Proverbs 4

General context

The speaker opens by addressing "ye children" and calling them to hear the instruction of a father. He recalls that he was himself his father's son, tender and only beloved in the sight of his mother, and that his father taught him; the father's words are then quoted at length, beginning "Let thine heart retain my words". The quoted teaching urges the hearer to get wisdom and understanding, not to forsake her, to love her, to exalt and embrace her, and promises that she will preserve, keep, promote and honour him and give him a crown of glory. A second address, "Hear, O my son", promises many years and says the speaker has taught and led him in right paths so that his steps will not be straitened. The son is told to take fast hold of instruction, because she is his life, and not to enter the path of the wicked, who cannot sleep unless they have done mischief and who eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence. The path of the just is compared to a light that shines more and more to the perfect day, and the way of the wicked to darkness in which they do not know what makes them stumble. A third address, "My son, attend to my words", tells him to keep the sayings in his heart, because they are life and health, to keep his heart with all diligence since the issues of life come from it, to put away a froward mouth, to let his eyes look straight ahead, to ponder the path of his feet, and to turn neither to the right nor to the left.

Cited passages: Proverbs 4:1, Proverbs 4:3, Proverbs 4:4, Proverbs 4:5, Proverbs 4:6, Proverbs 4:7, Proverbs 4:8, Proverbs 4:9, Proverbs 4:10, Proverbs 4:11, Proverbs 4:13, Proverbs 4:14, Proverbs 4:16, Proverbs 4:17, Proverbs 4:18, Proverbs 4:19, Proverbs 4:20, Proverbs 4:22, Proverbs 4:23, Proverbs 4:24, Proverbs 4:25, Proverbs 4:26, Proverbs 4:27

Proverbs 4 (KJV)

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Historical context

This is the one chapter in the opening discourses where the speaker describes his own upbringing: he says he was his father's son, tender and only beloved in the sight of his mother, and that his father taught him. Neither the speaker nor his parents are named in the chapter; the book's heading in 1:1 names Solomon, but chapter 4 itself does not connect the "father" of verse 3 with David or with anyone else, and the reader should not supply that link from outside the chapter. The extent of the quoted teaching is not marked; it begins at verse 4 with "He taught me also, and said unto me", and the text does not say where the father's words end and the speaker's own resume. The address shifts from plural "ye children" in verse 1 to singular "my son" in verses 10 and 20, and the chapter does not explain the change. The "wicked" and "evil men" are described as a group by their habits (sleeplessness without mischief, bread of wickedness, wine of violence), not identified. The chapter does not mention the strange woman, who appears in the chapters on either side of it.

Cited passages: Proverbs 4:3, Proverbs 4:4, Proverbs 4:1, Proverbs 4:10, Proverbs 4:20, Proverbs 4:16, Proverbs 4:17

Literary context

Three calls to hear (verses 1, 10 and 20) structure the chapter, and the middle of it turns on the image of two paths. The father's inherited words are dense with imperatives about wisdom, "get", "forget it not", "forsake her not", "love her", "exalt her", "embrace her", each paired with what she will do in return: preserve, keep, promote, bring to honour, crown. The repetition "get wisdom, get understanding" in verse 5 is echoed in verse 7, "get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding". Verse 15 piles four commands into one line, "Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away", so that the warning against the wicked path is itself hurried. The contrast of light and darkness in verses 18 and 19 is the chapter's central image: the just walk on a path that grows brighter, and the wicked do not know what they stumble over. The final section moves down the body, heart, mouth, lips, eyes, eyelids, feet, ending with the feet turning neither right nor left, which picks up the path imagery from the middle. The chapter's teaching is presented as passed from father to son to son, so that the instruction itself is a kind of inheritance.

Cited passages: Proverbs 4:1, Proverbs 4:5, Proverbs 4:7, Proverbs 4:6, Proverbs 4:15, Proverbs 4:18, Proverbs 4:19, Proverbs 4:23, Proverbs 4:25, Proverbs 4:27, Proverbs 4:4

Key moments

1. A father's son (Proverbs 4:3). The speaker recalls being his father's son and only beloved in his mother's sight.
2. The father's words quoted (Proverbs 4:4). The speaker quotes what his own father taught him, beginning with keeping his commandments and living.
3. Wisdom is the principal thing (Proverbs 4:7). The quoted teaching says to get wisdom and, with all getting, to get understanding.
4. Enter not the path of the wicked (Proverbs 4:14). The son is told not to enter the path of the wicked, who eat the bread of wickedness.
5. Light and darkness (Proverbs 4:18). The path of the just is compared to light growing to full day, the way of the wicked to darkness.
6. Keep thy heart (Proverbs 4:23). The son is told to keep his heart with all diligence because the issues of life come from it.
7. Neither right nor left (Proverbs 4:27). The chapter closes with the command to turn neither right nor left and remove the foot from evil.

For reflection

The speaker passes on words he says his own father gave him when he was tender and only beloved. What does it change to hear an instruction as something received and handed down rather than as something newly made?