Provérbios 1
John Piper · Citado em PreceptAustin
Provérbios 1
Piper comments on the family terms in Proverbs (son occurs 56x, father occurs 27x, mother occurs 14x) - God ordained the family not just to be fruitful and fill the earth with people, but to fill the earth with instructed people and taught people. The family is the place where the next generation is born and where the next generation learns how to live. (Sermon) IVP Background Commentary - The call to listen to the instructions of one’s parents stands as a corollary to the law requiring children to honor their father and mother (Ex 20:12). Thus the wisdom of mothers, who generally served as a child’s first teacher, is equated with that of fathers. The saying also contrasts with similar statements in the Teaching of Ptah-Hotep and the Words of Ahiqar that only mention a son attending to the words of his “father.” William Arnot - Filial love an ornament of beauty - It seems an instinct of humanity to put ornaments upon the person. It does not rank high among the exercises of the human faculties, yet it is quite above the reach of all inferior creatures. Ornaments on the fallen, like many other innocent things, become the occasions of sin, but they are not in their own nature evil. To deck with external beauty that which is morally corrupt within is a cheat which men practice on themselves and others, but adornment of the person, modest in measure and adopted instinctively by an innate sense of propriety, is conducive to virtue and consistent with Scripture. Moral qualities are the true adornments of a human being. All the graces of the Spirit are lovely: but here the foremost of relative duties, a child’s reverential regard for a parent, is recommended as an ornament of surpassing beauty. Love, obey, cherish, reverence your parents. This is in God’s sight of great price. These ornaments will not be out of date when time has run its course. The moral laws of God have avenging sanctions even in the powers of nature. Godliness is profitable unto all things. The first commandment is fruitful even in this life, and the second is like it--like it in its holy character, like it in its glad results. “Honour thy father and thy mother,” this is an ornament of solid gold. Unlike the watering of superficial accomplishments, the more rudely it is rubbed the more brightly it glows. Thomas
Provérbios 1:7
Piper - If we ask, what's the basis and beginning and integrating theme of the father's instruction and the mother's teaching—what is it that runs through all their daily modeling and counseling and explaining and correcting and disciplining that give unity and meaning to it all—the answer is the fear of the Lord.....The fear of God—the reverencing of God, the standing in awe of God, the trusting of God—is what family's are for.....It (fear of the LORD) means keeping before our eyes what a fearful prospect it is to stop trusting and depending on God to meet our needs. The fear of the Lord is, therefore, the beginning of wisdom not only in the sense that it is the first step in a wise way to live, but also in the sense that all the later characteristics of wisdom flow from the fear of the Lord like a river flows from a spring...So the fear of the Lord is a very peaceful and secure feeling. In fact, fearing the Lord means counting on our fellowship with God to make us happier in the future than anything else could....The fear of the Lord is the root of "wisdom" which grows up like a trunk and then sprouts branches of "righteousness" where people can pick the fruit of life (cf. Pr 11:30). So life seems to flow through the root of the fear of God into the trunk of wisdom out through the branches of righteousness into the fruit of the lips which people eat and live.....The fear of the Lord is fear of fleeing out of his fellowship into the way of sin. Therefore the fear of the Lord is full of peace and security and hope. It keeps us near to the merciful heart of God, our fortress, our refuge, our sanctuary, our shield, our sun. Isaiah 8:13 says, "The Lord of Hosts, . . . let him be your fear, and let him be your dread, and he will become a sanctuary." A proper fear of the Lord keeps us under the shadow of his wings where we need not be afraid. Therefore the fear of the Lord is accompanied by tremendous blessing. Listen to the psalms. Psalm 25:14-note, "The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him; he makes known to them his covenant." Psalm 31:19-note, "How abundant is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for those who fear thee, and wrought for those who take refuge in thee." (Notice that fearing God and taking refuge in him are parallel. Those who keep the fear of God before their eyes will not run from him but take refuge in him. (cp Ps 34:7-note, Ps 103:11-note, Ps 145:19-note)....The fear of the Lord is that sense of awe that the Lord God is infinitely holy and infinitely powerful and may not be trifled with. He is free to break in with indescribable, heart-stopping suddenness and power whenever and wherever He pleases. The fear of the Lord is what the disciples felt when Jesus had stilled the storm and when Ananias and Sapphira had dropped dead....Most of the world does not fear the Lord (Ro 3:18) and therefore lacks saving wisdom. As an aside, many Christians think that fear of the LORD is an OT term and is not relevant to the church age. To the contrary healthy fear leads to a healthy, holy church!. If you feel holy fear is passé in the NT, read Acts 9:31, 2Cor 5:11-note, 2Cor 7:1-note, Eph 5:21-note, and notice what we encounter even in heaven! - Rev 19:5-note. Spurgeon said "It is a blessed fear which drives us to trust. Unregenerate fear drives from God, gracious fear drives to Him." Puritan Thomas Watson said it this way "As the embankment keeps out the water, so the fear of the Lord keeps out unclean-ness." I would add that practice of unclean-ness demonstrates one has no fear of God! Ray Pritchard asks "What should we fear? We should fear living as though we don’t believe in God at all. When we give in to anger, rage, malice, greed or lust, we are living as if we don’t believe in God. When we turn to pornography to satisfy our lust, when we let hurtful words fly out of our mouth, when we defraud each other, when we seek revenge, when we lie about one another, when we forget the hurting people around us while hoarding up treasure for ourselves, when we have to be Number One and win every argument, every game, every competition, when we cannot lose gracefully and with dignity, we are living as if we don’t believe in God. When we complain about how persecuted we are, when we moan about how hard we have it, when we gossip about how easy someone else has it, we are living as if we don’t believe in God. At that moment, we are practical atheists even though we may go to church every Sunday. (Read his entire sermon Living in the Fear of God) Albert