Pro Verbs, 1:7-9

On to the next chunk of Proverbs:

Fearing the Lord is the beginning of moral knowledge,
but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Listen, my child, to the instruction from your father,
and do not forsake the teaching from your mother.
For they will be like an elegant garland on your head,
and like pendants around your neck.

So we’ve got to answer 3 questions. Do we feel lucky, punks?

1. What happened in the text?
2. What do I learn about God?
3. What should I do about it?

Well, do we?

Ahem. My responses:

1. What happened in the text?
   The writer advocates wisdom and instruction, from parents particularly.
2. What do I learn about God?
   Fearing Him is the basis for moral understanding.
   He wants people to value and accept instruction.
   He wants us decorated with what we get from being taught.
3. What should I do about it?
   This paragraph overtly demands that children learn from parents, but it also requires fathers and mothers to be giving right and useful instruction. I think I often send mixed messages to my kids because I’m not purposeful enough about what I’m trying to teach them. To be perfectly frank, sometimes I just want them to shut up. But even when it’s not quite as bad as that, what am I overemphasizing to them, and what’s being left under emphasized because of it?
   Fine questions. But what will I do about this? God, grant me the awareness required to know what I’m trying to get my kids to do. Grant me the self-control needed to train them the right way, emphasizing the things that matter, and letting go of the things that do not. Please decorate my kids with good instruction, and help me to be part of that.

Other thoughts:

• One reason I like the NET Bible is the translation notes. These aren’t infallible, of course (you should never take your Bible’s notes as being so!), but they can be helpful because English isn’t the same as Hebrew or Greek. The translators use these notes to indicate areas where English isn’t necessarily giving a clear reading of the source text. For example, here’s the note for the phrase “Fearing the Lord” at the beginning of this paragraph:
  

  Heb “fear of the Lord.” The expression יְהוָה יִרְאַת (yir’at yÿhvah, “fear of Yahweh”) is a genitive-construct in which יְהוָה (“the Lord”) functions as an objective genitive: He is the object of fear. The term יָרַא (yara’) is the common word for fear in the OT and has a basic three-fold range of meanings: (1) “dread; terror” (Deut 1:29; Jonah 1:10), (2) “to stand in awe” (1 Kgs 3:28), (3) “to revere; to respect” (Lev 19:3). With the Lord as the object, it captures the polar opposites of shrinking back in fear and drawing close in awe and adoration. Both categories of meaning appear in Exod 20:20 (where the Lord descended upon Sinai amidst geophysical convulsions); Moses encouraged the Israelites to not be afraid of God arbitrarily striking them dead for no reason (“Do not fear!”) but informed the people that the Lord revealed himself in such a terrifying manner to scare them from sinning (“God has come only to test you and to put the fear of him in you so that you do not sin”). The fear of the Lord is expressed in reverential submission to his will – the characteristic of true worship. The fear of the Lord is the foundation for wisdom (9:10) and the discipline leading to wisdom (15:33). It is expressed in hatred of evil (8:13) and avoidance of sin (16:6), and so results in prolonged life (10:27; 19:23).

• If you look at that note and your eyes glaze over, don’t worry about it! But if you’re really struggling with a phrase or a concept (for example, the idea of fearing God somehow being good), there is good information here, and good references to explore. In a case like that, try to understand what the translators are saying about the text. And ask questions here, as a comment, so we can figure it out together.