Proverbs 4:3-4 For I was my father's son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother.… This chapter begins with a charming little piece of autobiography. The grateful memories of a father's teaching and of a mother's tenderness give point and force to the exhortations. I. THE IMPORTANCE OF EARLY IMPRESSIONS. It is almost impossible to exaggerate the permanent effects of those first tendencies impressed on the soul before the intellect is developed, and while the soft, plastic nature of the child is not yet determined in any particular direction. We learn to love, not because we are taught to love, but by some contagious influence of example, or by some indescribable attraction of beauty. Our first love to religion is won from us by living with those that love her. The affections are elicited, and often permanently fixed, before the understanding has come into play. The first thing is to give our children an atmosphere to grow up in; to cultivate their affections, and set their hearts on things eternal; to make them associate the ideas of wealth and honour, of beauty and glory, not with material possessions, but with the treasures and rewards of wisdom. II. WHAT IS TO BE THE DEFINITE TEACHING OF THE CHILD? The first object in the home life is to enable children to realise what salvation is, as an inward state, resulting from a spiritual change. We are tempted in dealing with children to train them only in outward habits, and to forget the inward sources which are always gathering and forming; hence we often teach them to avoid the lie on the tongue, and yet we leave them with the lies in the soul, the deep inward unveracities which are their ruin. We bring them up as respectable and decorous members of society, and yet leave them a prey to secret sins; they are tormented by covetousness, which is idolatry, by impurity, and by all kinds of envious and malignant passions. The second thing to be explained and enforced is singleness of heart, directness and consistency of aim, by which alone the inward life can be shaped to virtuous ends. The right life is a steady progress undiverted by the alluring sights and sounds which appeal to the senses. Here, in the passage, is a great contrast between those whose early training has been vicious or neglected, and those who have been "taught in the way of wisdom, led in paths of uprightness." It is a contrast which should constantly be present to the eyes of parents with a warning and an encouragement. (R. F. Horton, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: For I was my father's son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother.WEB: For I was a son to my father, tender and an only child in the sight of my mother. |
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