Meditationen am Gnadenstuhl: Proverbs 23:15-25 A Father’s Advice I

Wednesday, April 26, 2023

Proverbs 23:15–25

[15] My son, if your heart is wise,

my heart too will be glad.

[16] My inmost being will exult

when your lips speak what is right.

[17] Let not your heart envy sinners,

but continue in the fear of the Lord all the day.

[18] Surely there is a future,

and your hope will not be cut off.

[19] Hear, my son, and be wise,

and direct your heart in the way.

[20] Be not among drunkards

or among gluttonous eaters of meat,

[21] for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty,

and slumber will clothe them with rags.

[22] Listen to your father who gave you life,

and do not despise your mother when she is old.

[23] Buy truth, and do not sell it;

buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding.

[24] The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice;

he who fathers a wise son will be glad in him.

[25] Let your father and mother be glad;

let her who bore you rejoice. (ESV)

A Father’s Advice I

v.15-18 This proverb consists of four verses. It begins with verse thirteen, urging a son to be Wise by appealing to the natural desire of a son to please his father. Our best example of this is Christ, whose perfect life lived sinlessly illustrates the perfect father-son relationship. It says a father's heart exults when his Wise teaching comes out of his son's mouth. Next, the proverb contrasts the fear of the Lord with envying sinners. We learn here that the success we observe in those who ignore God's Word can be a temptation to ignore it ourselves in the hope of doing the same. The Wise look beyond temporary secular advantages to the eternal promises of God. They have an unlimited future in the eternal life that God freely gives to all the faithful, and this certain hope is success beyond measure.

v.19-21 This three-verb proverb starts, like the previous one, with a call to a son to listen to a Wise father. The son's heart has been trained in the way of Divine Wisdom, and he is urged to stay that way. This proverb is also like the previous one in that it calls for long-term planning over short-term gratification. This is having the mind of Christ (Philippians 2:5-11), who looked toward the eternal goals of salvation for all believers and ignored the immediate consequences it made in His life on earth. He remained faithful unto death on the cross so that all who believe in Him have the promise of a resurrection like His (Romans 6:5-8). The temptation of abusing ourselves through addiction, be it drugs, alcohol, food, pornography, gambling, gaming, or what have you, is a powerful one that causes one to "slumber" through life with no eye toward heaven, only maintaining the temporary high provided at the cost of everything the person has in this world, and potentially losing their faith and losing the crown of life (James 1:12; Revelation 2:10).

v.22-25 This proverb is again four verses and appeals to a Wise son to listen to both his father and mother. The son is to acquire truth and never let it go. Truth originates with God through His Word, bestowing Divine Wisdom, discipline, and understanding. The father guides the son to lead a God-pleasing life, which is found in the Word of truth (John 17:17; Hebrews 4:12; James 1:18; John 14:6; Ephesians 1:13), and, ultimately, to eternal life by faith. It is faith in Christ that makes a person righteous and Wise. Like our first proverb today, this one uses as motivation a son’s natural urge to please his parents.