Proverbs 4:10

Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; and the years of thy life shall be many. HEAR, O MY SON, AND RECEIVE MY SAYINGS; AND THE YEARS OF THY LIFE SHALL BE MANY - reverting to ....

1-13 We must look upon our teachers as our fathers: though instruction carry in it reproof and correction, bid it welcome. Solomon's parents loved him, therefore taught him. Wise and godly men, in every age of the world, and rank in society, agree that true wisdom consists in obedience, and is united to happiness. Get wisdom, take pains for it. Get the rule over thy corruptions; take more pains to get this than the wealth of this world. An interest in Christ's salvation is necessary. This wisdom is the one thing needful. A soul without true wisdom and grace is a dead soul. How poor, contemptible, and wretched are those, who, with all their wealth and power, die without getting understanding, without Christ, without hope, and without God! Let us give heed to the sayings of Him who has the words of eternal life. Thus our path will be plain before us: by taking, and keeping fast hold of ins...

Verse Proverbs 4:10. _THE YEARS OF THY LIFE SHALL BE MANY._] Vice and intemperance impair the health and shorten the days of the wicked; while true religion, sobriety, and temperance, prolong them. The principal part of our diseases springs from "indolence, intemperance, and disorderly passions." Religion excites to _industry_, promotes _sober habits_, and destroys _evil passions_, and _harmonizes_ the soul; and thus, by preventing many diseases, necessarily prolongs life....

The counsel which has come to him, in substance, from his father. Compare it with 2 Samuel 23:2 etc.; 1 Chronicles 28:9; 1 Chronicles 29:17; Psalms 15:1; Psalms 24:1; Psalms 37. Proverbs 4:7 Or, “The beginning of wisdom is - get wisdom.” To seek is to find, to desire is to obtain....

EXPOSITION PROVERBS 4:1 7. _Seventh admonitory discourse. _We here enter upon the second group of admonitory discourses, as is indicated by the opening address, "my children," and which occurs again in Proverbs 5:7 and Proverbs 7:24. This group extends to the end of Proverbs 7:1. Its prevailing tone is that of warning rather than of positive exhortations, which have been the rule hitherto. The general aim of the discourse before us, as of those preceding, is to exalt Wisdom, to exhibit her as a subject worthy of all earnest endeavour and sacrifice, but it is noticeable that the teacher introd

HEAR, O MY SON, AND RECEIVE MY SAYINGS,.... Some think David is still speaking to his son Solomon, or Solomon continues relating what his father said to him; though I rather think these are Solomon's words to his son, to everyone of his children that came to him for instruction, or he took upon him to teach; whom he advises to listen to what he had further to say, and to embrace, and not reject, his doctrines; AND THE YEARS OF THY LIFE SHALL BE MANY; see Proverbs 3:1; long life here, and length of days for ever and ever, or eternal life hereafter; which must be a very forcible argument to engage attention to his sayings....

CHAPTER 4 _ 1. Solomon's training (Proverbs 4:1)_ 2. Hear, O my son: Receive my sayings (Proverbs 4:10) 3. My son, attend to my words. (Proverbs 4:20) Proverbs 4:1. This passage shows the early training which Solomon received and he passeth on the instructions. It is said that these verses formed a model for many Puritan homes in England and the Scotland of the covenant. He was the beloved one, his father's true son. Note the different exhortation, about wisdom: Forget it not; forsake her not; love her; exalt her. Then the promises: She shall preserve thee; she shall keep thee; she shall promote thee

MY SON. See note on Proverbs 1:8. SAYINGS. Hebrew. _imrah._ See App-73. THE YEARS OF THY LIFE SHALL BE MANY. [my sayings] shall grow greater [through] the years of thy life. The verb denotes increase of size, not merely numbers. See notes on Proverbs 3:2; Proverbs 3:16; Proverbs 10:27. The verb here is masculine, but "years of life" is feminine. The verb therefore refers to "sayings"....

TEXT Proverbs 4:10-19 10. Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; And the years of thy life shall be many. 11. I have taught thee in the way of wisdom; I have led thee in paths of uprightness. 12. When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened; And if thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble. 13. Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: Keep her; for she is thy life. 14. Enter not into the path of the wicked, And walk not in the way of evil men. 15. Avoid it, pass not by it; Turn from it, and pass on. 16. For they sleep not, except they do evil; And their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall. 17. For they eat of the bread of wickedness, And drink the wine of violence. 18. But the path of the righteous is as

ANCESTRAL WISDOM. THE TWO PATHS In Proverbs 4:1 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 might be called the doctrine of the two paths, the two ways of life. 20-27 enjoin strict attention to instruction and to conduct....