Proverbs 23:25

23:19-28 The gracious Saviour who purchased pardon and peace for his people, with all the affection of a tender parent, counsels us to hear and be wise, and is ready to guide our hearts in his way. Here we have an earnest call to young people, to attend to the advice of their godly parents. If the heart be guided, the steps will be guided. Buy the truth, and sell it not; be willing to part with any thing for it. Do not part with it for pleasures, honours, riches, or any thing in this world. The heart is what the great God requires. We must not think to divide the heart between God and the world; he will have all or none. Look to the rule of God's word, the conduct of his providence, and the good examples of his people. Particular cautions are given against sins most destructive to wisdom and grace in the soul. It is really a shame to make a god of the belly. Drunkenness stupifies men, and then all goes to ruin. Licentiousness takes away the heart that should be given to God. Take heed of any approaches toward this sin, it is very hard to retreat from it. It bewitches men to their ruin.

Thy father and thy mother shall be glad,.... That, is when thou art righteous and wise; see Proverbs 10:1 ; or "let thy father and thy mother be glad" (e); do everything that may make their hearts glad, and their lives easy and comfortable in their old age; by ministering to their necessities, if in any; by treading in their steps, and following their examples; by living soberly and righteously, and behaving wisely; by not only honouring them, but by seeking the honour and glory of God; showing a regard to religion, and supporting it to the utmost of their power; these are things which make the hearts of pious parents glad; and she that bare thee shall rejoice; thy mother particularly, who bore and brought thee forth with so much pain, and brought thee up with so much care and trouble, will think it an to much recompence for all, if thou art truly wise and religious. Some accommodate this to God our heavenly Father, and to the church, the Jerusalem above, the mother of us all. (e) "guadeat", V. L. "laetetur", Tigurine version, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "fac ut laetetur", Mercerus, Gejerus; "exhilaretur", Schultens.

25 . shall … shall ] Rather, Let thy father … and let her &c. It is an exhortation to the son to verify by his own conduct the statement of the preceding verse. “Quod cum ita sit, da operam ut parentibus lætitiam crees,” Maurer; εὐφραινέσθω , χαιρέτω , LXX.; gaudeat, exsultet, Vulg.

Thy father and thy mother shall be glad; he repeateth this again, as a powerful argument to prevail with all children that are not void of natural affection, to labour to be wise and good, that so they may glad the hearts of their parents, to whom they have such high and indelible obligations. She that bare thee with so great pain and hazard, and brought thee up with such tender care, whom thou canst not better requite.

Verse 25. - Shall be glad; or, let them be glad ; gaudeat , Vulgate; εὐφραινέσθω , Septuagint. She that bare thee. As in ver. 24 the father's joy was expressly mentioned, so here prominence is given to that of the mother. In the former case it is "he that begetteth;" here, "she that beareth." Proverbs 23:25

The parainesis begins anew, and the division is open to question. Proverbs 23:22-24 can of themselves be independent distichs; but this is not the case with Proverbs 23:25 , which, in the resumption of the address and in expression, leans back on Proverbs 23:22 . The author of this appendix may have met with Proverbs 23:23 and Proverbs 23:24 (although here also his style, as conformed to that of Proverbs 1:9 , is noticeable, cf. 23b with Proverbs 1:2 ), but Proverbs 23:22 and Proverbs 23:25 are the form which he has given to them. Thus Proverbs 23:22-25 are a whole: - 22 Hearken to thy father, to him who hath begotten thee, And despise not thy mother when she has grown old. 23 Buy the truth, and sell it not, Wisdom and discipline and understanding. 24 The father of a righteous man rejoiceth greatly; (And) he that is the father of a wise man - he will rejoice. 25 Let thy father and thy mother be glad; And her that bare thee exult. The octastich begins with a call to childlike obedience, for שׁמע ל, to listen to any one, is equivalent to, to obey him, e.g., Psalm 81:9, Psalm 81:14 (cf. "hearken to his voice," Psalm 95:7). זה ילדך is a relative clause (cf. Deuteronomy 32:18, without זה or אשׁר), according to which it is rightly accentuated (cf. on the contrary, Psalm 78:54). 22b, strictly taken, is not to be translated neve contemne cum senuerit matrem tuam (Fleischer), but cum senuerit mater tua, for the logical object to אל־תּבוּז is attracted as subj. of זקנה (Hitzig).

There now follows the exhortation comprehending all, and formed after Proverbs 4:7, to buy wisdom, i.e., to shun no expense, no effort, no privation, in order to attain to the possession of wisdom; and not to sell it, i.e., not to place it over against any earthly possession, worldly gain, sensual enjoyment; not to let it be taken away by any intimidation, argued away by false reasoning, or prevailed against by enticements into the way of vice, and not to become unfaithful to it by swimming with the great stream (Exodus 23:2); for truth, אמת, is that which endures and proves itself in all spheres, the moral as well as the intellectual. In 23b, in like manner as Proverbs 1:3; Proverbs 22:4, a threefold object is given to קנה instead of אמת: there are three properties which are peculiar to truth, the three powers which handle it: חכמה is knowledge solid, pressing into the essence of things; מוּסר is moral culture; and בּינה the central faculty of proving and distinguishing (vid., Proverbs 1:3-5). Now Proverbs 23:24 says what consequences are for the parents when the son, according to the exhortation of Proverbs 23:23, makes truth his aim, to which all is subordinated. Because in אמת the ideas of practical and theoretical truth are inter-connected. צדּיק and חכם are also here parallel to one another.

## When she is old; when the infirmity of age is added to that of her sex, which is apt to breed contempt. ## Proverbs 23:23 Buy the truth; purchase it upon any terms, spare no pains nor cost to get it. The truth ; the true and saving knowledge of God’s mind and will concerning your salvation, and the way that leads to it. ## Sell it not; do not forget it nor forsake it for any worldly advantages, as ungodly men frequently do. ## Understanding; whereby you may love and practise the truth known and received. Proverbs 23:24 No text from Poole on this verse. ## Proverbs 23:25 Thy father and thy mother shall be glad; he repeateth this again, as a powerful argument to prevail with all children that are not void of natural affection, to labour to be wise and good, that so they may glad the hearts of their parents, to whom they have such high and indelible obligations. ## She that bare thee with so great pain and hazard, and brought thee up with such tender care, whom thou canst not better requite. ## Proverbs 23:26 Give me thine heart; receive my counsels with thy whole heart. Solomon speaking in God’s name and cause, requires the heart to be given to him. ## Let thine eyes observe, let thy mind seriously and practically consider, my ways; either, 1. The ways in which I have walked, my evil practices; take warning by my sad example. Or, 2. The ways which I prescribe to you; as the apostles called the gospel which they preached their gospel, 1Th_1:5 2Th_2:8.