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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Posted by Jeff Short on August 3, 2016 · 1 Comment
The curse of the LORD is in the house of the wicked: but he blesseth the habitation of the just.
– Proverbs 3:33
Those who turn aside from God’s word are an abomination to him and thus the curse is in their house. The Lord warned Israel of the curse if they departed from his law (Deuteronomy 11:28; Leviticus 26:14-16). Alternatively, those who receive his wisdom and keep it, shall be blessed (Deuteronomy 28:2-14).
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Posted by Jeff Short on August 2, 2016 · Leave a Comment
For the forward is abomination to the LORD: but his secret is with the righteous.
– Proverbs 3:32
Verse 32 explains why we are to neither envy oppressors nor choose their ways. Froward means to turn aside and this describes the ways of the oppressor. He has turned aside from the path of wisdom to walk in the crooked way of folly. An abomination is something abhorrent to God, something contrary to his nature, which he detests. Such is the way of the oppressor. The oppressor’s way is contrasted with the way of the righteous, which is straight or just. The righteous are walking in the way of wisdom and consequently have the secret of the Lord. Secret here refers to something that has to be revealed in order to know it (Psalm 25:14; Matthew 11:25-27).
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Posted by Jeff Short on August 1, 2016 · 1 Comment
Envy thou not the oppressor, and choose none of his ways.
– Proverbs 3:31
To envy is to be jealous of or to desire the things of another. Oppressors exercise power over others and use wicked ways to often obtain quick success. Envy could come of wanting to reverse roles and rather than being oppressed to be the oppressor, or it could be a desire for the quick success they seem to have. Wisdom takes a longer view and knows the end of the oppressor’s ways.
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Posted by Jeff Short on July 31, 2016 · 1 Comment
Strive not with a man without cause, if he have done thee no harm.
– Proverbs 3:30
Strive and cause can have legal connotations, i.e. suing in court. It need not go that far. It can also refer to any contention or strife. Wisdom teaches not to enter into contention or strife without good reason. We are to avoid it and live peaceably with all as much as is possible (Romans 12:18-21).
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Proverbs 4:3
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.
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).– Proverbs 4:3
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