My son, listen to your father’s instruction, and don’t forsake your mother’s teaching:
Parallel Translations
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My son, listen to your father’s instruction, and don’t forsake your mother’s teaching:
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My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
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Hear, my son, the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the teaching of thy mother;
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Cross-references (14)
Passages linked to Proverbs 1:8 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Proverbs 6:20 My son, keep your father’s commandment, and don’t forsake your mother’s teaching.
- Proverbs 30:17 “The eye that mocks at his father, and scorns obedience to his mother: the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, the young eagles shall eat it.
- Proverbs 5:1-2 My son, pay attention to my wisdom. Turn your ear to my understanding, that you may maintain discretion, that your lips may preserve knowledge.
- Proverbs 2:1 My son, if you will receive my words, and store up my commandments within you,
- Proverbs 31:1 The words of king Lemuel; the revelation which his mother taught him.
- Leviticus 19:3 “ ‘Each one of you shall respect his mother and his father. You shall keep my Sabbaths. I am Yahweh your God.
- Deuteronomy 21:18-21 If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and though they chasten him, will not listen to them, then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city and to the gate of his place. They shall tell the elders of his city, “This our son is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey our voice. He is a glutton and a drunkard.” All the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall remove the evil from among you. All Israel shall hear, and fear.
- Proverbs 1:10 My son, if sinners entice you, don’t consent.
- Proverbs 4:1-4 Listen, sons, to a father’s instruction. Pay attention and know understanding; for I give you sound learning. Don’t forsake my law. For I was a son to my father, tender and an only child in the sight of my mother. He taught me, and said to me: “Let your heart retain my words. Keep my commandments, and live.
- Proverbs 1:15 My son, don’t walk on the path with them. Keep your foot from their path,
- Proverbs 3:1 My son, don’t forget my teaching; but let your heart keep my commandments:
- Proverbs 7:1 My son, keep my words. Lay up my commandments within you.
- 2 Timothy 1:5 having been reminded of the sincere faith that is in you, which lived first in your grandmother Lois, and your mother Eunice, and, I am persuaded, in you also.
- 1 Samuel 2:25 If one man sins against another, God will judge him; but if a man sins against Yahweh, who will intercede for him?” Notwithstanding, they didn’t listen to the voice of their father, because Yahweh intended to kill them.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain That is, of the Church, wherein the faithful are…
That is, of the Church, wherein the faithful are begotten by the incorruptible seed of God’s word.
He speaketh this in the Name of God, which is the universal Father of all creatures, or in the name of the pastor of the Church, who is as a father.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Pro 1:8 My son, hear the instruction of thy…
Pro 1:8 My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
Ver. 8. Hear the instruction of thy father, &c.] It is not fit to disobey God, thy father, nor thy teacher, saith Aristotle {a} Our parents, said Hierocles, are Yεοι εφεστιοι, our household gods: and their words should be received as oracles. This is a principal fruit of the fear of God, which it here fitly followeth: like as in the decalogue, the commandment for honouring of parents is set next of all to those of the first table, nay, is indeed, as Philo saith of it, ειτολη μικτη, a mixed commandment.
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{a} μη καλον χρινειν εναντια τοις θεοις, πατρι, και διδασκαλω. - Arist. Rhet.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain My son; he speaks to his scholars with paternal…
My son; he speaks to his scholars with paternal authority and affection, to make them more attentive and obedient. Teachers among the Hebrews and others were commonly called
fathers, and their scholars their sons. The instruction of thy father; his good and wholesome counsels, but not such as are contrary to God’s law, Pro 19:27. The law of thy mother; those pious instructions which thy mother instilled into thee in thy tender years. See Pro 31:1; 2Ti 1:5; 3:14,15. This he adds, because children, when grown up, are very prone to slight their mother’s advice, because of the infirmity of their sex, and because they have not that dependence upon and expectation from their mothers which they have from their fathers.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain My son, hear the instruction of thy father,.... This…
My son, hear the instruction of thy father,.... This is not to be understood of God the Father of mankind, and of that law which he has given them, as Jarchi and Gersom interpret it, but of Solomon and his son in a literal sense; and of anyone that came to him for instruction, any pupil, hearer, or reader of his; and it is a direction to all children to hearken to the instruction of their parents, and obey their commands; so, next to the fear and worship of God, he exhorts to obedience to parents, and proceeds just in the same order and method in which the decalogue or ten commands were written; the first table respects God and his worship, and the second follows, which begins with "honour thy father and thy mother", &c. Exo 20:12, which, the apostle says, is "the first commandment with promise", Eph 6:1;
and forsake not the law of thy mother; meaning not the congregation of Israel, the old synagogue, or Jewish church, as Jarchi; and so in the Talmud (p) it is interpreted of the congregation of Israel, as is "thy father" in the former clause of the divine Being; nor the operative faculty of the human understanding, as Gersom; but the mother of Solomon's son; and any and every mother of a child, who having an equal or greater tenderness for her offspring, and a true and hearty regard for their welfare, will instruct them in the best manner she can, give the best rules, and prescribe the best laws she can for their good; and which ought to be as carefully attended to and obeyed as those of a father; and she is particularly mentioned, because the law of God equally enjoins reverence and obedience to both parents, which human laws among the Gentiles did not; and because children are too apt to slight the directions and instructions of a mother; whereas they carry equal authority, and have in them the nature of a law, as those of a father.
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(p) T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 102. 1.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain My son - He speaks to his scholars with…
My son - He speaks to his scholars with paternal authority and affection. Of thy mother - Those pious instructions, which thy mother instilled into thee in thy tender years.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 8. My son, hear] Father was the title…
Verse 8. My son, hear] Father was the title of preceptor, and son, that of disciple or scholar, among the Jews. But here the reference appears to be to the children of a family; the father and the mother have the principal charge, in the first instance, of their children's instruction. It is supposed that these parents have, themselves, the fear of the Lord, and that they are capable of giving the best counsel to their children, and that they set before them a strict example of all godly living. In vain do parents give good advice if their own conduct be not consistent. The father occasionally gives instruction; but he is not always in the family, many of those occupations which are necessary for the family support being carried on abroad. The mother - she is constantly within doors, and to her the regulation of the family belongs; therefore she has and gives laws. The wise man says in effect to every child, "Be obedient to thy mother within, and carefully attend to the instructions of thy father, that thou mayest the better see the reasons of obedience; and learn from him how thou art to get thy bread honestly in the world."
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Pro 1:8-9. My son, &c. — He speaks to…
Pro 1:8-9. My son, &c. — He speaks to his scholars with paternal authority and affection, to render them more attentive and obedient. Teachers among the Hebrews were commonly called fathers, and their scholars their sons. Hear the instruction of thy father — His good and wholesome counsels; and forsake not the law of thy mother — Those pious instructions which thy mother instilled into thee in thy tender years. This he adds, because children, when grown up, are very prone to slight their mothers’ advice, because of the infirmity of their sex, and because they have not that dependance upon, and expectation from their mothers, which they have from their fathers. They shall be an ornament, &c. — This will make thee amiable and honourable in the sight of God and of men, whereas the forsaking of those good counsels will make thee contemptible.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles Bridges 1846 · Public Domain Let the young mark the fear of the LORD…
Let the young mark the fear of the LORD connected with reverence to parents. Thus the opening of this book puts honour upon "the first commandment with promise." (Eph 6:2 . Compare 1Ti 5:4 .) God here, speaking by the mouth of a parent or teacher,†1 blends paternal tenderness with his Divine authority — My son. The command supposes the godly character of parents, and recognizes the responsibility of both parents.†2 Children are rational creatures. Instruction, not blind submission, must be inculcated. Yet they are wayward. Instruction must therefore be enforced with the authority of Law. God puts his own stamp upon parental discipline. Hear it — Forsake it not. Reverence for his mother’s law was the honourable mark of Timothy’s profession. (2Ti 1:5 ; 2Ti 3:14-15 .) Nor must this reverence be confined to the years of restraint. The disciple of the Bible will own himself to be a child in relative obligations, long after he has ceased to be a child in years. (Jer 35:8-10, Jer 35:18 .) Neither age nor rank gives any claim for exemption. Joseph — when ripe in years, the head of a family, and the first Lord in Egypt — bowed before his father’s feet. (Gen 46:29 ; Gen 48:12 .) Solomon, in the glory of his crown, forgot not the respect justly due to his mother.†3 Nor were the crown upon his head, and the chain of gold about Joseph’s neck (Compare Pro 4:9, with Gen 41:39, Gen 41:42 ), so graceful as this ornament of filial humility. (1Pe 5:5 .) This indeed commands the praise of the world, and may sometimes be a delusive, self-righteous dependence. But wherever it is grounded upon right principle, it is the "putting on of the Lord Jesus Christ" in his lovely example. (Rom 13:14 .) Though angels were subject to him, yet was he "subject to his parents." (Luk 2:51, with Heb 1:6 .) Yea, how did he honour his mother in his last dying command to his disciple — "Behold thy mother!" (Joh 19:27 .)
The same reciprocal obligation binds the spiritual father and his children. Authority softened by tenderness — instruction molded in parental endearment — will always command its measure of reverential and affectionate attention. Such was the Apostolical Ministry to the Churches of Philippi and Thessalonica. Humility, tenderness, mutual communion and cheerful subjection, formed the harmony of Christian love and happiness. (Php 4:9-19 . 1Th 2:7-13 .)
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Footnotes
†1 Thus the prophets were called Fathers — 2Ki 2:12 ; 2Ki 13:14 . Our blessed Lord used the same endearing address — Joh 21:5 . Compare Mat 9:2, Mat 9:22 . Thus the apostles also acknowledged both their individual converts and collective Churches — 1Ti 1:2 . 2Ti 1:2 . Tit 1:4 . 1Co 4:15 ; with 1Jn 2:1 ; 1Jn 5:2 .
†2 See Jdg 13:12 . No ancient system, so fully as the Bible, recognizes the Mother’s just and equal claims. Pro 6:20 ; Pro 15:20 ; Pro 20:20 ; Pro 23:22 ; Pro 30:17 . Lev 19:3 . Deu 21:18-21 . Cartwright observes, that the names of Mothers of good and bad kings are mentioned in Kings and Chronicles, as partakers in their credit or reproach. See also Sir 3:1-16 .
†3 1Ki 2:19-20 . See also Queen Esther’s respect for Mordecai, her reputed father — Est 2:20 .
Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs (1846) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Mother. The first precept is to learn of our…
Mother. The first precept is to learn of our elders, and the second to resist evil counsels, ver. 10. (Worthington) --- Our parents have the greatest influence over us. Solomon presupposes that they are virtuous and well informed. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain My son--This paternal form denotes a tender regard for…
My son--This paternal form denotes a tender regard for the reader. Filial sentiments rank next to piety towards God, and ensure most distinguished rewards (compare Pro 6:20; Eph 6:2-3).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain FATHERLY COUNSELS TO AVOID THE WAYS OF EVIL MEN,…
FATHERLY COUNSELS TO AVOID THE WAYS OF EVIL MEN, Pro_1:8-19.
8. Having thus stated in a beautiful and comprehensive aphorism the relation of true piety or religious principle to worthy intellectual attainments, illustrated by its opposite, and thus commenced his discourse or lecture by the recognition of God and his claims upon us, Solomon now proceeds to address his pupil in the second person singular, as if he were standing before him.
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My son — He personates a father, and addresses every reader as a son in affection. The formula occurs frequently in the first nine chapters, and is supposed by some to indicate the beginning of a new section. But this is not certain. Among the Hebrews, teachers were rightly regarded as in the place or stead of a father, and hence were called אבות, (abhoth,) fathers, and their pupils בנים, (banim,) sons, or children. Parents are the natural instructors of their children. Where they cannot instruct them themselves, they employ teachers as substitutes. Hence the maxim that the teacher is in loco parentis, in the place of the parent.
Hear — Attend to and observe.
The instruction — Musar, discipline, restraint, training, of thy father.
And forsake not — Cast not off nor reject.
Law of thy mother — Law in the sense of precepts, teachings, directions. This strong term, תורה, (torah,) law, may be here used to strengthen maternal authority; and the term mother may be suggested as the natural expansion of the idea, by the law of poetic parallelism. It has been justly observed that heathen moralists and legislators have magnified the authority of the father, giving him sometimes absolute power, but have made little of the mother. The divine morality teaches us to honour both father and mother. Nor is it without reason that the royal instructor begins just here his practical ethics, for this is the beginning-point and foundation of private and public virtue. Reverence for parents is, in the Scriptures, put next to reverence for God. The first commandment of the second table is, “Honour thy father and thy mother,” etc. Exo_20:12.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 8. instruction] or discipline, as in Pro_1:2-3; Pro_1:7.
8. instruction] or discipline, as in Pro_1:2-3; Pro_1:7.
law] or teaching R.V. marg. θεσμοὺς, LXX.
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First Address. Chap. Pro_1:8-19
Pro_1:8-9. In these two verses the writer passes to direct appeal. The form of appeal, My son, which is continually repeated throughout these opening chapters, strikes the key-note of the strain in which all the succeeding exhortations and counsels are cast. It indicates not only the fatherly relation which the Teacher assumes towards the young and inexperienced whom he has undertaken to instruct, but also the true source and authority of the teaching he will give them. The Law, though not clothed, as we have seen (Introd. pp. 12, 13) in this Book in its Jewish garb, is recognised in its eternal principles. “The instruction of the father,” and “the law of the mother” are to be accepted with childlike submission and unquestioning obedience, and will lend grace and dignity to the life and character, because and in so far as they are the instruction and the law of God Himself, the Universal Father, and because parents are His vicegerents in the education of their children (comp. Pro_6:20-21). And every true teacher is, in measure and degree, His and their deputy and representative. (See Deu_4:9; Deu_6:7; Deu_11:19; and compare the place of the 5th commandment in the Decalogue, as the link or hinge between the 1st and 2nd tables of the Law, and the extended obligation of that commandment to “governors, teachers, spiritual pastors and masters.”)
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (8) My son.—The address as of a master to…
(8) My son.—The address as of a master to his pupil. This phrase only occurs twice again in Proverbs, excepting in sections (2) and (4).
Law.—Rather, teaching. (Comp. Pro_3:1.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Vers. 8-19. 1. First admonitory discourse. Warning against enticements…
Vers. 8-19. 1. First admonitory discourse. Warning against enticements to robbery and bloodshed.
My son, hear the instruction of thy father. The transition in this verse from what may be regarded as filial obedience towards God to filial obedience towards parents is suggestive of the moral Law. The same admonition, in a slightly altered form, occurs again in Pr 6, "My son, keep thy father"s commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother". (cf. also Pro_4:1) My son; ybniB (b"ni) from Be (ben), "a son." The form of address here adopted was that in common use by teachers towards their pupils, and marks that superintending, loving, and fatherly care and interest which the former felt in and towards the latter. It occurs frequently in the introductory section, (Pro_2:1 Pro_3:1, 21 4:10, 20 5:1 6:1 7:1) and reappears again towards the close (Pro_23:15, Pro_23:19, 26 24:13, 21 27:11) in the teacher"s address. The mother of Lemuel uses it (Pro_31:2) in the strictly parental sense. In other passages of the Old Testament the teacher, on the other hand, is represented as a "father". (Jud_1:17:10 Isa_10:12 2Ki_2:21) We find the same relation assumed in the New Testament, both by St. Paul (1Co_4:15 Phm_1:10 Gal_4:19) and by St. John; (1Jn_2:1 1Jn_5:2) but under the economy of the gospel it has a deeper significance than here, as pointing to the "new birth," which, being a later revelation, lies outside the scope of the moral teaching of the Old Testament dispensation. The instruction (rsWm, musar); as carrying with it the sense of disciplinary education (cf. LXX, paideia ; Vulgate, disciplina; see also ver. 2), and of the correction with which it may be enforced, (cf. Pro_13:24 Pro_22:15 Pro_23:13, Pro_23:14) the writer attributes appropriately to the father, while the milder torah, "law," he uses of the mother (Delitzsch). Father. The nature of the exhortation conveyed in this verse requires that we should understand the terms "father" and "mother" in their natural sense as designating the parents of the persons addressed, though a symbolical meaning has Been attached to them by the rabbis (see Rabbi Salomon, in loc.), "father" being understood as representing God, and "mother," the people. But the terms are more than merely figurative expressions (Stuart). Those who look upon the Proverbs as the address of Solomon to his son Rehoboam naturally take "father" as standing for the former. Naamah, in this case must be the mother. (1Ki_14:31) It is almost unnecessary to state that pious parents are presupposed, and that only that instruction and law can be meant which is not inconsistent with the higher and more perfect Law of God (Gejerus, Wardlaw). And forsake not the law of thy mother. Forsake. The radical meaning of vFHi (tittosh) is that of "spreading," then of "scattering" (Aiken), and so the word comes to mean "forsake, reject, or neglect." The LXX reads apwsh , from apoyew , abjicere, "to push away, reject." Cf. abjicias (Arabic). The Vulgate has dimittas, i.e. "abandon," and the Syriac, obliviscaris, i.e. "forget." The law; trwOT (torath), construct case of hrwOT (torah), from the root hry (yarah), "to teach," hence here equivalent to "a law" in the sense of that which teaches a precept (doctrina, Jun. et Tremell., Piscat., Castal., Versions). With one exception, (Pro_8:10) it is the term which always expresses the instruction given by Wisdom (Delitzsch). The law (torah) of the mother is that preceptive teaching which she imparts orally to her son, but torah is also used in a technical sense as lex, nomov desmov , that which is laid down and established, a decretum or institutum, and designates some distinct provision or ordinance, as the law of sacrifice. (Lev_6:7) In Jos_1:8 we find it employed to signify the whole body of the Mosaic Law (sepher hatorah). Mother. Not inserted here as a natural expansion of the idea of the figure required by the laws of poetic parallelism (as Zockler), since this weakens the force of the passage. Mothers are mentioned because of their sedulousness in imparting instruction (Bayne).
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Vers. 8, 9. Filial piety.
The teacher speaks under the assumed form of a father, like St. Paul, (1Co_4:15 Phm_1:10) to give the more affectionate zest to his appeal. And the word "mother" is brought in by poetical parallelism, enhancing the parental image, We may include the parent and the teacher in one conception. The duty owed to both is analogous. And the teacher may be at the same time the parent.
I DUTY TO PARENTS AND EARLY TEACHERS COMES NEXT TO DUTY TO GOD. It occupies that place in the Decalogue. Pythagoras and Plato, and the wise of antiquity, generally taught that parents came next to the gods, and were to be honoured even as the gods. The family is the keystone of society. Parents are the earliest representatives to children of the principle of authority, of "other will," and, in this sense, of God.
II THE TRUE PARENT IS THE BEST EARLY TEACHER,
1. He has the fresh mind to deal with, the opportunity of the first word, the early and deepest impression.
2. He is the most sincere of teachers, or has the least temptation to be insincere. His one object is the child"s good.
3. He is the most loving.
4. The father and the mother should combine in this work the father to train the young mind to principle, the mother to inspire pure sentiment. The masculine influence deals with the general, with law and relation in life, with the logic or mathematics of conduct; the feminine, with the particular, with the details of behaviour, with the concrete expression of right thought and feeling. Neither can be dispensed with.
III REVERENCE FOR PARENTS AND TEACHERS IMPARTS GRACE AND BEAUTY TO THE BEARING. The adoption of their example and instruction is compared, in Oriental illustration, to the wearing of a "pleasant chaplet" on the head (and the necklace of pearls), as at feasts and entertainments a wreath of roses or other flowers. The former was a general custom of antiquity, both for men and women. We have no exact parallel to it, and must recur to the thought of good or graceful dress in general. What significance, as we all know, is there in dress to make or mar the personal appearance! But the spiritual, not the material "habit" is the best dress, and will set off the most ungainly form. It is natural to wish to appear graceful, and one of the first manifestations of the artistic instinct in humanity is in this attention to dress. Let the instinct, then, have a moral or religious turn, and true beauty be found above all in the moral idea, in the attire of the soul, "the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which in the sight of God is of great price." The complimentary deferences to one another in polite society, the slight submissions in word and deed, the trifling self-abnegations which give a transient perfume and refinement to social hours, all these do but mimic or represent something of more permanent value, the principle of obedience, the will governed by law, the character formed by the true, which is also the good and the beautiful. J.
Vers. 8, 9. The duty and the beauty of filial piety.
The wise teacher here commends to us the excellency of the filial spirit. And it is worthy of notice that he exhorts the young to be obedient to their mother as well as mindful of the counsels of their father. We think of
I THE DUTY OF FILIAL PIETY, based upon and arising from:
1. The relation itself. It is enough that our parents are our parents, and that we are their offspring. On that simple ground it behoves us to listen and to obey.
2. The fact that they have expended on us far more than any other beings. Who shall measure the thought, the anxiety, the solicitude, the prayers, the labours, the sacrifices, which they have cheerfully devoted to us?
3. The fact that it is the will of God that we should render such filial honour. (Exo_20:12 Lev_19:3 Deu_5:16 Eph_6:2)
II THE BEAUTY OF FILIAL PIETY. "They shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck" (ver. 9). Youth, especially young manhood, is apt to think that there is something unbecoming, ungraceful if not disgraceful, in rendering filial obedience; it is apt to imagine that there is something admirable in breaking away, in even early years, from parental guidance, and establishing an independence of judgment and action. In truth, there is nothing more offensive, nothing morally uglier, than such premature assertiveness. On the other hand, nothing is more comely, nothing more attractive, nothing more intrinsically beautiful, than filial devotedness. It has all the best elements of spiritual excellency:
(1) humility, a lowly view of ourselves;
(2) responsiveness to strong and tender love;
(3) the recognition of real worth, of the claims of age and wisdom;
(4) cheerful acceptance of the ordination of nature, and acquiescence in the will of God.
Those who illustrate the duty of filial piety live in the admiration of the wise, and walk in the sunshine of the smile of the Supreme. C.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Hear the instruction of thy father.
Pro_1:8
Hear the instruction of thy father.
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The family
The first and great commandment is the fear of God, and the second, which is next to it and like to it, is obedience to parents. Wherever the root is planted this is the first fruit which it bears. God honours His own ordinance, the family. He gives parents rank next after Himself. Filial love stands near, and leans on godliness. God is the author of the family constitution. Its laws are the marriage of one man with one woman, the support of children by parents, and the support of decayed parents by the children grown. The polygamy of Eastern peoples has made the richest portions of the earth like a howling wilderness. In the constitution of nature there is a self-acting apparatus for punishing the transgression of the family laws. The Divine institute is hedged all round. The prickles tear the flesh of those who are so foolish as to kick against them. In practice, and for safety, it is well to keep families together as long as it is possible. To violate the providential laws is both a crime and a blunder. Love to parents ranks next under reverence to God. When France threw off the first commandment the second went after it. (William Arnot, D.D.)
Forsake not the law of thy mother.
For mothers sake
What a mysterious thing--what a mysterious, magical, Divine thing is a mothers love! How it nestles about the heart, and goes with the man, and speaks to him pure words, and is like a guardian angel! This young man (of whom he was then preaching) could never take any money that came to him from his mother and spend that upon a Sunday excursion or a treat to a theatre. It was a sacred thing with him; it had the impression and the inscription of his mothers image, and his mothers purity, and his mothers piety, and his mothers love. It was a sacred thing to him, and these things that he felt to be questionable, or felt to be sinful, were always to be provided for by other resources and by money that came to him from other hands. Oh! there is the poetry of the heart, the poetry of our home and domestic affections, the poetry of the religion of the heart and the altar, about that little incident, and it strikes me as being perfectly beautiful. (Thomas Binney.)
A mothers influence
The late Dr. Harvey Goodwin, Bishop of Carlisle, gave the following account of his mother: I am one of those who lost their mother at a very early age. I was very little over six years old when my dear mother was suddenly taken from me. I mention my age that I may put before you the effect which my mothers teaching had upon me, and the tender age at which it ceased, and I think we may draw from it some useful lessons. Now, then, when I look back to the teaching of my mother, what do I think of it? I say deliberately, and without any amount of exaggeration, that though I have since that time been at school, been under tutors, been at college, and had all the experience of life, I do not believe that all the lessons that I have received since that time put together amount in value and in importance to the lessons which I learned from my mother before I was seven years old. I will tell you one of the first lessons she taught me. She taught me always to speak the truth; and the lesson she gave me concerning truth has never been lost upon me. She always brought me up in the feeling that what was to be spoken was to be the whole truth and nothing but the truth; that there was to be no evasion, that everything was to be stated simply and honestly, exactly as it occurred; and I will tell you how she enforced that lesson--she always spoke truth to me. I never caught her in any kind of deceit; I always knew that what she said to me she meant. I was always sure that if she told me she was going to do a thing she would do it, and no amount of coaxing or persuasion would lead her to change her mind. Absolute truth, absolute in the smallest matters, that was her practice, and that was the lesson that she impressed upon me.
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 1:8–9:18 My child (Literally My son): Like other wisdom…
1:8–9:18 My child (Literally My son): Like other wisdom literature of the ancient Near East, much of chs 1–9 is a father’s (and occasionally, a mother’s) instruction to a son. Because the son is being trained to follow in his father’s profession, much of the teaching concerns the son’s occupation. The NLT usually translates the term as child, since the lessons are applicable to both sons and daughters.
1:8-19 There are two paths (1:15) in the book of Proverbs: a wise, just way and a foolish, evil way. The parents represent the wise way and encourage their child to follow it.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.