Proverbs 4: 1 – 19
Undeserved Credit
1 Hear, my children, the instruction of a father, and give attention to know understanding; 2 For I give you good doctrine: Do not forsake my law. 3 When I was my father’s son, tender and the only one in the sight of my mother, 4 He also taught me, and said to me: “Let your heart retain my words; Keep my commands, and live. 5 Get wisdom! Get understanding! Do not forget, nor turn away from the words of my mouth. 6 Do not forsake her, and she will preserve you; Love her, and she will keep you. 7 Wisdom is the principal thing; Therefore get wisdom. and in all your getting, get understanding. 8 Exalt her, and she will promote you; She will bring you honor, when you embrace her. 9 She will place on your head an ornament of grace; A crown of glory she will deliver to you.” 10 Hear, my son, and receive my sayings, and the years of your life will be many. 11 I have taught you in the way of wisdom; I have led you in right paths. 12 When you walk, your steps will not be hindered, and when you run, you will not stumble. 13 Take firm hold of instruction, do not let go; Keep her, for she is your life. 14 Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of evil. 15 Avoid it, do not travel on it; Turn away from it and pass on. 16 For they do not sleep unless they have done evil; And their sleep is taken away unless they make someone fall. 17 For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence. 18 But the path of the just is like the shining sun, that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day. 19 The way of the wicked is like darkness; They do not know what makes them stumble.
I look around and I have a hard time accepting nice things credited to people who do not deserve it. You know they are flaunted with accolades for things they really did not do. I have observed how sons of successful men get lavished with praise for accomplishments that the average Joe has done better. Throughout Scripture I cannot see a successful pass of the baton from a gifted father to his son. Look at the descendents of David. Sure there were a couple of good ones, but you have to notice regarding these good kings that they never measured up to David. The religious leaders’ descendents also failed in the righteous calling.
So to address this position I want to talk about Solomon. Here is a guy who was born with a silver spoon. Through nothing of his own he was named ‘Loved’ by God and Solomon by his Father David. He just stepped into a kingship over a nation and all the good wrappings that go along with it.
Here is a guy who was loved by God. He actually had two personal interactions with Adoni Yahweh. In the book of First Kings chapter 3 we read of how God gave Solomon an offer to ask anything for himself. He requested Wisdom from God. And many teachers thereby give him a lot of credit for his choice because God was well pleased. Let’s see for ourselves what happened. “1 Now Solomon made a treaty with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and married Pharaoh’s daughter; then he brought her to the City of David until he had finished building his own house, and the house of the LORD, and the wall all around Jerusalem. 2 Meanwhile the people sacrificed at the high places, because there was no house built for the name of the LORD until those days. 3 And Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of his father David, except that he sacrificed and burned incense at the high places. 4 Now the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place: Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. 5 At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, “Ask! What shall I give you?” 6 And Solomon said: “You have shown great mercy to Your servant David my father, because he walked before You in truth, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with You; You have continued this great kindness for him, and You have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. 7 Now, O LORD my God, You have made Your servant king instead of my father David, but I am a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. 8 And Your servant is in the midst of Your people whom You have chosen, a great people, too numerous to be numbered or counted. 9 Therefore give to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?” 10 The speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. 11 Then God said to him: “Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked long life for yourself, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have asked the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice, 12 behold, I have done according to your words; see, I have given you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has not been anyone like you before you, nor shall any like you arise after you. 13 And I have also given you what you have not asked: both riches and honor, so that there shall not be anyone like you among the kings all your days. 14 So if you walk in My ways, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.” 15 Then Solomon awoke; and indeed it had been a dream. And he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the LORD, offered up burnt offerings, offered peace offerings, and made a feast for all his servants.
You will see from this Proverb that the whole idea of asking for ‘wisdom’ was planted in Solomon’s mind by his dad. If you want to give him any credit, let it be for listening to his dad.
If any of you read ahead you might have a question on your mind, ‘how come we are only looking at verses 1 through 19, because there are more verses in this Proverb.’
However one clue might be found in the opening words in 4 verse 1 and verse 10 where we have the opening injunction to ‘hear’ (with ‘attend to’ following as a parallel). This is in contrast with 4.20 and 5.1 where we have the opening words ‘attend to --’ (with ‘incline your ear’ following as a parallel). This suggests that the dividing line between discourses comes at 4.19, something which might then be seen as confirmed by the fact that 4.17-19 gives us a contrast between the fate of the wicked and the fate of the righteous, paralleling final contrasts in previous discourses.
1 Hear, my children, the instruction of a father, and give attention to know understanding;
Please note Solomon’s remarks to his ‘children’. Have you ever personally experienced the loss of a child or knew someone who did? In many cases the children who are alive wind up being overly loved - In other words, spoiled. Solomon’s older brother died after birth as a result of his father’s sin of adultery and murder. So, when Solomon was born his parents lavished the goodies. As a son of a king he got whatever he wanted. In adult life he also did not deny himself anything. In the book of Ecclesiastes chapter 2 Solomon tells us so, “Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart rejoiced in all my labor; And this was my reward from all my labor.”
Our Holy Master instructed Solomon to avoid three things in life, gold, horses, and women. He disobeyed our Lord in all three areas. You can see the result of having a lot of children from this action of Solomon as told to us in the book of 1st Kings chapter 11, “
1 But King Solomon loved many foreign women, as well as the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites— 2 from the nations of whom the LORD had said to the children of Israel, “You shall not intermarry with them, nor they with you. Surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love. 3 And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart. 4 For it was so, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to the LORD his God, as was the heart of his father David. 5 For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. 6 Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and did not fully follow the LORD, as did his father David. 7 Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the hill that is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the people of Ammon. 8 And he did likewise for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods. 9 So the LORD became angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned from the LORD God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, 10 and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not keep what the LORD had commanded. 11 Therefore the LORD said to Solomon, “Because you have done this, and have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant. 12 Nevertheless I will not do it in your days, for the sake of your father David; I will tear it out of the hand of your son. 13 However I will not tear away the whole kingdom; I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of My servant David, and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen.”
He calls on them to ‘hear’ his disciplinary instruction, and ‘attend’ to know understanding. The idea behind ‘disciplinary instruction’ is that it is instruction enforced, if necessary, by chastisement. This was seen as part of a father’s responsibility. The main emphasis is on instruction and understanding. And what was to be understood was Solomon’s sound teaching and his ‘torah’, which was not to be forsaken. This was, of course, the ‘torah’ urged on him by his father when, at the commencement of his reign David urged on him to ‘keep the charge of Adoni Yahweh, In the book of 1 Kings chapter 2 we see Solomon’s dad’s good advice, “And keep the charge of the LORD your God: to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His judgments, and His testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn”
2 For I give you good doctrine: Do not forsake my law.
Do you like sports? I’ll tell you why I am asking this question. If you are aware of sports then you have possibly watched the ‘March Madness’ basketball games. They are a lot of fun trying to figure who will beat who in the brackets. This year the University of Connecticut won both the men’s and women’s national championship. The men’s coach won in his first year of coaching. Now that is somewhat a good achievement, but you have to realize that he won the championship with someone else’s team. You see all the players were influenced to play for the Connecticut team because of their former coach Jim Calhoon. I know the current coach still had to use his talented players properly yet proof will be in the pudding. If this coach after recruiting his own players is able to repeat a championship then gives him all the credit due.
I bring this up because Solomon is taking credit for being a good dad. I believe that history does not see this happen. In fact, when you read the book of Ecclesiastes, we read how Solomon regrets leaving his heir all his riches.
I do believe at the time of writing this Proverb, that Solomon was doing well as a faithful believer and servant of our Father God. So, in a way he is gratefully passing on to his children that as he has listened and obeyed his dad, and can testify of all the abundant blessing, that his children should also do likewise in order to see the same results.
3 When I was my father’s son, tender and the only one in the sight of my mother, 4 He also taught me, and said to me: “Let your heart retain my words; Keep my commands, and live. 5 Get wisdom! Get understanding! Do not forget, nor turn away from the words of my mouth. 6 Do not forsake her, and she will preserve you; Love her, and she will keep you. 7 Wisdom is the principal thing; Therefore get wisdom. and in all your getting, get understanding. 8 Exalt her, and she will promote you; She will bring you honor, when you embrace her. 9 She will place on your head an ornament of grace; A crown of glory she will deliver to you.”
Solomon now stresses that his wisdom has partly come down to him from his father. This greatly added to its value as it was thereby revealed to be traditional, and to have come from the great David. There can be little doubt that among David’s advisers were wisdom teachers, who had no doubt played their part in the education of Solomon.
The reference, however, by Solomon to his mother is interesting. One reason for it was no doubt to stress that in that verse he was speaking biologically about his blood father.
Please note Solomon’s comment, “and the only one in the sight of my mother”. Here is a question for you bible scholars, ‘was Solomon a only child?’ No, in fact he had other siblings. We learn this fact from the book of 1st Chronicles chapter 3, “And these were born to him in Jerusalem: Shimea, Shobab, Nathan, and Solomon—four by Bathshua the daughter of Ammiel.
I believe from Scripture that Solomon loved his mom a lot. Since his brother died Bathsheba spent much time with him.
The tender way in which Solomon speaks of his mother has special significance with reference to the tender way in which he later speaks of Ms Wisdom. It was because of her tenderness towards him (and David’s love for her) that he received his crown.
The word for ‘obtain’ means basically to buy. The idea is of being willing to sacrifice much in order to obtain God-provided and God-based wisdom and understanding. The repetition of ‘obtain’ stresses the urgency of it. The thought may even be of the willingness to ‘pay a dowry’ in order to obtain her, because she is treasured so much. Note that wisdom and understanding are seen as one (‘she’), and that they are obtained from the words of his mouth. He sees himself as teaching the wisdom that comes from God, as passing on what God has spoken.
The issue is so important that he uses three verbs as warnings against neglecting wisdom and understanding, ‘do not forget -- do not turn aside -- do not forsake’. It is a reminder that some negligently forget God’s wisdom, some deliberately turn aside from it, and some intentionally forsake it because its demands are too great, or it has become a nuisance. Rather they are to love her and cherish her as a man loves and cherishes his wife. They are promised that thereby they will be preserved and guarded. Like a beloved wife Wisdom is to be loved, and not forsaken, and then she will watch over her family.
We reveal the beginning of wisdom in ourselves by seeking to obtain wisdom. Indeed, God’s wisdom is to be seen as so important that we should be willing to give all that we possess in order that we might obtain it.
Here is something that we have to take to heart. You see our Great El Shaddai – Almighty God – has a problem with us sinners who will not realize the importance of His Wisdom. It started in the Garden. What did Adam and Eve do? They opted for Satan’s wisdom over God’s. By doing this we see firsthand the predicaments we all face.
Wisdom, therefore, is to be ‘held in high honors’ and ‘embraced’. Once again it may indicate that we are to see her as a highly prized wife. If we treat her properly she will promote our interests, exalt us and bring us honors. The illustration that follows suggests that this is in a spiritual sense. Our spiritual lives will prosper. (But some consider that it does refer to physical exaltation to high position). Indeed, she will crown us with a wreath of spiritual, God-given beauty, a crown of splendor. The adjectives are stressing splendor and beauty. She will have enhanced our lives and made us spiritually beautiful. Have you ever come across a man or woman who daily walks with our Precious Lord? Can you not see firsthand this splendor and beauty?
When a person basks in the presence of our Great Master God, you naturally shine. Look at what happened to Moses in chapter 34 of Exodus, “29 Now it was so, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablets of the Testimony were in Moses’ hand when he came down from the mountain), that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone while he talked with Him. 30 So when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him. 31 Then Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned to him; and Moses talked with them. 32 Afterward all the children of Israel came near, and he gave them as commandments all that the LORD had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. 33 And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face. 34 But whenever Moses went in before the LORD to speak with Him, he would take the veil off until he came out; and he would come out and speak to the children of Israel whatever he had been commanded. 35 And whenever the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face shone, then Moses would put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with Him.”
Solomon has stressed that his father had taught him the great value of wisdom, (which was connected to his words and commandments), as something that should be loved and cherished like a beloved wife, and which would crown him with spiritual beauty. Now he calls on ‘his son’ to hear his sayings, which will lead him in the right paths so that he will not stumble, and so that he will find life. He must therefore avoid the path of the wicked, for such can find no rest until they themselves cause other men to stumble and suffer violence. Thus their way is a way of darkness, stumbling and death, both for others and for themselves. And this in contrast to the path of the righteous which grows ever brighter as time passes until it reaches its climax in the perfect day.
Note the continual emphasis on the two ways, which are emphasized throughout. On the one hand is the way of wisdom, the paths of uprightness, the path of the righteous (what our Holy Lord Jesus called ‘the narrow way’), and on the other is the path of the wicked, the way of evil men, the way of the wicked (what our Lord Jesus called ‘the broad way’). The one leads to life, and light, and is secure; the other leads to violence and darkness, and is insecure.
10 Hear, my son, and receive my sayings, and the years of your life will be many. 11 I have taught you in the way of wisdom; I have led you in right paths.
In the same way as he has retained his father’s words, and kept his commandments in order to find life abundant, Solomon now calls on ‘his son’ (the one who is to follow him on the throne) to do the same with his sayings, for they teach them the way of wisdom, and lead them in the paths of uprightness. They are a source of God’s wisdom, passed on from one generation to another.
Long life is a promise to children from our Holy God for honoring their parents. In the book of Exodus chapter 20 we read about this directly from our Holy Lord, It is the 5th Commandment, “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you.”
12 When you walk, your steps will not be hindered, and when you run, you will not stumble. 13 Take firm hold of instruction, do not let go; Keep her, for she is your life.
By determining our goals and choosing our lifestyle each of us chooses the way in which we will go. It is worth noting that ‘paths’ have been formed by many treading that way before us. We are not alone. We follow in the train of those who have gone before. Those who walk in this way of wisdom and uprightness will find that their steps are free and unhampered and that even when they run they will not trip up or stumble. (It is, of course, when we stray from that way that we stumble). And the way to walk in that way is by taking fast hold of His disciplinary instruction and not letting it go. We are to treasure both God’s instruction and his necessary discipline, and keep hold of them, for they offer life, that is, a wholesome and abundant life, life with God.
14 Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of evil. 15 Avoid it, do not travel on it; Turn away from it and pass on. 16 For they do not sleep unless they have done evil; And their sleep is taken away unless they make someone fall. 17 For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence.
In contrast what they and we also must avoid doing is entering into the paths of the ‘wicked’, the unrighteous, those who come short of uprightness. Nor must they and we walk in the way of ‘evil men’, those who do not treat God’s covenant seriously, who come short of true goodness. Notice his emphasis on this. They must avoid that way, they must not pass along it, they must turn from it, and they must pass on (to the upright way). The constant urging is necessary because of the seductive nature of sin.
18 But the path of the just is like the shining sun, that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day. 19 The way of the wicked is like darkness; They do not know what makes them stumble.
The discourse ends with the regular contrast between the upright and the sinful. On the one hand is the path of the righteous, which commences as a dawning light, and continues to grow brighter and brighter until it reaches the ultimate.
As believers on our journey in life if we stay close to the Lord by reading and obeying His Word we will grow closer and closer to the light of God, knowing Him more and more as time goes by. As we have seen His light will also shine forth in our lives. This great effect will go on until we attain the ultimate light, the presence of God Himself. For He is the One Who Is light and in Whom there is no darkness at all.
In contrast is the way of the wicked. This is a way of darkness so that they cannot see where they are going, so much so that when they trip up and stumble they do not know what has caused them to trip up because they ‘walk in the ways of darkness’. Sinful man, without God’s wisdom, will blame his problems and his mortality on many things, but he will never blame it on his sin. That recognition is a consequence of God’s light. Thus he is puzzled by suffering, not recognizing that he has, along with all mankind, brought it on himself. And he is puzzled when life goes wrong and he stumbles and falls. And this is because he walks in darkness, and cannot see the connection between sin and suffering. After all, he reasons, as he rebels against God, I am not such a great sinner.
Can you see here the importance of sharing the Good News? For we also we in the last group but our Holy and Gracious God did not give up on us. He faithfully continued to draw us to Him. Thank You O Wonderful Blessed Creator.
