Read Proverbs 22:17–21
Questions from the Scripture text: To what must the proverbial son incline his ear (Proverbs 22:17a)? To do what to these words? And to do what with his heart (verse 17b)? Where should he keep these words (Proverbs 22:18a)? What will this be like for him? How many of them must be fixed where (verse 18b)? Where will these words direct his trust (Proverbs 22:19a)? What has his proverbial father done (verse 19b)? Whom does he emphasize has been the recipient of the instruction? What else has he done, than speak (Proverbs 22:20a)? What sort of things has he written? Of what two types of excellent things (verse 20b)? In order to make him know what about the words of truth (Proverbs 22:21a)? So that he may do what with such words (verse 21b)? To whom (verse 21c)?
What should we do with God’s Word? Proverbs 22:17–21 looks forward to the midweek sermon. In these five verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that we should attend to God’s Word as the means by which He makes us to know Him as everything to us.
We come now from the large, middle section (Proverbs 10:1–22:16) of the book of Proverbs into five more collections of sayings, with which Solomon concludes the book. In Proverbs 22:20, where NKJ has translated “excellent,” the word is literally “thirty,” identifying this as the first of the thirty sayings in this (Proverbs 22:17–24:22) collection. There will be ten sayings about wealth (Proverbs 22:22–23:11), nine about the safety in being an obedient son (Proverbs 23:12–24:2), five about the establishing of strength that will persevere through distress (Proverbs 24:3–12), and five that warn against joining the wicked in their self-destruction (Proverbs 24:13–22).
This first saying, then, introduces them all, by telling the proverbial son what to do with these sayings, and why.
Ear, heart, belly, lips, Proverbs 22:17-18. These two verses are an anatomy lesson. A godly son, a son of God, should take His Word (especially through his earthly father) into every part of who he is. The way the Word comes to be at the core of your soul (heart, Proverbs 22:17b) and body (belly, Proverbs 22:18a, more literally translated) is through your ear (Proverbs 22:17a). Not all hearing is listening, however. We need to hear with the inclined ear—aiming ourselves at, and giving ourselves to, the Word of God. And we know that the Word has filled us, when it is established/prepared as what always flows from our lips (Proverbs 22:18b).
So that you may trust, Proverbs 22:19a. That your confidence may be in YHWH. If we are becoming wise, by the words of the wise (Proverbs 22:17a, cf. Ecclesiastes 12:11), then we will not puff up with confidence in ourselves, but rather be grounded upon confidence in YHWH. The fear of YHWH is the beginning of wisdom. And growing in wisdom is the process of having YHWH be everything to you. Your confidence. Your purpose. Your standard. Your joy.
So that you may teach, Proverbs 22:19-21. The proverbial father in Proverbs 22:19b has singled out this proverbial son: “you—indeed you.” Why? Because he is to be one to whom others send for words of truth. He is to be one by whose ministry others come to have God’s Word fill every part of who they are, soul and body. He is to be one by whose ministry others come to have YHWH as their everything.
He is receiving “thirty sayings of counsels and knowledge” (Proverbs 22:20), to cause him to know the genuineness of the words of truth (Proverbs 22:21a). From this personal knowledge, personal experience, of the words of truth, he himself will be the answerer (verse 21b). He himself will become the teacher. Sons and daughters are fathers and mothers in training. Sons are husbands in training, and may be magistrates, elders, or ministers in training. They must come to have personal knowledge, personal experience of God’s Word.
Who is teaching you the words of the one Shepherd? How are you listening to, and applying, those words? How is YHWH using them to make Himself everything to you? Whom are you teaching? What is your goal for them?
Sample prayer: Lord, thank You for the words of the wise. Thank You for Scripture. Thank You for the ministry of Your Spirit. Thank You for those whom Your Spirit has used to train us up in the words of Scripture. Give us to have our confidence in You. Make Yourself everything to us. And be pleased to use us to do the same with Your words for others, we ask through Christ, AMEN!
Suggested songs: ARP119N “Your Word’s a Lamp to Guide My Feet” or TPH173 “Almighty God, Your Word Is Cast”
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