Proverbs 5:16 Commentary and Bible Study

There is a slight mistranslation in this verse. It is the same point, but it should read as a question: ‘Should your fountains be dispersed elsewhere and your rivers of water run in the streets?’ Should you be going to fountains and waters that are somewhere else? This is not about having such a plentiful supply of water that others can benefit from it also. The point continues to be – where does this man satisfy his thirst? He does so from his own cistern and does not go out into the street to find water supplies there, so verse 16 is better as a question. Let them be your own cisterns and your own water sources. This rendering makes the verse consistent with verse 17 and the verses that follow. The Lord, in order to give you wisdom, expects you to be loyal to the blessings he has provided for you. As a Christian he has already designed and prepared blessings for you such as the world cannot know or give. Now, you must be loyal to those, and benefit from those alone. And that is a condition he requires of you before he gives you wisdom. If you turn your nose up at the Lord's provisions and remedies for your tiredness and your ills, you can hardly expect him to give you his most precious gifts. You have already insulted his wisdom, you have already in a sense said to the Lord, 'Well, I know there are the means of grace, but I find those tiresome. They do not help me at all.’ Well, you can hardly expect him to give you any of his wisdom and any of his insight. That is really what it amounts to. Relish the blessings which he has provided for you.Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth. And we are back to the picture of the bride, the tender bride, in fact, we have never left her as the following verses show. To be saved, to be the Lord’s, is to know blessing like that.