'My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments.
2. For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to
thee. 3. Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy
neck; write them upon the table of thine heart: 4. So shalt thou find
favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man. 5. Trust in
the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own
understanding. 6. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct
thy paths. 7. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart
from evil. 8. It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy
bones. 9. Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the firstfruits
of all thine increase: 10. So shall thy barns be filled with plenty,
and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.'--PROVERBS iii. 1-10.
The first ten verses of this passage form a series of five couplets,
which enforce on the young various phases of goodness by their
tendency to secure happiness or blessedness of various sorts. The
underlying axiom is that, in a world ruled by a good Being, obedience
must lead to well-being; but while that is in the general true,
exceptions do occur, and good men do encounter evil times. Therefore
the glowing promises of these verses are followed by two verses which
deal with the explanation of good men's afflictions, as being results
and tokens of God's fatherly love.
The first couplet is general in character. It inculcates obedience to
the precepts of the teacher, and gives as reason the assurance that
thereby long life and peace will be secured. True to the Old Testament
conception of revelation as a law, the teacher sets obedience in the
forefront. He is sure that his teaching contains the sufficient guide
for conduct, and coincides with the divine will. He calls, in the
first instance, for inward willing acceptance of His commandments; for
it is the heart, not primarily the hands, which he desires should
'keep' them. The mother of all graces of conduct is the bowing of the
will to divine authority. The will is the man, and where it ceases to
lift itself up in self-sacrificing and self-determining rebellion, and
dissolves into running waters of submission, these will flow through
the life and make it pure. To obey self is sin, to obey God is
righteousness. The issues of such obedience are 'length of days ...
and peace.'
Even if we allow for the difference between the Old and the New
Testaments, it remains true that a life conformed to God's will tends
to longevity, and that many forms of sin do shorten men's days.
Passion and indulged appetites eat away the very flesh, and many a
man's 'bones are full of the sin of his youth.' The profligate has
usually 'a short life,' whether he succeeds in making it 'merry' or
not.
'Peace' is a wide word, including all well-being. Ease-loving
Orientals, especially when living in warlike times, naturally used the
phrase as a shorthand expression for all good. Busy Westerns, torn by
the distractions and rapid movement of modern life, echo the sigh for
repose which breathes in the word. 'There is no joy but calm,' and the
sure way to deepest peace is to give up self-will and live in
obedience.
The second couplet deals with our relations to one another, and puts
forward the two virtues of 'loving-kindness and truth'--that is truth,
or faithfulness--as all-inclusive. They are the two which are often
jointly ascribed to God, especially in the Psalms. Our attitude to one
another should be moulded in God's to us all. The tiniest crystal has
the same facets and angles as the largest. The giant hexagonal pillars
of basalt, like our Scottish Staffa, are identical in form with the
microscopic crystals of the same substance. God is our Pattern;
goodness is likeness to Him.
These graces are to be bound about the neck, perhaps as an ornament,
but more probably as a yoke by which the harnessed ox draws its
burden. If we have them, they will fit us to bear one another's
burdens, and will lead to all human duties to our fellows.
These graces are also to be written on the 'table of the heart'; that
is, are to be objects of habitual meditation with aspiration. If so,
they will come to sight in life. He who practises them will 'find
favour with God and man,' for God looks with complacency on those who
display the right attitude to men; and men for the most part treat us
as we treat them. There are surly natures which are not won by
kindness, like black tarns among the hills, that are gloomy even in
sunshine, and requite evil for good; but the most of men reflect our
feelings to them.
'Good understanding' is another result. It is 'found' when it is
attributed to us, so that the expression substantially means that the
possessors of these graces will win the reputation of being really
wise, not only in the fallible judgment of men, but before the pure
eyes of the all-seeing God. Really wise policy coincides with
loving-kindness and truth.
The remaining couplets refer to our relations to God. The New
Testament is significantly anticipated in the pre-eminence given to
trust; that is, faith. Nor less significant and profound is the
association of self-distrust with trust in the Lord. The two things
are inseparable. They are but the under and upper sides of one thing,
or like the two growths that come from a seed--one striking downwards
becomes the root; one piercing upwards becomes the stalk. The double
attitude of trust and distrust finds expression in acknowledging Him
in all our ways; that is, ordering our conduct under a constant
consciousness of His presence, in accordance with His will, and in
dependence on His help.
Such a relation to God will certainly, and with no exceptions, issue
in His 'directing our paths,' by which is meant that He will be not
only our Guide, but also our Roadmaker, showing us the way and
clearing obstacles from it. Calm certitude follows on willingness to
accept God's will, and whoever seeks only to go where God sends him
will neither be left doubtful whither he should go, nor find his road
blocked.
The fourth couplet is, in its first part, in inverted parallelism with
the third; for it begins with self-distrust, and proceeds thence to
'fear of the Lord,' which corresponds to, and is, in fact, but one
phase of, trust in Him. It is the reverent awe which has no torment,
and is then purest when faith is strongest. It necessarily leads to
departing from evil. Morality has its roots in religion. There is no
such magnet to draw men from sin as the happy fear of God, which is
likewise faith. Whoever separates devoutness from purity of life, this
teacher does not. He knows nothing of religion which permits
association with iniquity. Such conduct will tend to physical
well-being, and in a deeper sense will secure soundness of life.
Godlessness is the true sickness. He only is healthy who has a
healthy, because healed, soul.
The fifth couplet appears at first as being a drop to a lower region.
A regulation of the Mosaic law may strike some as out of place here.
But it is to be remembered that our modern distinction of ceremonial
and moral law was non-existent for Israel, and that the command has a
wider application than to Jewish tithes. To 'honour God with our
substance' is not necessarily to give it away for religious purposes,
but to use it devoutly and as He approves.
Christianity has more to say about the distribution, as well as the
acquisition, of wealth, than professing Christians, especially in
commercial communities, practically recognise. This precept grips us
tight, and is much more than a ceremonial regulation. Many causes
besides the devout use of property tend to wealth in our highly
artificial state of society. The world tries to get it by shrewdness,
unscrupulousness, and by many other vices which are elevated to the
rank of virtues; but he who honours the Lord in getting and spending
will generally have as much as his true needs and regulated desires
require.