Bible Commentaries
John Dummelow's Commentary
Proverbs 4
Ancestral Wisdom. The Two Paths
In Proverbs 4:1-9 the teacher lays stress on the fact that his instruction is a repetition of his father's. No teaching was thought valuable save that which was handed down from one generation to another. The best pupil was the one who was 'a cemented cistern which loses not a drop.' Proverbs 4:10-19 might be called the doctrine of the two paths, the two ways of life. 20-27 enjoin strict attention to instruction and to conduct.
7. Lit. 'The beginning of wisdom is, get wisdom' (RM). When we feel our deficiency we shall make a start. Socrates was the wisest of the Greeks because he felt that he was not wise. And with all, etc.] Read, 'Yea, with all thou hast gotten' (RV): cp. Matthew 13:45, Matthew 13:46.
8. Exalt] i.e. prize highly.
12. His life is like a broad road in which are no obstacles to trip up the unwary.
16, 17. There were many rapacious officials whose appetite for oppression grew with what it fed on.
18. The prosperity of the righteous is 'as the light of the dawn' (RM), ever waxing.
23. Watch over the inner life of thought and feeling; on it prosperity depends (1 Samuel 16:7; Matthew 15:19).
25. Keep your eye fixed on the goal: let nothing turn you aside into the devious paths of wickedness.
26. Make your way even and level: walk in the smooth, strait path of righteousness.
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