A wise son makes a glad father,
but a foolish son is a sorrow to his mother.
2 Treasures gained by wickedness do not profit,
but righteousness delivers from death.
3 The Lord does not let the righteous go hungry,
but he thwarts the craving of the wicked.
4 A slack hand causes poverty,
but the hand of the diligent makes rich.
5 He who gathers in summer is a prudent son,
but he who sleeps in harvest is a son who brings shame.
I would like to explore a little bit of this vast depository of wisdom found in Proverbs 10 in our subsequent few gatherings for Vespers. The book of Proverbs is a book of wisdom divided between covenant blessings and curses. Wisdom teaches how God wants you to live in this world and how to establish the good life in the way God intends it to be. It is a pity that the idea that the Bible applies to all areas of life is so neglected today. In fact, it is neglected even by Christians. The fundamental reason for claiming the Bible does not speak to all areas of life is that, for some, life is ghostly. The center of the Christian life is the spiritual center. The physical stuff is irrelevant compared to the glories of spirituality. They only exist to distract us from the life to come. After all, if the ship is sinking, why polish the brass?[1] “This world is not my home; I am just passing through.”
The book of Proverbs corrects this mindset. In fact, the Hebrew Scriptures challenge the distinction between the spiritual and physical. The soul is not a ghost-like figure wandering around divorced from your body. When the Bible addresses the soul/spirit, it also addresses your body. When the Bible addresses the body, it is also addressing your Spirit.[2] The implications of this thinking are revolutionary for how we think about the Scriptures. God is concerned about the spiritual. He cherishes your inner holiness, but he also teaches about wealth, poverty, food, wine, water, trees, and everything else under the sun. When God said that creation was very good, He meant it. Our goal as image-bearers is to mimic the life of God the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, who live in eternal happiness and communion
The book of Proverbs is made up of five or seven collections. The longest of these collections begins in chapters 10-22. These are labeled the Proverbs of Solomon. As we read these proverbs, the first thing we realize is that it does not seem to be very organized. Still, the organization is present when you read through it carefully. For example, you will find the themes of creation and, in the end, the theme of weddings and marriage. In other words, Proverbs begins with child-like faith and ends with a mature servant.
Another point to observe is that Jesus says in Luke 24 that all of the Old Covenant Scriptures speak of Him. Of course, Proverbs will teach us how to mature in wisdom, but Proverbs also points us to Jesus Christ. For instance, Proverbs 10:1 says, “a wise Son makes a glad father.” The One and only Son who never failed his Father and who pleased him from his first breath to his last was Jesus. The ultimate and truly wise Son was not Solomon but our Lord. Jesus is the greater Solomon; in fact, Jesus is the wisdom of God incarnate and made flesh. This teaches us that doing and possessing wisdom is following the One who is true wisdom. You cannot be truly wise while denouncing or rejecting Jesus. Today, the wisdom of the world is displayed for everyone to see its foolishness. As the academicians/experts of this world put on their masks of wisdom, God unmasks them and shows their utter incompetency and folly.
The wisdom of Proverbs is not merely intellect but also practical. The wise man knows God’s truth, but He does those things. He lives in light of it. He may never have graduated from college, but He is wise. Wisdom is always manifested by righteousness.[3]
With that in mind, Proverbs 10:1 sets the stage for the rest. It reads: “A wise son makes a glad father, but a foolish son is a sorrow to his mother.” These are what we call antithetic lines. The second line will offer the opposite picture of the first line. The text says that a wise son, and by implication, a wise daughter, makes a father glad. The word “glad” signifies an intense and heightened joy. What is it that brings this intense joy to fathers? Athletic children, academic children, artistic children? No, wise children. If children are everything but not wise, it brings grief and despair to the mother. Notice how the book of Proverbs is not merely a father/son dialogue, but a mother/son dialogue, and by implication, a mother/daughter and father/daughter conversation. Children, this is your fifth commandment duty: to honor Father and mother. Your goal is to make your mom and dad so proud that every time they think of you, they want to throw a party in your honor and say that there is wisdom and discernment within you. If the greatest joy of parents is wise children, then the most significant duty of parents is to train them up to be wise.
This is how we are called to live. As one early Church Father said:
“…the complete Word of God is not a multitude of words but a single word of truth.”[4]
God is building his sons and daughters in the way to wisdom through Jesus Christ. All of the Scriptures speak to this one fact. The wisdom that Jesus offers is a wisdom that is carried out into life. It is a wisdom that leads to service and causes our Father to look upon us with favor and delight. In The Name of the Father, the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[1] This quote is perhaps first attributed to J. Vernon McGee.
[2] An interesting text used to argue for this distinction is in Matthew’s Gospel: “The Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” But this is clarified by Paul in Romans 7. The spirit is simply a reference to the disposition.
[3] Steve Wilkins.
[4] Origen. Ancient Christian Commentary on the Scriptures.
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