Church: Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia | Text: Proverbs 4:1-9 | Date: May 10, 2020 | Speaker: Fred Zaspel

All right, I’ve asked you to look ahead at Proverbs 4. If you will, take your Bibles and follow along there. Proverbs 4. We’ll be looking today at verses one to nine, a much shorter section. And I’ve titled it, “Wisdom, a Family Tradition.” And I think you’ll see why that is so as we work our way through it.

Actually, I first really noticed what was going on in this passage, verses one to nine, when my children were very young. And it’s been a favorite passage of mine ever since. And it’s, I think, an interesting providence that we have it falling on Mother’s Day. Wisdom, a family tradition: Proverbs chapter four, verses one to nine.

Hear, O sons, a father’s instruction, and be attentive that you may gain insight. For I give you good precepts; do not forsake my teaching. When I was a son with my father, tender, the only one in the sight of my mother, he taught me and said to me, “Let your heart hold fast my words; keep my commandments and live. Get wisdom, get insight; do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth. Do not forsake her, and she will keep you; love her, and she will guard you. The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight. Prize her highly, and she will exalt you; she will honor you if you embrace her. She will place on your head a graceful garland; she will bestow on you a beautiful crown.”

Notice that verse one begins, as we’ve seen before, with the call of the father to his sons to listen. “Hear, O sons.” Well, you remember that these calls to gain the son’s attention mark out each new lecture or admonition that the father gives to his son. So in these verses, we have the next lecture. You’ll notice that the next admonition begins in verse 10 with, again, calling his son’s attention. So here we have admonition, I think it’s number three now, from the father to the son, and marked out again by calling his son to hear.

Now this instance is unique only in that it’s addressed to his sons, plural, whereas previously—and again, you’ll see in verse 10—it’s addressed to his son, singular; but the idea is the same. “Hear, my sons.” Now the word “hear” very often means more than just hear or listen. And it’s not just in Hebrew, but it’s in English, and I suspect it’s in every language. When a father admonishes his son and tells his son how he will behave from here forward, often he’ll ask him at the end, “Do you hear me?” And he’s not asking if his son’s eardrums are in working order. He’s telling his son he must obey. He must hear and then act accordingly. He must obey.

Well, that seems to be the sense here. In all of these lectures, he calls his sons to hear. And it’s pretty clear that he’s not just telling him to turn off the iPod and pull the earbuds out of his ears. He’s calling his son to pay careful attention and make very sure that he hears and takes heed and follows the instruction that he’s given. Verse two then parallels verse one in that respect. Notice the various phrases that are used to stress the same idea: “Hear, O sons, your father’s instruction and be attentive.” And then in verse two: “Do not forsake my teaching.” So he’s calling his son to give his attention and listen submissively and listen obediently.

And then again, he gives the motivational clause that we’ve seen in all of these admonitions. “Hear, O sons, a father’s instruction and be attentive.” Why? “That you may gain insight.” Explain it further: “For I give you good precepts. Do not forsake my teaching.”

That You May Gain Insight

I’ll say first then, we have the purpose clause: “that you may gain insight.” Insight generally is one of the synonyms that he gives for wisdom. It stresses the idea of discernment. Listen to me, take heed. Why? So that you may gain insight. And then he adds the explanation: “because I give you good precepts.” His teaching is good, both in itself and in its consequences. It’s good teaching. This teaching is reliable. It’s profitable. You can bank on it. You want this. This is the stuff to live by, the stuff that makes life successful.

Now I’ve titled this lesson, “Wisdom, a Family Tradition,” because that’s how the sage himself describes it here. Notice how in verses three and four, he appeals to his own family heritage. Verse three: “When I was a son with my father, tender, the only one in the sight of my mother, he taught me and said to me, ‘Let your heart hold fast to my words. Keep my commandments and live.'” Reading between the lines there, you can’t miss the—it’s just a beautiful family scene.

Verse three expresses, I think, touchingly just how all parents feel about their children. “When I was a son with my father, tender, the only one in the sight of my mother,” that is, I was young once too, and my parents felt toward me just like I feel toward you now. The affection was deep and they loved me like I was their only child. That’s the sense of that phrase, “the only one in the sight of my mother.” And my dad was concerned for me just as I’m concerned for you. And so he was careful to teach me wisdom like I’m teaching you now.

And then you’ll notice that the quotation marks in verse four are not closed until the end of verse nine. Verses four to nine then are a restatement of the admonition that his father gave him when he was a boy. So the grandfather gave now this father, when the father was a boy himself, he received this instruction. That, by the way, we might have figured out already. You might have noticed the reference in verses eight and nine to the benefits of wisdom and the garland around your neck and the crown on your head. We saw that back in chapter one. In chapter one, he was giving it as his own instruction. Here now in chapter four, he’s saying, “That’s what my dad taught me.” So we have a restatement in verses four to nine then of what grandpa taught me. And now I’m teaching you. What I’m teaching you is what grandpa taught me.

“Let your heart hold fast my words, keep my commandments and live.” The obvious implication, of course, is that that instruction that grandpa gave me when I was a boy, it proved good for me. It proved good for him. It has given success. And so now this sage wants to pass it along, this good teaching, this good counsel to his own son. This is what your family has lived by. It has proven good.

This is really a beautiful scene: passing along a godly heritage, teaching the next generation how to live successfully under God. Grandpa lived by this wisdom. I’ve lived by it. Now I want you to live by it also. So notice in verse four how he capsulizes his father’s—that is the grandfather’s—instruction. “Let your heart hold fast to my words. Keep my commandments and live.”

Now notice especially the last part of that verse: “keep my commandments and live.” My dad quoted that verse to us many times. He used to have fun with it. He’d tell us, “Keep my commandments and live,” the obvious implication being, if we did not keep his commandments, we wouldn’t live through it. He was kidding, of course. And sorry, Dad, that wasn’t quite the thought that the sage is trying to get across here. Rather, it’s what we’ve seen since our first study in this series. The call is not to live and learn—live and then learn by hard experience. The offer is to learn so that he may live. Do it right the first time. Live without regret. Live successfully under God.

So wisdom is a family tradition that this father wants deeply to continue into the next generation. Now, not all traditions are worth keeping. I think it was G.K. Chesterton that remarked, “Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It’s the democracy of the dead.” One old jingle that I’ve always liked puts it a little bit more bluntly: “Custom, to which all mankind to slavery brings, that dull excuse for doing stupid things.” And in fact, many a church has died for an unwillingness to break tradition. I’ve said for years that the last seven words of a dying church are, “We’ve never done it that way before.”

The fact is that breaking a bad tradition is a good idea. Some deserve to be forgotten. But when something we’ve always done—we’ve always done it this way—and it’s proven itself to be useful and helpful, beneficial, something that enriches life, well, that’s a tradition worth keeping. And that’s what the father here is pressing. You see how we live? You see the marriage that your mom and I have? You see the relationship that we enjoy? You see our home, our happiness. You see how our lives are not marked by regret or self-destructive choices. All of that is the direct consequence of the wisdom that your grandfather taught me when I was young. And now I want you to learn also.

And we’ve seen all through these studies that the father has a great heart for his son and he wants desperately, as far as he’s able, to see his son value the wisdom that he was taught for his own sake now. He’s all about capturing his son’s heart, not just directing his behavior. He wants not just for his son to do what he is told in an external sense; he wants him to imbibe and internalize this teaching himself. That was, in fact, the concern his own father had for him. We see that in verses four to six.

Get Wisdom, Get Insight

Notice here how he summarizes grandpa’s teaching. In verse four: “He,” that is your grandfather, “taught me and said to me,” and here begins the long quote, “let your heart hold fast my words, keep my commandments and live, get wisdom, get insight. Do not forget and do not turn away from the words of my mouth. Do not forsake her and she will keep you, love her and she will guard you.”

Notice the repeated emphasis in verses four to six again. Verse four: “hold fast to my words.” And not just in your memory, but in your heart, that inner part of you that makes you, you. Hold fast to my words in your heart. “Keep my commandments.” That’s the word we’ve seen several times through these admonitions. “Keep” in the sense of guarding and protecting. Protect these things so that you can live.

Verse five: “get wisdom, get insight, make this your life’s pursuit.” The word “get” here is the common word translated “buy” or “purchase.” The idea is that wisdom is worth any expense, any effort; at all costs, get wisdom. Again in verse five: “do not forget and do not turn away from the words of my mouth.” That is, value this wisdom and live by it always. And then finally, verse six: “do not forsake her, but rather love her.” Why? Because she will protect you from foolish choices and regrets.

So hold fast my words, hold them in your hearts. Keep these, guard them, protect them, get it, purchase it, buy it at any cost. Don’t forget, don’t turn away, don’t forsake, but love wisdom. And notice, by the way, he’s at the same time warning—implicitly warning—his son about the unreliability of his own heart. You will think that you don’t need to pay such careful attention to all of this, but trust me, you do. In fact, you will think at times that you know better. Trust me, you don’t. You must treasure this teaching, knowing that this is what will make life successful and blessed.

And so verse seven then is the very heart of this exhortation: “The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. Whatever you get, get insight.” Now the idea here is not, “while you’re getting all that you get, be sure to get wisdom too,” as though wisdom were just one of many life’s pursuits. He’s speaking in exclusive terms. Wisdom is of such value, this revealed wisdom of God. It is of such value. It is so vital. It is so necessary for life that you must make it your supreme pursuit. Sell off everything if you have to, but get wisdom. No price is too high. This is more valuable than anything. This is more valuable than everything else. Get wisdom. At all costs, get wisdom.

Now, the New International Version, which some of you have, captures that sense well: “Though it costs you all you have, get understanding.” In fact, one commentator, Derek Kidner, suggests that the Hebrew here is likely a blunt way of saying something like, “what it takes is not brains or opportunity, but decision.” Do you want it? Come and get it. That is, resolve to get wisdom at all costs. Make this your chief pursuit in life.

And so what the grandfather wanted for his son, and now what the father wants for his son, is a heart for wisdom—a heart that recognizes the value of wisdom and prizes it accordingly. As far as he’s able, he’s trying to reach his son’s heart. Now notice the way he puts it at the beginning of verse eight: “Prize her highly.” If you have the NIV, you’ll notice the translation is a little bit different: “Cherish her.” So the ESV that I have translates it “prize her”; the NIV, “cherish her.” Well, to prize, to cherish, there’s some similarity in broad similarity in meaning, but they’re two different words altogether.

And in fact, the meaning of the Hebrew verb here is uncertain. It means either to esteem—hence the ESV translation, “prize her highly”—or it means (and you’re going to like this) to caress, to cuddle, which the NIV then smooths out to “cherish.” But if that’s the correct meaning, then he’s talking again about affections. We might not ordinarily speak of cuddling or caressing wisdom, but the metaphor directs the heart to a deep appreciation of wisdom. You must want wisdom.

Well then, just what is it that makes wisdom worthy of such devoted attention, unrelenting pursuit? Why is it worth such affection? Oh, that’s the question the father is eager to answer in verses eight and nine. And he wraps up the admonition with another motivational clause, restating again the value of wisdom. “Prize her highly and she will exalt you. She will honor you if you embrace her. She will place on your head a graceful garland and she will bestow on you a beautiful crown.”

Well, this is the kind of language we saw in the first lecture, as I mentioned: chapter one, verses eight and nine, the necklace and the crown. These are metaphors of distinction and honor. The idea again is that imbibing this wisdom will pay off for you. You’ll prosper. You’ll be better off for following this teaching. You’ll distinguish yourself. You’ll be happy for it. “My dad taught me and it has proven true. And now I’m teaching you that the wisdom of God really does lead to a blessed life. It leads to good decisions and good choices—choices that bring blessing and joy, that avoid regret.”

We saw something very similar to this in chapter three, verses 13 to 18. If you’d like to look back at that: chapter three, verse 13, “Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding.” Why is he blessed? How is he blessed? “For the gain from her is better than gain from silver, and her profit better than gold. She’s more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand, and in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; those who hold her fast are called blessed.”

All that is to say that all the money in the world cannot buy what wisdom gives you for free, if you’ll just listen and take heed. I’m sure we’ve all heard it all of our lives, that money can buy a house, but it can’t buy a home. That money can buy food, but it can’t buy love and tender fellowship around the table. I suppose it’s those whose homes are not marked by love that know that best. Wisdom can steer us to avoid those kinds of regrets, and it can create a loving home and fulfilling relationships and a productive life. God, our Creator, does not tell us to go live and learn from hard experience. He tells us up front how we can go about life in a way that brings contentment and blessing and joy. And not all the money, not all the fame, not all of the diplomas and the degrees—nothing in the world can give you what the wisdom of God offers freely. And so wisdom must be number one. Get wisdom.

And so the father says, “Listen to me, son. My dad taught me and it has proven true. Hear me, please hear me. For your own sake, adopt this wisdom as your own. Prize it, value it, treasure it, caress it, commit yourself to it. Turn off the TV, turn off the cell phone, turn off the iPad, spend time pursuing wisdom.” And as you do, verse nine, you will find that it was worth the effort. “She will place on your head a graceful garland and she will bestow on you a beautiful crown.” What foolishness to ignore an offer like that.

The Big Picture

Now, as we’ve done before, let’s back away and look again at the big picture. What is this passage teaching us? Well, first, as we’ve seen since chapter one, it has something to say to parents, especially parents with children still at home. It’s just a marvelous passage and it’s a beautiful scene: the father in tender concern for his son, guiding him to live wisely and successfully under God.

Parents, if you love your children, teach them wisdom. Teach them what wisdom is. Teach them the source of wisdom. Teach them the value of wisdom. Press them with all you have to internalize and treasure wisdom. Model for them the joy of living according to God’s wisdom. Go for their hearts. Steer their appetites as far as you are able to the Creator who alone can tell us how to live successfully. Teach them as far as you are able to treasure wisdom. It is the very best thing you can do for them.

And of course, wisdom is not just for children only. It’s for all of us. For all of us, this passage holds out a wonderful prospect. Come, learn and live. No one can direct us to live successfully as God can, and what fools we would be to neglect His word.

Going a little bit deeper then, this has something to tell parents. It has something to tell all of us. But going a little bit deeper, as I’ve just alluded to, this passage has something to say about the value of Scripture. It’s driving us to learn God’s word and anchor our minds in it. The Bible throughout holds this wonderful prospect that its counsel, coming as it does from God Himself, is both true and profitable. It’s true and it’s profitable; it provides reliable, infallible guidance for successful living under God. It is, after all, breathed out by God Himself. It is His word. It is His word written. And precisely because it is His word, it is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

So here is a book that boasts great things: infallible guidance for life and eternity. What a treasure. If we recognize what a treasure it is, we will give ourselves to reading it, learning it, meditating on it, and memorizing it.

And then once again, I think we also have to notice, as we’ve seen throughout this series, that ultimately this passage directs us to wisdom incarnate himself, Jesus Christ. What is the wisdom that we are to pursue? Ultimately, it is Jesus. He’s the one, Paul tells us, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. The one who took responsibility for all of our foolishness and all the consequences of our foolishness, and He offered Himself to God in our place and paid the penalty of our sin. He’s the one who now renews our minds and renews our hearts and restores us to Himself and thereby enables us to pursue wisdom. He’s the one whose yoke leads in the paths of righteousness to God’s honor and to our good.

And so a wise father does not point his son to some generic kind of wisdom that the world has to offer. A wise father points his son to Christ, to whom wisdom itself leads us and the one in whom wisdom is found. So this passage is a marvelous model of Christian parenting. If your parents led you in the way of wisdom and pointed you to Christ, be very diligent to pass on that tradition to the next generation. And if you don’t have that tradition behind you, then starting now, show your children the great privilege of having a word from God. Show them the joy and the value of living under Christ as His disciples.

“Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight.” Sell off everything you have if you must, but get wisdom. What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his own soul? For the sake of your children’s temporal and eternal well-being, point them to Christ. Show them that the very wisest thing they can ever do is bow before the Lord Jesus and submit to His yoke.

If we can read verse seven again, this time with our New Testament glasses on, it reads something like this: “The beginning of wisdom is this: Get Jesus. And whatever you get, get Jesus.” Take His yoke and learn from Him. Here in Christ is success and joy and life eternal. Get wisdom. Get Jesus.

Well, as we’ve done before, I’d like to open it again to any questions, any input from Pastor Boyd or Pastor Greg.