Pro 3:1-10 | KingComments | STEP | Giving up an advantage can sometimes seem like throwing away an opportunity for joy. But Proverbs 3 assures us that this is not the case. The path of wisdom is the path of life, even when the path of wisdom seems to conflict with common sense. In we have five advice from the father to his son, each time followed by a promise of blessing if he takes the advice to heart. 1. In the advice, in the promise of blessing. 2. In the advice, in the promise of blessing. 3. In the advice, in the promise of blessing. 4. In the advice, in the promise of blessing. 5. In the advice, in the promise of blessing. Here we must remember that these are promises that will certainly be fulfilled, but not always already during life on earth. It is also possible that they will be fulfilled in the future. We may trust that God will fulfill His promises of blessing in His time and in His way if we do from our hearts what He asks of us, even if in this life the wicked prosper and the righteous suffer. The first advice the father gives to his son is not to forget his “teaching” ( ). “Teaching” is the translation of the word torah . That word is used for the law of God, but it has multiple meanings. Here it refers to what we might call homeschooling. The father has passed on his knowledge in teaching his son at home. It is an indication to fathers to teach their children from Scripture at home and not leave that to others, for example, those who give Bible lessons or Bible studies. The father reminds his son not to forget what he learned at home, in his upbringing. Forgetting here is not so much a weakness of memory as the deliberate neglect and disregard of the father’s teaching. For us, there is in this the warning that we can lose what we learned in our young years from the Word of God. The teaching will not be forgotten if the commandments are kept in the heart. By the way, a person can obey commandments outwardly, that is, without the heart being involved. That is not what the father wants, nor is it what God wants. The heart is the storehouse for the commandments, just as the law was laid in the ark ( ). In the kingdom of peace, God will write His law in the hearts of His people ( ). The heart indicates the mind. If the commandments are observed in the heart, the deeds, which, after all, spring from the heart ( ), will be consistent with it. Then the deeds will not be sinful deeds ( ). Above all, then there will not be compulsive, but joyful obedience. The blessing attached to this advice is a long and good life ( ). “Length of days” (cf. ) refers to reaching old age after a ‘long parade of days’. “Years of life and peace” refers more to content (“life”) and quality (“peace”). It is a full and rich life worth living to the fullest. The word “peace” is the translation of the word shalom and implies more than just the absence of war. It is victory, success in what is undertaken, perfect harmony, prosperity, health, happiness, salvation, a long life. In the kingdom of peace, the teaching and the commandments will not be forgotten, but kept in the heart ( ). Therefore, during that time the years of enjoying life and peace will be multiplied instead of being taken away at some point. The latter has happened time and again in Israel’s history because the people have not kept the teaching and the commandments of God’s Word. It does not mean that everyone who keeps the commandments in his heart in this day and age will consequently live long. Consider believers who have been and are persecuted, tortured and killed precisely because of their faithfulness to God’s Word, and often in the prime of their lives ( ). Faithful prophets who had God’s Word in their heart and brought it were put to death ( ). And what happened to the Lord Jesus Who listened to His Father in every way and perfectly fulfilled the advice of ? He was killed in the midst of His days. So, what about the promise of long life and peace? The promise of a long life and peace will be fully fulfilled in the future. Life and peace are enjoyed in their fullness and length in the millennial kingdom of peace. God fulfills all His promises, but not always already here and now. That we live in faith that the promises are fulfilled, we show by continuing to believe even when it seems that the promises are not fulfilled. That faith, that faith trust, characterized all Old Testament believers. That trust in God was perfectly present with the Lord Jesus. That trust may also characterize us.

‏ Proverbs 3:1-10

Introduction

Giving up an advantage can sometimes seem like throwing away an opportunity for joy. But Proverbs 3 assures us that this is not the case. The path of wisdom is the path of life, even when the path of wisdom seems to conflict with common sense.

In Pro 3:1-10 we have five advice from the father to his son, each time followed by a promise of blessing if he takes the advice to heart.

1. In Pro 3:1 the advice, in Pro 3:2 the promise of blessing.

2. In Pro 3:3 the advice, in Pro 3:4 the promise of blessing.

3. In Pro 3:5-6 the advice, in Pro 3:6b the promise of blessing.

4. In Pro 3:7 the advice, in Pro 3:8 the promise of blessing.

5. In Pro 3:9 the advice, in Pro 3:10 the promise of blessing.

Here we must remember that these are promises that will certainly be fulfilled, but not always already during life on earth. It is also possible that they will be fulfilled in the future. We may trust that God will fulfill His promises of blessing in His time and in His way if we do from our hearts what He asks of us, even if in this life the wicked prosper and the righteous suffer.

Do Not Forget the Teaching

The first advice the father gives to his son is not to forget his “teaching” (Pro 3:1). “Teaching” is the translation of the word torah. That word is used for the law of God, but it has multiple meanings. Here it refers to what we might call homeschooling. The father has passed on his knowledge in teaching his son at home. It is an indication to fathers to teach their children from Scripture at home and not leave that to others, for example, those who give Bible lessons or Bible studies.

The father reminds his son not to forget what he learned at home, in his upbringing. Forgetting here is not so much a weakness of memory as the deliberate neglect and disregard of the father’s teaching. For us, there is in this the warning that we can lose what we learned in our young years from the Word of God. The teaching will not be forgotten if the commandments are kept in the heart. By the way, a person can obey commandments outwardly, that is, without the heart being involved. That is not what the father wants, nor is it what God wants.

The heart is the storehouse for the commandments, just as the law was laid in the ark (Deu 10:6). In the kingdom of peace, God will write His law in the hearts of His people (Heb 8:10). The heart indicates the mind. If the commandments are observed in the heart, the deeds, which, after all, spring from the heart (Pro 4:23), will be consistent with it. Then the deeds will not be sinful deeds (Psa 119:11). Above all, then there will not be compulsive, but joyful obedience.

The blessing attached to this advice is a long and good life (Pro 3:2). “Length of days” (cf. Psa 91:16) refers to reaching old age after a ‘long parade of days’. “Years of life and peace” refers more to content (“life”) and quality (“peace”). It is a full and rich life worth living to the fullest. The word “peace” is the translation of the word shalom and implies more than just the absence of war. It is victory, success in what is undertaken, perfect harmony, prosperity, health, happiness, salvation, a long life.

In the kingdom of peace, the teaching and the commandments will not be forgotten, but kept in the heart (Heb 8:10b). Therefore, during that time the years of enjoying life and peace will be multiplied instead of being taken away at some point. The latter has happened time and again in Israel’s history because the people have not kept the teaching and the commandments of God’s Word.

It does not mean that everyone who keeps the commandments in his heart in this day and age will consequently live long. Consider believers who have been and are persecuted, tortured and killed precisely because of their faithfulness to God’s Word, and often in the prime of their lives (Heb 11:36-38). Faithful prophets who had God’s Word in their heart and brought it were put to death (Mt 23:34 ; 37). And what happened to the Lord Jesus Who listened to His Father in every way and perfectly fulfilled the advice of Pro 3:1? He was killed in the midst of His days. So, what about the promise of long life and peace?

The promise of a long life and peace will be fully fulfilled in the future. Life and peace are enjoyed in their fullness and length in the millennial kingdom of peace. God fulfills all His promises, but not always already here and now. That we live in faith that the promises are fulfilled, we show by continuing to believe even when it seems that the promises are not fulfilled. That faith, that faith trust, characterized all Old Testament believers. That trust in God was perfectly present with the Lord Jesus. That trust may also characterize us.

Kindness and Truth

Not forgetting teaching and keeping the commandments in Pro 3:1 is not a static thing. Teaching and commandments work something out, for they form the character of the believer. To this, Pro 3:3 connects. Through teaching and commandments the characteristics of the new life are formed. Two of them are “kindness and truth”.

They are two of God’s many impressive attributes (Psa 117:2). They are seen perfectly in the life of the Lord Jesus. It was a joy for God to notice those attributes in His Son. It is also a joy to His heart when He can notice them in us. God has proven and continues to prove kindness and truth to the believer. Of this the believer should remain impressed, he should never forget it, the thought of it should never leave him. However, God has not only proved kindness and truth, but He has also given them to the believer, for they belong to the new life he has received.

What could not happen to the Lord Jesus can happen to us, and that is that we forget God’s kindness and truth that He has shown us, that they leave us. As a result, these attributes do not become visible in our life and they also leave us in that sense. This is why the father tells his son – and every believer – to make sure that “kindness and truth” do not leave him”.

The father tells him how to do it. He should bind them around his neck like an ornament. The neck indicates self-will. A word like “stiff-necked” indicates that. If “kindness and truth” are bound around the neck like an ornament, it means that one’s own will is not followed, but that these characteristics govern life. He must also write both these characteristics on the tablet of his heart (cf. Jer 31:33; 2Cor 3:3; Deu 6:8-9). As a result, they will be the motives from which he acts. He thereby submits himself to the will of God.

“Kindness” is goodness shown to another and excludes all forms of selfishness and hatred. “Truth” is being trustworthy, being reliable; it excludes all hypocrisy. We can therefore say that kindness and truth are parallel to grace and truth.

This pair, grace and truth, is united in perfect harmony in Christ: “Grace and truth came to be through Jesus Christ” ( Jn 1:17). We see this above all on the cross. On the basis of this pair, God was able to accept us. The eternal life that is our portion shows this pair in our life. Both aspects must be in harmony. There may not be love at the expense of truth, and there may not be truth without love (cf. 2Jn 1:1-13; 3Jn 1:1-15). This is elaborated in the following verses: in Pro 3:5-6 live in the love of God and in Pro 3:7-8 live in the truth, which means separation from evil.

The first blessing of listening to wisdom, as we saw in Pro 3:2, concerns the God-fearing person’s own life. The second blessing has to do with relationships (Pro 3:4). If the advice of Pro 3:3 is followed, the son will find “favor and good repute in the sight of God and man”. We see this in the life of the Lord Jesus. He lived in kindness and truth, and found what is written here (Lk 2:52). We also see it in the life of Samuel (1Sam 2:26; cf. 2Cor 8:21).

“Favor” is free goodness; it is something that cannot be claimed. When we find favor with people, it is not a merit of our own; we cannot claim it as a right, but will receive it if we show kindness and truth. Although Joseph was a prisoner, he found favor or grace in the eyes of Potiphar (Gen 39:4). Those who show kindness and truth conspicuous in a favorable sense. It is heeded, looked upon and appreciated, both by God and people. If we listen to the advice of this father, we will experience the same.

Trust in the LORD

The third advice is to trust in the LORD with the whole heart and expect nothing from our own understanding (Pro 3:5). Trusting with the whole heart is focusing the whole inner life – the whole will, feeling and understanding – on God. It is about actively trusting in Him. It applies to every minute of our life, wherever we are – at home, in society, at school or work, in the church – and in whatever we do.

One should not want to lean on a creature or anything from the possession or abilities of a creature, not even on anything from ourselves (cf. 2Chr 14:11). This is not a contradiction between the heart on the one hand and understanding on the other, but between one’s own understanding and the Lord. We must trust in the Lord and not in ourselves.

The father also advises his son to know God in all his ways (Pro 3:6). “All your ways” means everything he plans, everything he says, all his doings. It does not just refer to moments of crisis, when big and important decisions must be made. If we involve Him in all daily things, we will also automatically go to Him with the big things. To know Him in all our ways means that we begin everything with Him, walk with Him in it and also complete it with Him. This requires obedience and surrender in every area of our lives.

It also means that He does not dictate and impose His thoughts and plans on us. He allows us to take the initiative and plan a route. Then He invites us to discuss our plans with Him so that we are kept from plotting a route that leads to death (cf. Jam 4:15; Acts 18:21). We do not know the path. We don’t have to if we know Him, that is, if we live in fellowship with Him Who knows the way.

Knowing Him means that we include Him in everything, always looking to Him, always having Him before our attention, thinking of Him as the One Who is always with us. We do this by consulting His Word in all our plans and letting it be our counselor (Psa 119:24). This includes walking by the Spirit (Gal 5:16).

It is about total dedication, all our heart and all our ways. If we trust in Him with our whole heart and know Him in all our ways, He promises to make our paths straight. He will lead us straight to the goal we have determined in consultation with Him. That goal is ultimately He Himself. The straight paths are contrasted with the winding paths that man goes without knowing Him in them. No man can make his own path straight (Jer 10:23).

It does not say that the paths are easy and straight in our eyes. From our perspective, it may be a winding and difficult path. But we may know that all the twists and turns in it are provided by the Lord as part of the process of His work in us. His goal is for us to walk a path that culminates in our conformity to Christ. For Him, and therefore also for us, that is the straight path.

This, like so many other proverbs in this book, is a general truth, not something that is always true without exception. For example, when we use the saying ‘an apple every day, keeps the doctor away’, it does not mean that we stay healthy if we eat an apple every day, but that an apple is healthy food. It is not a saying that guarantees that we will never get sick if we eat apples. Proverbs are pieces from life that show how life usually is, without saying that it is always and everywhere like that. In fact, there may be factors involved that delay immediate fulfillment. Those factors are not always known to us, but God knows them and uses them for His plan with our life.

Proverbs are not promises from God for here and now that we can stand on. If we think so, we draw wrong conclusions. Proverbs are statements of observations that will prove their truth over time.

Fear the LORD

The fourth advice is not to be wise in one’s own eyes (Pro 3:7; Isa 5:21; Rom 12:16). It is a warning against self-confidence. It follows the thoughts expressed in the previous verses, only from a different point of view. In the previous verses, God is seen and presented as the Source of wisdom and guidance. Now we are warned against a wisdom separate from God.

Our hearts are deceitful. We are able to use clever manipulation to make ourselves believe that we are making wise choices because we are so intelligent or have a certain character. It can be so, that we trust God and become proud to do so. The Lord Jesus condemned the Pharisees and rabbis of His day not because of their praying to God, but because the motives of their prayers were not good.

True wisdom is not denying our talents, but recognizing their source. We are wise in our own eyes if we prefer our own feelings or judgment to that of the Lord. It is acting in independence of Him, knowing better than Scripture. He who is wise will remember that he has no wisdom in himself, but that he gets his wisdom from God.

The higher source of wisdom is the fear of the LORD. That is the true wisdom. When that fear is there, the immediate logical consequence is to turn one’s back on evil. Fearing the LORD can never go hand in hand with doing evil, but brings to hating evil (Psa 97:10).

Listening to the counsel of Pro 3:7 is like a medicine, it has a beneficial or healthy effect (Pro 3:8; Pro 15:4; Ecc 10:4). A baby in the womb receives food through the “navel” [‘body’ is literally “navel”] and grows. The navel is also the center of the body and represents the whole body. The “bones” allow the body to function. If the advice of Pro 3:7 is followed, it has a refreshing effect on the bones. They gain new strength through it.

The word for navel appears only in Ezekiel 16 (Eze 16:4). There is no better example of our dependence on God than that of the fetus in the womb receiving its nourishment through the navel string. This happens as long as he is in the womb. As a result, the child grows until it is born. So what is said in Pro 3:7 is essential to the spiritual growth of the life from God that the believer possesses. Without fear of the LORD on the one hand and turning away from evil on the other, it is impossible to grow spiritually healthy.

Honor the LORD

The fifth advice concerns the son’s honoring the LORD with his wealth (Pro 3:9). It does not say that he should give something to the LORD, but that he should honor Him. Nor is it about something of his possession; it is about that he does it with his possession. So it refers to all his “wealth”, his entire capital, everything he has received by earning it or inheriting it. The “produce” is what he has obtained by working for it, the produce of labor.

Giving “from the first” of a harvest implies the acknowledgment that all the harvest is the LORD’s (Exo 23:19; Num 28:26-27; Deu 18:4 ; Deu 26:1-2). The son is told that in determining the first fruits, he must base his determination on “all” his produce. He must not forget anything or leave anything out of the calculation. God asks that we include everything in our assessment of what is His.

The ‘first’ refers particularly to Christ, the “first fruits of those who are asleep” (1Cor 15:20). He has fully given Himself for those who are His. If we bring the first fruits, God is reminded of Him. We understand a truth only if we have learned to see it in connection with Christ. This also makes the heart willing to respond to the desires of God.

Giving does not stand alone. Giving as such means nothing. Giving has value only if it is done to glorify God through it. We can give to feel good through it; we glorify ourselves through it. This is how the Pharisees gave. We can also give in order to be better off. Then we ‘invest’ in God, He becomes an ‘investment object’. However, it is not about us, but about Him. We received our possessions from Him in order to worship Him with them. Even of our earthly possessions, it is “from Him and through Him and to Him” (Rom 11:36).

We honor God if we give with joy for His work. We do so when we say to Him from our heart: ‘You are the Source of all that I have. Without You I could have earned nothing and had nothing to honor You with. By giving the first fruits, the best, of it to You, I acknowledge that everything is Yours’ (1Chr 29:14b). We show this by giving Him a portion of everything we receive first, even before we have used any of it for ourselves.

From honoring with the first, the son does not get poorer. On the contrary, he becomes richer because of it. He will be blessed with an abundance that fills barns and makes press barrels overflow (Pro 3:10; cf. Mal 3:10). This is what God promises when He is acknowledged in His rights over all things of life. Here certainly what was noted at the introduction to this chapter applies, that we must remember that these are promises that are sure to be fulfilled, but not always during life on earth. In any case, they will be fulfilled in the future.

We misapply this verse when we say that when we give money, we get back much more money than we gave. For example, some television preachers do misuse this verse. They urge their audience to give money with the promise that they will get back much more than they gave. They say: ‘Send me $100,00 for my service and I guarantee that God will bless your gift with a gift of $1000,00!’ Such an appeal is nothing but manipulation.

The point of this verse is also not for people to go and examine themselves to see if there are sins in their life that prevent the blessing if they give money for God’s work and are not blessed abundantly with money. Nor do they have to try again to see if it works then.

When giving is done from the right mind of heart, God gives more than we have given Him. This involves a blessing greater than that of money or earthly goods. We see this in Pro 3:13-18 of this chapter. If we give up everything to follow the Lord, it does not mean that we will then become rich in earthly goods. What we get in return is abundant fellowship with Him with the joy that comes with it. That transcends all earthly possessions. Earthly possessions we can lose. What we possess in Him, we can never lose. It can only become more, that is, the enjoyment of it. What we gain by giving is always much more than what we give (cf. Mk 10:28-30).