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1–3. The wise one will teach his listeners like children, or rather, he will teach his own children and all others with the instructions that he once heard from his parents, especially from his father. 4–9. The essence of the instructions of the Wise Father is an exhortation to wisdom, indicating its benefits. 10–19. A warning against deviating towards the path of wickedness. 20–27. A persistent admonition not to forget the fatherly commandments. Proverbs 4:1. Listen, children, to the instruction of your father, and pay attention so that you may learn reason, Proverbs 4:2. because I taught you good teaching. Do not forsake my commandments. Proverbs 4:3. For I too was my father’s son, dearly beloved and the only one of my mother, The teaching of wisdom and piety taught by the Wise One has all the greater power of truth and bindingness because it is not only the property and product of an individual teacher, but was received by him as an inheritance from his ancestors, closest to his parents, of whom he was a dearly beloved son (v. 3). Tradition (παράδοσις τῶν πατέρων) elevated the authority of any teaching of wisdom (cf. Job 8.8 ff.; Job 15 ff.; Sir 8.9, 16.5, 31.12). Moreover, Solomon could resort to such a method of exhortation that already at the beginning of his speech (Proverbs 1.8) he mentioned the duty of obedience to the covenants of his father and mother. Here (v. 1) and below (Proverbs 5.7 and Proverbs 7.24) the appeal is not to the “son”, but to the “children”, since in his educational nature of speech the Wise One refers to his own example and “Solomon himself is the son” 2. What his father taught the Wise One is discussed below from Art. 4. Proverbs 4:4. and he taught me and said to me: Let your heart hold my words; keep my commandments and live. Proverbs 4:5. Acquire wisdom, acquire understanding: do not forget this and do not turn away from the words of my mouth. Proverbs 4:6. Do not leave her, and she will protect you; love her and she will protect you. Proverbs 4:7. The main thing is wisdom: acquire wisdom, and with all your possessions acquire understanding. Proverbs 4:8. Treasure her highly, and she will exalt you; she will glorify you if you cleave to her; Proverbs 4:9. He will place a beautiful wreath on your head, he will give you a magnificent crown. The admonitions of the father (David, according to LXX, glor. - and mother: οί ἕλεγον καί ἐδίδασκον με, “who spoke and taught me”) to Solomon, both in content and in character, are similar to the admonitions of Solomon himself to his youth, scattered throughout the book of Proverbs. The main subject of David's speeches and instructions to Solomon (v. 4 ff.; cf. 1 Chronicles 28.9), as well as Solomon himself to his listeners, was the law of God, contained in the Pentateuch of Moses; but then, perceived by the mind of a person, the law must be applied to his life and activity, and this requires special “wisdom” (chokmah), special “reason” (binah) and the paternal instruction to Solomon repeatedly bequeaths “like the calls of a merchant offering his goods,” according to Umbreit’s expression (v. 6; cf. v. 8b), the desire for wisdom and unswerving fidelity to it (v. 5, 7; cf. Proverbs 3.14). Wisdom here is compared to a beloved wife (cf. Sir 15.2), who protects her beloved husband from all troubles; seems to be the highest good, for the sake of which all other goods must be sacrificed: “the main thing is wisdom; acquire wisdom, and with all your possessions gain understanding” (v. 7). Art. 8–9 speak of the beneficial and attractive fruits of acquiring wisdom (cf. Proverbs 1.9). Proverbs 4:10. Listen, my son, and accept my words, and the years of your life will be multiplied. Proverbs 4:11. I show you the path of wisdom, I lead you along straight paths. Proverbs 4:12. When you walk, your progress will not be hindered, and when you run, you will not stumble. Proverbs 4:13. Hold fast to the instruction, do not abandon it, keep it, because it is your life. Proverbs 4:14. Do not enter into the path of the wicked and do not walk in the way of the wicked; Proverbs 4:15. leave it, do not walk on it, avoid it and pass by; Proverbs 4:16. because they will not sleep unless they do evil; They lose sleep if they do not cause someone to fall; Proverbs 4:17. for they eat the bread of iniquity and drink the wine of robbery. Proverbs 4:18. The path of the righteous is like a radiant light that brightens more and more until the full day. Proverbs 4:19. But the way of the wicked is like darkness; they don't know what they'll trip over. Continuing to depict the benefits of following the paths of wisdom, David now at the same time warns Solomon against straying into the path of wickedness (vv. 14-19). The instructions on the paths of wisdom become more specialized - they indicate the very nature of life’s following the paths of wisdom; wisdom reveals to the zealot her long life (v. 10) and the correct course of life - favorable living conditions (v. 11) and the absence of insurmountable obstacles on the path of life (v. 12). Turning then to a new group of instructions - warnings, David once again strongly calls (v. 13) his son to unflaggingly keep his instructions of wisdom, since they contain true life for those who follow them - he calls in view of the dangerous temptations for the young man. The further depiction (vv. 14–17) of the path of the wicked has many similarities with their characterization in 1–19. If the paths of the wicked, contributing to the immeasurable expansion and strengthening of the base passions of human nature, forever deprive a person of peace of mind and tranquility and prepare him with all sorts of dangers at every step (vv. 16-17, 19), then, on the contrary, the path of the righteous or their moral behavior is compared (v. 18) with the light of the rising sun and gradually approaching noon (cf. Isa 60.3, 62.1, 2.5; Proverbs 6.23, 28.5), just as the light of the sun begins with the dawn, gradually intensifies and reaches its highest intensity by noon, so, similarly, the life of the righteous represents a series of gradual successes in the matter of moral success: as they move along the path of life, their life activity becomes purer and brighter (cf. Mt 5.16), from the lowest level of moral perfection they ascend to higher, until they finally reach the state that the Savior predicted: then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father, Matthew 13.43 (see Bishop Vissarion, pp. 56–57). Proverbs 4:20. My son! listen to my words, and incline your ear to my words; Proverbs 4:21. let them not depart from your eyes; keep them inside your heart: Proverbs 4:22. for they are life to the one who finds them, and health to his whole body. Proverbs 4:23. Guard your heart above all else, for from it are the sources of life. Proverbs 4:24. Put away from you the deceitfulness of your lips, and remove the deceit of your tongue from you. Proverbs 4:25. Let your eyes look straight, and let your eyelashes be directed straight in front of you. Proverbs 4:26. Consider the path for your feet, and let all your ways be sure. Proverbs 4:27. Do not turn aside to the right or to the left; remove your foot from evil, Proverbs 4:28. [because the right ways are watched by the Lord, but the left ones are corrupt. Proverbs 4:29. He will make your paths straight, and arrange your marches in peace.] Again (v. 20) the listeners are encouraged (cf. Proverbs 3.21, 2.2, etc.) to especially attentively perceive the instructions of wisdom, which for those who follow them are not only nourishing and supporting the true life of the spirit, but also beneficial for the body itself (v. 22: a thought similar to that expressed in the words of the Apostle, “godliness is profitable for everything, having the promise of the present and future life”, 1Tim 4.8). But in order for a person to receive proper stability in goodness and invincibility from the attacks of evil, every zealot of wisdom - piety needs to guard his heart with all care, more than any other treasures (Hebrew leo): “because from it are the sources of life” (Hebrew totseo chaim, LXX: ἕξοδοι ζωῆς). The heart, according to the biblical view, serves as the center, the focus of both the physically organic nature of man (Ps 21.27, 101.5; Isa 1.5; Jer 4.18), and his mental and spiritual life (Ps 83.3; Jer 11.20, 17.10), more specifically, not only various kinds of sensations, feelings and emotions (Proverbs 31.11, 5.12, 13.12; Judges 16:15), but also the highest manifestations of the spirit, such as: decisions of the will (1 Kings 14.7; 1 Kings 8.17, etc.), knowledge and power of understanding (1 Kings 10.2 Judges 16:17; Proverbs 17.16, 15.14, 7.7, 9.4), finally, as the center and bearer of moral life (Ps 50.12; 1 Kings 3.6, 9.4; Proverbs 7.10 and many others). In this latter meaning, the Old Testament biblical “heart” comes closest to the Christian concept of “conscience”; in this sense, in the sense of pure moral consciousness (cf. New Testament ἀγαθὴ συνείδησις 1 Tim 1.5, 19; 1 Pet 3.16), the heart is also used here Proverbs 4.23 (cf. Ps 50.12; Job 27.6; 1 Samuel 25.31), as further verses 24–25 show, warning against all wickedness, all hypocrisy, etc. (cf. Proverbs 6.13, 10.10, 16.30; Sir 27.25, fn. Matt. 6.22–23), which distorts the normal course of moral life, regulated by a good conscience. Only if the latter is intact can the paths of a person’s moral life be firm (Article 26. Sn. Ps 108.133; Heb. 12.13). Art. 27 represents a condensed summary of all the fatherly exhortations to the path of wisdom and virtue and in the form of expression resembles a similar exhortation of the lawgiver Moses, Deut. 5.32. LXX lengthen this verse in comparison with the Hebrew text with the words: ὁδούς γὰρ τὰς ἐκ δεξιῶν οῖδεν ὁ θεός, διεστραμμένοι δέ εῖσιν αἱ ἐξ ἀριστερῶν αύτὸς δέ ὀρθὰς ποιὴσει τὰς τροχίάς σου, τάς δε πορείας σου ἐν εῖρήνη προάχει. This addition is also present in the Vulgate, as well as in the Slavic and Russian - Synodal translation. book Proverbs (these words are missing in Archimandrite Macarius’s translation). In thought, these words represent the repetition and development of the thought of Art. 26–27. Due to the stability of different codes. Greek text in the transmission of this addition, and also in view of the authority of the Vulgate, one might think that these words could have been in the Hebrew original from which the LXX translation was made (cf. Franz Delitzsch. Das Salomonische Spruchbuch. Leipzig. 1873, p. 39). Solomon was not the “only” son of his mother, that is, Bathsheba: according to 1 Chronicles 3.5, David had four sons from Bathsheba (including Solomon). Hence, in many ancient Jewish codes (in Kennick and Rossi) the expression Art. 3: lifne-immi, in the face of my mother and mine, is replaced by another expression: livne-immi, to the sons of my mother, i.e. brothers or among brothers, and so on. yachid will not mean the only one (as in Vulg. and Russian). and “beloved”, LXX: ῾αγαπώμενος You might be interested in: