Proverbs 4:20

The paternal admonition now takes a new departure: 20 My son, attend unto my words, Incline thine ear to my sayings. 21 Let them not depart from thine eyes; Keep them in the midst of thine heart. 22 For they are life to all who get possession of them, And health to their whole body. Regarding the Hiph. הלּין (for הלין), Pro 4:21, formed after the Chaldee manner like הלּין, הנּיח, הסּיג, vid., Gesenius, 72, 9; - Ewald, 114, c, gives to it the meaning of "to mock," for he interchanges it with הלין, instead of the meaning to take away, efficere ut recedat (cf. under Pro 2:15). This supposed causative meaning it has also here: may they = may one (vid., under Pro 2:22) not remove them from thine eyes; the object is (Pro 4:20) the words of the paternal admonition. Hitzig, indeed, observes that "the accusative is not supplied;" but with greater right it is to be remarked that ילּיזוּ (fut. Hiph. of לוּז) and ילוּזוּ (fut. Kal of id.) are not one and the same, and the less so as הלּיז occurs, but the masoretical and grammatical authorities (e.g., Kimchi) demand ילּיזוּ. The plur. למצאיהם is continued, 22b, in the sing., for that which is said refers to each one of the many (Pro 3:18, Pro 3:28, Pro 3:35). מצא is fundamentally an active conception, like our "finden," to find; it means to attain, to produce, to procure, etc. מרפּא means, according as the מ is understood of the "that = ut" of the action or of the "what" of its performance, either health or the means of health; here, like רפאוּת, Pro 3:8, not with the underlying conception of sickness, but of the fluctuations connected with the bodily life of man, which make needful not only a continual strengthening of it, but also its being again and again restored. Nothing preserves soul and body in a healthier state than when we…

Solomon, having warned us not to do evil, here teaches us how to do well. It is not enough for us to shun the occasions of sin, but we must study the methods of duty. I. We must have a continual regard to the word of God and endeavour that it may be always ready to us. 1. The sayings of wisdom must be our principles by which we must govern ourselves, our monitors to warn us of duty and danger; and therefore, (1.) We must receive them readily: "Incline thy ear to them (Pro 4:20); humbly bow to them; diligently listen to them." The attentive hearing of the word of God is a good sign of a work of grace begun in the heart and a good means of carrying it on. It is to be hoped that those are resolved to do their duty who are inclined to know it. (2.) We must retain them carefully (Pro 4:21); we must lay them before us as our rule: "Let them not depart from thy eyes; view them, review them, and in every thing aim to conform to them." We must lodge them within us, as a commanding principle, the influences of which are diffused throughout the whole man: "Keep them in the midst of thy heart, as things dear to thee, and which thou art afraid of losing." Let the word of God be written in the heart, and that which is written there will remain. 2. The reason why we must thus make much of the words of wisdom is because they will be both food and physic to us, like the tree of life, Rev 22:2; Eze 47:12. Those that seek and find them, find and keep them, shall find in them, (1.) Food: For they are life unto those that find them, Pro 4:22. As the spiritual life was begun by the word as the instrument of it, so by the same word it is still nourished and maintained. We could not live without it; we may by faith live upon it. (2.) Physic. They are health to all their flesh, to the whole man…

4:20-27 The wise walk the path of life with eyes straight ahead. 4:20-21 pay attention: See also 1:8, 23; 2:1; 5:1-2; 7:1-3; 8:1. The child is to let these teachings transform his personality, represented by his heart. A lifelong commitment to follow wisdom requires a change of heart.