A Father’s Wise Instruction
1 Solomon, to persuade obedience, 3 showed what instruction he had of his parents, 5 to study wisdom, 14 and to shun the path of the wicked. 20 He exhorted to faith, 23 and sanctification.
Pro 4:1 Listen, my sons, to a father’s instruction; pay attention and gain understanding.
Pro 4:2 I give you sound learning, so do not forsake my teaching.
Solomon knows for he received it from his father (v. 4). David had learned wisdom through long and often bitter experience.
Pro 4:3 For I too was a son to my father, still tender, and cherished by my mother.
By this Solomon seems to imply more than the ordinary relationship. Solomon was the one who entered his father’s hopes and aspiration. It was he who was appointed of God to build the temple for which David had made such loving and careful preparation (2 Sam. 7:12–16; 12:24, 25; 1 Chron. 22:9).
The intense affection of a God-fearing and devoted parent could not but affect the life and character of Solomon.
Pro 4:4 Then he taught me, and he said to me, “Take hold of my words with all your heart; keep my commands, and you will live.
With this verse Solomon appears to quote the remembered words of David. We do not know where these words end and Solomon begins to speak again. Perhaps the clearest break is at the end of this chapter.
The instruction is suited to a son of “tender” age (v. 3), whereas the next chapter takes up a subject that Solomon deals with many times—warnings against the strange woman.
Pro 4:5 Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or turn away from them. If this is typical of the counsel David gave to his favorite son, it is not surprising that Solomon requested wisdom when given an opportunity to ask for a special blessing (1 Kings 3:5–15).
1Ki 3:5 At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.”
1Ki 3:6 Solomon answered, “You have shown great kindness to your servant, my father David, because he was faithful to you and righteous and upright in heart. You have continued this great kindness to him and have given him a son to sit on his throne this very day.
1Ki 3:7 “Now, LORD my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties.
1Ki 3:8 Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number.
1Ki 3:9 So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?”
1Ki 3:10 The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this.
1Ki 3:11 So God said to him, “Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice,
1Ki 3:12 I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be.
1Ki 3:13 Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for—both wealth and honor—so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings.
1Ki 3:14 And if you walk in obedience to me and keep my decrees and commands as David your father did, I will give you a long life.”
1Ki 3:15 Then Solomon awoke—and he realized it had been a dream. He returned to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the Lord’s covenant and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then he gave a feast for all his court.
Pro 4:6 Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you; love her, and she will watch over you.
Pro 4:7 The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.
Pro 4:8 Cherish her, and she will exalt you; embrace her, and she will honor you.
Pro 4:9 She will give you a garland to grace your head and present you with a glorious crown.”
Pro 4:10 Listen, my son, accept what I say, and the years of your life will be many.
Pro 4:11 I instruct you in the way of wisdom and lead you along straight paths.
These verses contain an epitome of much of the instruction in the book of Proverbs.
Pro 4:12 When you walk, your steps will not be hampered; when you run, you will not stumble.
The narrow road is amply broad for one who would walk ever forward. Wisdom teaches men to walk the strait way (Matt. 7:14). If Solomon had always heeded this counsel, his feet would never have turned into paths where stumbling blocks brought him down to disgrace before God and man (1 Kings 11:1–13).
Pro 4:13 Hold on to instruction, do not let it go; guard it well, for it is your life.
Pro 4:14 Do not set foot on the path of the wicked or walk in the way of evildoers.
To linger in the neighbourhood of sin and sinners is to blunt the keen edge of conscience and make it easier to sit down with the scornful. Hence the sixfold warning to keep away (Prov. 4:15, 16).
Pro 4:15 Avoid it, do not travel on it; turn from it and go on your way.
Pro 4:16 For they cannot rest until they do evil; they are robbed of sleep till they make someone stumble.
David’s own checkered career had brought him into contact with many sorts of evil men, and he was well aware of the sinister compulsion of sinners to induce someone else to join them in their favorite sin.
If such men were asked whether they would advise others to do as they have done, they would, perhaps, answer No. Yet they continue to entangle others in the net that has snared their own feet and do it as naturally as they eat and drink (see Job 15:16).
Pro 4:17 They eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence.
Pro 4:18 The path of the righteous is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.
As the light steals almost imperceptibly across the sky at dawn and then grows brighter at an ever-increasing rate, until the full glory of the day is seen, so the light of truth shines upon the pathway of the righteous.
The closer a man comes to his Lord, the more time and effort he gives to gaining a knowledge of God through prayerful Bible study, and the brighter shines the light.
It is not only the light shining upon the Christian that increases.
The reflected light that shines out from the just man is also magnified in the same measure. The darkness of the last days will accentuate the growth of this radiance. Translation will bring the outward appearance into harmony with the inner brightness of the sinless saints (see GC 470, 476).
Pro 4:19 But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble.
The darkness that blinds those who insist on following their own ways is so deceptive that such men think they are the ones who have the real light. They stumble and fall without knowing it. For them, the revelations of the judgment will come as a fearful surprise (see Matt. 25:44).
Pro 4:20 My son, pay attention to what I say; turn your ear to my words.
Pro 4:21 Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart;
Pro 4:22 for they are life to those who find them and health to one’s whole body.
The close relation between the mind and body seems here to be indicated. Wisdom and understanding bring healing to the body as well as to the soul. Folly, misunderstanding, anxiety, and guilt are common causes of physical and mental trouble (MH 241).
Pro 4:23 Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.
That is, “keep the mind” (see on ch. 2:10). Purity of mind is the first requisite for a sinless life. It is out of the abundance of the heart (mind) that good or evil comes into our lives (Luke 6:45). Sin is the indulging of the desires of the sinful, deceitful human heart (Jer. 17:9), hence the need for diligence in keeping the mind surrendered to God, who alone can keep it pure (see Eph. 4:17, 23).
Pro 4:24 Keep your mouth free of perversity; keep corrupt talk far from your lips.
The tongue is the hardest member to control (James 3:1–12). Only purity of mind and a close watch upon the tongue will eventually subdue this wicked member. What the tongue says is a good indication of the state of the mind. Gossip, especially about unsavory things, shows a mind still filled with earthy interests.
Angry words show that pride and self-will still rule. Every slip of the tongue should send us to the Lord for cleansing of the mind (Ps. 101:5; Prov. 6:12; Matt. 12:34; Rom. 12:2).
Pro 4:25 Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you.
When the heart is set upon righteousness, the eyes will cease to rove. Modern city life besets the passer-by with a thousand temptations of every description, and there is no better protection than the straightforward walk, with the eyes fixed with singleness of purpose upon the goal.
In the walk through life we must keep our eyes fixed upon Jesus if we are to attain salvation (Heb. 12:2).
Pro 4:26 Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways.
Such a course would lead to the removing of every obstacle that might cause the foot to stumble. Purity of heart, truthfulness of speech, and singleness of purpose make possible the advancement of our ways in peace. These qualities bring their own reward, and to this God adds His own blessing.
Pro 4:27 Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.