Proverbs 4:5

The exhortation of the father now specializes itself: 5 Get wisdom, get understanding; Forget not and turn not from the words of my mouth. 6 Forsake her not, so shall she preserve thee; Love her, so shall she keep thee. Wisdom and understanding are (5a) thought of as objects of merchandise (cf. Pro 23:23; Pro 3:14), like the one pearl of great price, Mat 13:46, and the words of fatherly instruction (5b), accordingly, as offering this precious possession, or helping to the acquisition of it. One cannot indeed say correctly אל־תשׁכח מאמרי־פי, but אל־תשׁכח משּׁמר אמרי־פי (Psa 102:5); and in this sense אל־תּשׁכּח goes before, or also the accus. object, which in אל־תשכח the author has in his mind, may, since he continues with אל־תּט, now not any longer find expression as such. That the אמרי־פי are the means of acquiring wisdom is shown in Pro 4:6, where this continues to be the primary idea. The verse, consisting of only four words, ought to be divided by Mugrash; (Note: According to correct readings in codd. and older editions, ותשמרךּ has also indeed Rebia Mugrash, and אהבה, Mercha (with Zinnorith); vid., Torath Emeth, p. 47, 6; Accentuationssystem, xviii. 1, 2; and regarding the Zinnorith, see Liber Psalmorum Hebraicus by S. Baer, p. xii.) the Vav (ו) in both halves of the verse introduces the apodosis imperativi (cf. e.g., Pro 3:9., and the apodosis prohibitivi, Pro 3:21.). The actual representation of wisdom, Pro 4:5, becomes in Pro 4:6 personal.

When the things of God are to be taught precept must be upon precept, and line upon line, not only because the things themselves are of great worth and weight, but because men's minds, at the best, are unapt to admit them and commonly prejudiced against them; and therefore Solomon, in this chapter, with a great variety of expression and a pleasant powerful flood of divine eloquence, inculcates the same things that he had pressed upon us in the foregoing chapters. Here is, I. An earnest exhortation to the study of wisdom, that is, of true religion and godliness, borrowed from the good instructions which his father gave him, and enforced with many considerable arguments (Pro 4:1-13). II. A necessary caution against bad company and all fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness (Pro 4:14-19). III. Particular directions for the attaining and preserving of wisdom, and bringing forth the fruits of it (Pro 4:20-27). So plainly, so pressingly, is the case laid before us, that we shall be for ever inexcusable if we perish in our folly.

4:5 In the Old Testament, to forget means more than not to remember; it is failure to obey.