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.
Get wisdom. Get understanding. Don’t forget, and don’t deviate from the words of my mouth.
Don’t forsake her, and she will preserve you. Love her, and she will keep you.
Wisdom is supreme. Get wisdom. Yes, though it costs all your possessions, get understanding.
Esteem her, and she will exalt you. She will bring you to honor when you embrace her.
She will give to your head a garland of grace. She will deliver a crown of splendor to you.”
Listen, my son, and receive my sayings. The years of your life will be many.
I have taught you in the way of wisdom. I have led you in straight paths.
When you go, your steps will not be hampered. When you run, you will not stumble.
Take firm hold of instruction. Don’t let her go. Keep her, for she is your life.
Don’t enter into the path of the wicked. Don’t walk in the way of evil men.
Avoid it, and don’t pass by it. Turn from it, and pass on.
For they don’t sleep unless they do evil. Their sleep is taken away, unless they make someone fall.
For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence.
But the path of the righteous is like the dawning light that shines more and more until the perfect day.
The way of the wicked is like darkness. They don’t know what they stumble over.
My son, attend to my words. Turn your ear to my sayings.
Let them not depart from your eyes. Keep them in the center of your heart.
For they are life to those who find them, and health to their whole body.
Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it is the wellspring of life.
Put away from yourself a perverse mouth. Put corrupt lips far from you.
Let your eyes look straight ahead. Fix your gaze directly before you.
Make the path of your feet level. Let all of your ways be established.
Don’t turn to the right hand nor to the left. Remove your foot from evil.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1, 4, 7, 11, 12, 16, 17, 18, 22, 23, 26 He speaketh this in the person of a Preacher…
He speaketh this in the person of a Preacher and Minister, which is as a father unto the people, read Prov. 2:8.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–27 Pro 4:1 Hear, ye children, the instruction of a…
Pro 4:1 Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding.
Ver. 1. Hear, ye children.] Audite senem, iuvenes, quem iuvenem senes audierunt: Hear me, now an old man, O ye youths, whom old men once gladly heard, when I was but a youth. With this speech Augustus pacified his mutinous army: -
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“ Aspice, vultus
Ecce meos, utinamque oculos in pectore posses
Inserere, et patrias intus deprendere curas.” {a}
“Behold my looks; and oh that thou couldst see
Mine anxious thoughts and careful heart for thee!”
{a} Sol Phaetonti, apud Ovid. Met.
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 On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 Of a father; of me your teacher, who have…
Of a father; of me your teacher, who have paternal authority over you, and affection to you.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv1, 14, 20 Here we have,
Here we have,
I. The invitation which Solomon gives to his children to come and receive instruction from him (Pro 4:1, Pro 4:2): Hear, you children, the instruction of a father. That is, 1. "Let my own children, in the first place, receive and give good heed to those instructions which I set down for the use of others also." Note, Magistrates and ministers, who are entrusted with the direction of larger societies, are concerned to take a more than ordinary care for the good instruction of their own families; from this duty their public work will by no means excuse them. This charity must begin at home, though it must not end there; for he that has not his children in subjection with all gravity, and does not take pains in their good education, how shall he do his duty as he ought to the church of God? Ti1 3:4, Ti1 3:5. The children of those that are eminent for wisdom and public usefulness ought to improve in knowledge and grace in proportion to the advantages they derive from their relation to such parents. Yet it may be observed, to save both the credit and the comfort of those parents whose children do not answer the hopes that arose from their education, that Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, was far from being either one of the wisest or one of the best. We have reason to think that thousands have got more good by Solomon's proverbs than his own son did, to whom they seem to have been dedicated. 2. Let all young people, in the days of their childhood and youth, take pains to get knowledge and grace, for that is their learning age, and then their minds are formed and seasoned. He does not say, My children, but You children. We read but of one son that Solomon had of his own; but (would you think it?) he is willing to set up for a schoolmaster, and to teach other people's children! for at that age there is most hope of success; the branch is easily bent when it is young and tender. 3. Let all that would receive instruction come with the disposition of children, though they be grown persons. Let all prejudices be laid aside, and the mind be as white paper. let them be dutiful, tractable, and self-diffident, and take the word as the word of a father, which comes both with authority and with affection. We must see it coming from God as our Father in heaven, to whom we pray, from whom we expect blessings, the Father of our spirits, to whom we ought to be in subjection, that we may live. We must look upon our teachers as our fathers, who love us and seek our welfare; and therefore though the instruction carry in it reproof and correction, for so the word signifies, yet we must bid it welcome. Now, (1.) To recommend it to us, we are told, not only that it is the instruction of a father, but that it is understanding, and therefore should be welcome to intelligent creatures. Religion has reason on its side, and we are taught it by fair reasoning. It is a law indeed (Pro 4:2), but that law is founded upon doctrine, upon unquestionable principles of truth, upon good doctrine, which is not only faithful, but worthy of all acceptation. If we admit the doctrine, we cannot but submit to the law. (2.) To rivet it in us, we are directed to receive it as a gift, to attend to it with all diligence, to attend so as to know it, for otherwise we cannot do it, and not to forsake it by disowning the doctrine or disobeying the law.
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II. The instructions he gives them. Observe,
1. How he came by these instructions; he had them from his parents, and teaches his children the same that they taught him, Pro 4:3, Pro 4:4. Observe, (1.) His parents loved him, and therefore taught him: I was my father's son. David had many sons, but Solomon was his son indeed, as Isaac is called (Gen 17:19) and for the same reason, because on him the covenant was entailed. He was his father's darling, above any of his children. God had a special kindness for Solomon (the prophet called him Jedidiah, because the Lord loved him, Sa2 12:25), and for that reason David had a special kindness for him, for he was a man after God's own heart. If parents may ever love one child better than another, it must not be till it plainly appears that God does so. He was tender, and only beloved, in the sight of his mother. Surely there was a manifest reason for making such a distinction when both the parents made it. Now we see how they showed their love; they catechised him, kept him to his book, and held him to a strict discipline. Though he was a prince, and heir-apparent to the crown, yet they did not let him live at large; nay, therefore they tutored him thus. And perhaps David was the more strict with Solomon in his education because he had seen the ill effects of an undue indulgence in Adonijah, whom he had not crossed in any thing (Kg1 1:6), as also in Absalom. (2.) What his parents taught him he teaches others. Observe, [1.] When Solomon was grown up he not only remembered, but took a pleasure in repeating, the good lessons his parents taught him when he was a child. He did not forget them, so deep were the impressions they made upon him. He was not ashamed of them, such a high value had he for them, nor did he look upon them as the childish things, the mean things, which, when he became a man, a king, he should put away, as a disparagement to him; much less did he repeat them: as some wicked children have done, to ridicule them, and make his companions merry with them, priding himself that he had got clear from grave lessons and restraints. [2.] Though Solomon was a wise man himself, and divinely inspired, yet, when he was to teach wisdom, he did not think it below him to quote his father and to make use of his words. Those that would learn well, and teach well, in religion, must not affect new-found notions and new-coined phrases, so as to look with contempt upon the knowledge and language of their predecessors; if we must keep to the good old way, why should we scorn the good old words? Jer 6:16. [3.] Solomon, having been well educated by his parents, thought himself thereby obliged to give his children a good education, the same that his parents had given him; and this is one way in which we must requite our parents for the pains they took with us, even by showing piety at home, Ti1 5:4. They taught us, not only that we might learn ourselves, but that we might teach our children, the good knowledge of God, Psa 78:6. And we are false to a trust if we do not; for the sacred deposit of religious doctrine and law was lodged in our hands with a charge to transmit it pure and entire to those that shall come after us, Ti2 2:2. [4.] Solomon enforces his exhortations with the authority of his father David, a man famous in his generation upon all accounts. Be it taken notice of, to the honour of religion, that the wisest and best men in every age have been most zealous, not only for the practice of it themselves, but for the propagating of it to others; and we should therefore continue in the things which we have learned, knowing of whom we have learned them, Ti2 3:14.
2. What these instructions were, Pro 4:4-13.
(1.) By way of precept and exhortation. David, in teaching his son, though he was a child of great capacity and quick apprehension, yet to show that he was in good earnest, and to affect his child the more with what he said, expressed himself with great warmth and importunity, and inculcated the same thing again and again. So children must be taught. Deu 6:7, Thou shalt whet them diligently upon thy children. David, though he was a man of public business, and had tutors for his son, took all this pains with him himself.
[1.] He recommends to him his Bible and his catechism, as the means, his father's words (Pro 4:4), the words of his mouth (Pro 4:5), his sayings (Pro 4:10), all the good lessons he had taught him; and perhaps he means particularly the book of Psalms, many of which were Maschils - psalms of instruction, and two of them are expressly said to be for Solomon. These, and all his other words, Solomon must have an eye to. First, He must hear and receive them (Pro 4:10), diligently attend to them, and imbibe them, as the earth drinks in the rain that comes often upon it, Heb 6:7. God thus bespeaks our attention to his word: Hear, O my son! and receive my sayings. Secondly, He must hold fast the form of sound words which his father gave him (Pro 4:4): Let thy heart retain my words; and except the word be hid in the heart, lodged in the will and affections, it will not be retained. Thirdly, He must govern himself by them: Keep my commandments, obey them, and that is the way to increase in the knowledge of them, Joh 7:17. Fourthly, He must stick to them and abide by them: "Decline not from the words of my mouth (Pro 4:5), as fearing they will be too great a check upon thee, but take fast hold of instruction (Pro 4:13), as being resolved to keep thy hold and never let it go." Those that have a good education, though they strive to shake it off, will find it hang about them a great while, and, if it do not, their case is very sad.
[2.] He recommends to him wisdom and understanding as the end to be aimed at in the use of these means; that wisdom which is the principal wisdom, get that. Quod caput est sapientia eam acquire sapientiam - Be sure to mind that branch of wisdom which is the top branch of it, and that is the fear of God, Pro 1:7. Junius and Tremellius. A principle of religion in the heart is the one thing needful; therefore, First, Get this wisdom, get this understanding, Pro 4:5. And again, "Get wisdom, and with all thy getting, get understanding, Pro 4:7. Pray for it, take pains for it, give diligence in the use of all appointed means to attain it. Wait at wisdom's gate, Pro 8:34. Get dominion over thy corruptions, which are thy follies: get possession of wise principles and the habits of wisdom. Get wisdom by experience, get it above all thy getting; be more in care and take more pains to get this than to get the wealth of this world; whatever thou forgettest, get this, reckon it a great achievement, and pursue it accordingly." True wisdom is God's gift, and yet we are here commanded to get it, because God gives it to those that labour for it; yet, after all, we must not say, Our might and the power of our hand have gotten us this wealth. Secondly, Forget her not (Pro 4:5), forsake her not (Pro 4:6), let her not go (Pro 4:13), but keep her. Those that have got this wisdom must take heed of losing it again by returning to folly: it is indeed a good part, that shall not be taken from us; but then we must take heed lest we throw it from us, as those do that forget it first, and let it slip out of their minds, and then forsake it and turn out of its good ways. That good thing which is committed to us we must keep, and not let it drop, through carelessness, nor suffer it to be forced from us, nor suffer ourselves to be wheedled out of it; never let go such a jewel. Thirdly, Love her (Pro 4:6), and embrace her (Pro 4:8), as worldly men love their wealth and set their hearts upon it. Religion should be very dear to us, dearer than any thing in this world; and, if we cannot reach to be great masters of wisdom, yet let us be true lovers of it; and what grace we have let us embrace it with a sincere affection, as those that admire its beauty. Fourthly, "Exalt her, Pro 4:8. Always keep up high thoughts of religion, and do all thou canst to bring it into reputation, and maintain the credit of it among men. Concur with God in his purpose, which is to magnify the law and make it honourable, and do what thou canst to serve that purpose." Let Wisdom's children not only justify her, but magnify her, and prefer her before that which is dearest to them in this world. In honouring those that fear the Lord, though they are low in the world, and in regarding a poor wise man, we exalt wisdom.
(2.) By way of motive and inducement thus to labour for wisdom, and submit to the guidance of it, consider, [1.] It is the main matter, and that which ought to be the chief and continual care of every man in this life (Pro 4:7): Wisdom is the principal thing; other things which we are solicitous to get and keep are nothing to it. It is the whole of man, Ecc 12:13. It is that which recommends us to God, which beautifies the soul, which enables us to answer the end of our creation, to live to some good purpose in the world, and to get to heaven at last; and therefore it is the principal thing. [2.] It has reason and equity on its side (Pro 4:11): "I have taught thee in the way of wisdom, and so it will be found to be at last. I have led thee, not in the crooked ways of carnal policy, which does wrong under colour of wisdom, but in right paths, agreeable to the eternal rules and reasons of good and evil." The rectitude of the divine nature appears in the rectitude of all the divine laws. Observe, David not only taught his son by good instructions, but led him both by a good example and by applying general instructions to particular cases; so that nothing was wanting on his part to make him wise. [3.] It would be much for his own advantage: "If thou be wise and good, thou shalt be so for thyself." First, "It will be thy life, thy comfort, thy happiness; it is what thou canst not live without:" Keep my commandments and live, Pro 4:4. That of our Saviour agrees with this, If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments, Mat 19:17. It is upon pain of death, eternal death, and in prospect of life, eternal life, that we are required to be religious. "Receive wisdom's sayings, and the years of thy life shall be many (Pro 4:10), as many in this world as Infinite Wisdom sees fit, and in the other world thou shalt live that life the years of which shall never be numbered. Keep her therefore, whatever it cost thee, for she is thy life, Pro 4:13. All thy satisfaction will be found in this;" and a soul without true wisdom and grace is really a dead soul. Secondly, "It will be thy guard and guide, thy convoy and conductor, through all the dangers and difficulties of thy journey through this wilderness. Love wisdom, and cleave to her, and she shall preserve thee, she shall keep thee (Pro 4:6) from sin, the worst of evils, the worst of enemies; she shall keep thee from hurting thyself, and then none else can hurt thee." As we say, "Keep thy shop, and thy shop will keep thee;" so, "Keep thy wisdom, and thy wisdom will keep thee." It will keep us from straits and stumbling-blocks in the management of ourselves and our affairs, Pro 4:12. 1. That our steps be not straitened when we go, that we bring not ourselves into such straits as David was in, Sa2 24:14. Those that make God's word their rule shall walk at liberty, and be at ease in themselves. 2. That our feet do not stumble when we run. If wise and good men be put upon sudden resolves, the certain rule of God's word which they go by will keep them even then from stumbling upon any thing that may be pernicious. Integrity and uprightness will preserve us. Thirdly, "It will be thy honour and reputation (Pro 4:8): Exalt wisdom (do thou but show thy good-will to her advancement) and though she needs not thy service she will abundantly recompense it, she shall promote thee, she shall bring thee to honour." Solomon was to be a king, but his wisdom and virtue would be more his honour than his crown or purple; it was that for which all his neighbours had him so much in veneration; and no doubt, in his reign and David's, wise and good men stood fairest for preferment. However, religion will, first or last, bring all those to honour that cordially embrace her; they shall be accepted of God, respected by all wise men, owned in the great day, and shall inherit everlasting glory. This he insists on (Pro 4:9): "She shall give to thy head an ornament of grace in this world, shall recommend thee both to God and man, and in the other world a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee, a crown that shall never totter, a crown of glory that shall never wither." That is the true honour which attends religion. Nobilitas sola est atique unica virtus - Virtue is the only nobility! David having thus recommended wisdom to his son, no marvel that when God bade him ask what he would he prayed, Lord, give me a wise and an understanding heart. We should make it appear by our prayers how well we are taught.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–27 Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father,.... Either…
Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father,.... Either of God their father, as Gersom interprets it; or rather of Solomon their father: and so he recommends his instruction from the relation he stood in to them; for, since he was their father, he would give them no bad instruction; and, since they were his children, they ought to receive it: by whom are meant, not his children in a natural sense, or the children of his body; but his disciples, such who applied to him for knowledge, and whom he undertook to learn;
and attend to know understanding; what would serve to enlighten, enlarge, improve, and inform their understandings; what would lead them into the knowledge and understanding of things divine and spiritual, and which would be worth knowing; and of having their understandings stored and enriched with.
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 On vv1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 16, 17, 18, 19, 23, 24, 25, 26 An exhortation to the study of wisdom, is forced…
An exhortation to the study of wisdom, is forced by various arguments, ver. 1-13. A caution against bad company, ver. 14-19. Directions for the attaining and keeping of wisdom, ver. 20-27.
A father - Of me, who have paternal authority over you and affection for you.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 21, 23, 24, 26, 27 The preceptor calls his pupils, and tells them how…
CHAPTER IV
The preceptor calls his pupils, and tells them how himself was
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educated, 1-4;
specifies the teachings he received, 5-19;
and exhorts his pupil to persevere in well-doing, and to avoid
evil, 20-27.
NOTES ON CHAP. IV
Verse 1. Hear, ye children] Come, my pupils, and hear how a father instructed his child. Such as I received from my father I give to you, and they were the teachings of a wise and affectionate parent to his only son, a peculiar object of his regards, and also those of a fond mother.
He introduces the subject thus, to show that the teaching he received, and which he was about to give them, was the most excellent of its kind. By this he ensured their attention, and made his way to their heart. Teaching by precept is good; teaching by example is better; but teaching both by precept and example is best of all.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1, 4, 10, 14, 23, 24 Pro 4:1-3. Hear, &c., the instruction of a father…
Pro 4:1-3. Hear, &c., the instruction of a father — Of me, who have paternal authority over you, and great affection for you. For I give you, good doctrine — Not vain or foolish, much less false or pernicious counsels, but such as are true and profitable. Forsake ye not my law — God’s law or commands delivered to you by my mouth. For I was my father’s son — In a special sense, his best beloved son, and designed to be his successor on the throne; tender and only beloved, &c. — Young and tender in years, and capable of any impressions, and tenderly educated. Houbigant renders the verse, For I was the principal son of my father, the only beloved of my mother. These circumstances are mentioned to show the necessity and great benefit of wholesome instruction, which his royal parents would not neglect, no, not in his tender years; and thereby to prepare and excite his hearers or readers, by his example, to receive instruction.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 22, 23, 24, 27 The words “ye children” indicate as usual a new…
The words “ye children” indicate as usual a new section returning, after the break of Pro 3:27-35, to the old strain of fatherly counsel.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Charles Bridges 1846 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 10, 14, 18, 19, 20, 23 SURELY these frequent repetitions are as the angel’s visit…
SURELY these frequent repetitions are as the angel’s visit to the prophet — "waking him, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep." (Zec 4:1 .) A mind like Solomon’s, "large even as the sand that is on the seashore" (1Ki 4:29 ), might readily have made every sentence a fresh discovery of his knowledge. But more suitable to our sluggish and forgetful heart is "the word of the LORD, precept upon precept." (Isa 28:13 .) Children are often bereft or destitute of a parental instructor. Here these orphans are taken up, and called to hear the instruction of a father. For truly does the wise man, like the apostle in after days, "exhort and charge, as a father doth his children." (1Th 2:11 .)
Solomon evidently speaks from the mouth of God, declaring his doctrine — his law. Therefore he claims attention to know understanding, for I give you good doctrine. (Ecc 12:9-11 .) To many, exciting (Eze 33:31-32 ), curious and speculative (2Ti 4:3-4 ), compromising (Isa 30:10 . Jer 5:31 ), self-righteous, self-exalting doctrine (Gal 1:6-7 ), is more attractive. But — young people! — remember — that which humbles the soul before God; that which exhibits the free grace of the Gospel; which melts down the will, consecrates the heart, imbues with the spirit of the cross — however unpalatable to the flesh — is alone good doctrine for the soul. Therefore forsake it not. Do not be carried away with the senseless cry, — ’Everybody thinks contrary.’ What is the judgment of the mass of mankind worth on the great subject of religion? "This their way is their folly." This is God’s stamp upon man’s "saying," however applauded and "approved" by successive generations. (Psa 49:13 .) Shall this world’s judgment be preferred to the word of God? "The morning" of the resurrection will reflect the glory of eternity upon the choice of the narrow path. (Psa 5:14 .)
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 On vv1, 3, 4, 7, 17, 18, 19, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 Father. He shews the greatest respect for his parents,…
Father. He shews the greatest respect for his parents, ver. 3. (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).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v1 Second Group of Admonitory or Gnomic Discourses
Second Group of Admonitory or Gnomic Discourses
Pro_4:1 to Pro_7:27
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7. Report of the teacher of wisdom concerning the good counsels in favor of piety, and the warnings against vice, which were given him in his youth by his father
Pro_4:1-27
1 Hearken, ye children, to a father’s instruction,
and attend to know understanding:
2 for I give you good doctrine;
forsake not my law.
3 For I was also a son to my father;
a tender and only (son) for my mother;
4 and he taught me and said to me:
“Let thine heart hold fast my words;
keep my commandments and thou shalt live!
5 Get wisdom, get understanding;
forget not, turn not from the words of my mouth!
6 Forsake her not and she shall preserve thee;
love her and she shall keep thee.
7 The highest thing is wisdom; get wisdom,
and with all that thou hast gotten get understanding!
8 Esteem her and she will exalt thee,
will bring thee honor if thou dost embrace her.
9 She will put upon thine head a graceful garland,
a glorious crown will she bestow upon thee.
10 Hearken, my son, and receive my sayings;
and the years of thy life shall be many.
11 In the way of wisdom have I taught thee,
I have guided thee in right paths.
12 When thou goest thy step shall not be straitened,
and when thou runnest thou shalt not stumble.
13 Hold fast upon instruction; let not go;
keep her, for she is thy life.
14 Into the path of the wicked enter thou not,
and walk not in the way of the evil.
15 Avoid it, enter not upon it;
turn from it, and pass away.
16 For they sleep not unless they sin;
their sleep is taken away unless they have caused (others) to fall;
17 for they eat the bread of wickedness,
and the wine of violence do they drink.
18 But the path of the just is like the light of dawn,
that groweth in brightness till the perfect day.
19 The way of the wicked is as darkness,
they know not at what they stumble.
20 My son, attend to my words,
incline thine ear to my sayings.
21 Let them not depart from thine eyes:
keep them in the midst of thine heart.
22 For they are life to those who find them,
and to their whole body health.
23 Above all that is to be guarded keep thy heart,
for out of it flow the currents of life.
24 Put away from thee perverseness of mouth,
and waywardness of lips put far from thee.
25 Thine eyes should look straight forward,
and thine eyelids look straight before thee.
26 Make straight the path of thy foot
and let all thy ways be established.
27 Turn not to the right or to the left,
remove thy foot from evil!”
GRAMMATICAL AND CRITICAL
Pro_4:2. [נָתַתִּי, an “affirmative” perfect (Bött. § 947, f.), anticipating a sure result, and so confirming confidence; not merely have I already given, etc.; it will always be found true. See like instances in Pro_4:11.—A.].
Pro_4:10. [A masculine verb agreeing with a fem. subject, the more readily because the verb precedes. The same thing recurs in Pro_4:25; in Pro_5:2; Pro_7:11; Pro_10:21; Pro_10:32; Pro_15:7 : Pro_16:3; Pro_18:6.—A.]
Pro_4:13. The fem. suffix in נִצְּרֶהָ refers strictly to חָכְמָה [מוּסָר being masculine], which idea, on account of its close relationship, could be easily substituted for מוּסָר (comp. Pro_1:3; Pro_15:33), and all the more readily because this idea was constantly before the poet’s mind as the main subject of his discourse. Like anomalies in the gender of suffixes may be found, e.g., in Isa_3:16, Jdg_21:21. [To emphasize the injunction the form of the verb is expanded from the simple נִצְרָהּ by doubling the middle radical by Dagesh forte dirimens, and by attaching the suffix in its fullest form. See Bött. § 500, 12; §§ 1042, b, 1043, 6.—A.].
Pro_4:14. [Fuerst takes תְּאַשֵּׁר in its more common causative and therefore transitive sense, supplying as its object לִבְּךָ; he reaches, however, the same result. The third declarative use of the Piel we have not found given here by any modern commentator.—A.].
Pro_4:16. [For the form given in the K’thibh יִכְשׁוּלוּ, see Green, § 88, Bött. § 367, β.—A .]
Pro_4:20. [The paragogic Imperative usually and naturally takes its place at the beginning of the clause; הַקְשִׁיבָה here, and in Pro_4:1 follows its object as well as the vocative בְּנִי. Bött. § 960, c.—A.].
Pro_4:21. יַלִּיזוּ fut. Hiphil from לוּז with a doubling of the first radical, as in יַלִּינוּ from לוּן. [Verb עו treated like a verb עע,—Green, § 160,1; Bött., § 1147, B. 3.—A.].
Pro_4:25. [Holden makes לְנֹכַח an object and not an adverbial modifier—“behold that which is right.” This can hardly be reconciled with the strict meaning of נֹכַח. For the peculiar יַיְשִׁרוּ, in which the first radical retains fully its consonant character, resisting quiescence, see Stuart, § 69, 2; Green, § 150, 1; Bött., 458, a, 498,12.—A.]
EXEGETICAL
1. The address to the sons, i.e., the pupils or hearers of the teacher of wisdom, in the plural number, appearing for the first time in Pro_4:1, and then recurring twice afterward, in Pro_5:7 and Pro_7:24 (as well as in one later instance, in the discourse of the personified Wisdom, Pro_8:32) announces the beginning of a new and larger series of proverbial discourses. This extends to the end of chap. 7, and is characterized by a preponderance of warning, and also by the clear and minute delineation of the by-paths of folly and vice which are to be avoided, that now takes the place of the tone, hitherto predominant, of positive appeals to strive after wisdom and the fear of God. A starting point for these admonitory discourses is furnished by the communication made in the preceding chapter, concerning the good instructions which the author as a child had had urged upon his notice by his father. The negative or admonitory import of these teachings of the father is now more fully developed in the discourses, some longer, some shorter, of the next three chapters. And among these special prominence is given to sins against chastity, which had not, it is true, been expressly named by the father, but still must now come under consideration as involving dangers especially seductive and ruinous for the son, as he grew up from boyhood to youth. To these therefore the poet reverts no less than three times in the course of the admonitions which he attaches to his account of the precepts of his father as given in chap. 4. (viz., Pro_5:3 sq.; Pro_6:24 sq.; Pro_7:5 sq). And in each instance the transition is made in a peculiarly natural way, and with a far more complete delineation of the repulsive details than had been earlier given on a similar occasion (Pro_3:16-19). Of the older expositors e.g., Egard, J. Lange, Starke, and of the more recent Elster are in favor of extending the father’s admonition from Pro_4:4 to the end of this chapter. In favor of these limits may be adduced especially the fact that Pro_4:26-27 form a peculiarly appropriate conclusion for the father’s discourse,—far more so not only than Pro_4:9 (with which Jerome, Bede, Lavater, the Würtemberg Bible, and most commentators of modern times, e.g., Ewald, Bertheau, Hitzig, [Muenscher, Kamph.] would close the discourse) but also than Pro_4:20, (to which point e.g., Umbreit would extend it). Against those who would regard Pro_5:1-6 as also belonging to the father’s address (Hansen, Delitzsch) we have the substance of these verses, which, at least from Pro_4:3 onward, seem no longer appropriate to an admonition addressed to a boy still “tender” (see Pro_4:3); we have besides the still more weighty fact that chap. 5 forms an indivisible whole, from which the first six verses can plainly not be separated, on account of the reference to them contained in Pro_4:8. It is furthermore by no means necessary that the address “ye sons” (Pro_5:7) should stand at the very commencement of the discourse where the poet resumes it. In reply to Hitzig who, for the sake of restoring a symmetrical relation of numbers, in the present chapter once more pronounces certain verses spurious (Pro_4:16-17; Pro_4:27), see the special remarks on these verses.
2. Pro_4:1-3. Hearken, ye children. It seems quite certain that this address, occurring only here and in Pro_5:7 and Pro_7:24, is occasioned by the fact, that the author designed to represent himself in and after Pro_4:4 as himself a son and the object of his father’s counsels and warnings. The aim was to present the example of the one son plainly before the many sons; for this is the relation in which the teacher of wisdom conceives of his hearers or readers. For this reason again he does not say, “my sons,” but “ye sons, ye children,” here as well as in Pro_5:7.—To a father’s correction, i.e., to the instruction of a man who is your spiritual father; not to the instruction of your several fathers. For, just as in Pro_1:8, the author does not intend in the first line to exhort to obedience to parents, but simply to obedience in general.—To learn understanding. The לָדַעַת בִּינָה here corresponds with לָדַעַת חָכְמָה in the superscription, Pro_1:2, and is therefore to be similarly understood. Hitzig’s idea “to know with the understanding” is evidently needlessly artificial.
Pro_4:2. For good doctrine, etc. לֶקַח, something received, handed over (see on Pro_1:5); the author here describes his doctrine in this way because he himself received the substance of it from his father. The LXX here translate the word outright by δῶρον (Vulg. donum).
Pro_4:3. For I also was a son to my father, i.e., “I also once stood in the relation to my (actual) father, in which you stand to me, your paternal instructor,” (Bertheau). [Muensch. less forcibly makes כִּי temporal: when I was, etc.]—A tender and only (son) to my mother, strictly, before my mother, in her sight; comp. Gen_17:18. The mention of the mother is probably occasioned here, as in Pro_1:8, by the poetic parallelism; for in what follows it does not occur again.—Tender, רַךְ, not equivalent, as sometimes, to “susceptible of impressions, tractable,” as the LXX conceive in translating it by ὑπήκοος; but the expression, in connection with יָחִיד, “an only one” (comp. Gen_22:2), indicates that the child has been to his parents an object of tender care; comp. Gen_33:13, where Jacob speaks of the tenderness of his children. Furthermore the LXX, doubtless in remembrance of the fact that Solomon, according to 1Ch_3:5, was not the only son of his mother, renders יָחִיד by ἀγαπώμενος (beloved). That several ancient manuscripts and versions have substituted for לִבֵּנֵי אִמִּי ,לִפְנֵי אִמִּי, the sons of my mother, doubtless rests upon the same consideration. The earlier exegesis in general thought far too definitely of Solomon as the only speaking subject in the whole collection of proverbs, and therefore imagined itself obliged in every allusion to a “father” or a “mother” of the poet, to think specifically of David and Bathsheba. This is also the explanation of the fact that the LXX in the verse following exchanged the singular, “he taught me and said,” for a plural (οῖ έ̓λεγον καὶ ἐδίδασκόν με), and accordingly represented all that follows as instruction proceeding from both parents.
3. Pro_4:4-9. Let thine heart hold fast my words. The father’s instruction begins quite in the same style as all the other admonitions in this first main division of the Book of Proverbs. At the end of Pro_4:4 the Syrian Version adds the words “and my law as the apple of thine eye,” which is, however, plainly a supplementary gloss from Pro_7:2, in which passage also the expression occurs, “keep my commandments and thou shalt live,” Bertheau regards the addition as original here also, in order thus to do away with the peculiarity of three members in Pro_4:4 (which is surrounded by nothing but distichs), and to make of the three clauses four. But the triple structure owes its origin simply to the fact that the first member, as an introductory formula for the following discourse, must necessarily be made to stand outside the series of clauses which are otherwise always arranged in pairs.
Pro_4:5. Get wisdom, get understanding, literally, “buy wisdom, buy understanding.” The doubling of the verb makes the demand more vehement; as Umbreit explains it, an “imitation of the exclamation of a merchant who is offering his wares.”—Forget not, turn not from the words of my mouth. The zeugma appears only in the translation, not in the original, since the verb שָׁכַח elsewhere, e.g., Psa_102:5, is found construed with מִן. In the idea of forgetting there is naturally involved a turning aside or away from the object.
Pro_4:7. The highest thing is wisdom. This is the interpretation to be here given, with Hitzig (following Mercer, De Dieu and some older expositors), to the expression רֵאשִׁית חָכְמָה. It is usually rendered “The beginning of wisdom,” [e.g. by the LXX, Vulg., Luther] and the following clauses, “get wisdom, etc.” are taken as the designation of that in which the beginning of wisdom consists, viz., in the “resolution to get wisdom” (Umbreit), or in the instant observance of the admonition which relates to this (comp. Elster on this passage [and also Kamph.]). But as the beginning of wisdom the fear of God is every where else designated (see Obs. on Pro_1:7); and for the absolute use of רֵאשִׁית in the sense of præstantissimum, summum (the highest, most excellent thing) we may compare on the one hand Job_29:25, and on the other Gen_1:1.—And with all that thou hast gotten get understanding. The beautiful verbal correspondence in the Hebrew phrase is well indicated in the above rendering [in which the ambiguity of the E. V. is avoided; with is not to be taken in the sense of in connection with, but with the expenditure of, or at the price of,—German um or für]. For the thought comp. Pro_3:14 sq.
Pro_4:8. Esteem her. The verb סִלְסֵל which occurs only here,—the Pilel of סלל,—might possibly, as an intensive formed from this verb, which as is well known signifies “to heap up, to build a way by mounds and embankments,” express the idea of enclosing with a wall, of a firm surrounding and enclosure. So the LXX understood it, translating by περιχαράκωσον αὐτὴν; so also the Chald., Syr., Vulg., and several modern interpreters, e.g., Bertheau,—all of whom find expressed in the word the idea of a loving clasp and embrace. It is however probably simpler and more in accordance with the sense of רוֹמֵם in the parallel clause to take the word, as Aben Ezra, Luther, and most modern interpreters do, in the sense of “to exalt, esteem;” [So H., M., N., St. agreeing with the E. V.]. With this conception also the second clause best agrees, for in this there is added to the exhortation to prize and honor wisdom, the other admonition to love her.—If thou dost embrace her. Wisdom here appears personified as a loved one or wife, whom one lovingly draws to him, and embraces; comp. Pro_5:20; Ecc_3:5.
Pro_4:9. She will put upon thy head a graceful wreath. Comp. Pro_1:9.—Will she bestow upon thee. The rare verb מִגֵּן which again in Hos_11:8 stands parallel with נָתַן, according to this passage and Gen_14:20 undoubtedly signifies to offer, to give, to present some one with something (construed with two accusatives). The old translations took it sometimes in the sense of protecting (LXX ὑπερασπίσῃ σου; Vulg.; proteget te; so the Syriac), as though it were a denominative from מָגֵן, shield. With this, however, the “glorious crown” does not correspond, which is evidently introduced as an ornament, and not as a protection and defence.
4. Pro_4:10-19. The father instructs his son concerning the way of wisdom (Pro_4:11; Pro_4:18) in which he should walk, in contrast with the ruinous path of impiety (Pro_4:14; Pro_4:19).—So shall the years of thy life be many. Comp. Pro_3:2. [Wordsworth says “This word חַיִּים is plural in the original, as in Pro_3:2, as if Solomon would comprehend the future life with the present, and add Eternity to Time.” He forgets that the abstract idea of life is never expressed by the singular of this noun except as its slat. constr. חֵי is used in formulas of adjuration, e.g., Gen_45:15-16; 1Sa_1:26, etc. See Lexicons generally, and Bött. § 697, 2, § 689, B. a. A.]
Pro_4:11. In the way of wisdom, i.e., not “in the way to wisdom,” but in the way in which Wisdom walks, here also again as it were personified,—a way which is lovely and peaceful (according to Pro_3:17), a way with “right paths” (lit., “paths of straightness,” comp. Pro_2:9; Pro_2:12) as the 2d member and the following verse describe it (comp. Job_18:7).—[Pro_4:12. The peculiar significance of such promises to an inhabitant of Palestine, see illustrated, e.g., in Hackett’s Illustrations of Scripture, p. 20.—A.].
Pro_4:13. Hold fast upon instruction; let not go; keep her; she is thy life, as the bestower of long life; Pro_3:2; Pro_3:16; Pro_3:18; see below, Pro_4:23.
Pro_4:14. And walk not, etc. אִשֵּׁר properly, to go straight on, here used of the bold, arrogant walk of the presumptuous; comp. Pro_9:6; Pro_23:19. To translate אַל־תְּאַשֵּׁר by “do not pronounce happy” (comp. Pro_3:18) as the LXX, Vulg., and Syr. propose, contradicts the parallelism with “enter not” in the first member.
Pro_4:15. Avoid it. On פָּרַע to abhor, reject, comp. Pro_1:25.—Turn from it and pass away,—i.e., even if thou hast entered upon it (עָלָיו) still turn aside from it and choose another way, which carries thee by the ruinous end of that one.
Pro_4:16-17. For they cannot sleep unless they sin, etc. Hitzig thinks that in this reference to the energy of the wicked in sinning there can be found no appropriate ground for the warning in Pro_4:15; he therefore declares Pro_4:16-17 a spurious interpolation, and at the same time inverts the order of the two following verses, i.e., makes the 19th the 18th; he then connects the כִּי, “for,” the only genuine fragment remaining of Pro_4:16, immediately with the דֶּרֶךְ רְשָׁעִים etc., of Pro_4:18 (19); “For…. the way of the wicked is as midnight, etc.” Since however no ancient MSS. or translation exhibits anything that favors this emendation, and since a certain irregular movement, an abandonment of that order of ideas which would seem simpler and more obvious, corresponds in general with the style of our author (comp. Pro_1:16 sq.; Pro_3:3 sq.; Pro_8:4 sq.), we may fairly disregard so violent a treatment. Besides, the substance of Pro_4:16-17, so far forth as they depict the way of the wicked as a restless, cruel and abominable course of procedure, is plainly quite pertinent as the foundation of a warning against this way. And that subsequently the concluding description of this way as a way of darkness (Pro_4:19) is not introduced until after the contrasted representation of the way of the pious (Pro_4:18), is an arrangement favorable to the general rhetorical effect of the whole, like several which we have already found, especially in Pro_3:34-35, and also at the end of chapters 1 and 2—Unless they have caused (others) to fall, i.e., unless they have betrayed into sin; the object—viz., others, in general—does not need to be here distinctly expressed. For the Hiphil יַכְשִׁילוּ, which should be the reading here according to the K’ri, in the ethical sense of “causing to stumble” in the way of truth and uprightness, comp. especially Mal_2:8, where the “causing to fall” is brought into even closer connection than in our passage with the idea of “turning from the way.” [The K’thibh would require the translation “they have stumbled,” i.e., (figuratively) sinned].—For they eat bread of wickedness, and wine of violence do they drink. Against the translation of Schultens, Muentinghe, Umbreit, Elster, [Kamphausen]: “for wickedness do they eat as bread, and violence do they drink as wine” (comp. Job_15:16; Job_34:7), may be adduced the position of the words, which should rather stand somewhat in this way—for they have eaten wickedness as bread for themselves—if designed to convey the meaning of a mere comparison. The expressions “bread of wickedness, wine of violent deeds,” plainly conveying a stronger meaning, remind us of the “bread of affliction,” Deu_16:3; of the “bread of sorrows,” Psa_127:2, and likewise of the “wine of the condemned” (יִיִןאֲנוּשִׁים) Amo_2:8.
Pro_4:18-19. Like the light of dawn that groweth in brightness till the perfect day, literally, “that grows and brightens (familiar Hebrew idiom, as in Jdg_4:24; Est_9:4; comp. Ewald, Lehrb. 280 b.) even to the establishing of the day.” נְכוֵֹן (const. state of the part. Niphal of כוּן) lit., the established, the (apparently) stationary position of the sun at noon (comp. the Greek το σταθερὸν τῆς μεσημβρίας, which however the LXX do not here employ). For נֹגַהּ, used of the brightness of the rising sun, comp. Isa_60:3; Isa_62:1 . The comparison of the path, i.e., the moral course, of the just with the light of the rising sun, bright and ever brightening, is most appropriate. If the whole path is light, a bright, clear knowledge of salvation, illumination by the heavenly light of divine revelation (comp. Pro_6:23; Pro_28:5; Isa_2:5, etc.) there can naturally be no idea of stumbling and falling suggested (comp. Joh_11:9-10); rather will he who walks in this way attain more and more to perfect clearness in the inward state of his heart and conscience, and therewith also in increasing measure to outward prosperity.—The way of the wicked is as darkness, the exact opposite to that of the righteous. אֲפֵלָה strictly “thick darkness,” midnight gloom. The degree of this darkness and its evil consequences for him who walks in it, the 2d clause clearly depicts; comp. Joh_11:9-10, and for the general subject, the previous delineation of the sudden destruction of the ungodly, Pro_1:27 sq.; also Pro_2:18; Pro_2:22; Pro_3:35.
5. Pro_4:20-27. The father’s admonition closes with an urgent warning to the son against forgetting this counsel, with a special reference to the ruinous consequences which such a forgetting will ensure.—Let them not depart from thine eyes. The meaning is “depart, escape,” just as in Pro_3:21. Bertheau’s interpretation is needlessly artificial,—“let them not withdraw them” (3 Plur. without a definite subject), i.e., let them not be withdrawn.
Pro_4:22., For they are life to those who find them: comp. Pro_3:2; Pro_3:16; Pro_4:13; and especially for the use of “find” in the sense of to attain or to be blessed with anything, see Pro_3:13; Pro_8:35.—And to their whole body health. Comp. Pro_3:8, where רִפְאוּת is found instead of the מַרְפֵא of our passage.
Pro_4:23. Above all that is to be guarded keep thy heart. מִכָּל־מִשְׁמָר literally, “more than every object of watching,” for this is beyond all question the sense of מִשְׁמָר, and not, as Aben Ezra and Jarchi take it, “a thing against which one must guard,” which would not correspond with the radical meaning of שָׁמַר. The heart as the chief object of moral watchfulness, is plainly nothing but the conscience, the pure moral consciousness of man, the ἀγαθὴ συνείδησις, 1Ti_1:5; 1Ti_1:19; 1Pe_3:16. So Hitzig, with unquestionable correctness, referring to Psa_51:10; Job_27:6; 1Sa_25:31.—For out of it (flow) currents of life. Lit., “issues of life” Bertheau) i.e., of life in the physico-organic as well as in the ethical sense; of life so far forth as it manifests itself in the normal course and movement of the functions of the bodily organism, just as also in the full development of the spiritual powers and their working upon external nature. Comp. remarks on Pro_2:8 sq. Hitzig also, who translates תּוֹצְאוֹת חַיִּים not quite appropriately by “paths of life,” admits the fact that the expression rests upon the recognition of the heart as the seat and fountain of the blood, and therefore also as the central home of the entire life of the physical being (in accordance with Lev_17:11; Deu_12:23; and in opposition to Bertheau, who denies this reference). So also Umbreit, except that he, with a view somewhat partial and obscure, conceives of the heart as the “seat of the sensibilities,” and the life that flows from it as the “general sensation of being.” [“All vital principles are lodged there, and only such as are good and holy will give you pleasure. The exercises of religion will be pleasant when they are natural, and flow easily out of their own fountain.” John Howe, Delighting in God.—A.]
Pro_4:24. Put away from thee perverseness of mouth, etc. “Following the first clause of Pro_4:23 the 24th and 25th verses warn against an arbitrary perverting of the moral judgment, into which evil passions so easily betray, and admonish not to give a misdirection to thought (the acies animi) within the department of morality” (Hitzig).—Let thine eyes look straight forward, etc. A prohibition not of an indolent “gazing about” (Bertheau), but of the false and evil look of the self-seeking, who does not intend honorable dealing with his neighbor, but seeks in all his course and dealing to outwit, to deceive and overpower him; comp. Pro_6:13; Pro_10:10; Pro_16:30; Sir_27:25; Mat_6:23.
Pro_4:26. Make straight the path of thy foot. plainly something that is possible only in connection with eyes that look straight forward and and correctly; this is therefore the necessary practical consequence of the course commended in the preceding verse. He only who is from the heart honorable and upright is able also in the individual forms of his moral action to avoid every false step.—Let all thy ways be established. יִכֹּנוּ does not mean “let them be sure” (Berth.), but “let them be definite, fixed,” which can be the case only with a course rightly regulated, straightforward, and’ sure; comp. Psa_119:133; Heb_12:13. The latter passage plainly contains an allusion to our verse, the first member of which according to the LXX reads: Ὀρθὰς τροχιὰς ποίει σοῖς ποσίν.
Pro_4:27. Turn not to the right or to the left, keep thy foot far from evil. This fuller explanation of that fixedness and certainty of the way which is demanded in Pro_4:26 completes the father’s admonition in a way altogether appropriate, and is therefore neither to be declared, with Hitzig, a spurious addition, nor is it, in agreement with Bertheau, to be deprived of its position and meaning as a concluding appeal, by receiving into the text as genuine the two verses which appear after it in the LXX (and Vulgate): Ὀδοὺς γὰρ τὰς ἐκ δεξιῶν οἶδεν ὸ θεός, διεστραμμέναι δέ εἰσιν αἱ ἐξ ἀριστερῶν. Αὐτὸς δὲ ὀρθὰς ποιήσει τὰς τροχιάς σου, τὰς δὲ πορείας σου ἐν εἰρήνῃ πρόαξει. These two verses, whose substance appears to be a mere repetition from Pro_4:26-27, seem to owe their origin to the design to secure here again, as in the preceding section (Pro_4:10-19) a full decade of verses. In opposition to this view, arbitrary and theoretical, that the structure of the paragraphs or strophes in the chapters before us is uniformly equal, i.e., always consisting of ten verses—a view to which even Bertheau attaches much importance—see, above, the Exeget. Notes on chap. 3, No. 1.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
The counsel given by the pious and wise father to his son begins with the appeal to him to hold fast his words (Pro_4:4), and ends with an earnest warning against a course made insecure and dangerous by disregard of these words (Pro_4:20-27). Obedience to the word of revealed truth as transmitted within the community of the children of God, and bequeathed by parents to their sons,—this is the general statement of the import of the demands of this chapter as a whole, so far forth as it may be reduced to a single brief expression. It is essentially, as Melancthon says, “adhortationes ad studium obedientiæ et ad diligentiam regendi disciplinam,” that are contained in this passage. The whole is a chapter on the right (Christian) training of children, an exhibition of the nature of that chief manifestation of the Hhokmah [practical wisdom], which in the general superscription of the book (Pro_1:3; comp. Pro_1:7) was designated as מוּסָר or discipline.1 To this chief end, the holding his son to discipline, to obedience, and the cherishing of his wholesome words and teachings, all the other prominent ideas which find expression in the father’s discourse are made subservient; the exhibition of wisdom as he one costly jewel, whose acquisition is above every other, and if necessary, at the cost of all other possessions, to be sought and secured (Pro_4:5-9; comp. Mat_13:44-46); the emphatic admonition to be subject to “discipline,” and lot to let it go. even because it is the life of the true and obedient child of God (Pro_4:13); the clear delineation of the two paths; the way of darkness in which the ungodly walk, and the way of light in which the pious and wise are found Pro_4:14-19); the counsel to guard with all diligence not merely the word of truth received into the heart (Pro_4:20-22; comp. the ἔμφυτος λόγος Jam_1:18), but also the heart itself, as the seat of the conscience, and the source of all life and prosperity (Pro_4:23); and finally the commendation of a life of honor and integrity, without turning to the right hand or to the left, as the salutary result of that inward disposition which is both pure and sure (Pro_4:24-27). That a pure heart, i.e., one purified by the grace of God, and with this a firm heart, i.e., one firmly rooted in truth as its ground, is the source and common fountain for the successful development of all the main activities and functions of human life, those belonging to the sphere of sense, as well as to the psychical and spiritual realms, and that this must more and more manifest itself as such a centre of the personality, sending forth light and life;—this thought, expressed in Pro_4:23 in a way peculiarly vigorous and suggestive, unquestionably presents the most profound, comprehensive and controlling truth, that the father, in the course of his counsels and warnings, gives to his son, standing before the portal of the school of life, to be borne with him on his way (comp. the advice of Tobias to his son: Tob_4:6).—Yet we must also mark as one of the most noteworthy of the fundamental ideas of this discourse, the designation, contained in Pro_4:7, of wisdom as the “chief thing,” which is to be sought above all things else, and to be prized above all possessions and treasures. Yet this passage probably requires a different conception and application from that which is usually found,—so far forth as the thought which has already been expressed, e.g., above, in Pro_2:3 sq., “that one must practise wisdom to become wise” (comp. Melanchthon on this passage; Starke, and of recent writers, especially Elster), probably does not correspond with the true import of רֵאשִׁית חָכְמָה; the expression being designed rather to serve for the designation of wisdom as the highest end of all human counsel and action.
HOMILETIC AND PRACTICAL
Homily on the entire chapter: The two paths in which youth can walk,—that of obedience and that of vice (or the way of wisdom and that of folly; the way of light and that of darkness; comp. the minute picture of the two ways in the Ep. Barnabæ, § 18–20).—Educational Sermon: The fundamental principles of a truly Christian education of children, exhibited according to the standard of the counsels of a sage of the Old Testament to his Song of Solomon 1 st principle: True wisdom (which is equivalent to the fear of God) the highest end of all regulations adopted in the educational action of parents (Pro_4:4-9); 2d principle: As means to this end, an earnest insisting both upon the reward of walking in the light, and upon the punishment for walking in darkness (Pro_4:10-19); 3d principle: Results to be anticipated simply from this, that God’s word be received and cherished in a susceptible and good heart (Pro_4:20-27).—Comp. Stöcker: Warning against evil companionship: 1) the simple command that one must avoid evil company (Pro_4:1-19); 2) the way in which this can be done (Pro_4:20-27).—Starke: How David admonishes Solomon: 1) to the reception οf wisdom (4–13); 2) to the avoidance of impiety (14–19); 3) to the practice of piety (20–27).
Pro_4:4-9. Starke:—Should the case arise, that one must lose either true wisdom or all temporal good, forego rather the latter; for wisdom is better than gold (Pro_16:16; Mat_19:29). Honor, accomplishments, graces, esteem, each man desires for himself. If thou wouldst attain this wish of thine, then seek wisdom; she gloriously rewards her admirers.—[Pro_4:4. Bridges:—This heart-keeping is the path of life. Goulburn:—Endeavor to make your heart a little sanctuary, in which you may continually realize the presence of God, and from which unhallowed thoughts and even vain thoughts must carefully be excluded.]—Berleb. Bible:—The two conditions of the Christian life: 1) its commencement, the seeking and finding of wisdom (Pro_4:7, according to the common interpretation); 2) its continuance, dependent upon preserving wisdom, and thereby being preserved, advanced, and brought to honor by it (Pro_4:8-9).—[Pro_4:7. Trapp: Make religion thy business: other things do by the by].
Pro_4:10-19. Hasius: To set one’s foot in the way of good is ofttimes not so difficult as to go vigorously forward in it. The power of temptation is great; the tinder of vice is naturally in us; even a little spark can kindle it.—Zeltner: Impossible as it is that a stone fall into the water and remain dry, so impossible is it that a lover of evil company be not betrayed, Sir_13:7; 1Co_15:33.—[Pro_4:18. Arnot: The sun is an emblem not of the justified, but of the justifier. Christ alone is the source of light: Christians are only its reflectors. The just are those whom the Sun of righteousness shines upon; when they come beneath His healing beams, their darkness flies away. They who once were darkness are light now, but it is “in the Lord.”]—Starke: The pious can avoid the snares of destruction through the light of the Holy Spirit; but the ungodly stumble in darkness and fall into the pits of death. As one from darkness walks on in darkness, so from light into light (Pro_4:18; comp. Pro_12:28; Psa_84:7; Job_5:12-14).—Berleb. Bible: The soul in its conversion to God must 1) hear His word; 2) receive the influence of this word, and by it be directed to the way of truth; 3) be guided by God in this way; 4) under God’s guidance and protection learn so to run in this way that it shall nowhere stumble nor fall.—[Pro_4:19. Emmons: Sinners are in such darkness that they are insensible to the objects that are leading them to ruin; thus they stumble a) at the great deceiver; b) at one another; c) at Divine Providence; d) at their common employments; e) at the nature and tendency of their religious performances; f) at the preaching they hear; g) at the blindness of their own hearts.]
Pro_4:20-27. J. Lange:—The inner spiritual life begins with the heart. As is the heart so are all its issues; for “from the heart proceed evil thoughts,” etc., Mat_15:19; Mat_12:35.—Berleb. Bible: The heart must keep the doctrine, and the doctrine the heart. Both are so intimately connected that neither can be without the other. … Nature herself in the natural heart shows with what care we must keep the spiritual (ethical) heart. In this we can never be too precise, too sharp, or too careful. If we guard our house, much more must the heart be guarded; the watches must there be doubled, etc.—In this all the duties of a door-keeper combine, reminding us who goes in and out, what sort of thoughts enter into the heart, what sort of desires go out, etc. Self-denial is the best means to such a keeping of the heart. It must stand as porter before the heart’s door; and the cross and the patience of Christ is the best door of the heart, well preserved with bolts and bars against all intrusion or violence.—Saurin (sermon on Pro_4:26):—On the needful attention which each should give to his ways.—Calwer Handb.:—Threefold counsel in regard to the way and means of continuing in the right path: 1) give good heed to thy heart; 2) put away a perverse mouth (Pro_4:24); 3) let thine eyes look straightforward (Pro_4:25-27).—Von Gerlach:—The first and most immediate thing proceeding from the heart is words, then deeds. Let the former be above all things truthful and sincere; the latter circumspect, well considered, and then executed with certainty and confidence (Pro_4:26-27). Comp. Rom_14:23; and Seneca’s well known maxim: Quod dubitas, ne feceris.—[Arnot: We cry to God in the words of David, Create in me a clean heart, and He answers back by the mouth of David’s son, Keep thy heart. Keep it with the keeping of heaven above, and of the earth beneath,—God’s keeping bespoken in prayer, and man’s keeping applied in watchful effort.
Pro_4:27. Trapp: Keep the king’s highway: keep within God’s precincts, and ye keep under His protection.—Bridges: Though to keep the heart be God’s work, it is man’s agency. Our efforts are His instrumentality.]
Footnotes:
[1]In this particular, Bohlius certainly took the correct view, that in his otherwise remarkable classification of the contents of the first nine chapters according to the seven principia ethices divinæ deductiva (Daath, Binah, Sechel, Tuschijah, Musar, Msimmah, Ormah), he assigns to the 4th chapter the Musar (or the colligata informatio, as he explains the term). See Ethica Sacra, Disp. VI., p. 65 sq.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 father's son--emphatic, a son specially regarded, and so called…
father's son--emphatic, a son specially regarded, and so called tender, as an object of special care (compare Ch1 22:7; Ch1 29:1); an idea further expressed by
only beloved--or, "as an only son" (Gen 22:2), though he had brothers (see on Ch1 3:5).
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 On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 HORTATORY INTRODUCTION, Pro_4:1-4.
HORTATORY INTRODUCTION, Pro_4:1-4.
Repetition is an essential element in teaching. The wise preceptor repeats again and again the lessons of wisdom, varying them, however, in form, to keep up the interest. In order to this, he states here what kind of instructions he received from his parents, of which he shows his appreciation by remembering and repeating them.
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1. Instruction — Admonition. Pro_1:2.
Understanding — Discernment; learn to discriminate between wisdom and folly, good and evil.
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 On vv1, 3, 4, 7, 11, 12, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 22, 23, 26, 27 Seventh Address. Chap. Pro_4:1-9
Seventh Address. Chap. Pro_4:1-9
Resuming, after the parenthesis (Pro_3:27-35) the style and tone of fatherly address of the preceding sections, the Teacher commends Wisdom to his scholars as his children, by the example of his own early education. Mr Horton happily remarks, “This chapter begins with a charming little piece of autobiography,” and quotes Wordsworth’s words,
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“Wisdom doth live with children round her knees.”
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 On vv1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 13, 16, 17, 18, 19, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 (g) Seventh Discourse:—Recollections of his Father’s Instructions (Pro_4:1 to…
IV.
(g) Seventh Discourse:—Recollections of his Father’s Instructions (Pro_4:1 to Pro_5:6).
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(1) A father.—That is, of me, your teacher.
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The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 Vers. 1-27. Seventh admonitory discourse. We here enter upon…
Vers. 1-27. Seventh admonitory discourse. We here enter upon the second group of admonitory discourses, as is indicated by the opening address, "my children," and which occurs again in Pro_5:7 and Pro_7:24. This group extends to the end of Pr 7. Its prevailing tone is that of warning rather than of positive exhortations, which have been the rule hitherto. The general aim of the discourse before us, as of those preceding, is to exalt Wisdom, to exhibit her as a subject worthy of all earnest endeavour and sacrifice, but it is noticeable that the teacher introduces a fresh feature into his teaching or mode of instruction, in order to procure attention to, and acceptance of, his precepts on the part of his hearers. He has already spoken in his own name and with his own authority; he has brought forward Wisdom personified as making her appeal; he now adduces the authority of his own father"s advice to himself. But as the mode of emphasizing his admonitions varies, so Wisdom is many-sided, and the aspect under which she is now presented seems to be especially that of discipline and obedience. The keynote of the discourse seems to be struck in the word "instruction," i.e. discipline, in the original, musar, thus recalling the admonition in Pro_1:8, "My son, hear the instruction of thy father." Bohlius, in his "Ethica Sacra," disp. 6. p. 65, sqq., assigns "discipline" (musar) to this chapter; and Melancthon describes the admonitions of the chapter before us as "adhortationes ad studium obedientiae." Discipline rising into obedience seems to be the predominant thought to which all others are made subordinate. The discourse is an enlargement or amplification of this aspect of Wisdom. In structure the discourse consists mainly of the father"s advice (vers. 4-19), preceded and followed by the teacher"s own admonitions in vers. 1-3 and 20-27. The chief topics touched upon are
(1) the supreme importance of Wisdom as being "the principal thing" to be obtained before everything else (vers. 7-9);
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(2) the two ways that lie open to the choice of youth, distinguished respectively as the way of light and the way of darkness (vers. 14-19); and
(3) the guarding of the heart with all diligence, as being the seat of conscience and the fountain of life in its moral sense (vers. 23-27). The first part of the discourse is characterized by exhortations accompanied by promises; the latter part takes the form of warning, and warning of an alarming nature. The harmony which exists between the allusions in the discourse and the facts recorded in the historical books of Samuel and Chronicles serves to indicate that we have before us, in substance at least, the advice which David gave to Solomon, and that the discourse is Solomonic. Compare especially ver. 3 with 1Ch_28:5 and 1Ch_22:9, and ver. 18 with the last words of David in 2Sa_23:4.
Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father. This exhortation is identical with that in Pro_1:8, except that the address, "ye children," indicating a new departure, is now used instead of "my son," which has been hitherto employed, (see Pro_1:8 Pro_2:1 Pro_3:1, Pro_3:21) and "of thy father" is altered to "of a father." The verb is the same, occurring here, of course, in the plural number. The appeal is evidently intended to rouse attention. Attention is especially necessary to secure a knowledge of Divine truth. Ye children (bhanim). This address occurs again twice in the second group of admonitory discourses in Pro_5:7 and Pro_7:24, and also in the appeal of Wisdom personified in Pro_8:32, and, with these exceptions, nowhere else in the Proverbs. It is used by David, and it is possible that when the teacher penned these words he had in mind Psa_34:11, "Come, ye children, hearken unto me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord." The similarity in the address serves to connect the teacher of wisdom with David, and thus to identify him with Solomon, while it also leads to the conclusion that the advice which follows in vers. 4-19 is in substance that which David had given his son. On "instruction," see Pro_1:8. Of a father (av). It is difficult, owing to the want of the pronominal suffix, to determine accurately whether the teacher is referring to himself or to his own father in the expression. The following verse
(2) would indicate that he is speaking of himself in his capacity as a teacher or instructor of youth. But it is quite possible that he may be referring to his own father, whose advice he had received, and which he is now about to lay before others in vers. 4-19. Though attention to paternal advice in general, i.e. instruction given by any father to his children, is not intended here, still the passage may be regarded as embodying the principle that attention to parental advice is incumbent on children, and a disregard of it is the mark of ingratitude and depravity. Rabbi Levi understands the phrase as referring to our heavenly Father. Attend (hakshivu, hiph. imperative of kashav). On the force of this verb as signifying "earnest, absorbed attention," see Pro_1:24. To know understanding (ladaath bina); i.e. in order that you may know or gain understanding. "The infinitive marks the design or object of the attention (cf. the Vulgate, ut sciatis). "The expression corresponds with ladaath khokmah in Pro_1:2, and just as this signifies "to appropriate to yourself wisdom," so the one before us has the same force, and signifies the gaining or appropriation of understanding, i.e. the faculty of discernment or discrimination. Hitzig renders, "to know with the understanding;" i.e. to know intelligently, but this does not seem to be the meaning of the phrase.
Vers. 1-4. A family heirloom.
I DIVINE WISDOM IS THE BEST OF FAMILY HEIRLOOMS. Solomon transmits to his son the instruction which he has received from his father. Thus he aims at making it an old household treasure. He also hands down royal power, great possessions, national fame. But wisdom is to him an inheritance more precious than all other things. The rest may go rather than that the entail shall be cut off this most prized part of the family estate. It would be well if fathers and sons had a similar opinion of the best of treasures. One labours to leave heavy legacies in his will; another aims at securing good posts for his sons; a third is proud of the unsullied family honour; but many forget that which alone secures true welfare here and eternal life hereafter. It is beautiful to see this heirloom of piety carefully guarded in the cottage of the poor; but it is more interesting to see those who might be drawn aside to lower pursuits as, alas! Solomon was in his later days setting the same treasure before their family as the most valuable of all possessions.
II DIVINE WISDOM WILL NOT REMAIN AS A FAMILY HEIRLOOM WITHOUT SPECIAL CARE IN RETAINING AND TRANSMITTING IT. The estate descends from father to son by laws of inheritance or by testamentary directions. The bodily likeness, the mental characteristic, the genius, the defect, the disease, often come down through successive generations. But religion is not found in the blood; no law of inheritance will secure the succession to Divine wisdom; you cannot ensure that your son will be pious by any clause in your will. This family heirloom will pass out of the household unless it is most carefully guarded. Bad sons may follow good fathers. The religion of our parents is no guarantee of our own spiritual state, nor does our religion contain within it the promise and potency of our children"s faith.
III DIVINE WISDOM MAY BE TRANSMITTED AS A FAMILY HEIRLOOM THROUGH INSTRUCTION AND EXAMPLE. We cannot absolutely secure the inheritance because we have to deal with that most ungovernable of all elements, the free will of souls. But failure is often to be attributed to defective instruction. Home culture has been neglected, while public ministry has been most assiduous; or there has been a harsh, unwise restraint which has provoked a rebound of licence. On the whole, we may hope that good, sound home training will not be in vain. This involves two elements.
1. Instruction. There must be positive, definite teaching. We must not rely on the general influence of a wholesome Christian atmosphere, on casual words and passing advice, etc. Wisdom involves knowledge; religion depends on faith; and faith follows "hearing." It is most important that the main elements of the Christian truth should be understood and remembered by children. It is not enough to tell them to love Christ. They must know him if they are to trust and follow him.
2. Example Without this instruction is futile. Our deeds then give the lie to our words. Instruction is the light to show the way; example, the impulse to urge us to walk in it. Succession in genius is rare. The two Plinys, the two Pitts, the two Mills, are exceptional instances. But by right instruction and example we have much more reason to expect a succession in piety, because genius must be born in a man, but the wisdom of godliness is offered to all who will seek it.
HOMILIES BY E. JOHNSON Vers. 1-13. The tradition of piety.
The writer, here and in Pro_5:7 and Pro_7:24, addresses his audience as children, thinking of himself as a son, who had been the object of fatherly counsels and warnings in his youth. He would hand on the torch of wisdom, the tradition of piety, to the next generation.
I PIETY SHOULD BE A FAMILY TRADITION. (Vers. 1-3) Handed down from father to son and grandson, or from mother to daughter and grandchild, from Lois to Eunice, till it dwells in Timothy also. (2Ti_1:5) Tradition in every form is, perhaps, the strongest governing power over the minds of men in every department of life.
II EARLY INSTRUCTION WILL BE RETAINED, RECALLED, AND REPRODUCED. As the twig is bent, so is the tree inclined; or, as Horace says so beautifully, "The cask will long preserve the odour with which when fresh it was imbued" ("Ep.," 1:2. 69). Every higher effort of the intellect rests on memory. Our later life is for the most part the reproduction in other forms of the deep impressions of childhood.
III THE CONTENTS OF THIS TRADITION ARE SIMPLE, YET PROFOUND. (Vers. 4-9) They are summed up in "the one thing needful." In opposition to the cynical maxim, "Get money, honestly if you can, but by all means get money," or the refrain of "Property, property" (Tennyson"s "Northern Farmer"), the teacher rings the exhortation out, like an old chime, "Get wisdom, get understanding.
IV THE STYLE OR FORM OF THE TRADITION.
1. It is iterative. It may even seem to modern ears monotonous. But this form is peculiarly part of the habit of the stationary East. Thought is not so much expansive, travelling from a centre to a wide periphery; it swings, like a pendulum, between two extremes. Generally, for all, the best life wisdom must be these iterations, "Line upon line, precept upon precept" or stare super antiquas vias a recurrence to well worn paths.
2. It has variety of expression with unbroken unity of thought.
(1) In reference to the object of pursuit. "Wisdom" is the leading word; but this is exchanged for "training" and "insight" (ver. 1); "doctrine" and "law" (ver. 2); "words" and "commandments" (ver. 4); the same word often recurs.
(2) In reference to the active effort of the mind itself. This is presented as "hearing" and "attending" (ver. 1); "not forsaking" (ver. 2); "holding fast in the heart," and "guarding" (ver. 4); "getting" and "not turning from" (ver. 5); "not forsaking" and "loving" (ver. 6); "holding her high" and "embracing her" (ver. 8); "receiving words" and "adhering to instruction" (vers. 10, 13).
(3) In reference to the accompanying promise. "Thou shalt live" (ver. 4); "She shall guard thee;" "protect thee" (ver. 6); "exalt thee; bring thee to honour" (ver. 8); "give to thy head a chaplet of delight;" "hold out to thee a splendid crown" (ver. 9); "many years of life" (ver. 10); "Thy steps shall not be hindered" (ver. 12); "Thou shalt not stumble" (ver. 12); "She is thy life" (ver. 13).
V THE ADVANTAGES OF THIS METHOD OF TEACHING.
1. It is simple, intelligible to all.
2. Of universal adaptation. Easily remembered by the young, impossible to forget in age.
3. It admits of infinite illustration from experience. It is a sketch or outline, given to the pupil; he fills it in and colours it as life progresses. J.
HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON Vers. 1-13. The solicitude of the wise father: a sermon to parents and children.
In these verses we have a peep into the royal house at Jerusalem while David was on the throne. And we have such a glimpse as we should expect to gain. We see the devout man extremely solicitous that his son should walk in the ways of Divine and heavenly wisdom. David, like the rest of human parents, and more than most of them, was under
I A STRONG TEMPTATION TO MAKE A FALSE ESTIMATE. So near to us is this present passing world, so powerfully do its interests appeal to us, so strong is the hold which it gains over our senses and our imagination, that we are apt to overestimate altogether its claims and its worth. And this in proportion to the height of the dignity, the measure of the power, the extent of the fortune, to which we have attained. David, as a man subject to all human passions, would be particularly tempted to weigh the worldly advantages of his favourite son, and estimate them very carefully and very highly. He would be in danger of considering not exclusively, but excessively what would be the extent of his kingly rule, what the revenue he would be able to collect, what the influence he would wield over neighbouring powers, what the authority he would exercise over his own people, etc. And in the thick throng of these mundane considerations there would be no small risk of other and higher things being lost sight of. So with other if not with all parents. There is a constant danger of worldly anxieties about our children absorbing, or at any rate obscuring, the deeper and worthier solicitudes. But in the case of the devout; monarch of Israel there was, as there should be with us all
II A WISE DISCERNMENT. David was profoundly convinced that "wisdom is the principal thing" (ver. 7), that everything is of inferior value to that. He saw clearly and felt strongly that he must induce his son Solomon to walk in the fear of the Lord, or even his brilliant prospects would come to nothing. For he knew:
1. That the fear of God was the living principle most likely to lead to temporal prosperity: he had proved that in the elevation of his own "house" and the rejection of that of Saul.
2. That no possible successes of an earthly kind would compensate for the loss of character: his own hour of disastrous folly had shown him that. (2Sa_11:27)
3. That no circumstantial misfortunes could fatally injure a man who was right at heart with God: his own experience had illustrated that truth. (Psa_41:12) We shall be wise if we come to the same conclusions. Like David, we shall see that the outward and the visible, though they may be far more attractive and voiceful, are yet of far inferior account to the inward and the spiritual. We shall care immeasurably more for our children that they shall be wise in soul than prosperous in estate, "all glorious within" than magnificent without; we shall be tar more solicitous to see them "getting wisdom" (ver. 5) than "making money," "retaining the words" of truth (ver. 4) than gaining or keeping possession of lands and houses.
III THE WAY OF WISDOM TOWARD THE YOUNG. If we, as parents, would walk wisely, so that we may attain our heart"s desire concerning the children of our love and of our charge, we shall act as David did we shall commend the truth God has taught us
(1) with all affectionateness of manner (ver. 3);
(2) with all earnestness of spirit (vers. 4, 10, 11);
(3) with all fulness of exposition.
There is a strain of parental tenderness of tone and energy of manner, as well as great fulness of utterance here. The same thought is presented, is repeated, is pressed on the reason and the conscience. David evidently yearned, strove, persisted with patient and resolute zeal, that he might convince and inspire his son with the sacred truths he held so dear.
He represented heavenly wisdom, the truth of God, as
(1) the thing of surpassing intrinsic excellency (ver. 7);
(2) a thing to be pursued in preference to other fascinations (vers. 5-7);
(3) a thing to be cherished and held to the heart (ver. 6);
(4) a thing to be highly honoured before men (ver. 8);
(5) a thing to be retained at all costs (ver. 13);
(6) a friend that would repay all attentions that would guard and shield from evil (vers. 6, 12), that would lead to honour and esteem (vers. 8, 9), that would prolong life (ver. 10), that would lead in that way which is the path of life itself (ver. 13).
1. To parents, the lesson of the text is discern the one supremely precious thing to be commended to the heart of youth; and commend it graciously, earnestly, fully.
2. To sons and daughters, it is
(1) remember all the sacred solicitude that has been expended on you; and
(2) fulfil the desire of your parents" hearts. "My son, know the God of your father" (see ver. 1); this is "good doctrine" (ver. 2); it is "your life" (ver. 13). 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 On vv1, 3, 7, 8, 10, 12, 13, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 The instruction of a father.
Pro_4:1
The instruction of a father.
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A religious home
I. The love of a religious home. Two kinds of love for the offspring.
1. The natural love.
2. The spiritual love, which has respect to the spiritual being, relations, and interests of the children.
II. The training of a religious home.
1. The parents teaching is worth retaining.
2. The parents teaching is practical.
3. The parents teaching is quickening to all the powers, intellectual and moral.
III. The influence of a religious home.
1. The susceptibility of childhood.
2. The force of parental affection. Religious homes are the great want of the race. (David Thomas, D.D.)
Paternal exhortation
Doctrine and law form the staple of this appeal. By law understand direction, for life is an ever-bisecting course, and full of points that must bewilder inexperienced travellers. Do not venture upon great sea voyages without proper instruments and without being taught how to use them. So in life. Be enriched with doctrine or wisdom, and cultivate that tender filial spirit which gratefully yields itself to direction. It is at once wise and lovely for youth to consult the aged, and to avail themselves of accumulated experience. Any other spirit is vain, self-conceited, frivolous, and unworthy. Why should the father be anxious to instruct and direct the son? Because he has seen more of life, more of its mystery, its peril, its tragedy; therefore his heart yearns to preserve the young from danger. The fathers position is one of moral dignity and supreme benevolence. Having suffered himself, he would save his children from pain. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Attend to know understanding.
Knowing understanding
I. Young men have need often to be called upon to get true knowledge.
1. Because of their own backwardness to the work.
2. The impediments and diversions from attaining true wisdom.
3. There are many things to be believed, beyond the power of corrupted reason to find out.
4. There are many practical things to be learned, else they can never be done.
5. There are many faculties of the soul to be reformed.
6. There are many senses and members of the body to be directed to many particular actions, and each to its own.
Uses:
1. To blame young men that think their parents and teachers over-diligent.
2. To urge children to attend to their parents instructing them in piety.
3. To persuade parents and teachers not only to instruct, but also to incite to attention.
II. Every young man has need to be called on to look after true knowledge.
1. Because there is no disposition to this wisdom in the best by nature.
2. There is much averseness, because the principles of faith are above nature, and of practice against nature. (Francis Taylor, B.D.)
The invitation
I. Let our own children receive instructions. This charity must begin at home.
II. Let all young people take pains to get knowledge and grace. They are in the learning stage.
III. Let all who would receive instruction come with the disposition of children. Let prejudices be laid aside. Let them be dutiful, tractable, and self-diffident. (Matthew Henry.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v4 "Wisdom doth live with children round her knees." -…
CHAPTER 5
EDUCATION: THE CHILDS THOUGHT OF THE PARENT
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"Wisdom doth live with children round her knees." - Wordsworth.
"He taught me, and said unto me," etc. Pro_4:4
THIS chapter begins with a charming little piece of autobiography. Unhappily the writer is unknown. That it was not Solomon is plain from the fact that an only son is speaking, and we know from 1Ch_3:5 that Solomon was not an only son of his mother. But the naiveté and beauty of the confession are the same, whoever was the speaker. The grateful memories of a fathers teaching and of a mothers tenderness give point and force to the exhortations. "Do I urge upon you, young people, the claims of Wisdom?" the author seems to say. "Well, I speak from experience. My parents taught me her wholesome and pleasant ways. Though I was an only son, they did not by a selfish indulgence allow me to be spoiled. They made me bear the yoke in my youth, and now I live to thank them for it."
There is a great temptation to spoil art only child, a temptation which few are able to resist. Parents can deny themselves everything for their idol, except the pleasure of making the child a despot; they can endure any pain for their despot, except the pain of resisting him and instructing him. And accordingly they have sometimes to experience the shame and anguish of their childrens curses, like that Carthaginian mother, of whom it is related that her son, a convicted criminal, passing to execution, requested that he might whisper something to her, and, coming near, bit off her ear, saying that it was his revenge because she had brought him up so badly. Very different are the feelings of our author; he owes much to his parents, and is eager to acknowledge what he owes. God has no kinder gift to give us than a hallowed home, the memory of lessons from the lips of father and mother, the early impressions of virtue and wisdom, the sacred streams which rise from that fountainhead, and that alone, and run freshening and singing and broadening all through our lives.
With this happy example of good home influence before our eyes, we will come to consider briefly two points which are suggested by it: first, the importance of these early impressions; second, the main features of the discipline presented in the chapter.
I. Not without reason has a great cardinal of the Roman Church said that if he may have the children up to the age of five, he will not mind in whose hand they may be afterwards; for it is almost impossible to exaggerate the permanent effects of those first tendencies impressed on the soul before the intellect is developed, and while the soft, plastic nature of the child is not yet determined in any particular direction. Things which we learn we can more or less unlearn, but things which are blended with the elements of our composition, made parts of us before we are conscious of our own personality, defy the hand of time and the power of conscious effort to eradicate them.
John Paton, that noble missionary to the New Hebrides, has given us a vivid picture of his early home. It was a plain lowland cottage, with its "hut and hen," and between the two a small chamber with a diminutive window shedding diminutive light on the scene. To this room the children saw the father retire oftentimes a day, and shut to the door; they would occasionally hear the pathetic pleadings of the voice that prayed, and they learnt to slip past the door on tiptoe. They got to understand whence came that happy light upon their fathers face: they recognized it as a reflection from the Divine presence, in the consciousness of which he lived.
Let a child draw his first breath in a house which possesses a sanctuary like that; let him come to know by his quick childish perceptions that there is in his home a ladder set up from earth to heaven, and that the angels of God go up and down on it; let him feel the Divine atmosphere in his face, the air all suffused with heavenly light, the sweetness and the calm which prevail in a place where a constant communion is maintained, -and in after years he will be aware of voices which call and hands which reach out to him from his childhood, connecting him with heaven, and even the most convincing negations of unbelief will be powerless to shake the faith which is deep as the springs of his life.
We learn to love, not because we are taught to love, but by some contagious influence of example or by some indescribable attraction of beauty. Our first love to Wisdom, or, to use our modern phrase, Religion, is won from us by living with those that love her. She stole in upon us and captured us without any overpowering arguments; she was beautiful and we felt that those whom we loved were constantly taken and held by her beauty. Just reflect upon this subtle and wonderful truth. If my infancy is spent among those whose main thought is "to get" riches, I acquire imperceptibly the love of money. I cannot rationally explain my love; but it seems to me in after life a truism, that money is the principal thing; I look with blank incredulity upon one who questions this ingrained truth. But if in infancy I live with those whose love is wholly centered upon Religion, who cherish her with unaffected ardor and respond to her claims with kindling emotion, I may in after life be seduced from her holy ways for awhile, but I am always haunted by the feeling that I have left my first love, I am restless and uneasy until I can win back that "old bride-look of earlier days."
Yes, that old bride-look - for religion may be so presented to the childs heart as to appear for ever the bride elect of the soul, from whose queenly love promotion may be expected, whose sweet embraces bring a dower of honor, whose beautiful fingers twine a chaplet of grace for the head and set a crown of glory on the brow. {Pro_4:8-9}
The affections are elicited, and often permanently fixed, before the understanding has come into play. If the childs heart is surrendered to God, and molded by heavenly wisdom, the man will walk securely; a certain trend will be given to all his thoughts; a certain instinctive desire for righteousness will be engrafted in his nature; and an instinctive aversion will lead him to decline the way of the wicked. {Pro_4:14}
The first thing, then, is to give our children an atmosphere to grow up in; to cultivate their affections, and set their hearts on the things eternal; to make them associate the ideas of wealth and honor, of beauty and glory, not with material possessions, but with the treasures and rewards of Wisdom.
II. But now comes the question: What is to be the definite teaching of the child? For it is an unfailing mark of the parents who themselves are holy that they are impelled to give clear and memorable instruction to their children. And this is where the great and constant difficulty emerges. If the hallowed example would suffice we might count the task comparatively easy. But some day the understanding will begin to assert itself; the desire to question, to criticize, to prove, will awake. And then, unless the truths of the heart have been applied to the conscience in such a way as to satisfy the reason, there may come the desolate time in which, while the habits of practical life remain pure, and the unconscious influence of early training continues to be effective, the mind is shaken by doubt, and the hope of the soul is shrouded in a murky cloud.
Now the answer to this question may, for the Christian, be briefly given, Bring your children to Christ, teach them to recognize in Him their Savior, and to accept Him as their present Lord and gracious Friend. But this all-inclusive answer will not suffer by a little expansion on the lines which are laid down in the chapter before us. When Christ is made unto us Wisdom, the contents of Wisdom are not altered, they are only brought within our reach and made effectual in us. Bringing our children to Christ will not merely consist in teaching them the doctrine of salvation, but it will include showing them in detail what salvation is, and the method of its realization.
The first object in the home life is to enable children to realize what salvation is. It is easy to dilate on an external heaven and hell, but it is not so easy to demonstrate that salvation is an inward state, resulting from a spiritual change.
It is very strange that Judaism should ever have sunk into a formal religion of outward observance, when its own Wisdom was so explicit on this point: "My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh. Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life." {Pro_4:20-23} The Greek version, which was very generally used in our Lords time, had a beautiful variation of this last clause: "In order that thy fountains may not fail thee, guard them in the heart." It was after all but a new emphasis on the old teaching of the book of Proverbs when Jesus taught the necessity of heart purity, and when He showed that out of the heart come forth evil thoughts, and all the things which defile a man. {Mat_15:19} Yet this lesson of inwardness has always been the most difficult of all to learn. Christianity itself has always been declining from it and falling into the easier but futile ways of externalism; and even Christian homes have usually failed in their influence on the young chiefly because their religious observances have fallen into formalism, and while the outward conduct has been regulated, the inner springs of action have not been touched.
All conduct is the outcome of hidden fountains. All words are the expression of thoughts. The first thing and the main thing is that the hidden fountains of thought and feeling be pure. The source of all our trouble is the bitterness of heart, the envious feeling, the sudden outbreak of corrupt desire. A merely outward salvation would be of no avail; a change of place, a magic formula, a conventional pardon, could not touch the root of the mischief. "I wish you would change my heart," said the chief Sekomi to Livingstone. "Give me medicine to change it, for it is proud, proud and angry, angry always." He would not hear of the New Testament way of changing the heart; he wanted an outward, mechanical way-and that way was not to be found. The child at first thinks in the same way. Heaven is a place to go to, not a state to be in. Hell is an outward punishment to fly from, not an inward condition of the soul. The child has to learn that searching truth which Milton tried to teach, when he described Satan in Paradise, -
"… within him hell He brings, and round about him, nor from hell
One step, no more than from himself, can fly
By change of place
Which way I fly is hell, cries the miserable being,"
"myself am hell;
And in the lowest deep, a lower deep,
Still threatening to devour me, opens wide,
To which the hell I suffer seems a heaven."
We are tempted in dealing with children to train them only in outward habits, and to forget the inward sources which are always gathering and forming; hence we often teach them to avoid the lie on the tongue, to put away from them the froward mouth and perverse lips, {Pro_4:24} and yet leave them with the lies in the soul, the deep inward unveracities which are their ruin. We often succeed in bringing them up as respectable and decorous members of society, and yet leave them a prey to secret sins; they are tormented by covetousness which is idolatry, by impurity, and by all kinds of envious and malignant passions.
There is something even ghastly in the very virtues which are sometimes displayed in a highly civilized society like ours. We perceive what appear to be virtues, but we are haunted by an uncomfortable misgiving that they are virtues only in appearance; they seem to have no connection with the heart; they never seem to bubble up from irrepressible fountains; they do not overflow. There is charity, but it is the charity only of the subscription list; there is pity, but it is the pity only of conventional humanitarianism; there is the cold correctness of conduct, or the formal accuracy of speech, but the purity seems to be prudery because it is only a concession, to the conventional sentiments of the hour, and the truthfulness seems to be a lie because its very exactness seems to come, not from springs of truth, but only from an artificial habit.
We are frequently bound to notice a religion of a similar kind. It is purely mimetic. It is explained on the same principle as the assimilation of the colors of animals to the colors of their environment. It is the unconscious and hypocritical instinct of self-preservation in a presumably religious society, where not to seem religious would involve a loss of caste. It may be regarded then as the first essential lesson which is to be impressed on the mind of a child, -the lesson coming next after the unconscious influences of example, and before all dogmatic religious teaching, -that righteousness is the condition of salvation, righteousness of the heart; that the outward seeming goes for nothing at all, but that God with a clear and quiet eye gazes down into the hidden depths, and considers whether the fountains there are pure and perennial.
The second thing to be explained and enforced is singleness of heart, directness and consistency of aim; by which alone the inward life can be shaped to virtuous ends: "Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. Make level the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left." {Pro_4:25-27} As our Lord puts it, If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. This precept has frequently been given in the interests of worldly wisdom: The boy is told that if he means to get on he must concentrate his thoughts and refuse to let any of the seductions around him divert his attention. Singleness of eye may be the most ruinous of evils-if a man has only a single eye to his own advantage, and pursues nothing but his own pleasure. The precept is given here however in the interests of heavenly wisdom, and there is much to be said for the view that only the truly religious mind can be quite single-eyed. Selfishness, though it seems to be an undivided aim, is really a manifold of tumultuous and conflicting passions. He only, strictly speaking, has one desire, whose one desire is God. The way of wisdom is, after all, the only way which has no bifurcations. The man who has a single eye to his own interest may find before long that he has missed the way: he pushes eagerly on, but he flounders ever deeper in the mire; for though he did not turn to the right hand nor to the left, he never all the time removed his foot from evil. {Pro_4:27} The right life then is a steady progress undiverted by the alluring sights and sounds which appeal to the senses. "Look not round about thee," says Ecclesiasticus, {Ecclesiasticus 9:7} "in the streets of the city, neither wander thou in the solitary places thereof." We are to learn that the way goes through Vanity Fair, but admits of no divergences into its tempting booths or down its alluring alleys; the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, the vainglory of life, are not to distract the mind which has but one purpose in view. The path is to be kept level; {Pro_4:26} as we should say, an even tenor is to be preserved; we are to follow the plain unexciting path of duty, the beaten track of sober rightness. For while it is the mark of all unhallowed ways that they plunge up and down from despondency to wild elation, from giddy raptures to heartstricken depression, it is the sure sign of Gods hand in our life when the paths are made level. {Pro_5:21} Ah those tempting ways, on which shine the false lights of imagined duty, of refined selfishness, or of gilded sensuality. Surely it is the result of Wisdom, the gift of Gods grace, to keep the eyes "looking right on."
But it is time to sum up. Here is a great contrast between those whose early training has been vicious or neglected, and those who have been "taught in the way of wisdom, led in paths of uprightness." It is a contrast which should constantly be present to the eyes of parents with a warning and an encouragement. The unfortunate child whose infancy was passed in the midst of baleful example, whose heart received no instruction from parents lips, grows up like one stumbling in the dark, and the darkness deepens as he advances; observers cannot tell-he himself cannot tell-what it is at which he stumbles. {Pro_4:19} There is the old ingrained vice which comes out again and again after every attempted reformation; there is the old shuffling habit; there is the old unhallowed set of the thoughts and the tastes; there is the old incurable pharisaism, with its tendency to shift all blame on to other peoples shoulders. It is all like the damp in the walls of an ill-built house. In dry weather there are only the stains, but those stains are the prophecy of what will be again when the wet weather returns. The corrupt ways have become a second nature; they are as sleep and food to the wretched creature; to abstain from iniquity creates the restlessness of insomnia; if he has not been spreading an influence of evil and leading others astray, he feels as if he had been deprived of his daily food, and he is consumed with a fiery thirst. {Pro_4:16-17} Even when such a one is genuinely born again, the old hideous habits will appear like seams in the character; and temptations will send the flush along the tell-tale scars.
On the other hand, the life which starts from the sweet examples of a hallowed home, and all its timely chastisements and discipline, presents a most entrancing history. At first there is much which is difficult to bear, much against which the flesh revolts. The influences of purity are cold like the early dawn, and the young childs spirit shrinks and shivers; but with every step along the leveled road the light broadens and the air becomes warmer, -the dawn shines more and more unto the perfect day. {Pro_4:18 margin} As the character forms, as the habits become fixed, as the power of resistance increases, a settled strength and a lasting peace gladden the life. The rays of heavenly wisdom not only shine on the face, but suffuse the very texture of the being, so that the whole body is full of light. Eventually it begins to appear that truth and purity, pity and charity, have become instinctive. Like a well-disciplined army, they spring at once into the ranks, and are ready for service even on a surprise. The graces of holy living come welling up from those untainted inner springs, and, be the surroundings ever so dry, the fountains fail not. The habit of single-eyed devotion to right avails even where there is no time for reflection; more and more the seductions of the senses lose their point of attack in this disciplined spirit. There is a freedom in the gait, for holiness has ceased to be a toilsome calculation, -the steps of the spiritual man are not straitened. There is a swiftness in all action, -the feet are shod with a joyous and confident preparation, for the fear of stumbling is gone. {Pro_4:12}
With daily growing gratitude and veneration does such a one look back upon the early home of piety and tenderness.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On vv1, 5, 14, 20 Pro_4:2. Doctrine, Literally something received, handed over; the author…
CRITICAL NOTES.—
Pro_4:2. Doctrine, Literally something received, handed over; the author so describes it because he received it from his father. The Septuagint and the Vulgate translate by donum, “a gift.”
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Pro_4:3. Tender and only, “dearly-beloved”—not that Solomon was Bathsheba’s only son (1Ch_3:5).
Pro_4:4. Get, Heb. “acquire or buy”—spare no cost. The repetition of the verb makes the injunction more imperative. Forget is a word in Hebrew that takes the preposition from. In the idea of forgetting there is naturally involved that of turning aside or away from the object to be remembered.
Pro_4:6. Miller translates the last clause: “Love her, and she shall stand sentry over thee.”
Pro_4:7. The first clause of this verse contains only four words, viz: Beginning, or “principal thing;” Wisdom; get wisdom Its terseness has led to various translations. Hitzig and others read: “The highest thing is wisdom.” Miller translates: “As the height of wisdom, get wisdom.” Delitzsch—The beginning of wisdom is: “Get wisdom.” With, not to be taken in the sense of “in connection with,” but “by means of,” or “at the price of.”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH—Pro_4:1-4
THE RECIPROCAL DUTIES OF PARENTS AND CHILDREN
I. Parental Duty. “He taught me.” Solomon, and all children, hare many claims upon their parents to receive from them instruction in the revelation of God.
1. Parents are responsible for the existence of their children. They are the instrumental cause of their child’s being in the world, of his being in that state of probation upon which hang such “infinite possibilities.”
2. The child is so absolutely ignorant of the life into which he comes. Unavoidable ignorance has always a claim upon knowledge, and the claim is assuredly increased in proportion as those who know and those who do not know are related to each other by a divinely constituted bond. “I am a stranger in the earth” is the claim which every child puts in as a reason why he should be instructed and taught in the way in which he should go. “Hide not God’s commandments from me” is the appeal which the child’s ignorance makes to those who have had some experience in the world.
3. Children claim instruction because of their future relationship to others. The neglect of a child’s education is a sin against more than himself. He will come, in his turn, to influence others. Upon his character will depend, in a great degree, the characters and eternal destinies of many in generations yet to come.
4. Children have a claim upon their parents because they belong to God. If a proprietor of land hands over to the cultivator a piece of virgin soil, he does not relinquish his own claim thereby—he demands that his property shall be restored to him increased in value by being brought under cultivation. The child is given to its parent by God in its undeveloped moral condition, but God retains his own inheritance in the gift. He looks for nurture, for cultivation; he demands from the parent such a fulfilment of parental duties as will ensure to Him that His gift shall grow of more and more worth in the moral universe. A day of reckoning on this matter will assuredly come. Solomon recognises the claim which children have upon their parents by recording his own parents’ conduct in relation to himself and by giving us an example of his own method of instructing his children.
II. Filial Duty. “Hear, ye children.” Parents have claims upon their children.
1. From the simple fact of the relationship. A good father claims the obedience of his son because he is that child’s ordained guide and ruler. He is to his son God’s viceregent so long as his commands are in accordance with God’s law.
2. From their larger experience. They have trodden the path which the youth has yet to traverse, they have climbed the hill which rises yet before him, they have tested the worth of the things which will allure him. Their superior knowledge entitles them to say, “Hear the instruction of a father.”
3. From the self-denial which, as parents, they have exercised. All that a good mother and father have done and suffered in order to advance the welfare of their children, their toil and forbearing love, constitutes a powerful claim to their children’s grateful, reverential, attention and love. Solomon here gives an example of the honour in which every child should hold godly parents.
A PARENT’S MOST PRECIOUS GIFT
Good Doctrine. Pro_4:2.
1. Because without it there can be no good character. There can be no right feelings towards God unless there has been right teaching about Him. True views of God can only come from true doctrine concerning Him. Without a right view of God there is no motive power to form character. A man must know God as He is before he can begin to follow Him. There must be a true mirror to give a correct reflection.
2. Because if there is not the beginning of a good character, there will be an increasingly bad one. When men have no right doctrine concerning God, in other words, when they do not know Him as He is, they invariably make a God after their own conceptions. They bring God down to their level. “Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself” (Psa_50:21), has been the fatal mistake of men in all ages. If a man falls overboard from the deck of a vessel, he will not remain long at the level of his first fall. If he is not rescued he will sink to such a depth as will be out of all comparison with it. He will go lower and lower till his body finds the bottom of the ocean. Man’s first fall from obedience to disobedience was a great fall, but he has not been content with this moral distance between himself and his Maker, he has tried to drag God down with him and thus has brutalised and demonised the divine that was still within him. In more than a material sense he has “changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like unto corruptible man” (Rom_1:23). This changing of the truth of God into a lie will always take place where there is an absence of right conceptions of God, and the result must always be the moral deterioration which Paul gives as the result in Rom_1:26-32. There is as much relation between “good” or “right” doctrine and good and holy character as there is between good bread and pure water and a healthy body. Good bread will make good muscle and sinew, bad bread will not nourish the human frame. Pure water is indispensable to health, stagnant water will breed a hundred diseases. And mistaken views about God must be fruitful of soul disease. Results prove this to be the case. National and individual history prove the truth of it. “By their fruits ye shall-know them” (Mat_7:20). As we can foretell what the quality of the harvest will be from the seed sown, so can we tell what has been the character of the seed from that which it brings forth.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Pro_4:2. The common cry is “Who will show us any good?” and every man will lend both ears to a good bargain. The doctrine here delivered is good every way, whether you look to the author, matter, or effect of it.—Trapp.
God’s commandments are not like the commandments of any other, which are directed to the benefit of the commanders: but God’s commandments do only bring good to him that is commanded.… What is there so absurd, as to despise His commands who doth command that He may have matter for rewarding: for God doth not want our obedience, but we do want His commanding. Therefore it is said, “As the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their master, and the eyes of a maiden to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God until he have mercy upon us, that is, until He command us something, and that, thou, O David, callest mercy.—Jermin.
Good.
I. In itself. It is most majestic, as containing not trivial and common sentences, but high parables and extraordinary mysteries. It gives the highest direction in the greatest things.
II. It is good to us. Good for profit and pleasure. Good for soul and body (1Co_15:2; Deu_28:1). Good for this life and the life to come (1Ti_4:8). Good when it pleaseth us (Psa_119:7). Good when it crosseth us (Isa_39:8).—Francis Taylor.
Pro_4:3. Noteworthy is the prominence given to the mother’s share in the training of the child. Among the Israelites and the Egyptians alone of the nations of the old world, was the son’s reverence for the mother placed side by side with that which he owed to his father.—Plumptre.
Pro_4:4. Training discipline, not foolish indulgence, is the truest evidence of affection to our tender and beloved ones (chap. Pro_13:24; with 1Ki_1:6).—Bridges.
“He taught me.” The prayer of Solomon, at Gibeon, for wisdom, as the principal of God’s gifts, was suggested to him by his father David, just before his death. (See 1Ch_28:9; 1Ch_29:19).—Wordsworth.
Here Solomon again commands the involuntary, because he has shown the steps to it. We cannot, of all other things in the world, live by a voluntary act, but we can “keep watch over the commandments.” I mean, we can, as it is a voluntary act, if God makes us willing. But we cannot live as a voluntary thing except through some form of anterior obedience.—Miller.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 I. Solomon himself received wisdom from Divine inspiration. Now…
Pro 4:5
I. Solomon himself received wisdom from Divine inspiration. Now no supernatural supply of wisdom can be vouchsafed to us. There is no limit to the moral improvement which God’s Spirit may work in our hearts; there is no saying how much kinder, gentler, purer, truer, humbler, better, He may make us. But it is a fact of most assured experience, that not even the Holy Ghost gives to many of the very best of our race the worldly tact, and shrewdness, and long-headedness, which many of the very worst inherited by their birth. It is not that wisdom which Solomon bids us get, but something far different; something far better—longer lasting, and yet within the reach of all.
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II. There is worldly wisdom, and there is heavenly wisdom. The first not everyone can have in any shining measure, and it is vain to bid anyone get it. The second all may have. It is choosing things above, because they are best and most enduring. It is ranging one’s self in the great battle on God’s side, which you do every time you resolutely do right and refuse to do wrong. This better wisdom is of the heart rather than of the head. It lies rather in the moral choice of good and right, than in the mere intellectual discernment of it, however clear. It is seeing with the head what is good, yea, what is best; and then with all the heart choosing that and cleaving to it.
III. This wisdom is a possession which may be "got," as Solomon calls it; got, though we had it not to start with, as mere head wisdom could never be; and is a possession which may be cultivated in a sense in which mere intellectual gifts could never be cultivated. The third Person in the Godhead, the Blessed and Holy Spirit, in sober earnest will help you if you try.
A. K. H. B., Towards the Sunset, p. 45.
Pro 4:7
I. There must be reality in our knowledge. It must be the real knowledge of real things. We must be sure that we, in the first instance, take it in as accurately as possible. We must not bridge over to ourselves difficulties, whether little or great, or take a leap over them, leaving a part behind us that is not sound or solid.
II. There is no such thing as useless knowledge, and the knowledge of theory is a greater thing than the knowledge of practice; to express it otherwise, the knowledge of principles is beyond, and greater than, and more important than, the doing of things however well without understanding them. However real may be the knowledge that you gain of any number of details, it is only by understanding principles that you can hope to make any use of details which shall advance or strengthen any single good cause.
III. The power to use knowledge must come from something outside the knowledge itself. The mind may be stored with facts, and with true theories and with many a wise observation; but after all it is only by considering, reflecting, observing, that we can turn what we have already acquired to good account for ourselves or for others. Such wisdom is "above and beyond our studies." For it is beyond all that wisdom which is from above, which the Father gives to them that ask Him.
Archbishop Benson, Boy Life: Sundays in Wellington College, p. 19.
I. The world gives the name of wisdom to many higher and lower manifestations of intellectual foresight and practical sense, but Scripture sees in it nothing save one single law of life: "The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding."
II. Some one may say, Is any knowledge worth the attainment, save the one knowledge which is wisdom? The answer is, To the true Christian every school will be a school of Christ. On the ample leaf of knowledge, whether it be rich with the secrets of nature or with the spoils of time, we will read no name save the name of God. To seek for knowledge where it is possible is the clear duty of man; to win it is the gift of God. Knowledge apart from wisdom is like a vestibule dissevered from its temple, but it may on the other hand be the worthy vestibule of that sacred shrine. Knowledge is a vain thing only when it is sought out of unworthy motives and applied to selfish ends; but it becomes noble and glorious when it is desired solely for man’s benefit and consecrated wholly to God’s praise.
F. W. Farrar, The Silence and Voice of God, p. 119.
References: Pro 4:7.—J. H. Evans, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. vi., p. 49; J. R. Lumby, Expositor, 2nd series, vol. iii., p. 222. Pro 4:8.—C. C. Bartholomew, Sermons Chiefly Practical, p. 169; Homiletic Quarterly, vol. i., p. 248. Pro 4:10, Pro 4:11.—W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 1st series, p. 161.
Pro 4:13
We come into the real school-life when we have left school. Duty is twofold: duty to do, duty to endure. We have the tasks of the school to do, and the discipline of the school to bear. And the more honest we are in the first, the braver shall we be for the second.
I. We have duties to perform. Not what you do, but how you do it, is the test. And small things, done as to the Lord and not to men, grow golden and precious with the stamp of honest stewardship. Our manhood is truly developed only as we make life real, and we only make life real in proportion as we take each duty, great or small, and make it great by principle, and sacred because we do it unto God.
II. Nor are these duties of our school-life restricted by the bounds of our activities; they enter into the region of endurance and challenge patience as well as principle; the fortitude which can bear as well as the courage that can achieve. Christianity is tested as much or more by the meekness with which the discipline is borne as by the energy with which the task is done. Not in the romance that wakes the poet’s lyre, or the adventure that upstirs a nation’s wonder, and the brunt that kindles man’s acclaim, is true life only to be shown, and noble guerdon to be won; but in the constancy which carries principle along each quiet path of duty, doing the unnoticed deed for Christ’s sake only, carrying the load to the grave’s brink through weal or woe in His one name.
A. Mursell, Catholic Sermons, vol. ii., p. 25.
References: Pro 4:13.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxiv., No. 1418; W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 1st series, p. 163.
Pro 4:14-15
One chief cause of the wickedness which is everywhere seen in the world—and in which, alas! each of us has more or less his share—is our curiosity to have some fellowship with darkness, some experience of sin, to know what the pleasures of sin are like.
I. This delusion arises from Satan’s craft, the father of lies, who knows well that if he can get us once to sin, he can easily make us sin twice and thrice, till at length we are taken captive at his will. He sees that curiosity is man’s great and first snare, as it was in Paradise; and he knows if he can but force a way into his heart, by this chief and exciting temptation, those temptations of other kinds which follow in life will easily prevail over us; and on the other hand, that if we resist the beginnings of sin, there is every prospect, through God’s grace, that we shall continue in a religious way.
II. "Enter not into the path of the wicked," etc.: (1) Because it is hardly possible to delay our flight, without rendering flight impossible. (2) If we allow evil thoughts to be present to us, we shall make ourselves familiar with them. Our great security against sin lies in being shocked at it. (3) There is another wretched effect of sinning once, which sometimes takes place; not only the sinning that once itself, but being so seduced by it as forthwith to continue in the commission of it ever afterwards, without seeking for arguments to meet our conscience withal! from a mere brutish, headstrong, infatuate greediness after its bad pleasures. (4) It is always the tendency and the end of sinning at length to enslave us to itself.
III. "Watch and pray, lest ye enter into temptation." Heaven and hell are at war for us and against us, yet we trifle and let life go on at random. We treat sin, not as an enemy to be feared, abhorred, and shunned, but as a misfortune and a weakness; we do not pity and shun sinful men, but we enter into their path so far as to keep company with them, and next, being tempted to copy them, we fall almost without an effort. Be not thus deceived and overcome by an evil heart of unbelief. Make up your minds to take God for your portion, and pray to Him for grace to enable you so to do.
Plain Sermons by Contributors to "Tracts for the Times," vol. v., p. 208.
References: Pro 4:14, Pro 4:15.—J. H. Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons, vol. viii., p. 63. Pro 4:14-27.—R. Wardlaw, Lectures on Proverbs, vol. i., p. 138.
Pro 4:18
To understand somewhat the force of this divinely beautiful sentence, we must call to mind that our condition in this world in the sight of Almighty God is very frequently spoken of as that of travellers on their journey; and our life altogether is represented as a way—a path—a progress. The text is a kind of parable setting before us the thoughts of travellers setting out on a journey very early in the morning, when there is a faint streak of light in the eastern sky; at first quite faint, but by degrees it grows brighter and brighter, till at last the sun rises above the horizon, and the "perfect day" begins.
I. The sincere and humble penitent is comforted by being told that the path of the just is as the glimmering light of the morning dawn; that he has no right at present to expect much light or aid; that if he can be satisfied with that imperfect, and what the world esteems "poor," instruction which the Church Apostolic has ever ventured to give to her penitent children, then by degrees we shall be led on through the strict path of discipline to higher knowledge, and shall, perhaps, enjoy that comfort which, for the present at least, he acknowledges he has no title to.
II. It is a great comfort to the sincerely penitent Christian to be told to go on in his path as having but little light, because he is thereby convinced that he must not venture to trust to himself and his own guidance.
III. It is a comfort to the sincere and reflecting Christian to remember, that at the best we are but in a kind of morning twilight; the wisest of men, whatever he may fancy, sees into the mysteries of Divine truth "but as through a glass darkly," and by reflection, as St. Paul says. To those who here walk by faith, not by sight, is offered the blessed hope and promise beyond the grave of seeing their Saviour face to face, of knowing as they are known, in that perfect day, towards which the path of the just, though here dim and difficult, yet shineth more and more.
IV. There is in this verse a very solemn caution. If our life be not one of habitual improvement, if we are contented to go on month after month, and year after year, much as we used to be, then surely it cannot be affirmed to us that our path is shining more and more towards the perfection of light and holiness; and then surely we have reason to fear that we shall not in the end attain to the resurrection of the just, shall not be numbered with God’s saints in glory everlasting.
Plain Sermons by Contributors to "Tracts for the Times" vol. ii., p. 141.
References: Pro 4:18.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. iii., p. 213; W. M. Statham, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxv., p. 286; J. Irons, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. ix., p. 1. Pro 4:18, Pro 4:19.—W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 1st series, p. 166.
Pro 4:23
I. The meaning which a reader of the English only would affix to these words, amounts to this—that on the state of the heart depends the character of the man. The issues of life, the various ends at which a man is landed, the total of what he is in principle or feeling, the value at which Omniscience would sum him up—this depends not on external circumstances, but on his heart. Purify, then, and elevate that heart, keep it above all keeping, as a tender plant to be nursed and guarded in an unkindly soil.
II. If we give to these words an interpretation which accords more exactly with the force of the original, they will then mean, that from the heart is the fountain or source of life in the sense of happiness. In this sense the words mean that contentment and happiness in this life depend upon the heart, not upon external circumstances. (1) Observe the difference between the man who is blessed with a cheerful and hopeful heart, and the one who has a desponding and complaining heart—not the heart-sickness only which comes of hope deferred, but the heart-jaundice which turns hope itself into despair. While the cheerful heart can find happiness even under circumstances the most depressing, the complaining heart will turn even the most encouraging into misery. (2) Look at the dependence of happiness on tenderness and kindness of heart. Is it too much to say that the man of hard and cruel heart is in the end far more cruel to himself than he can be to anyone else? In himself he tears out by the roots the plant of happiness and dries up at its very springs the "fountain of life."
III. Let the issues of life, which are said to spring from the heart, be those of eternal life, and then the words will mean, that on the state of the heart depends the salvation of the soul.
A. Blomfield, Sermons in Town and Country, p. 193.
I. Inasmuch as "out of the heart are the issues of life" it is important to keep the reservoir full. It is bad enough to have an empty head, but an empty heart is worse still. For, other things being equal, a man’s force in the world is just in proportion to the fulness of his heart.
II. Strive with all diligence to keep the heart pure. A full reservoir is not enough; the water must be clean. If the heart be not pure, you may be certain the thoughts will not be pure, nor the conversation, nor the life.
III. Keep your heart tranquil; seek to have a soul calm and peaceful and at rest. You are all but certain to meet with troubles. Most likely some of you will get sadly knocked about in the world, you will meet with reverses and disappointments, but a heart that is fixed on God can bear all these things with equanimity.
J. Thain Davidson, The City Youth, p. 213.
References: Pro 4:23.— Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. iv., No. 179; Plain Sermons by Contributors to "Tracts for the Times," vol. ix., p. 324; E. M. Goulburn, Thoughts on Personal Religion, p. 218; J. Vaughan, Children’s Sermons, 1875, p. 205; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. vii., p. 191; R. Tuck, Christian World Pulpit, vol. v., p. 132; Forsyth Hamilton, Pulpit Parables, p. 24.
Pro 4:24-27
First the fountain, then the streams; first the heart and then the life-course. The issues of life are manifold: three of their main channels are mapped out here—the "lips," the "eyes," and the "feet."
I. A froward mouth. The form of the precept, "put it away," reveals the secret of our birth. The evil is there at the first in every one. He who is free of it was born free. When a man would erect a temple to God within his own body the first effort of the builder is to clear the rubbish away. Of the tilings from the heart that need to be put away, the first, in the order of nature, is the froward mouth. Words offer the first and readiest egress for evil.
II. The next outlet from the fountain is by the eyes. The precept is quaint in its cast—"let thine eyes look right on"—and yet its meaning is not difficult. Let the heart’s aim be simple and righteous. Both in appearance and in reality let your path be a straightforward one.
III. The last of these issues is by the feet. Ponder, therefore, their path. The best time to ponder any path, is not at the end, nor even at the middle, but at the beginning of it. The right place for weighing the worth of any course is on this side of its beginning. By the word of God paths and actions will be weighed in the judgment. By the word of God, therefore, let paths and actions, great or small, be pondered now.
W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 1st series, p. 171.
Reference: Pro 4:24-27.—J. H. Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons, vol. iii., p. 190.
Pro 4:25
The rule of life, the comfort of life, the strength of life, the life of life, is, first to have an object, and then to live up to that object steadily and unquestioningly. A distinct, sufficient purpose, and a determined pursuit, give reality to life and make the man.
I. The primary thing, then, is to have an object in life which will be (1) worthy of our being; (2) suited to our character; (3) attractive to our tastes. For if it fail in any one of these three things, it will not long be our goal. To fulfil these three conditions, there can only be four things in which an object can be found—victory, usefulness, eternity, Christ.
II. There are three snares which beset and entangle the feet of a man, who has resolved to live for some great end. (1) Retrospection. Do not look back. Do not look back at past attainments, for they are nothing. Do not look back at old sins, for they are gone. The Christian religion is to cut off the guilty past, and to separate a man from himself, and from his own history. (2) Introspection. Do not look in. A great many people waste a great deal of time to no profit, but rather to much discouragement, and much hindrance to their spiritual advancement, by pulling their own hearts to pieces. (3) Circumspection. Do not look around at circumstances. They are mere accidents. Looking at the waves and listening to the wind, Peter sank. A wrestler must never let his eyes drop. A racer must never look away from the winning-post, nor the ploughman from the end of the furrow, nor the helmsman from his needle’s point. Thousands of things are coming and going every day at our sides. But what are they all? They roll on the surface, but they cannot touch the deeper thing below. They dart, meteor-like, but my star is fixed.
J. Vaughan, Sermons, 12th series, p. 117.
References: Pro 4:27.—Preacher’s Monthly, vol. ii., p. 467. Pro 5:1-23.—R. Wardlaw, Lectures on Proverbs, vol. i., p. 148. Pro 5:8.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. vi., p. 332. Pro 5:11.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xi., No. 667. Pro 5:11-13.—H. W. Beecher, Sermons, 4th series, p. 481. Pro 5:15.—W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 1st series, p. 179. Pro 5:16.—Preacher’s Monthly, vol. vii. p. 191. Pro 5:21.—W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 1st series, p. 183. Pro 5:22.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xvi., No. 915; G. Brooks, Outlines of Sermons, p. 25. Pro 6:1-11.—R. Wardlaw, Lectures on Proverbs, vol. i., p. 159. Pro 6:9.—G. Brooks, Outlines of Sermons, p. 63. Pro 6:10, Pro 6:11.—S. Cox, Expositor, 2nd series, vol. vi., p. 405. Pro 6:11.—Preacher’s Monthly vol. vii., p. 191. Pro 6:16-19.—W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 1st series, p. 188. Pro 6:20.—F. Wagstaff, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xvi., p. 332. Pro 6:20-24.—W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 1st series p. 190. Pro 6:22.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xvii., No. 1017; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. viii., p. 184.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On vv10, 12, 13, 18, 19, 23 Pro 4:10 - Pro 4:19.
Proverbs
THE TWO PATHS
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Pro 4:10 - Pro 4:19.
This passage includes much more than temperance or any other single virtue. It is a perfectly general exhortation to that practical wisdom which walks in the path of righteousness. The principles laid down here are true in regard to drunkenness and abstinence, but they are intended to receive a wider application, and to that wider application we must first look. The theme is the old, familiar one of the two paths, and the aim is to recommend the better way by setting forth the contrasted effects of walking in it and in the other.
The general call to listen in Pro 4:10 is characteristically enforced by the Old Testament assurance that obedience prolongs life. That is a New Testament truth as well; for there is nothing more certain than that a life in conformity with God’s will, which is the same thing as a life in conformity with physical laws, tends to longevity. The experience of any doctor will show that. Here in England we have statistics which prove that total abstainers are a long-lived people, and some insurance offices construct their tables accordingly.
After that general call to listen comes, in Pro 4:11, the description of the path in which long life is to be found. It is ‘the way of Wisdom’-that is, that which Wisdom prescribes, and in which therefore it is wise to walk. It is always foolish to do wrong. The rough title of an old play is The Devil is an Ass, and if that is not true about him, it is absolutely true about those who listen to his lies. Sin is the stupidest thing in the universe, for it ignores the plainest facts, and never gets what it flings away so much to secure.
Another aspect of the path is presented in the designation ‘paths of uprightness,’ which seems to be equivalent to those which belong to, or perhaps which consist of, uprightness. The idea of straightness or evenness is the primary meaning of the word, and is, of course, appropriate to the image of a path. In the moral view, it suggests how much more simple and easy a course of rectitude is than one of sin. The one goes straight and unswerving to its end; the other is crooked, devious, intricate, and wanders from the true goal. A crooked road is a long road, and an up-and-down road is a tiring road. Wisdom’s way is straight, level, and steadily approaches its aim.
In Pro 4:13 the image of the path is dropped for the moment, and the picture of the way of uprightness and its travellers is translated into the plain exhortation to keep fast hold of ‘instruction,’ which is substantially equivalent to the queenly Wisdom of these early chapters of Proverbs. The earnestness of the repeated exhortations implies the strength of the forces that tend to sweep us, especially those of us who are young, from our grasp of that Wisdom. Hands become slack, and many a good gift drops from nerveless fingers; thieves abound who will filch away ‘instruction,’ if we do not resolutely hold tight by it. Who would walk through the slums of a city holding jewels with a careless grasp, and never looking at them? How many would he have left if he did? We do not need to do anything to lose instruction. If we will only do nothing to keep it, the world and our own hearts will make sure that we lose it. And if we lose it, we lose ourselves; for ‘she is thy life,’ and the mere bodily life, that is lived without her, is not worth calling the life of a man.
Pro 4:14 - Pro 4:17 give the picture of the other path, in terrible contrast with the preceding. It is noteworthy that, while in the former the designation was the ‘path of uprightness’ or of ‘wisdom,’ and the description therefore was mainly of the characteristics of the path, here the designation is ‘the path of the wicked,’ and the description is mainly of the travellers on it. Righteousness was dealt with, as it were, in the abstract; but wickedness is too awful and dark to be painted thus, and is only set forth in the concrete, as seen in its doers. Now, it is significant that the first exhortation here is of a negative character. In contrast with the reiterated exhortations to keep wisdom, here are reiterated counsels to steer clear of evil. It is all about us, and we have to make a strong effort to keep it at arm’s-length. ‘Whom resist’ is imperative. True, negative virtue is incomplete, but there will be no positive virtue without it. We must be accustomed to say ‘No,’ or we shall come to little good. An outer belt of firs is sometimes planted round a centre of more tender and valuable wood to shelter the young trees; so we have to make a fence of abstinences round our plantation of positive virtues. The decalogue is mostly prohibitions. ‘So did not I, because of the fear of God’ must be our motto. In this light, entire abstinence from intoxicants is seen to be part of the ‘way of Wisdom.’ It is one, and, in the present state of England and America, perhaps the most important, of the ways by which we can ‘turn from’ the path of the wicked and ‘pass on.’
The picture of the wicked in Pro 4:16 - Pro 4:17 is that of very grossly criminal sinners. They are only content when they have done harm, and delight in making others as bad as themselves. But, diabolical as such a disposition is, one sees it only too often in full operation. How many a drunkard or impure man finds a fiendish pleasure in getting hold of some innocent lad, and ‘putting him up to a thing or two,’ which means teaching him the vices from which the teacher has ceased to get much pleasure, and which he has to spice with the condiment of seeing an unaccustomed sinner’s eagerness! Such people infest our streets, and there is only one way for a young man to be safe from them,-’avoid, pass not by, turn from, and pass on.’ The reference to ‘bread’ and ‘wine’ in Pro 4:17 seems simply to mean that the wicked men’s living is won by their ‘wickedness,’ which procures bread, and by their ‘violence,’ which brings them wine. It is the way by which these are obtained that is culpable. We may contrast this foul source of a degraded living with Pro 4:13, where ‘instruction’ is set forth as ‘the life’ of the upright.
Pro 4:18 - Pro 4:19 bring more closely together the two paths, and set them in final, forcible contrast. The phrase ‘the perfect day’ might be rendered, vividly though clumsily, ‘the steady of the day’-that is, noon, when the sun seems to stand still in the meridian. So the image compares the path of the just to the growing brightness of morning dawn, becoming more and more fervid and lustrous, till the climax of an Eastern midday. No more sublime figure of the continuous progress in goodness, brightness, and joy, which is the best reward of walking in the paths of uprightness, can be imagined; and it is as true as it is sublime. Blessed they who in the morning of their days begin to walk in the way of wisdom; for, in most cases, years will strengthen their uprightness, and to that progress there will be no termination, nor will the midday sun have to decline westward to diminishing splendour or dismal setting, but that noontide glory will be enhanced, and made eternal in a new heaven. The brighter the light, the darker the shadow. That blaze of growing glory, possible for us all, makes the tragic gloom to which evil men condemn themselves the thicker and more doleful, as some dungeon in an Eastern prison seems pitch dark to one coming in from the blaze outside. ‘How great is that darkness!’ It is the darkness of sin, of ignorance, of sorrow, and what adds deeper gloom to it is that every soul that sits in that shadow of death might have been shining, a sun, in the spacious heaven of God’s love.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 Ancestral Wisdom. The Two Paths
Ancestral Wisdom. The Two Paths
In Pro_4:1-9 the teacher lays stress on the fact that his instruction is a repetition of his father's. No teaching was thought valuable save that which was handed down from one generation to another. The best pupil was the one who was 'a cemented cistern which loses not a drop.' Pro_4:10-19 might be called the doctrine of the two paths, the two ways of life. 20-27 enjoin strict attention to instruction and to conduct.
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7. Lit. 'The beginning of wisdom is, get wisdom' (RM). When we feel our deficiency we shall make a start. Socrates was the wisest of the Greeks because he felt that he was not wise. And with all, etc.] Read, 'Yea, with all thou hast gotten' (RV): cp. Mat_13:45, Mat_13:46.
8. Exalt] i.e. prize highly.
12. His life is like a broad road in which are no obstacles to trip up the unwary.
16, 17. There were many rapacious officials whose appetite for oppression grew with what it fed on.
18. The prosperity of the righteous is 'as the light of the dawn' (RM), ever waxing.
23. Watch over the inner life of thought and feeling; on it prosperity depends (1Sa_16:7; Mat_15:19).
25. Keep your eye fixed on the goal: let nothing turn you aside into the devious paths of wickedness.
26. Make your way even and level: walk in the smooth, strait path of righteousness.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 1. Solomon’s training (Pro 4:1-9)
CHAPTER 4
1. Solomon’s training (Pro 4:1-9)
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2. Hear, O my son: Receive my sayings (Pro 4:10-19)
3. My son, attend to my words. (Pro 4:20-27)
Pro 4:1-9. This passage shows the early training which Solomon received and he passeth on the instructions. It is said that these verses formed a model for many Puritan homes in England and the Scotland of the covenant. He was the beloved one, his father’s true son. Note the different exhortation, about wisdom: Forget it not; forsake her not; love her; exalt her. Then the promises: She shall preserve thee; she shall keep thee; she shall promote thee; she gives honor; an ornament of grace for the head and a crown of glory. If we take wisdom and make it the Lord Jesus Christ and His Word, what blessed food for the soul we will enjoy!
Pro 4:10-19. Here we find instructions for Solomon and all the godly with the corresponding promises. Then there is the warning concerning the path of the wicked and a contrast between the way of the righteous and the way of the wicked.
But the way of the righteous is as the dawn of light
That shineth more and more unto the perfect day.
This is a blessed statement. As soon as we accept the true wisdom, the Lord Jesus Christ, we enter upon a way which faceth the east, the sunrise. The light of the coming dawn illumines that path, and at some time the perfect day will break when all shadows flee away.
Pro 4:20-27. Instructions to receive and to obey the words of wisdom are the contents of this address. The eye is never to be taken off from the words of the Lord; they are to be kept in the midst of the heart. How important to listen to such counsel, even for us His children:
Keep thy heart with all diligence;
For out of it are the issues of life.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv1, 14 Admonitions Concerning Wisdom
Admonitions Concerning Wisdom
v. 1. Hear, ye children, the affectionate address being intended to arouse attention in his readers, the instruction of a father, one who, for that reason, had the experience needed to teach others, and attend to know understanding, to make it their property.
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v. 2. For I give you good doctrine, teachings which he had received from his father, the value of which had been proved, which he could therefore hand over to the younger generation with words of warm commendation; forsake ye not my law, by setting his advice aside, by neglecting it.
v. 3. For I was my father’s son, an object of special care and tender regard in David’s eyes, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother, the one whom she surrounded with particular love.
v. 4. He taught me also and said unto me, David thus proving himself a wise teacher, Let thine heart retain my words, holding them fast for the purpose of following them always; keep my commandments and live, for by observing them he would become the possessor of true life and enjoy its advantages.
v. 5. Get wisdom, get understanding, that being the sum total of David’s instruction; forget it not, clinging to it as a most valuable possession; neither decline from the words of my mouth, literally, "forget not, turn not aside from, the sayings of my mouth," as they were offered in the maxims which Solomon heard time and again.
v. 6. Forsake her not, the wisdom which was here so highly praised, and she shall preserve thee, serve as a protection against bad influences and uphold true life; love her, and she shall keep thee, this being the reward dispensed by wisdom.
v. 7. Wisdom is the principal thing, the highest and most desirable possession; therefore get wisdom, this being suggested as the guiding rule of life; and with all thy getting, at the price of all one’s possessions, no matter how much it costs, get understanding, the prudence and discretion needed for a virtuous life.
v. 8. Exalt her, and she shall promote thee, this being the wonderful exchange made by wisdom in rewarding her followers; she shall bring thee to honor when thou dost embrace her, wisdom being personified here as a beloved and honored wife, queen of the home.
v. 9. She shall give to thine head an ornament of grace, a graceful or charming wreath, for so wisdom serves to adorn its possessor; a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee, a glorious diadem, which bestows dignity.
v. 10. Hear, o my son, and receive my sayings, and the years of thy life shall be many, a long and happy life being one of the rewards granted to him who uses knowledge aright and happy life being one of the rewards granted to him who uses knowledge aright.
v. 11. I have taught thee in the way of wisdom, in the conduct which is in agreement with the precepts of true wisdom; I have led thee in right paths, literally, "in the paths of straightness," following the standard of right always.
v. 12. When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened, be hindered and confined by obstructions, and when thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble, rather have ample room for a full and free stride.
v. 13. Take fast hold of instruction, the moral training given by wisdom; let her not go; keep her; for she is thy life, by bestowing long life and happiness upon those who are devoted to her. That is the sum of instruction which should be given to all young people in an appropriate and effective manner.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3, 5, 7, 10, 13, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26 General Information:
General Information:
The writer speaks as a father teaching his children.
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pay attention
"listen carefully"
you will know what understanding is
"you will know how to understand" or "you will gain understanding"
I am giving you good instructions
"What I am teaching you is good"
translationWords
son
ancestor
good
forsake
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 16, 17, 18, 20, 22, 23, 24 4:1 Discourses in chs 1–9 often begin with the…
4:1 Discourses in chs 1–9 often begin with the call to listen (cp. 1:8, 23; 2:1; 4:20-21; 5:1-2; 6:20-23; 7:1-3). • when your father corrects you: The children have reason to listen, because they have made mistakes.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.