Old Testament Commentary - Proverbs 4

by Don R. Hender

Scriptural Text [& Editorial]	Commentary & Explanation	Footnotes ~ References ~ JST
CHAPTER 4 Keep the Lord's commandments and live—With all thy getting get understanding—Go not in the way of evil men.
1 Hear, ye children, the ^ainstruction of a father, and attend to know understanding. 2 For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law. 3 For I was my father's son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother.		1^a Eph. 6:4 (1-4)
4 He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live. 5 Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth. 6 Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee.
7 ^aWisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get ^bunderstanding. 8 Exalt her, and she shall promote thee: she shall bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her. 9 She shall give to thine head an ^aornament of grace: a crown of ^bglory shall she deliver to thee.		7^a TG Wisdom ^b TG Learning; TG Problem-solving; TG Understanding 9^a TG Beauty ^b TG Glory
10 Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; and the ^ayears of thy life shall be many. 11 I have taught thee in the way of wisdom; I have ^aled thee in right paths. 12 When thou goest, thy steps shall not be ^astraitened; and when thou ^brunnest, thou shalt not stumble. 13 Take fast ^ahold of ^binstruction; let her not go: keep her; for she is thy life.		10^a Ex. 20:12 11^a TG Leadership 12^a OR distressed, hampered ^b D&C 89:20 (19-20) 13^a 1 Ne. 15:24 (23-24) ^b TG Education
14 ¶ Enter not into the ^apath of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. 15 Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away. 16 For they sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall.		14^a 1 Ne. 12:17 (16-18)
17 For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence. 18 But the ^apath of the ^bjust is as the shining ^clight, that ^dshineth more and more unto the perfect day. 19 The way of the wicked is as ^adarkness: they know not at what they stumble^a.	19^a they know not at what they stumble The darkness of Satan often blinds the mind in that no longer is one able to tell good from evil. As Isaiah warns, those caught up in Satan's trap begins to have a corruption of 'vision', what is evil is seen as good and what is good is seen as evil. This is the state of the wick and they are so deceived that even they themselves begin to shout their own sins from the housetops as it were. Consider they who stand for abortion, the murder of the inocent unborn, and those who shout their corrupted positions on immorality an sexual sin. And then there are they that come out openly and declare and vocally fight the causes of God and Christianity, they stand against the very Saviour and Redeemer of the world. You go down the list and you will find those, by the voice of their own mouth, who are as it were proclaiming their own sins of wickedness from the housetops. Consider they who post themselves upon the internet, that take public positions and broadcast their sins upon the news and in the various forms of media from entertainment, movies, music, TV etc. to being opening seen in protests and riots in the streets over positions of sin and are even in the very acts of committing sin. Will God need to bring forth his angels to proclaim the sins of the wicked from the housetops? Appearently not. They are doing it themselves. They are shouting their own sins from the housetops in plain and public manners themselves.	18^a 2 Ne. 31:18 (17-21) ^b TG Righteousness ^c TG Example; TG Light ^d TG Discernment, Spiritual 19^a TG Darkness, Spiritual
20 ¶ My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. 21 Let them not depart from thine ^aeyes; ^bkeep them in the midst of thine heart. 22 For they are ^alife unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.		21^a Prov. 4:25; Morm. 8:15; D&C 82:19 ^b Prov. 2:1 22^a Matt. 19:17
23 ¶ Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. 24 Put away from thee a ^afroward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee.		24^a OR perverse; D&C 50:33 (32-33); D&C 84:73; D&C 105:24
25 Let thine ^aeyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. 26 ^aPonder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. 27 Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.		25^a Prov. 4:21 25^a TG Meditation