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I. DOCILITY AS CONTRASTED WITH STUBBORNNESS. (Ver. 1.) Let us carry this into the distinctly religious sphere. To he wise is to be a good listener. In the expressive phrase of the Bible, to "hearken to the voice of Jehovah," to listen to the suggestions of the inward monitor, is the secret of a sober, well balanced habit of mind, and of every safe line of conduct. All that God teaches, by the voice of inspired teachers, by our own experience, by the inner revelations of the heart, is "a father's instruction." Above all, instruction by means of suffering is God's fatherly way with souls. And we have the great example of Christ to guide us and to sweeten obedience, for he "learned" it by the things which he suffered. On the other hand, the scorner has cast aside all reverential awe in the presence of the Holy One. To refuse the faithful warnings of friends, to be no better for those lessons of experience which are written in personal suffering, is to disown one's filial relation, and to estrange one's self from God.

II. TRUE LIFE ENJOYMENT AND ITS CONTROL. (Ver. 2.)

1. Enjoyment represented under the figure of eating. As indeed eating is a most significant act, the foundation of life. the pledge of social communism.

2. The foundation of enjoyment is in one's inward state and ones social relations. The more widely we can enter into the life of others, the richer our life joy. The unsocial life not only dries up the springs of joy, but is positively punished - in extreme cases by law, as in crimes of violence alluded to in the text, always by the alienation of sympathy.

III. THE USE AND ABUSE OF SPEECH. (Ver. 3; see on Proverbs 10:19, 31; Proverbs 21:23.) How often this lesson recurs!

1. In the lower aspect it is a lesson of prudence. Reserve and caution make the safe man; loquacity and impulsiveness of speech the unsafe man.

2. In a higher point of view, the habit of silence, implying much meditation and self-communion, is good for the soul.

"Sacred silence! thou that art offspring of the deeper heart, Frost of the mouth and thaw of the mind." How easy, on the other hand, to injure our souls by talking much about religion or subjects that lie on the circumference of religion, and falling into the delusion that talk may be substituted for life! - J.

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Parallel Verses

KJV: A wise son heareth his father's instruction: but a scorner heareth not rebuke.

WEB: A wise son listens to his father's instruction, but a scoffer doesn't listen to rebuke.