Proverbs 20:27

“The spirit . . . Lord--Men's minds are God's gifts, and thus able to search one another (compare Pro 20:5; Pro 18:8, Pro 18:17; Co1 2:11).”

“The spirit of man - The “breath” of Genesis 2:7, the higher life, above that which he has in common with lower animals, coming to him direct from God. Such a life, with all its powers of insight, consciousness, reflection, is as a lamp which God has lighted, throwing its rays into the darkest recesses of the heart. A still higher truth is proclaimed in the Prologue of John’s Gospel. The candle, or lamp of Yahweh, derives its light from “the Light that lighteth every man,” even the Eternal Word. return to 'Top of Page'”

“The spirit - The reasonable soul. The candle - Is a clear and glorious light set up in man for his information and direction. Of the Lord - So called because it comes from God in a more immediate manner than the body, Ecc 12:7, and because it is in God's stead, to observe and judge all our actions. Searching - Discerning not only his outward actions, which are visible to others, but his most inward thoughts and affections. The belly is here put for the heart, as it is frequently. Proverbs 20:30”

“20:27 The Lord’s light penetrates the human spirit: God sees deep into people’s hearts (see 16:2).”

“spirit: Gen 2:7; Job 32:8; Rom 2:15; Co1 2:11; Co2 4:2-6; Jo1 3:19-21 candle: or, lamp, Pro 20:20 searching: Pro 20:30; Heb 4:12, Heb 4:13 Proverbs 20:28”

“With a proverb of a light that was extinguished, Pro 20:20 began the group; the proverb of God's light, which here follows, we take as the beginning of a new group. 27 A candle of Jahve is the soul of man, Searching through all the chambers of the heart. If the O.T. language has a separate word to denote the self-conscious personal human spirit in contradistinction to the spirit of a beast, this word, according to the usage of the language, as Reuchlin, in an appendix to Aben Ezra, remarks, is נשׁמה; it is so called as the principle of life breathed immediately by God into the body (vid., at Gen 2:7; Gen 7:22). Indeed, that which is here said of the human spirit would not be said of the…”