Proverbs 17:6

Children's children are the crown of old men; and the glory of children are their fathers.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(6) Children’s children are the crown of old men.—Comp. Psalms 127, 128.

The glory of children are their fathers.—And, as such, to be honoured by them. For the blessing which parents bring to children, comp. 1Kings 11:13; 1Kings 15:4; Jeremiah 33:21.

Benson Commentary

Proverbs 17:6. Children’s children are the crown of old men — It is an honour to parents, when they are old, to leave children, and children’s children growing up, that tread in the steps of their virtues, and are likely to maintain and advance the reputation of their families, and to serve their generation according to the will of God; and the glory of children are their fathers — Namely, fathers that are wise and godly. To have such parents is an honour to children, and to have them continued to them even after they are themselves grown up, and settled in the world. Those are unnatural children indeed who reckon their aged parents a burden to them, and think they live too long; whereas, if children be wise and good, it is their greatest honour, that thereby they are comforts to their parents in the unpleasant days of their old age.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

17:4. Flatterers, especially false teachers, are welcome to those that live in sin. 5. Those that laugh at poverty, treat God's providence and precepts with contempt. 6. It is an honour to children to have wise and godly parents continued to them, even after they are grown up and settled in the world. 7. A fool, in Solomon's Proverbs, signifies a wicked man, whom excellent speech does not become, because his conversation contradicts it.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The reciprocity of good in sustained family relationships. A long line of children's children is the glory of old age, a long line of ancestors the glory of their descendants.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

6. Prolonged posterity is a blessing, its cutting off a curse (Pr 13:22; Ps 109:13-15), hence children may glory in virtuous ancestry.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The crown of old men; their honour and happiness, because they are in themselves blessings of God, and testimonies of God’s favour, although sometimes they may become the shame of their father’s house.

Their fathers; namely, such fathers as are wise and godly, as is evident from the nature of the thing, for wicked parents bring infamy upon their children.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Children's children are the crown of old men,.... Ancient parents. Grandfathers with the Jews are called old men, as Buxtorf (d) observes. A numerous progeny was reckoned a great blessing to a man; to have his table surrounded with children, as olive plants; to be encircled with a large family was a crown of glory (e); and to live to see children's children, a large number of grandchildren, was still a greater glory; and especially, as Jarchi observes, when these children, or children's children, were walking in a good way, in the good ways of religion and godliness, they trained them up in. Christ is the Ancient of days, the everlasting Father; and it is his glory, as Mediator, to see his seed, to have a numerous off spring; and which will endure for ever, as the days of heaven: ministers of the Gospel are spiritual fathers; and those who have been converted under their ministry wilt be their joy and "crown of rejoicing" at the last day, 1 Thessalonians 2:19;

and the glory of children are their fathers; who are wise, as Aben Ezra observes; and righteous, as Jarchi: if they are wise and good men, it is an honour to their children that they descend from them; nor are they ashamed to own their relation to them, but glory in it, as the Jews did in Abraham, saying, "We have Abraham for our father", Matthew 3:9, Luke 3:8, but, on the contrary, if their fathers are foolish or wicked, their children are ashamed of them, and do not care to acknowledge their descent from them; and such parents, who are an honour to their children, their children should be careful to tread in their steps, that they reflect no dishonour on them; particularly as it is our great honour and glory to have God for our father, to be his adopted sons and daughters, we should be followers of him as dear children, and be obedient ones.

(d) In Lex. Talmud. col. 684. (e) "Te felix natorum turba coronat", Claudian. de Raptu Prosperp. l. 1. v. 109.

Geneva Study Bible

Children's children are the crown of old men; and the glory of children are their fathers.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

6. “A beautiful family picture of linked and mutually blessed “generations.” Horton.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 6. - Children's children are the crown of old men (comp. Psalm 127; Psalm 128). (For the term "crown," comp. Proverbs 16:18.) Thus St. Paul calls his converts his "joy and crown" (Philippians 4:1; 1 Thessalonians 2:19) In the East a large number of children is considered a great blessing, being a guarantee of the stability of the family. Thus writes Euripides ('Iph. Taur.,' 57) -

Στύλοι γὰρ οἴκων παῖδες εἰσιν ἄρσενες

"Male children are the pillars of the house." The glory of children are their fathers. A long line of good or celebrated ancestors is the glory of their descendants, and brings a blessing on them (see 1 Kings 11:13; 1 Kings 15:4). Hereditary nobility, based on descent from some eminent progenitor, may be a source of not unseemly pride, and a spur to a life worthy of such excellent ancestry. Proverbs 17:6

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

With this verse this series of proverbs closes as it began:

A diadem of the old are children's children,

And the glory of children are their parents.

Children are a blessing from God (Psalm 127-128); thus, a family circle consisting of children and grandchildren (including great-grandchildren) is as a crown of glory surrounding the grey-haired patriarch; and again, children have glory and honour in their parents, for to have a man of an honoured name, or of a blessed memory, as a father, is the most effective commendation, and has for the son, even though he is unlike his father, always important and beneficial consequences. In 6b a fact of experience is expressed, from which has proceeded the rank of inherited nobility recognised among men - one may abnegate his social rights, but yet he himself is and remains a part of the moral order of the world. The lxx has a distich after Proverbs 17:4 the Vatican text places it after Proverbs 17:6 : "The whole world of wealth belongs to the faithful, but to the unfaithful not even an obolus." Lagarde supposes that ὄλος ὁ κόσμος τῶν χρημάτων is a translation of שׁפעת יתר, instead of שׂפת יתר, 7a. But this ingenious conjecture does not amount to the regarding of this distich as a variation of Proverbs 17:7.