The Wisdom of the Fathers - Proverbs 4

We are looking at the Book of Proverbs, and this week we come to chapter 4.  Let’s begin by reading the text.

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. 20 My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings. 21 Do not let them depart from your eyes; Keep them in the midst of your heart; 22 For they are life to those who find them, And health to all their flesh. 23 Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life. 24 Put away from you a deceitful mouth, And put perverse lips far from you. 25 Let your eyes look straight ahead, And your eyelids look right before you. 26 Ponder the path of your feet, And let all your ways be established. 27 Do not turn to the right or the left; Remove your foot from evil. (Proverbs 4:1-27, NKJV).

One of the obvious things we see here is the multi-generational nature of this chapter.  We begin in verses 1-4 with a father speaking to his son about his own father’s speaking to him when he was a boy about the importance, the absolute necessity of Wisdom.  How rare it is that this kind of instruction in right living is passed down from the first to the second and third generation within a family.

For a few moments, I want you to think about your own family, and in particular, your own parents.  What is your spiritual heritage?  Was your grandfather a godly man?  Did your father ever speak to you about such things as we see in the book of Proverbs?  Did your mother ever instruct you in prudent living?

I was thinking about this as it relates to me.  I want to tread carefully here because I do not want to dishonor my parents or my grandparents.  I never knew my father’s father.  He died when my own father was an infant.  But it is a fact that my own father and mother were not exemplary in this matter of imparting wisdom to their children.  There were certain qualities and virtues which they valued, and they made them known to us as kids, such as honesty and integrity.  Sin was understood to be such in our home.  The need for salvation was communicated clearly through my mother, even though the gospel message was not crystal clear.  But we made it quite obvious that we needed to be saved.

My father did insist on one thing: honesty.  I can remember him saying on many occasions that keeping your word was indispensable.  People had to be able to trust you.  Then there were two other things he taught us by example, more than by his words.  When we were very young, my Dad looked at his two little boys, took his pack of cigarettes, threw them away and never smoked another one.  I also never saw him drinking any alcohol.  He succeeded well in being a good, moral example to us.

Some of you have had fairly poor examples of wisdom and godliness in your parents, and in your fathers in particular.  I know enough to know that wise and godly fathers are few and far between.  So when we come to this text and see a child being instructed by his father, who was also instructed by his father in the ways of wisdom, that is a rarity indeed.

But also, since most of us were not raised in overtly Christian homes by spiritually mature parents, it is a testimony to the great grace and mercy of God that we know and love Him at all, in spite of our upbringing.  Salvation is not by means of inheritance, but by the grace of God alone, in spite of what we are, and oftentimes in spite of where we’ve come from.  Here in these verses, we have encouragement to break the mold and be the parents and grandparents that will impart the wisdom our children and grandchildren desperately need for living well in a very bad world.

Notice verses 10 and 11: Hear, my son, and receive my sayings, And the years of your life will be many.   I have taught you in the way of wisdom; I have led you in right paths.

A few days ago I was at the Post Office getting the mail and I ran into one of our neighbors, an elderly man who enjoys talking to whoever is in the Post Office when he is there.  He has told me before, and he told me that day that he has no intention of ever attending church anywhere.  But almost in the same breath, he gave this sage advice to the Postmaster: “All children should be taken to church.”

Do you notice a bit of a problem there?  Solomon says here, “I have taught you wisdom AND led you in the right paths.”  My friend at the Post Office cannot say the same.  Listen to this commentary by William Arnot:

“Many a parent who acquits himself well in the department of teaching his children, fails miserably in the department of leading them in the right path.  It is easier to tell another the right way, than to walk in it yourself.  To lead your child in right paths implies that you go in them before him.  Here lies the reason why so many parents practically fail to give their children a good education.  Only a godly man can bring up his child for God.  It is not uncommon to find men who are themselves vicious, desiring to have their children educated in virtue.  Infidels sometimes take measures to have Christianity taught to their children.  Many will do evil; few dare teach it to their children.  This is the unwilling homage which the evil are constrained to pay to goodness.”

This is better known as hypocrisy, and it is hated not only in the Pharisees by Jesus.  It is easily recognized by the youngest of children and despised by nearly everyone everywhere.  Such inconsistency teaches children to be hearers only and not doers of God’s word.  Teaching and leading are “two elements which together make up a whole.  With both, education in a family will go prosperously on: where on is wanting, it will be halting and ineffectual.  Great is the effect when parents consistently and steadfastly go before their children, giving them a daily example of their daily precepts; but to teach the family spiritual things, while the life of the teacher is carnal, is both painful and fruitless.” ¹

These Proverbs are not just for our children to pay attention to.  They serve an even more important task of making sure we as parents understand our duty to teach these things to our children and to live them consistently.  We must teach with our mouths AND lead by example.  But of the two, our example is the more powerful teacher because, as someone once said, “Actions speak louder than words.”  That is a true proverb.  We would do well to take heed to it, for the sake of our children, and our grandchildren.  We do have an effect on our families.  We can have an effect for good.

One of the most striking things to our modern minds from Proverbs is the incessant insistence of the authors concerning the reality of evil.  Understand the context in which these sayings were written.  Israel was not a pluralistic society.  Israel was not supposed to be tolerant of other religions.  They worshipped the one and only true God.  They possessed the one and only true religion.  They were given the one and only trustworthy written revelation of God.  Everyone else, everyone who differed with them in the spiritual realm, was evil, wicked, and walked in spiritual darkness.  That was not Jewish bigotry.  That was fact.

Not only that, but speaking from his own experience, Solomon had seen plenty of evil within Israel.  Presumably, the majority of his advice comes from a life lived within the borders of the nation.  So even among those people who were legitimately referred to as God’s chosen people, there was much evil to be avoided.  Look at verses 14-16:

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.

Notice the words used here: wicked, evil, and violence.  We know all about violence in our day and age, but we seem hesitant to use the words wicked and evil.  (Unless you’re from Maine.)  Evil and wickedness are real.  And they are not just nebulous, intangible concepts.  People are evil.  Men and women are wicked.  This is something that we will hear repeatedly throughout Proverbs.  Foolishness is a first cousin to evil and the arch enemy of wisdom.  That is why Solomon keeps saying again and again, just as he does in this chapter, in verse 1, Hear, my children, the instruction of a father, And give attention to know understanding; For I give you good doctrine: Do not forsake my law.

This is intentional indoctrination of one’s children against evil.  But we often have a hard time even saying the word.  That is why our culture is in the shape it’s in.  For instance:

Center Daily Times - Friday, Feb. 22, 2008

State College Mayor Bill Welch, in what may be a first for public officials in Centre County, has agreed to preside at a same-sex commitment ceremony.  Six gay and lesbian couples will express their love and devotion at the public ceremony, scheduled for March 29 in the Penn State HUBRobeson Center, organizer Tom Koerber said Thursday.  

Welch, in his 15th year as mayor, said the coalition approached him with the ceremony idea several weeks ago.  He did not hesitate to preside, he said.  Indeed, Welch said he was surprised that it took “the better part of 15 years for anyone to ask me to do a ceremony like that.”  He does not expect to be a “standard bearer” in the pro-gay marriage movement in Pennsylvania, Welch said.  But “I don’t personally see any problem with it.”

“I think they’re just trying to make a point that these are folks in stable, established relationships, just as if they were married — or ought to be married,” Welch said of the ceremony plans.” ²

What do you suppose would happen if you or I wrote a letter to the editor of the CDT and said that the people participating in this event were evil?  What will happen to our children if we don’t tell them that homosexuality is evil?  What will happen to our children if we don’t teach them that just because the Mayor says it’s OK, doesn’t mean God says it’s OK?  This is not an evil which is out there among the Gentile pagans living far off in a distant land where they do strange things we don’t do here.  No, it is here, in our midst, on our doorsteps, just as it was for Solomon in Jerusalem.

How will our children and grandchildren avoid evil if we don’t tell them?  The culture all but denies the very existence of evil!  But Solomon instructs his son, just as David had instructed him many years earlier to “Get wisdom!  Get understanding!  Do not forget, nor turn away from the words of my mouth.  Do not forsake her, and she will preserve you; Love her, and she will keep you.  Wisdom is the principal thing; Therefore get wisdom.  And in all your getting, get understanding.  Exalt her, and she will promote you; She will bring you honor, when you embrace her.  She will place on your head an ornament of grace; A crown of glory she will deliver to you."  Hear, my son, and receive my sayings, And the years of your life will be many.

Finally, let’s look at verses 20-27:

My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings. 21 Do not let them depart from your eyes; Keep them in the midst of your heart; 22 For they are life to those who find them, And health to all their flesh. 23 Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life. 24 Put away from you a deceitful mouth, And put perverse lips far from you. 25 Let your eyes look straight ahead, And your eyelids look right before you. 26 Ponder the path of your feet, And let all your ways be established. 27 Do not turn to the right or the left; Remove your foot from evil.

Keep my words in the midst of your heart.  Keep your heart with all diligence.  Solomon is not merely giving advice.  This is truth which he is imparting to his son, and you can feel the passion with which he gives it.  Keep my words in the midst of your heart.  Not out there on the edge, on the borders, on the periphery, but in the very core of your heart.  These words are your life!  These words will shape your life.  Then set a guard around your heart to protect it from invasion by lies.  Keep your heart!  How does one do that?  

First, we need to understand what the word “keep” means.  Here’s the definition.  I’ll let you read it later.  (Seven pages of definitions from Webster.)

Here’s what I think he means in this context.  The word translated “diligence” is translated with that word only here in the entire Old Testament.  The Hebrew word literally means:

1) place of confinement, prison, guard, jail, guard post, watch, observance
   1a) jail, prison, guard-house
   1b) guard, guard post, act of guarding
   1c) observances

Arnot says we could literally translate the phrase “keep your heart with all diligence,” “Keep your heart with all keepings.” 

“Leave no means untried.  Out f our own conduct we will be condemned if we do not effectually keep our own hearts.  We keep other things with success as often as we set about it in earnest -- good things from getting, and bad things from doing, harm.  One who loves his garden, keeps it so well that travellers pause as they pass and look admiring on.  You keep your family, your house, your money, and you keep them well.  Even your clothes are kept, so that no stain shall be seen upon them.  On the other side, dangerous creatures are kept with a firm hand and a watchful eye from doing evil.  We keep the horse or mule with bit and bridle.  Even the raging sea is kept back by the skill of men , and ripening fields bask safely in the autumn sun below the levels of its waters, and within the hearing of its roar.  In other keepings, man is skilful and powerful too; but in keeping his own heart, unstable as water, he does not excel.”

Keep your heart with all keepings.  I believe the English definition that fits best is, “That which keeps or protects; a stronghold; a fortress; a castle; specifically, the strongest and securest part of a castle, often used as a place of residence by the lord of the castle, especially during a siege; the donjon.”

In other words, lock Wisdom up within the midst of your heart.  Then put your heart behind bars to protect it from invasion by fools, and prevent its escape by your own foolishness.  How?  How might Wisdom be attacked?  How might it escape?  By three means:  Mouth, eyes, and feet.  We are concerned most with preventing its escape, preventing foolishness.  Notice verses 24-27:

24 Put away from you a deceitful mouth, And put perverse lips far from you. 25 Let your eyes look straight ahead, And your eyelids look right before you. 26 Ponder the path of your feet, And let all your ways be established. 27 Do not turn to the right or the left; Remove your foot from evil.

Deceitful and perverse.  Both words have to do with crookedness.  That’s why we call them crooks.  They are crooked, devious, deceptive, untrustworthy, unreliable, and unfaithful.  Such sinfulness is the product of one’s mouth.  Wisdom is trustworthy, reliable, faithful, and right.  That may be the reason why one of the modern proverbs I read to you earlier was, “Never miss a good chance to shut up.”  Our mouths get us into more trouble than any other thing about us.  That is why the Apostle James says, “If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is useless.” (James 1:26, NKJV).

The eyes cause us to wander from the truth.  There are things a man can see that can cause his heart to wander: a nice car, a nice house, a nice bank account, a nice woman.  Temptation is rarely, if ever ugly, initially.  Only after it has been imbibed does its true wickedness show.  Keep your eyes in your head!  The lust of the eyes is real.  Hebrews tells us to fix our eyes on Jesus.  Keep our eyes and our minds upon heavenly things.  Keep your eyes straight ahead on the narrow path of life.

Then, when your eyes are straight ahead, keep your feet from wandering.  Stay in the way, keep your feet under control.  Do not run with evil men.  Do not walk in their ways.  Psalm 1 tells us,

1 Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night. 3 He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper. 4 The ungodly are not so, But are like the chaff which the wind drives away. 5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. 6 For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the ungodly shall perish. (Psalms 1:1-6, NKJV).

Keep your heart in the way.  Set a guard upon it.  Keep your mouth, keep your eyes, keep your feet.  

Keep your life.

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¹  William Arnot,  Studies in Proverbs: Laws From Heaven for Life on Earth, Kregel Publications, 1978, p.119.

² http://www.centredaily.com/news/local/state_college/story/419207.html