My Father's Eyes
MY Fathers Eyes.
15:3. The eyes of the Lord
The equally striking 2 Chronicles 16:9 brings out God’s saving purpose in this. Our present verse shows the range and persistence of this scrutiny; verse 11 its penetration; verses 8, 9 its sensitivity.
Ver. 3.—The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding—keeping watch on—the evil and the good. The omnipresence and omniscience of Jehovah, the covenant God, is strongly insisted upon, and the sacred name recurs continually in this and the next chapter, and indeed throughout this Book of the Proverbs (see Wordsworth, in loc.). The LXX. renders the verb σκοπεύουσι, “are watching,” as from a tower or high place. To the usual references we may add Ecclus. 15:18, 19; 23:19, 20. Corn. à Lapide quotes Prudentius’s hymn, used in the Latin Church at Thursday Lauds—
“Speculator adstat desuper,
Qui nos diebus omnibus
Actusque nostros prospicit
A luce prima in vesperum.”
“For God our Maker, ever nigh,
Surveys us with a watchful eye;
Our every thought and act he knows,
From early dawn to daylight’s close.”
15:3 keep watch over the evil and the good Yahweh sees the ways of all people (Prov 5:21). The Psalms portray Him as examining humanity from His heavenly throne (Psa 11:4–5). He watches so He can eventually bring all actions under His judgment (Eccl 12:14).
Prov. 15:3. The connection of the dual עֵינַיִם with the plur. of the adjective, which does not admit of a dual, is like 6:17, cf. 18. But the first line is a sentence by itself, to which the second line gives a closer determination, as showing how the eyes of God are everywhere (cf. 2 Chron. 16:9, after Zech. 4:10) abroad over the whole earth, viz., beholding with penetrating look the evil and the good (צָפָה, to hold to, to observe, cf. ἐπιβλέποντες, Sir. 23:19), i.e., examining men whether they are good or evil, and keeping them closely before His eyes, so that nothing escapes him. This universal inspection, this omniscience of God, has an alarming but also a comforting side. The proverb seeks first to warn, therefore it speaks first of the evil.
Verse 3
The great truths of divinity are of great use to enforce the precepts of morality, and none more than this—That the eye of God is always upon the children of men. 1. An eye to discern all, not only from which nothing can be concealed, but by which every thing is actually inspected, and nothing overlooked or looked slightly upon: The eyes of the Lord are in every place; for he not only sees all from on high (Ps. 33:13), but he is every where present. Angels are full of eyes (Rev. 4:8), but God is all eye. It denotes not only his omniscience, that he sees all, but his universal providence, that he upholds and governs all. Secret sins, services, and sorrows, are under his eye. 2. An eye to distinguish both persons and actions. He beholds the evil and the good, is displeased with the evil and approves of the good, and will judge men according to the sight of his eyes, Ps. 1:6; 11:4. The wicked shall not go unpunished, nor the righteous unrewarded, for God has his eye upon both and knows their true character; this speaks as much comfort to saints as terror to sinners.
15:3. In His omniscience God sees and knows what everyone does (cf. 5:21; Heb. 4:13; also note the eyes of the LORD in 2 Chron. 16:9), keeping watch like a watchman guarding a city. Wicked people should be warned and good people comforted by this truth. He sees even death and destruction (Prov. 15:11). The second line of verse 3 is a participial clause that completes the thought of the first line, so this verse has synthetic parallelism (see “Literary Style” in the Introduction).
Beholding. Better, “keeping watch.” Sometimes children are given the impression that God watches them in order to find cause for blame; but our heavenly Father watches with the pitiful, loving eye of One who knows the frailty of our nature (see Heb. 4:13; Ps. 33:13; 90:8; 103:13, 14).
15:3 God is omniscient, that is, He knows everything. His eyes are in every place. Nothing is hidden from Him. He is keeping watch over every word, act, thought, and motive, both on the evil and the good. This caused David to exclaim, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it” (Ps. 139:6).
15:3 That the eyes of the LORD are in every place watching everything chills those who do evil and comforts those who submit to Him (see Eccl. 12:14).
3. The wise man does not just believe in God; he believes in the God who is always there. In every moment Yahweh is beholding all he says and does. Not one word or deed escapes His knowing eye. He beholds the evil man and weighs each action until his iniquity is full (Gen 15:16). He compassionately watches the good man and is ever ready to come to his aid (Ps 25:15–17).