Posted by Jeff Short on August 12, 2016 · 1 Comment
Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.
– Proverbs 4:7
Principal thing means wisdom is of first importance or the beginning. Obtaining wisdom is an aim of first priority. Acquiring wisdom has more to do with desire and pursuit through appointed means than intelligence (James 1:5-7). Getting refers to wealth or goods. Above all the earthly goods, get or seek wisdom. This shows the value of wisdom above all earthly treasures and worth all costs to obtain it.
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Posted by Jeff Short on August 11, 2016 · 1 Comment
Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee.
– Proverbs 4:6
The instruction is to love and not forsake wisdom. Wisdom is personified as a woman throughout Proverbs. There is a hint of exhortation to a man to love and cleave to wisdom as to his wife committedly. Preserving and keeping both speak to guarding or protection. Loving wisdom will guard from many of the errors of folly.
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Posted by Jeff Short on August 10, 2016 · 1 Comment
Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth.
– Proverbs 4:5
Solomon reiterates to get wisdom and to get understanding. It is already clear that acquiring these will cost a price and require continual effort. He also urges constancy to stay the course—forget not, decline not. He exhorts to pay the price to obtain wisdom and not let it go at any offer (Proverbs 23:23).
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Posted by Jeff Short on August 9, 2016 · 1 Comment
He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live.
– Proverbs 4:4
Solomon’s father’s instruction was the same as he has been giving his son. Solomon was admonished to get, keep, and pursue wisdom. He was likewise instructed in wisdom, the way of life. We infer from this also the eternal nature of wisdom. It never goes out of style or out of date. It’s perpetually relevant from one generation to the next. Wisdom’s value is never diminished by the passage of time.
Solomon also identifies the issue of life and death in his father’s instruction. True life is had through keeping the commandments of wisdom. This life is a theme throughout this chapter and appears in each of the three sections.
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Posted by Jeff Short on August 8, 2016 · 1 Comment
For I was my father’s son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother.
– Proverbs 4:3
Solomon acknowledges his own experience in learning wisdom from his father and mother. He was once the tender-eyed pupil of his father and now he is the wizened father. We infer from this the duty of wisdom we have to learn it and to teach it to our children. This is the ideal of the law (Deuteronomy 6:6-9; Psalms 145:4).
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Posted by Jeff Short on August 7, 2016 · 1 Comment
For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law.
– Proverbs 4:2
Good doctrine is sound teaching that urges reception. In the book of Proverbs we are receiving the inspired wisdom from God and it is good in every sense of the term and should be received. Solomon admonishes us not to depart from it or forsake it. This highlights the continual nature of pursuing wisdom. Law is a precept or statute. Our desire should be as the Psalmist’s to “keep it unto the end” (Psalm 119:33).
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Posted by Jeff Short on August 6, 2016 · 1 Comment
Chapter 4 teaches the pursuit of wisdom is a lifelong pursuit. There is no time that we can think we are all stocked up on wisdom and we can leave off the pursuit of it. Such thought is the thought of folly and not wisdom. This chapter continues the fatherly exhortations, which method communicates that wisdom is best taught and learned in close relation and handed down from one to another. We can learn from teachers from afar, but wisdom designs we are most benefited from those we know, can observe, and talk with (Proverbs 13:20; 1 Thessalonians 1:5; 5:12-13; Hebrews 13:17).
The chapter divides into three sections. Verses 1-9 teach the beauty and value of wisdom. Teaching involves both positive and negative. The negative perspective involves warnings and showing negative results or consequences. The positive perspective involves showing the benefits and good results. This first section is primarily from the positive perspective—truth, goodness, and beauty. Verses 10-19 contrast the ways of folly and wisdom. Verses 20-27 reinforce the lessons and repetitively urges hearing, listening, and attending to the words of wisdom taught.
Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding.
– Proverbs 4:1
Hear means to hear intelligently and attend means to pay attention. It is a double call to the learner’s responsibility to actively listen and think on what he’s being taught. It puts us in mind of a parent instructing a child to do several things and laboring to be sure they have heard and understood what they are supposed to do. Instruction involves teaching and correction or warning. It is the instruction of a father, which speaks to the teacher’s motive of love for the “children” and earnest desire that understanding, or wisdom, be known.
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Posted by Jeff Short on August 5, 2016 · 1 Comment
The wise shall inherit glory: but shame shall be the promotion of fools.
– Proverbs 3:35
Wise rounds out the threefold description of the blessed. They are just (v. 33), lowly (v. 34), and wise (v.35). They shall inherit or come into glory. Fools mock and scorn and scoff at wisdom and extol shame. Shame, or disgrace, shall be their end. This verse brings us back to the two ways and two ends. The issues of wisdom and folly are the issues of life and death.
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Posted by Jeff Short on August 4, 2016 · 1 Comment
Surely he scorneth the scorners: but he giveth grace unto the lowly.
– Proverbs 3:34
The lowly is one who bends himself and so it means the humble. It is the humble who receive favor from God. Proverbs has much to say in condemnation of the proud and so the scorners receive scorning. God resists the proud (James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5) and does not show them favor. Wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord and bends oneself to receive her counsels.
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Proverbs 4:7
Posted by Jeff Short on August 12, 2016 · 1 Comment
Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.
Principal thing means wisdom is of first importance or the beginning. Obtaining wisdom is an aim of first priority. Acquiring wisdom has more to do with desire and pursuit through appointed means than intelligence (James 1:5-7). Getting refers to wealth or goods. Above all the earthly goods, get or seek wisdom. This shows the value of wisdom above all earthly treasures and worth all costs to obtain it.– Proverbs 4:7
Listen to the Proverbs sermon series
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