One of these was the way in which my father challenged me to read the Proverbs. Perhaps it continues to impact me in a significant way, in part, on account of the fact that there are ten father-to-son talks in the Proverbs (1:8; 2:1; 3:1; 4:10; 5:1; 6:1; 7:1; 23:19; 24:13; and 27:11). These talks reflect something of the concern that a godly father has for his son; but—foundational to that—they reflect what God the Father desired of His eternal Son as the Redeemer, then of His is adopted sons who are united to Him by faith. It is only as we read the Proverbs in light of the perfection of the Son of God that we will be able to put them into practice in our lives and see them practiced in the lives of our children.
Sinclair Ferguson has helpfully explained that, in one very real sense, “the Proverbs are a training manual” for fathers to train their sons in light of God’s Covenant promises in the Gospel.
He says:
“The Proverbs are a training manual for a father to use with his teenage boys….It was to help fathers plant into the minds of their sons the principles of godly instruction…What is the father seeking to do? Well, you remember how the opening verses of the Proverbs puts it in a wide variety of ways—the Father is seeking to teach his son what it means to be wise, and he’s teaching him wise sayings…and we understand that the context for these Proverbs is God’s covenant…that is to say that these Proverbs are not blank checks, they’re not a slot machine…[as if to say], “Let me just slide in Proverbs 16:7…and it works”—No! They are ways of describing what happens when people are faithful or unfaithful to God’s Covenant. These Proverbs are describing how God’s Covenant promises work out in a profoundly fallen world, in which very often for the believer, God’s promises appear to be contradicted by God’s providences. So this is a book for right where I am as a father, for right where my children are as children—especially for my teenage sons as teenage sons; and so the book begins, interestingly enough with ten father-to-son talks that become the compass for us—what God wishes father’s to teach their children.”1
It is a fairly safe assumption that Solomon wrote the ten father-to-son talks in the Proverbs. Of course, we must recognize that the Holy Spirit inspired them; but they were, in all likeliness, the mature product of the relationship between Solomon and his earthly father, David. The relationship that David sustained to Solomon is, on one hand, just like any other relationship between any other father and son; yet, on the other hand, it was unique in the context of God’s Covenant promises in redemptive-history (2 Sam. 7:1-17).
When we consider the Covenant promises that God made with David concerning his son we come to understand that there is a greater Father-to-Son relationship—one that helps us to understand earthly father-to-son relations, as well as one that enables earthly sons to obey the heavenly Father’s desire for His sons to walk in the path of wisdom and righteousness. This is only and ever because His own, eternal Son took up the “father-to-son” talks in the Proverbs and perfectly walked the path of wisdom and righteousness for us.
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