The {i} spirit of man is the lamp of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly.

(i) The word of God gives life to man and causes us to see and try the secret of our dark hearts, He 4:12.

Wesley's Notes

20:27 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, Eccles 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.

King James Translators' Notes

candle: or, lamp

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

27. The spirit . Lord-Men's minds are God's gifts, and thus able to search one another (compare Pr 20:5; Pr 18:8, 17; 1Co 2:11).

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

20:23. A bargain made by fraud will prove a losing bargain in the end. 24. How can we form plans, and conduct business, independently of the Lord? 25. The evasions men often use with their own consciences show how false and deceitful man is. 26. Justice should crush the wicked, and separate them from the virtuous. 27. The rational soul and conscience are as a lamp within us, which should be used in examining our dispositions and motives with the revealed will of God. 28. Mercy and truth are the glories of God's throne. 29. Both young and old have their advantages; and let neither despise or envy the other.

Matthew Henry's Whole Bible Commentary

Verse 27

We have here the dignity of the soul, the great soul of man, that light which lighteth every man. 1. It is a divine light; it is the candle of the Lord, a candle of his lighting, for it is the inspiration of the Almighty that gives us understanding. He forms the spirit of man within him. It is after the image of God that man is created in knowledge. Conscience, that noble faculty, is God's deputy in the soul; it is a candle not only lighted by him, but lighted for him. The Father of spirits is therefore called the Father of lights. 2. It is a discovering light. By the help of reason we come to know men, to judge of their characters, and dive into their designs; by the help of conscience we come to know ourselves. The spirit of a man has a self-consciousness (1 Co. 2:11); it searches into the dispositions and affections of the soul, praises what is good, condemns what is otherwise, and judges of the thoughts and intents of the heart. This is the office, this the power, of conscience, which we are therefore concerned to get rightly informed and to keep void of offence.