restraint on our feet, lest we walk in a way that gives offense to Him.

Not only our feet, but our mouths are to be restrained, for we are taught to come before the presence of God to hear, and not to offer the sacrifice of fools. The ‘fools’ spoken of here are those who rush into God’s courts as though they have something to offer Him with their words. They are more concerned with what they will do and say in His presence- with the exercise of their ‘gifts,’ than with humbly and reverently bowing before His Word. They come to speak and please themselves with the overflow of their lips, and are not even conscious that they give offense to God: they ‘do not know that they do evil.’

Against this vain worship, Solomon reminds us, ‘God is in heaven, and you on earth: therefore let your words be few.’ The emphasis in worship is the transcendence of God, which requires His worshippers to approach Him in all due humility…

A proper understanding of God’s exalted glory will keep us from trampling His courts with vain and showy worship which serves no other purpose than to exalt the creature instead of the Creator. Open your ears, close your mouth, examine your heart, and govern your actions in the house of God as a humble creature who draws near to the Lord of Glory according to His Word.” (Comin, 206-207)

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“As a wise father, Solomon gives instruction to his son. God never intended young people to be independent of their parents. He provides ‘the father’s commandment’ and ‘the law of the mother,’ as a lamp to guide the path of the child, because sinful nature is bound to follow a destructive course in the pursuit of self-gratification. Once, again, Solomon illustrates the danger of following a self-seeking course with the lure of the evil woman-not because there were no other sins to which the foolishness of youth might lead-but because these seductions of the flesh best represent the proneness of the heart to stray from faithfulness to God.

The relationship between parents and children, like that between husband and wife, is a reflection of man’s relationship to God. The commandments of God, like those of earthly parents, are designed to protect His children from their natural tendency to follow the sensual desires of the flesh, resulting ultimately in their destruction. The value of heeding God’s counsel and taking hold of His instruction is tied to a long-term perspective: ‘that you may be wise in your latter end’ (Pro. 19:20).

The natural bent of the heart is to seek immediate gratification without considering the long-term consequences, but God would have His people to ‘consider the latter end’ and realize the value of humble submission to His commands. ‘There are many devices in a man’s heart,’ says Solomon- no lack of imaginations and purposes designed to satisfy his desire for personal fulfillment -but ‘the counsel of the Lord-that will stand’ (Pro. 19:21).

In worship, as in every other area of life, the imaginations in the heart of men constantly seek expression in order to gain a sense of personal fulfillment. To follow them is to surrender to the lure of spiritual adultery, which brings with it many consequences. Not the least of these is the kindling of God’s wrath, for the offense given to Him by our unfaithfulness. Far better to subdue the raging appetite for short-term gratification, recognize the protective design of God’s commandments, and hold fast to the counsel of the Lord, which stands forever.” (Comin, 198-199)

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“We find in verse 14 a restatement of the Regulative Principle, this time applied to the works of God. In Proverbs, Solomon wrote, ‘do not add to His words, lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar’ (Prov. 30:6). Here the same author writes, ‘I know that whatever God does, it shall be forever. Nothing can be added to it, and nothing taken from it.’

The common theme in these statements of Scripture, whether applied to worship (Deut. 12:32), or the sufficiency of God’s word (Prov. 30:6; Rev.20:18-19), or the sufficiency of His works (Eccl.3: 14), is the sufficiency of what God has provided, compared to the instability and untrustworthiness of the words and works of men. Matthew Henry writes ‘As the word of God, so the works of God are every one of them perfect in its kind, and it is presumption for us either to add to them or diminish from them, Deut. 4:2. It is therefore as much our interest, as our duty, to bring our wills to the will of God.’

The reason that God establishes His Word and works so that man cannot alter them by his inventions is also stated by Solomon: ‘God does it, that men should fear Him.’ It is nothing but the lack of godly fear that causes foolish creatures to take upon themselves to improve what God has established according to His unalterable will. All of the presumptuous additions introduced into God’s holy worship throughout Scripture were the expressions of men who did not properly fear the Lord. But God will require an account for each one.” (Comin, 204-205)

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“It is interesting to note that the first section of Proverbs, which may be said to lay the foundation for all that follows, often returns to a particular theme. The way of wisdom is repeatedly contrasted with the seductions of a wayward and adulterous woman. It is no coincidence that adultery is often used in Scripture to illustrate spiritual unfaithfulness, and particularly idolatry and false worship.

For Solomon, this had particular force, for we are told in 1 kings 11:1-4: ‘King Solomon loved many foreign women, as well as the daughter of Pharoah: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites- from the nations of whom the LORD had said to the children of Israel, ‘You shall not intermarry with them, nor they with you. Surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods.’ Solomon clung to these in love. After he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart. For it was so, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to the LORD his God, as was his heart of his father David.’

While recognizing that the primary scope of these warnings in Proverbs is to exhort us against sexual sin, Matthew Henry notes: ‘ Some apply this figuratively, and by the adulterous woman here understand idolatry, or false doctrine, which tends to debauch men’s minds and manners, to which it may be as fitly as anything be applied.’ Further supporting this application is the fact that Christ is presented in Proverbs as Wisdom personified, who calls His Bride to faithfulness. The Church is the Bride of Christ, and her fidelity to her Husband is nowhere more important than in her intimate communion with Him in worship.” (Comin, 196-197)

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“The fundamental error of the sons of men, which lies behind all their departures from God, is that they are like their first parents, hoping to be as gods, by entertaining themselves with what seems good for food, pleasant to the eyes, and desirable to make one wise. The purpose of Ecclesiastes is to lay low the pride of man and direct us to fear God and keep His commandments.”

Beware of a lust for novelty (Eccl. 1:1-11)

“The ‘preacher’ of Ecclesiastes, writing from his own painful experience, seeks to expose all of the foolish notions that men treasure which cause them to seek satisfaction and fulfillment in their own works and wisdom. He has been the consummate hedonist, plumbing the depths of every means by which man has sought self-fulfillment and personal happiness, and he has found them all to be of the same substance: vanity of vanities-nothingness of nothingness! He thus begins this inspired book with an emphatic declaration of the vanity, or emptiness, of all that men do and compares the fleeting nature of men’s works with the constancy of the works of God.

Yet men are not satisfied with the testimony of God in what they see and hear. Thus, after recounting the glorious works of God which are everywhere evident in the world that He made and governs, he laments in verse 8, ‘The eye is not satisfied with seeing, Nor the ear filled with hearing.’

Man’s most basic problem is his dissatisfaction with what God has provided, and his lust to fulfill himself in some other way. The heart of fallen man burns with a lust for novelty, and like the foolish philosophers of Athens they ‘spend their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.’ This restlessness in the heart of man is the result of sinful pride. Instead of resting content in God’s word and works, fallen man fashions himself as a great designer, whose brilliant inventions earn him a name and make him worthy of praise in the eyes of his fellow men.

Nowhere is this disenchantment with God’s provision and insatiable quest for novelty more central than in his approach to worship. This has always been the very nature of idolatry- from Cain’s offering to Babel’s tower, from Aaron’s golden calf to Nadab and Abihu’s strange fire, from Jeroboam’s high places to the Pharisee’s human traditions and the modern church’s obsession with creative will-worship-men have sought to fulfill themselves in worship through finding some new thing under the sun.

The lust for novelty in religious experiences is nothing more or less than the desire to make God in our own image, and therefore to be God. To unmask the folly of this lust for novelty, the Preacher of Ecclesiastes declares, ‘there is nothing new under the sun.’

Away with the unquenchable fascination with new-and-improved experiences in worship! It is nothing but the gratifying of the hidden idolatry of the heart. Matthew Henry explains, ‘We are apt to nauseate old things, and to grow weary of what we have long been used to, as Israel of the manna.’ Yet God’s Word rebukes our native restlessness: ‘Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; then you will find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk in it.’ Let us not be like Israel, who forsook the ‘old paths’ for the pursuit of ‘something new.’ The inventions of men will not be remembered, but the Word of the Lord stands forever.” (Comin, 203-204)

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“Some have seen a wonderful analogy in this unique book of Christ-the wisdom of God-instructing His children in the way they should go, and warning them against the spiritual adultery of false worship. Certainly, the contrast between the excellencies of God’s Word and the natural foolishness, laziness and self-centeredness of man points to the need for every act to be anchored in the prescriptive will of God.

The book of Proverbs is unique among the inspired Scriptures. Far more than a collection of wise sayings, the book holds before us Christ-the wisdom of God-the Divine logos, as He calls out to His children and shows them the way of life.”

God’s Word alone is trustworthy (Pro. 3:1-8; 30:1-6)

“Wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord, and is evidenced by diligent and glad submission to His commandments. In the keeping of God’s commandments there is life, peace, fulfillment, and reward. The trustworthiness of God’s Word is contrasted with the weakness and vanity of man’s own understanding, though he is ever prone to be ‘wise in his own eyes.’ True wisdom, according to Proverbs, is seen in the acknowledgement of our own utter lack of the knowledge of God, which leads to a total dependence upon His pure and perfect Word in all matters of faith and life.” (Comin, 195-196)

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“A striking comparison is laid out in the 9th chapter of Proverbs. It begins with Wisdom, building her house. In light of what we have seen regarding the identification of Wisdom with Christ in Chapter 8, we have here a picture of the establishment of the Church and its ministry. Its table is furnished with provisions from God, like the wedding feast to which the elect are gathered. Messengers are sent forth to invite the simple to the feast, which signifies the call of the gospel to those who are perishing. Bread and wine are the staples of the banquet, pointing to the body and blood of Christ.

The picture is complete. All that is needful or desirable has been provided in advance by the Wisdom of God. Yet soon another voice is heard, inviting the simple to a rival banquet. It is the clamorous voice of the foolish woman. Matthew Henry writes, ‘Carnal sensual pleasure I take to be especially meant by this foolish woman; for that is the great enemy to virtue and inlet to vice.’ She sets herself up in competition with the Church, posing as a counterfeit. She too has a house, from which she calls to those who ‘go right on their ways.’ She holds forth ‘stolen water’ and bread, which must be eaten in secret-yet she presents them as more desirable than what God has provided, because they have been ‘liberated’ from His control.

What a poignant picture this is of Satan’s attempts to offer empty counterfeits of the perfect provisions that Christ has made for His Church-designed to appeal to the fleshly nature of man and distracting them from the way of truth.” (Comin 200-201)

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“It is sad to note that those who adhere to the exclusive use of the Psalms in worship are often accused of being divisive. Yet it is not the Psalms, but rather man-written hymns, which exacerbate divisions in the body of Christ. Hymns composed by men are inescapably sectarian. There is a Methodist hymn book, a Baptist hymn book, a Congregational hymn book, a Presbyterian hymn book, etc. Every hymn of human composition must, of necessity, reflect the particular doctrinal bias of its author. As long as such biased songs continue to burn sectarian doctrines into the hearts of those who sing them week after week, the Church must remain in disunity.

It is impossible for man to compose a hymnal upon which all Christians can agree. Yet God has given such a hymnal to the Church, perfect in content, and utterly devoid of human opinion. Imagine what strides would be made toward unifying the church if all of God’s people made His songs the theme of their praise whenever they came together for corporate worship! Instead of filling our minds with regular doses of our pet doctrines, we would be filling our hearts with God’s Word and learning together from the grand themes of the Biblical Psalms. Thus Jesus prayed for His Church: ‘Sanctify them by Your truth; Your Word is truth.’”
(Comin, 191-192)

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“Chapter 8 of Proverbs records the call of heavenly Wisdom- the voice of the Son of God. That Christ is the speaker here is plain from the personal attributes as ascribed to Wisdom, which rightly apply to no one but Him. He is called the divine Word, or logos, who was with God in the beginning, and who was God. Thus the Wisdom of which Solomon writes is none other than the Word of Christ, calling to the sons of men to forsake foolishness, and renounce the evil of pride and arrogance, which makes a man imagine that his word and his plans are better than God’s. ‘Counsel is mine,’ says Christ, ‘and sound wisdom; I am understanding; I have strength’ (vs. 14).

The excellency of the Word of Christ is here exalted above all of the vain imaginations of men, and he cries loudly at the gates- He speaks of ‘excellent things’ and ‘right things.’ It is by Him that kings reign and princes rule- and if the Wisdom of God in Christ overrules in the palaces of earthly monarchs, how much more is His Word supreme in His own house!

Therefore, writing to the church at Colossae, Paul says, ‘Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.’ This is an application of Proverbs 8 to the life and worship of the Church. The excellency of the word of Christ is to be found in the Church’s songs of praise. In the inspired psalms, hymns and songs of David, the Word of Christ Himself sounds forth. ‘ All of His words are righteousness; nothing crooked or perverse is in them’ (Pro. 8:8). ‘All the things that may be desired cannot be compared to it’ (Prov. 8:11).” (Comin, 199-200)