Proverbs 3:8

It shall be health to thy navel,.... That part of the body which is the knot of the intestines; and may be put for the bowels and inward parts, which being sound, the body is in health; and these may

It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones. It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones - "it," namely, the obedient "fear of the Lord" just described (Proverbs 3:7).

To thy navel, i.e. to thy body, which is signified by the navel, which is a noble and useful part of the body, by which the infant receives nourishment in the womb, and which is the ligament or bond by which the bowels, a principal part of the body, are united together and preserved. Marrow is the nourishment and strength of the bones, and a great preserver and prolonger of life, as the decay of it is a chief cause of the weakness, and dryness, and decay of the body. The sense of the verse is, This wisdom or fear of God is not only useful to the salvation of the soul, but also to the health and welfare of the body, both as it prevents those diseases and distempers which are oft procured by sinful lusts and passions, and as it giveth us an interest in all God’ s promises, and putteth us under the care of his special providence.

Proverbs 3:8 It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.Ver. 8. It shall be health to thy navel.] That is, Thou shalt be in good plight both for the outward and inward man: Thy bones full of marrow, thy breasts full of milk, thy spirit also lively and lifted up in the ways of the Lord. And as it is with children in the womb (for to these is the allusion here), that by the navel nourishment is ministered unto them, yea, even to the strengthening of the inward parts: so the godly in the Church are fed and bred by the faith and fear of God. And as without marrow in the bones, no part of man, no, not that which is of greatest value and force, is able to do any thing: so the strength that they have from God, is as the marrow which strengtheneth the bones, and maketh them apt to do good things. And as a man that hath his bones filled with marrow, and hath abundance of good blood and fresh spirits in his body, can endure to go with less clothes than another, because he is well lined within: so it is with a heart that hath a great deal of grace and peace; he will go through difficulties and troubles, though outward comforts fail him. It is recorded of Mr Saunders, martyr, that himself should tell the party that lay in the same bed with him in prison, that even in the time of his examination before Stephen Gardiner, he was wonderfully comforted, not only in spirit, but also in body, he received a certain taste of that holy communion of saints, while a most pleasant refreshing did issue from every part and member of the body to the seat and place of the heart, and from thence did ebb and flow to and fro unto all the parts again. Munster, Mercer, T. W., and others, in loc. Acts and Mon., fol. 1358.

(8) Navel.—As being the centre, and so the most important part of the body. (Comp. the epithet applied to Delphi, “navel of the earth.”) Marrow.—Literally, watering: i.e., refreshing. (Comp. Job 21:24.) For the opposite condition, “dryness of the bones, comp. Proverbs 17:22.

Verse 8. It shall be health to thy navel] We need not puzzle ourselves to find out what we may suppose to be a more delicate meaning for the original word שר shor than navel; for I am satisfied a more proper cannot be found. It is well known that it is by the umbilical cord that the fetus receives its nourishment all the time it is in the womb of the mother. It receives nothing by the mouth, nor by any other means: by this alone all nourishment is received, and the circulation of the blood kept up. When, therefore, the wise man says, that "trusting in the Lord with the whole heart, and acknowledging him in all a man's ways, c., shall be health to the navel, and marrow to the bones" he in effect says, that this is as essential to the life of God in the soul of man, and to the continual growth in grace, as the umbilical cord is to the life and growth of the fetus in the womb. Without the latter, no human being could ever exist or be born; without the former, no true religion can ever be found. Trust or faith in God is as necessary to derive grace from him to nourish the soul, and cause it to grow up unto eternal life, as the navel string or umbilical cord is to the human being in the first stage of its existence. I need not push this illustration farther: the good sense of the reader will supply what he knows. I might add much on the subject. And marrow to thy bones.] This metaphor is not less proper than the preceding. All the larger bones of the body have either a large cavity, or they are spongious, and full of little cells: in both the one and the other the oleaginous substance, called marrow, is contained in proper vesicles, like the fat. In the larger bones, the fine oil, by the gentle heat of the body, is exhaled through the pores of its small vesicles, and enters some narrow passages which lead to certain fine canals excavated in the substance of the bone, that the marrow may supply the fibres of the bones, and render them less liable to break. Blood-vessels also penetrate the bones to supply this marrow and this blood; and consequently the marrow is supplied in the infant by means of the umbilical cord. From the marrow diffused, as mentioned above, through the bones, they derive their solidity and strength. A simple experiment will cast considerable light on the use of the marrow to the bones: - Calcine a bone, so as to destroy all the marrow from the cells, you will find it exceedingly brittle.

8. health] By an eternal law the moral condition and the physical are linked together; the mens sana promotes the corpus sanum. “Godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is.” 1 Timothy 4:8. to thy navel] So R.V. The LXX. give to thy body, τῷσώματίσου (comp. Proverbs 4:22), reading, as Ewald conjectures, a Heb. word which differs by a single letter (which has dropped out) from our present Heb. text Their rendering, however, may be only a free translation, of the nature of a gloss, of the Heb. as it now stands. marrow] Lit. moistening. Vulg. irrigatio. The moisture and freshness of a healthy and well-nourished body are indicated. Comp. “The marrow of his bones is moistened,” Job 21:24, R.V., and for the contrary effect of disease and suffering, Job 30:30; Psalms 102:3.

Navel - The central region of the body is taken as the representative of all the vital organs. For “health” we should read healing, or, as in the marg.

8. Health to thy navel — Rather, restoration to thy sinew, (sing. coll.,) and moistening (refreshment) to thy bones.