Albert Barnes Commentary Proverbs 4
Albert Barnes Commentary
Proverbs 4
Albert Barnes Commentary
Proverbs 4
"Hear, [my] sons, the instruction of a father, And attend to know understanding:" — Proverbs 4:1 (ASV)
The words ye children indicate, as usual, a new section returning, after the break of Proverbs 3:27-35, to the old strain of fatherly counsel.
"For I give you good doctrine; Forsake ye not my law." — Proverbs 4:2 (ASV)
Doctrine — Knowledge orally given and received.
"For I was a son unto my father, Tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother." — Proverbs 4:3 (ASV)
Probably the words of Solomon himself, who looks back from his glorious throne and his matured wisdom to the training that was the starting point. The part taken by Bathsheba in (1 Kings 1), no less than the friendship between her and Nathan, indicates that a mother’s training might well have laid the foundation of the king’s future wisdom. Among the Israelites and Egyptians alone, of the nations of the old world, was the son’s reverence for the mother placed side by side with what he owed to his father.
Only beloved, - literally “only,” but the word is used apparently (as in Genesis 22:2, Genesis 22:12) in its derived sense, “beloved like an only son.” The Vulgate gives “unigenitus.” Compare the words applied to our Lord, as the only begotten (John 1:14), the beloved (Ephesians 1:6).
"And he taught me, and said unto me: Let thy heart retain my words; Keep my commandments, and live; Get wisdom, get understanding; Forget not, neither decline from the words of my mouth; Forsake her not, and she will preserve thee; Love her, and she will keep thee. Wisdom [is] the principal thing; [therefore] get wisdom; Yea, with all thy getting get understanding. Exalt her, and she will promote thee; She will bring thee to honor, when thou dost embrace her. She will give to thy head a chaplet of grace; A crown of beauty will she deliver to thee. Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; And the years of thy life shall be many. I have taught thee in the way of wisdom; I have led thee in paths of uprightness. When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened; And if thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble. Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: Keep her; for she is thy life. Enter not into the path of the wicked, And walk not in the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass not by it; Turn from it, and pass on. For they sleep not, except they do evil; And their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall. For they eat the bread of wickedness, And drink the wine of violence. But the path of the righteous is as the dawning light, That shineth more and more unto the perfect day. The way of the wicked is as darkness: They know not at what they stumble. My son, attend to my words; Incline thine ear unto my sayings." — Proverbs 4:4-20 (ASV)
The counsel which has come to him, in substance, from his father. Compare it with 2 Samuel 23:2 and following; 1 Chronicles 28:9; 1 Chronicles 29:17; Psalms 15:1–5; Psalms 24:1–10; Psalms 37.
Or, “The beginning of wisdom is—get wisdom.” To seek is to find, to desire is to obtain.
The ever-recurring parable of the journey of life. In the way of wisdom the path is clear and open, obstacles disappear; in the quickest activity (“when thou runnest”) there is no risk of falling.
She is thy life—Another parallel between personified Wisdom in this book and the Incarnate Wisdom in John 1:4.
A fearful stage of debasement. Sin is the condition without which there can be no repose.
i.e., Bread and wine gained by unjust deeds. Compare Amos 2:8. A less probable interpretation is, “They eat wickedness as bread, and drink violence as wine.” Compare Job 15:16; Job 34:7.
Shining ... shineth—The two Hebrew words are different; the first having the sense of bright or clear. The beauty of a cloudless sunshine growing on, shining as it goes, to the full and perfect day, is chosen as the fittest figure of the ever increasing brightness of the good man’s life. Compare the marginal reference.
Compare our Lord’s teaching John 11:10; John 12:35.
The teacher speaks again in his own person.
"For they are life unto those that find them, And health to all their flesh." — Proverbs 4:22 (ASV)
Health - See the Proverbs 3:8 note.
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