Reading Proverbs – 6:20 The Wisdom of Parents
Not a terribly popular sentiment today! Of course, it’s not been a terribly popular sentiment down through the ages, I’m sure, but possibly never more so than since the industrial revolution was well under way. Youth embrace change faster than their parents, and I’m thinking that industry has made change commonplace. In an agrarian society, parents had the knowledge that youth wanted; in an industrial society that is not usually the case.
This proverb is based off the 5th commandment, of course, and Paul’s note is still significant a millennium after the proverb is written:
A promise goes with it, he says: “Listen to your parents if you want a good long life.” It’s obvious when the child is very young: the child who obeys when the parent says, “don’t run in the parking lot – hold my hand,” will probably be safe when a car drives by too quickly. Where wisdom is lacking, obedience can protect, but only if the parent has instilled that obedience in the first place – a responsibility that too many parents today have balked at. As they say, “Parenting isn’t a popularity contest!”
And if childhood obedience to the authority of one’s visible parents has not been instilled, what framework does the adult have for understanding obedience to the invisible authority of God?
Mike
Dave Travis
Rose
Thanks for this great synopsis. (BTW, “No Name” near bottom of your list was Mel Lawrenz, Elmbrook...