This intimates (1) a loss or want of something. Else men seek not for it. (2) A knowledge of this want or loss. Else men sit still. (3) Some goodness indeed, or, in our own opinion, of the thing sought. Men are, or should be, content to lose what is evil. (4) Some benefit to ourselves in it. Else few will seek it, though good in itself. (5) An earnest desire to find it. Else men have no heart to seek it. (6) A constant inquiry after it, wheresoever there is any hope to find it. Else we seek in vain. So in seeking wisdom--we must want it, and know that we want it, and see good in it, and that to ourselves, and seek it earnestly and constantly, if we would find it.--_Francis Taylor._ Verse 5. That which impels men to the pursuit is also the prize which rewards them. If any distinction between God (Elohim, see "Critical Notes") and the Lord (Jehovah) can be pressed here, it is that in the former the glory, in the latter the personality of the Divine nature is prominent.--_Plumptre._ He understandeth the fear of the Lord, whose understanding feareth the Lord. The knowledge of God is found in all His creatures, but he findeth the knowledge of God who, being lost in his sins, is found by God in the acknowledgement of them. . . . And as fear advanceth to the knowledge of God, so the knowledge of God bringeth us to the fear of Him.--_Jermin._ This knowledge of God is the first lesson of heavenly wisdom. On the right apprehension of this lesson all the rest necessarily depends. Wrong views of God will vitiate every other department of your knowledge. Without right views of God you can have no right views of His law. Without right views of His law you can have no right views of sin, either in its guilt or in its amount. Without right views of sin, you can have no right views of your own condition, and character, and prospects as sinners. Without right views of these you can have no right views of your need of a Saviour, or of the person, and the righteousness, and atonement of that Saviour. Without right views of these you can have no right views of your obligations to Divine grace, etc. . . . The fear of the Lord, founded on the knowledge of Him, is something to the right understanding of which experience is indispensable. To a man who had never tasted anything sweet, you would attempt in vain to convey, by description, a right conception of the sensation of sweetness. And what is true of the sensations is true also of the emotions. To a creature that had never felt _fear_ you would hardly convey, by description, an idea of its nature; and equally in vain would it be to make love intelligible to one that had never experienced that affection. It is thus to a depraved creature with regard to holy and spiritual affections. "This fear of the Lord"--a fear springing from love and proportioned to it--such a creature cannot _understand_ but by being brought to experience it.--_Wardlaw._