PROVERBS 4

 

In keeping with much of the material found in Proverbs 1-9, this chapter consists of instructions from a father to a son, each beginning with a call to listen to his words. It can be outlined as such:

    A. The call: “Listen, children” (4:1)

        B. Importance of the message (4:2-4a)

            C. Prize wisdom for a good life (4:4b-9)

    A'. The call: “Hear, my child” (4:10)

        B'. Importance of the message (4:11-13)

            C'. Avoid the wicked (4:14-19)

    A''. The call: “My child, pay attention” (4:20)

        B''. Importance of the message (4:21-22)

            C''. Keep on the straight path (4:23-27)

Other commentators combine the A and B units together, and some locate the breaks between the B and C units at slightly different points in the text. The whole chapter is held together by the following repeated words and phrases: stumble (vv. 12,12,19), path (vv. 14,18,26), turn away (vv. 15,27), and “keep...heart” (vv. 21,23).

Two observations in regard to Section C'' are worth noting: (a) It contains the positive admonitions of C as well as the prohibitions of C' and (b) The image of the “path” of life appears in more than one-third of the chapters in this book.

Verse 1 “Parental authority is a channel for communication of God's will. The two sources of authority reinforce each other, and in places where only one is mentioned [in the Bible], the other is not thereby excluded.” (Fox)

Verses 2-5 demonstrate importance of carrying on religious instruction from generation to generation within the family.

Verse 3 The description of the speaker translated as “my mother's only child,” is rendered “my mother's favorite in NRSV. In the Septuagint, the word for “only child” is often translated as “beloved child.”

Barrett says, “In Hebrew thought, sonship was understood not as a matter of biology but as a matter of obedience.”

Verses 4-9 Walls notes that “the acquisition of wisdom is seen to provide life (v. 4), protection (v. 6), honour (v. 7) and adornment (v. 9).”

Verse 4 Waltke quotes Chesterton who said, “Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors.”

Verses 6-9 “The metaphor is that of choosing a wife, and verse 9 refers to the wedding, when it was the custom for the bride to place a garland or crown on the head of the bridegroom.” (Whybray)

Waltke points to other language in this section beside v. 9 that indicates a marriage relationship. For example, “buy/get” in verses 5 and 7 alludes to a dowry price.

Verse 7 seems a little strange, at least as rendered in the NRSV: “The beginning of wisdom is this – get wisdom.” “This 'getting' is a costly business and requires not academic ability but a willingness to make an effort, to learn and do what is right.” (C. Martin)

Verse 10 To “listen” is added the verb “accept.” This is “to underscore that hearing without internalizing the words is insufficient.” (Waltke)

Verse 11 “describes the investment of care and time of the instructor,” according to Martin.

Verse 12 Waltke states that “this uncomplicated life is enjoyable even apart from the goal.”

Verse 13 Three commands close out this teaching: hold on to, don't sleep, and guard it.

Verse 16 See Micah 2:1 – “Woe to those who plan wickedness and evil on their beds.”

Verse 17 This expression may mean either (a) the wicked make a living through their wickedness or (b) evil is their food and drink. (Walls)

Verse 18 See Isaiah 2:5 for the similar thought.

Verses 10-19 These are the “two ways” which appear elsewhere in Scripture, including the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 7:13-14).

Verse 19b Martin: “the tragic irony of v. 19b is written over many clever schemes of the wicked from that day to this.”

Verses 20-27 Walls: “Yet another appeal to heed the leader's life-giving instructions is followed by an appeal to maintain heart (v. 23), speech (v. 24), eyes (v. 25) and feet (vv. 26,27).” If you look back at his analysis of verses 4-9 above, you can see that these two sections that comprise units C and C'', respectively, are both easily divided into four components.

Verses 21 and 23 “Heart” in Jewish thinking was not the seat of emotions but of personality, will, and decisive understanding (or judgment).

Verse 22 Kostenberger points out that in contrast to the Jewish belief that life is found in the words of the law (Proverbs 4:22 according to an ancient Jewish commentary), the Gospel of John declares that life is in Jesus and his words (John 1:1; 5:24-57; 6:68).

This verse ends with the word “body,” which introduces 23-27 in which several body parts are enumerated. (Whybray)

Verse 23 Several scholars have suggested that this may be the passage Jesus was referring to in John 7:38: “Out of the believer's heart shall flow rivers of living water.”

Verse 24 “It is not enough just to restrain the heart. One must also keep track of the body's members through which the inner life manifests it.” (Waltke)

Verse 26a See Hebrews 12:13 where this verse of Proverbs may be referenced. (G.H. Guthrie)

Verse 27 The concept of not turning to the left or the right references back to Deuteronomy 28:14.