Proverbs 1:8

My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(8) My son.—The address as of a master to his pupil. This phrase only occurs twice again in Proverbs, excepting in sections (2) and (4).

Law.—Rather, teaching. (Comp. Proverbs 3:1.)

Benson Commentary

Proverbs 1:8-9. My son, &c. — He speaks to his scholars with paternal authority and affection, to render them more attentive and obedient. Teachers among the Hebrews were commonly called fathers, and their scholars their sons. Hear the instruction of thy father — His good and wholesome counsels; and forsake not the law of thy mother — Those pious instructions which thy mother instilled into thee in thy tender years. This he adds, because children, when grown up, are very prone to slight their mothers’ advice, because of the infirmity of their sex, and because they have not that dependance upon, and expectation from their mothers, which they have from their fathers. They shall be an ornament, &c. — This will make thee amiable and honourable in the sight of God and of men, whereas the forsaking of those good counsels will make thee contemptible.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

1:7-9 Fools are persons who have no true wisdom, who follow their own devices, without regard to reason, or reverence for God. Children are reasonable creatures, and when we tell them what they must do, we must tell them why. But they are corrupt and wilful, therefore with the instruction there is need of a law. Let Divine truths and commands be to us most honourable; let us value them, and then they shall be so to us.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The beginning of wisdom is found in the temper of reverence and awe. The fear of the finite in the presence of the Infinite, of the sinful in the presence of the Holy (compare Job 42:5-6), this for the Israelite was the starting-point of all true wisdom. In the Book of Job 28:28 it appears as an oracle accompanied by the noblest poetry. In Psalm 111:10 it comes as the choral close of a temple hymn. Here it is the watchword of a true ethical education. This fear has no torment, and is compatible with child-like love. But this and not love is the "beginning of wisdom." Through successive stages and by the discipline of life, love blends with it and makes it perfect.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

8. My son—This paternal form denotes a tender regard for the reader. Filial sentiments rank next to piety towards God, and ensure most distinguished rewards (compare Pr 6:20; Eph 6:2, 3).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

My son; he speaks to his scholars with paternal authority and affection, to make them more attentive and obedient. Teachers among the Hebrews and others were commonly called

fathers, and their scholars their sons. The instruction of thy father; his good and wholesome counsels, but not such as are contrary to God’s law, Proverbs 19:27. The law of thy mother; those pious instructions which thy mother instilled into thee in thy tender years. See Proverbs 31:1 2 Timothy 1:5 3:14,15. This he adds, because children, when grown up, are very prone to slight their mother’s advice, because of the infirmity of their sex, and because they have not that dependence upon and expectation from their mothers which they have from their fathers.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

My son, hear the instruction of thy father,.... This is not to be understood of God the Father of mankind, and of that law which he has given them, as Jarchi and Gersom interpret it, but of Solomon and his son in a literal sense; and of anyone that came to him for instruction, any pupil, hearer, or reader of his; and it is a direction to all children to hearken to the instruction of their parents, and obey their commands; so, next to the fear and worship of God, he exhorts to obedience to parents, and proceeds just in the same order and method in which the decalogue or ten commands were written; the first table respects God and his worship, and the second follows, which begins with "honour thy father and thy mother", &c. Exodus 20:12, which, the apostle says, is "the first commandment with promise", Ephesians 6:1;

and forsake not the law of thy mother; meaning not the congregation of Israel, the old synagogue, or Jewish church, as Jarchi; and so in the Talmud (p) it is interpreted of the congregation of Israel, as is "thy father" in the former clause of the divine Being; nor the operative faculty of the human understanding, as Gersom; but the mother of Solomon's son; and any and every mother of a child, who having an equal or greater tenderness for her offspring, and a true and hearty regard for their welfare, will instruct them in the best manner she can, give the best rules, and prescribe the best laws she can for their good; and which ought to be as carefully attended to and obeyed as those of a father; and she is particularly mentioned, because the law of God equally enjoins reverence and obedience to both parents, which human laws among the Gentiles did not; and because children are too apt to slight the directions and instructions of a mother; whereas they carry equal authority, and have in them the nature of a law, as those of a father.

(p) T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 102. 1.

Geneva Study Bible

My son, hear the instruction of thy {g} father, and forsake not the law of thy {h} mother:

(g) He speaks this in the Name of God, who is the universal Father of all creatures, or in the name of the pastor of the Church, who is as a father.

(h) That is, of the Church, in which the faithful are begotten by the incorruptible seed of God's word.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

8. instruction] or discipline, as in Proverbs 1:2-3; Proverbs 1:7.

law] or teaching R.V. marg. θεσμοὺς, LXX.

First Address. Chap. Proverbs 1:8-19Proverbs 1:8-9. In these two verses the writer passes to direct appeal. The form of appeal, My son, which is continually repeated throughout these opening chapters, strikes the key-note of the strain in which all the succeeding exhortations and counsels are cast. It indicates not only the fatherly relation which the Teacher assumes towards the young and inexperienced whom he has undertaken to instruct, but also the true source and authority of the teaching he will give them. The Law, though not clothed, as we have seen (Introd. pp. 12, 13) in this Book in its Jewish garb, is recognised in its eternal principles. “The instruction of the father,” and “the law of the mother” are to be accepted with childlike submission and unquestioning obedience, and will lend grace and dignity to the life and character, because and in so far as they are the instruction and the law of God Himself, the Universal Father, and because parents are His vicegerents in the education of their children (comp. Proverbs 6:20-21). And every true teacher is, in measure and degree, His and their deputy and representative. (See Deuteronomy 4:9; Deuteronomy 6:7; Deuteronomy 11:19; and compare the place of the 5th commandment in the Decalogue, as the link or hinge between the 1st and 2nd tables of the Law, and the extended obligation of that commandment to “governors, teachers, spiritual pastors and masters.”)

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 8-19. - 1. First admonitory discourse. Warning against enticements to robbery and bloodshed. Verse 8. - My son, hear the instruction of thy father. The transition in this verse from what may be regarded as filial obedience towards God to filial obedience towards parents is suggestive of the moral Law. The same admonition, in a slightly altered form, occurs again in ch. 6, "My son, keep thy father's commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother" (cf. also Proverbs 4:1). My son; בְּנִבי (b'ni) from בֵּן (ben), "a son." The form of address here adopted was that in common use by teachers towards their pupils, and marks that superintending, loving, and fatherly care and interest which the former felt in and towards the latter. It occurs frequently in the introductory section (Proverbs 2:1; Proverbs 3:1, 21; Proverbs 4:10, 20; Proverbs 5:1; Proverbs 6:1; Proverbs 7:1), and reappears again towards the close (Proverbs 23:15, 19, 26; Proverbs 24:13, 21; Proverbs 27:11) in the teacher's address. The mother of Lemuel uses it (Proverbs 31:2) in the strictly parental sense. In other passages of the Old Testament the teacher, on the other hand, is represented as a "father" (Judges 17:10 Isaiah 10:12; 2 Kings 2:21). We find the same relation assumed in the New Testament, both by St. Paul (1 Corinthians 4:15; Philemon 1:10; Galatians 4:19) and by St. John (1 John 2:1; 1 John 5:2); but under the economy of the gospel it has a deeper significance than here, as pointing to the "new birth," which, being a later revelation, lies outside the scope of the moral teaching of the Old Testament dispensation. The instruction (מֶוּסַר musar); as carrying with it the sense of disciplinary education (cf. LXX., παιδεία; Vulgate, disciplina; see also ver. 2), and of the correction with which it may be enforced (cf. Proverbs 13:24; Proverbs 22:15; Proverbs 23:13, 14), the writer attributes appropriately to the father, while the milder torah, "law," he uses of the mother (Delitzsch). Father. The nature of the exhortation conveyed in this verse requires that we should understand the terms "father" and "mother" in their natural sense as designating the parents of the persons addressed, though a symbolical meaning has Been attached to them by the rabbis (see Rabbi Salomon, in loc.), "father" being understood as representing God, and "mother," the people. But the terms are more than merely figurative expressions (Stuart). Those who look upon the Proverbs as the address of Solomon to his son Rehoboam naturally take "father" as standing for the former. Naamah, in this case must be the mother (1 Kings 14:31). It is almost unnecessary to state that pious parents are presupposed, and that only that instruction and law can be meant which is not inconsistent with the higher and more perfect Law of God (Gejerus, Wardlaw). And forsake not the law of thy mother. Forsake. The radical meaning of הִּטּשׁ (tittosh) is that of "spreading," then of "scattering" (Aiken), and so the word comes to mean "forsake, reject, or neglect." The LXX. reads ἀπώσῃ, from ἀποθέω, abjicere, "to push away, reject." Cf. abjicias (Arabic). The Vulgate has dimittas, i.e. "abandon," and the Syriac, obliviscaris, i.e. "forget." The law; תּורַת (torath), construct case of תּורַה (torah), from the root יָרָה (yarah), "to teach," hence here equivalent to "a law" in the sense of that which teaches - a precept (doctrina, Jun. et Tremell., Piscat., Castal., Versions). With one exception (Proverbs 8:10), it is the term which always expresses the instruction given by Wisdom (Delitzsch). The law (torah) of the mother is that preceptive teaching which she imparts orally to her son, but torah is also used in a technical sense as lex, νόμος δέσμος, that which is laid down and established, a decretum or institutum, and designates some distinct provision or ordinance, as the law of sacrifice (Leviticus 6:7). In Joshua 1:8 we find it employed to signify the whole body of the Mosaic Law (sepher hatorah). Mother. Not inserted here as a natural expansion of the idea of the figure required by the laws of poetic parallelism (as Zockler), since this weakens the force of the passage. Mothers are mentioned because of their sedulousness in imparting instruction (Bayne). Proverbs 1:8

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

After the author has indicated the object which his Book of Proverbs is designed to subserve, and the fundamental principle on which it is based, he shows for whom he has intended it; he has particularly the rising generation in his eye:

8 Hear, my son, thy father's instruction,

   And refuse not the teaching of thy mother;

9 For these are a fair crown to thy head,

   And Jewels to thy neck.

"My son," says the teacher of wisdom to the scholar whom he has, or imagines that he has, before him, addressing him as a fatherly friend. The N.T. representation of birth into a new spiritual life, 1 Corinthians 4:15; Plm 1:10; Galatians 4:19, lies outside the circle of the O.T. representation; the teacher feels himself as a father by virtue of his benevolent, guardian, tender love. Father and mother are the beloved parents of those who are addressed. When the Talmud understands אביך of God, אמּך of the people (אמּה), that is not the grammatico-historic meaning, but the practical interpretation and exposition, after the manner of the Midrash. The same admonition (with נצר, keep, instead of שׁמע, hear, and מצות, command, instead of מוּסר, instruction) is repeated in Proverbs 6:20, and what is said of the parents in one passage is in Proverbs 10:1 divided into two synonymous parallel passages. The stricter musar, which expresses the idea of sensible means of instruction (discipline), (Proverbs 13:24; Proverbs 22:15; Proverbs 23:13.), is suitably attributed to the father, and the torah to the mother, only administered by the word; Wisdom also always says תּורתי (my torah), and only once, Proverbs 8:10, מוּסרי (my musar).