1 Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father,
And attend to know understanding.
2 For I give you good doctrine;
Forsake ye not my law.
3 For I was my father’s son,
Tender and only [beloved] in the sight of my mother.
4 He taught me also, and said unto me,
Let thy heart retain my words:
Keep my commandments and live.
SOLOMON’S own early training is here touchingly alluded to. His mother’s only son, tenderly loved and cared for; the object of his father’s heart, he had been solicitously instructed in the law of the Lord, and had profited thereby.
It is only necessary to read the unhappy history of his half-brother Adonijah, whose father had never displeased him in saying, “Why hast thou done so?” to realize how much Solomon was indebted to his mother’s counsel and his father’s instruction. The value of parental discipline cannot be overestimated. To be brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord is a blessing beyond our ability to appreciate.
Strange that David could so differently treat two sons as in the cases instanced above!
But it is not the responsibility of the parents that is here dwelt on. It is that of the children rather, who are thus nurtured and cared for. He who, whatever his aberrations, knew so well the value of wise and godly instruction, says:
5 Get wisdom; get understanding:
Forget it not; neither decline from the sayings of my mouth.
6 Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee:
Love her, and she shall keep thee.
7 Wisdom is the principal thing;
Therefore get wisdom:
And with all thy getting get understanding.
It is not knowledge merely which the soul needs, but the wisdom and intelligence to use knowledge aright. This is the principal thing, and this he impresses on the young. Wisdom will preserve from folly, and if truly loved will keep the feet of her disciple.
8 Exalt her, and she shall promote thee:
She shall bring thee to honor, when thou dost embrace her.
9 She shall give to thy head a chaplet of grace:
A diadem of beauty shall she deliver to thee.
In the previous chapter it is stated that “shame shall be the promotion of fools.” Wisdom brings to honor and true promotion. Even in the world is this true, however much iniquity may abound; but among the children of God how valuable is a man of wisdom! Mere knowledge may puff up and render the possessor thereof contemptible; but the word of wisdom is always in season; and though oft-times rejected, is at least appreciated: the conscience assenting to what the unspiritual man may be determined upon refusing.
10 Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings;
And the years of thy life shall be many.
11 I have taught thee in the way of wisdom;
I have led thee in right paths.
12 When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened;
And when thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble.
The book of Ecclesiastes, as already noted in our introductory chapter, portrays the wrong paths into which the royal writer had wandered when, for the time being, he forsook that Word which had been the guide of his youth, and gave himself up to commune with his own heart arid to seek out a way of pleasure for himself. It is not necessary to follow him in paths of folly to learn their end. The book now before us marks out right paths, the way of wisdom. All who walk therein shall find their steps unstraitened, and shall be enabled to run without stumbling. How needful, then, to heed the exhortation that follows!
13 Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go:
Keep her; for she is thy life.
14 Enter not into the path of the lawless,
And go not in the way of evil men.
15 Avoid it, pass not by it,
Turn from it, and pass away.
16 For they sleep not, except they have done evil;
And their sleep is taken away unless they cause some to fall.
17 For they eat the bread of lawlessness,
And drink the wine of violence.
The principle here enunciated is of prime importance, and cannot be too often insisted on. The child of God is called to separation from all evil-doers. He who knoweth what is in the darkness has described their unholy ways. We need not mistake them. Called to holiness, we are to avoid their path. To trifle and temporize with them is most deleterious, and will greatly hinder soul-progress. The true pilot may not know every rock or reef, but his wisdom consists in taking the safe channel: so the Christian need not make himself aware of all the evils of the day. He is to simply take the safe path described in the verse that follows:
18 But the path of the just is as a shining light,
That shineth more and more unto the perfect day.
19 The way of the lawless is as darkness:
They know not at what they stumble.
Marked is the difference thus presented. The path of the righteous, leading onward and upward to that city where the glory of God doth lighten it, and the Lamb is the lamp thereof, shines brighter and brighter as the uncreated glory from that city of bliss illumines it with splendor. Who would not cry, “Let me die the death of the righteous; let my last end be like his”? A far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory is at the end of that path.
Alas! how great the contrast when we turn to the way of the lawless. As their road nears the pit of woe, darkness begins to envelop it; the awful Stygian smoke of the abyss obscuring even the light of nature and revelation alike: so that men stumble blindly on, knowing not what causes them to fall. The end we well know—eternal banishment from the presence of God.
With two such paths to choose between, the admonition that immediately follows may well be borne in upon the soul.
20 My son, attend unto my words;
Incline thine ear unto my sayings.
21 Let them not depart from thine eyes;
Keep them in the midst of thy heart.
22 For they are life unto those that find them,
And healing to all their flesh.
The Spirit of Christ in the psalmist could say, “Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against Thee” (Psa. 119:22Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart. (Psalm 119:2)). It is the heart controlled by Scripture that assures a walk in the truth. God desires truth in the inward parts: the very reins of our being should be the seat of wisdom. When this is the case, the words of knowledge indeed become life and health to the one who keeps them.
The word that follows but emphasizes this all-important principle.
23 Keep thy heart above all keeping:
For out of it are the issues of life.
Here is displayed a scientific knowledge and accuracy far beyond the times in which Solomon wrote. The great discovery of Harvey, the circulation of the blood, which revolutionized medical thought, is here calmly taken for granted, and used to set forth, or illustrate, a spiritual truth. Just as the heart is the center of the physical system, whence flow the issues of life, so, in a moral and spiritual sense, the heart, used as a synonym for the soul, is that which must be jealously guarded, that thence may go forth that which is for the upbuilding of the child of God.
24 Put away from thee a froward mouth,
And perverse lips put far from thee.
As it is out of the heart’s abundance that the mouth speaks, mouth and heart are here intimately connected. A froward mouth and perverse lips bespeak one who is not in subjection to God. Where His Word has its place in the soul, the lips manifest it.
25 Let thine eyes look right on,
And let thine eyelids look straight before thee.
26 Ponder the path of thy feet,
And let all thy ways be established.
27 Turn not to the right hand nor to the left:
Remove thy foot from evil.
It is not the mouth only that shows the state of the heart. The feet likewise will walk according to the condition of the soul. Forgetting the things behind, we are exhorted to press on to the prize of the calling of God on high. The eye is to be fixed on the goal, looking straight before. For us, this is Christ. As the plowman cuts a straight furrow when the eye is on a distant point directly before him, so the Christian’s path will be that of the just, when the eye of the heart is fixed on the Lord Jesus, now ascended to glory. But this involves likewise earnest concern about one’s ways, that all may be established in accordance with the truth. Evil is to be judged and departed from, the foot turning neither to the right hand nor the left. The mind of God once known is to be faithfully acted upon, irrespective of self-interest or the thoughts of others who discern it not.
To walk with God necessarily means to be misjudged and misunderstood by unspiritual persons who are ignorant of the power of God and the value of His truth. But if one has His approbation, there need be no consulting with flesh and blood, but implicit obedience to what He has said in His Word.