Proverbs 23:22
‘My son, if your heart be wise — my heart shall rejoice!… Hearken to your father who begot you! Do not despise your mother, when she is old!… The father of the righteous, shall greatly rejoice! And he who begets a wise child, shall receive joy from him! Your father and your mother shall be glad; and she who bare you, shall rejoice! My son give Me your heart, and let your eyes observe My ways!’
Proverbs 23:15-26.
‘My son…, be wise!’ One greater than Solomon, is here speaking! God, the wise Father! He says to us: “My son, be wise and give your heart to My Wisdom — the Lord Jesus Christ!”
‘Hearken to your father!’ He is the one who begot and who raised you! And ‘do not despise your mother’ — especially when she is old! For we are to be kind to our elders. Esther’s obedience to her aged uncle Mordecai, is a precious example of what is here ordered. “For Esther did the commandment of Mordecai; just like when she was brought up by him!” (Esther 2:20).
Even the Apocrypha says: “My son, help your father in his age, and do not grieve him as long as he lives!… If his understanding fails, be indulgent towards (or have patience with) him; and do not despise him!… For kindness toward (the relieving of) your father shall not be forgotten; and in spite of sins, your prosperity shall bloom again…. He that forsakes his father, is like a blasphemer; and he that angers his mother, is cursed by the Lord!” (Ecclesiasticus or Jesus Sirach 3:12-16).
‘The father of the righteous, shall greatly rejoice.’ Because his son is righteous, and desires to do that which is right.
For ‘he who begets a wise child’ — he who begets a child that has been made wise by God’s Wisdom the Lord Jesus Christ — shall receive joy from him! And what greater joy can a good parent ever receive, than seeing and knowing that his own child has found God’s Wisdom Christ, and been made wise by Him?!
Then, both the father and the mother of the child shall be glad! Then, especially she who bare the child — shall rejoice!
So — ‘my son, give me your heart! And let your eyes delight in my ways!’ This is true when also the father of the son is himself righteous. But it is particularly true when God the righteous Father Himself says: ‘My son, give Me your heart! And let your eyes delight in My ways!’ Give attention to My teaching!
Here, God Himself speaks and commands men as their Wisdom. He says: ‘My son, give your heart to Me as your true Wisdom! And let your eyes delight in My ways’ — which are wise indeed!
So, hearken to your father who begot you; and do not despise your mother when she is old!
