Hovering about the avenues of a royal residence, there are in Eastern as well as in other countries, always to be seen groups of people, some of whom are attracted by the impulse of curiosity, others by the hope of obtaining some mark of royal favour. The assiduity and perseverance requisite for succeeding in their suit, and waiting the propitious moment of presenting themselves in the presence of their sovereign, is not, as may be easily supposed, at all times consistent with personal ease and convenience, and, accordingly, here and there may be observed individuals seated upon a stone, or reclining upon the grass, in anxious expectation for the appearance of the sovereign on his way to daily exercise. To sit at the gates of a king is a custom of great antiquity.--_Paxton's Illustrations of Scripture._ _OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._ Verse 32. O sweet courtesy! as if it were but a small matter that the Eternal Wisdom should become our Master, and teach us as His scholars; or that, being our Lord, He should teach us as His servants; or that, being God, He should teach us as men; yet greater is His love, and, as a Father He teacheth us as His children. And well may He call us His children, for it is He that teacheth us who, by adoption, hath made us to be His children, which by hearkening unto Him we show ourselves to be.--_Jermin._ Verse 34. Uriah watched at David's gate as a token of service (2 Sam. xi. 9). Lazarus watched at Dives' gate as a token of dependence (Luke xvi. 20). Courtiers at royal entrances for smiles of favour. Let the sinner do all these things.--_Miller._ Not watching awhile, and then going away if they be not let in presently, but waiting patiently till they be let in. Not only taking occasion of learning offered, but waiting to find occasions, as petitioners wait on great men till their causes be ended.--_Francis Taylor._ Wisdom here appears as a sovereign, separate and secluded, in the style of Oriental monarchs, so that only those know anything of her who diligently keep watch at her doors. Wisdom, who is universal in her call and invitation (verses 1-3), yet, in the course of communication in order to test the fidelity of her admirers, veils herself at times in a mysterious darknesss, and reveals herself only to those who never intermit their search (Matt. vii. 7).--_Von Gerlach, in Lange's Commentary._ There ought to be an expectation raised in us that the vital savour diffused in and by the Word may reach us; and many are ruined for not expecting it--not waiting at the posts of Wisdom's door.--_John Howe._