Read the Bible in 2023 ◊ Week 24: Thursday
Hear, O sons, the discipline of a father,And pay attention that you may know understanding,
For I give you sound learning;
Do not forsake my instruction.
Thursday’s Bible reading is Proverbs 4. Throughout this chapter the father continually urges his sons to pay attention to his words and to acquire wisdom. He says this over and over again and every time he does so he gives reasons as to why it is so important to heed him and to gain wisdom.
The father is teaching his son what he, himself, learned from his own father..
Tender and the only son before my mother,
Then he instructed me and said to me,
Derek Kidner writes:
“The linking of three generations (verses 1, 3ff.) demonstrates how a love of the best things will be transmitted mainly by personal influence, along the channels of affection. The approach is positive: the teacher is far less interested in ‘don’ts’ (although they have their place: see 3:27–31) than in getting his pupil to see that he is offered the secret of being really alive (4b), and therefore to co-operate by cultivating his own love (6) of the wisdom which is that secret.”1
The words of this chapter decry the notion of passive parenting. There is urgency and involvement of the father in teaching. The constant repetition combined with numerous reasons for wisdom emphasizes how important acquiring wisdom is. The father goes on to quote his own father to his son (4b–9).
Keep my commandments and live;
Acquire wisdom! Acquire understanding!
Do not forget and do not turn away from the sayings of my mouth.
Do not forsake her, and she will keep you;
Love her, and she will guard you.”
Repetition and reason are great tools of both parent and teacher. Repetition emphasizes the main points—listen and acquire wisdom—and giving numerous reasons for doing so undergirds the importance of wisdom far more than just repeating the same reason would.
As your children grow this is a repetition repeated over the years and at opportune moments. It’s not to be left until times of rebuke and correction, but notice Proverbs 4 is proactive. The father teaches this before his son finds himself caught up in calamity. Pray for your own wisdom to know when and how and what to teach.
Notice the repetition of way (4:11, 14, 19, 26) tracks (4:11, 26), steps (4:12, 14), and path (4:14, 18).
And the years of your life will be many.
I have instructed you in the way of wisdom;
I have led you in upright tracks.
When you walk, your steps will not be impeded;
And if you run, you will not stumble.
Seize discipline; do not let go.
Guard her, for she is your life.
Do not enter the path of wicked men
And do not step into the way of evil men.
Kidner comments:
“Two paths are set before us. Verses 10–13 describe the way of wisdom (11) and verses 14–17 the path (or way) of the wicked (14, 19). In verses 18, 19 the two paths are compared.”2
Bruce Waltke helps our understanding of Proverbs by explaining the Hebrew word, derek, translated as the English word, way.
“In its figurative sense derek [way] and its co-references [synonyms: path, track, byway] evoke three notions: (1) “course of life” (i.e., the character and context of life); (2) “conduct of life” (i.e., specific choices and behavior); and (3) “consequences of that conduct” (i.e., the inevitable destiny of such a life style). The English word “lifestyle” covers the first two, but not the important third…In sum, “way” is a metaphor for the deed-destiny nexus upheld by God.”3
The contrast between the way of life and consequences of that life of the wicked and the way of the righteous and the consequences of that life are delivered with urgency and concern.
And do not step into the way of evil men.
Avoid it, do not pass by it;
Stray from it and pass on.
For they do not sleep unless they do evil;
And they are robbed of sleep unless they make someone stumble.
For they eat the bread of wickedness
And drink the wine of violence.
But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn,
That shines brighter and brighter until the fullness of day.
The way of the wicked is like thick darkness;
They do not know over what they stumble.
The lack of wisdom is not neutral, the lack of wisdom means having no guard rails to keep you on the right paths and prevent you from stumbling. The word guard is used three different times in Proverbs 4.
Love her, and she will guard you.
Guard her, for she is your life.
For from it flow the springs of life.
Notice the relationship between keeping and guarding. Guard wisdom, and wisdom will guard you. Waltke writes this reciprocity “encapsulates the book’s teaching: keep the commands, and they/the LORD will keep you.”4 He comments on verse 13:
“Whereas the father used two commands in the initial frame (4:10) to encourage total commitment to wisdom’s way, now he uses three in its conclusion to persevere in it. First the command, hold on to [seize]…the parallels suggest it has its durative notions here (cf. Exod. 9:2; Judg. 7:8)…Second, do not stop [do not let go]…means literally “to cause oneself to drop or cease an activity” (cf. 1 Sam. 15:16; Ps. 46:1[2])…Third, guard…The pronominal object is feminine, showing that the antecedent now is “wisdom,” not its nearer antecedent “instruction {discipline],” suggesting that no distinction is intended between them.”5
By the way, I have come to appreciate the Legacy Standard Bible’s consistent translation of the same English word to translate the same Hebrew or Greek word. Guard is a consistent translation of the Hebrew word, whereas the NASB1995 varies between translating the Hebrew word as watch or guard. I obviously can’t vouch for every word, but I’ve seen it often. It’s very helpful when trying to understand what the text is saying and means.
Heart is repeated three times in Proverbs 4 in verses 4, 21, and 23. Proverbs 4:23 commands us to Guard your heart with all diligence. It’s important to understand the biblical meaning of heart because it encapsulates far more than our common English understanding.
The New Bible Commentary: Revised notes:
“The heart is the very basis of character, including mind and will, in the Old Testament.”6
A. F. Walls writes:
“…the heart [is], the focus of the mind and will and the fountain of action…
“Heart has a wider meaning in Hebrew than in English as it relates to the intellectual and moral faculties as well as to the emotional.”7
Dan Phillips comments:
“…the heart is not primarily the seat of the emotions, but rather of intellect, volition, and evaluation. It is used specifically of memory in various places, including Deuteronomy 4:39 and Proverbs 4:21.”8
Waltke translates the verse as:
His section on the verse summarizes it as “The Janus: Guard the Heart, the Source of All Behavior,” because the first part of 4:23 looks back to 4:20–22, and the second part of 4:23 looks forward to 4:24–27.10
“One body member, the heart, is uniquely mentioned…because the interior heart is the receptacle of the word (4:23a) and the agent governing the body’s actions (v. 23b). In sum the first half deals with a person’s interiority or inscape, keeping the sources of the spiritual life fixed on the teaching (vv. 20–23a), and the second half with his exteriority or landscape, keeping the members fixed on the right way (23b–27)…”to turn to my words” (v. 20b) and “do not turn to the right or left” (v. 27a), summarizes the message. What one is and what one does are inseparable.”11
Phillips translates Proverbs 4:23 as:
In a footnote he writes:
“This verse has weighty ramifications for parenting, many of which are developed helpfully in Tedd Tripp’s Shepherding a Child’s Heart (Wapwallopen: Shepherd Press, 1995); see 19ff. in particular.”13
He comments:
“Solomon would have been far from meaning his son should learn simply to compel outward compliance from his children. The wise king’s view of the family would have been informed by Deuteronomy 6:4–9, where the father loves the one true God with all his heart. It is an overflow of that love which moves him to talk in terms of God’s Word in every season of his family’s life.”14
Derek Kidner points out that Proverbs 4:23 “strikingly anticipates our Lord’s teaching,” citing Mark 7:15–23; Luke 6:45; John 4:14, 7:38; and writes Proverbs 4:23 “may well be ‘the scripture’ alluded to” in John 7:38.15 Remind yourself and your children, that God gives us a new heart when we believe in the Lord Jesus; through Him we will be able to hold fast God’s Word, keep it in our heart, and live it out in our lives.
And all your ways will be established.
Do not turn to the right nor to the left;
Turn your foot from evil.
Guard wisdom, and wisdom will guard you.
For a brief overview of the main divisions of Proverbs see my post, The Book of Proverbs.
Silvesterzug Laterne: Bk muc. (CC BY-SA 4.0).
River Lea Steps: Gordon Joly. (CC BY-SA 3.0). GFDL-1.2-or-later.
1,2,15Derek Kidner, The Proverbs: An Introduction and Commentary (The Tyndale Press, London: 1964) 66, 67, 68.
3,4,5,9,10,11Bruce K. Waltke, “Text and Commentary,” The Book of Proverbs: Chapters 1–15 (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids MI: 2004) 194; 226; 288; 293; 297, 295–296; 296.
6The New Bible Commentary: Revised, D. Guthrie, J. A. Motyer, eds., A. M. Stibbs, D. J. Wiseman, contributing eds., (Inter-Varsity Press, Downers Grove IL: 1970). I have this written out on a slip of paper, but I failed to write down the page or the article in which I found it! Since TNBC is over a 1000 pages, I’ve yet to track it down.
7A. F. Walls, “Proverbs,” The New Bible Commentary: Revised, D. Guthrie, J. A. Motyer, eds., A. M. Stibbs, D. J. Wiseman, contributing eds., (Inter-Varsity Press, Downers Grove IL: 1970) 554, 552.
8,12,13,14Daniel J. Phillips, GOD’S WISDOM in Proverbs: Hearing God’s Voice in Scripture (Kress Biblical Resources: The Woodlands TX: 2011) “cf. BDB [Enhanced Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexion] article לֵב, where they cite also Deuteronomy 4:9, 39; 6:6; 30:1; 2 Chronicles 6:37; Job 22:22; 1 Samuel 21:13 [sic] (I think this may be a typo. Compare with 1 Samuel 12:12); Jeremiah 51:50; and Ezekiel 38:10.” 115, 272, 272, 272.
I’m using Michael Coley’s Bible reading plan (one page PDF to print) to read through the Bible in 2023. Each day my posts are on different books because he divides Bible readings into seven categories, one for each day of the week: Epistles, The Law, History, Psalms, Poetry, Prophecy and Gospels. There’s more information on his plan and other ones at Read the Bible in 2023.
Copyright ©2011–2023 Iwana Carpenter
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