Direction for Life (Proverbs 4:20-27)

Proverbs 4:20 - 27 says:

(20) My son, attend to my words; incline your ear to my sayings.

(21) Let them not depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart.

(22) For they are life to those that find them, and health to all their flesh.

(23) Keep your heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.

(24) Put away from you a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from you.

(25) Let your eyes look right on, and let your eyelids look straight before you.

(26) Ponder the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established.

(27) Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove your foot from evil.

DIRECTIONS

How many wives have been driving with their husbands, and even though he is hopelessly lost, he still resists asking for directions to where they need to go. How about a man putting together a disassembled bookshelf; table and chairs; or one of several other IKEA products; I am not sure what it is about the male ego, but there seems to be a habitual tendency to try to "do it yourself" and then, eventually, actually read the directions to get it right.

Rather than allowing us to go stumbling through life, with no direction or purpose, God, our Father, has given us some very specific instructions to follow, which, if we stick to His directions, we will end up with His success and fulfillment in life.

(20) "My son, be attentive to my speech; incline your ear to my words"

SPEECH vs WORDS

This is obviously parallelism, being repetitive for emphasis. However, there is a distinction of "speech" being the elaboration of the teaching, or explanation, whereas "words", more generally, encompasses the whole body of teaching, and not just that which is spoken or being explained at the moment.

Another interpretation could be the literal "words", and the "speech" being what is meant by the words.

"My child, be attentive to my speech; incline your ear to my words" (Mishlei, 20)

(21) Let them not depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart.

DEPART

The implication is constant, continuous, viewing or observation; never letting God's word leave your vision or focus.

EYES

"from your eyes" assumes that the audience is literate, and the wisdom was transmitted through writing. Everything you "see", visually, as to what to do, or not do, is viewed through the instruction of the Father, so that you easily perceive what is the correct path to follow.

MIDST of Your HEART

"in the midst of your heart" means the center or deepest part; the most hidden and secure location, like God's laws, written and housed in the ark of the covenant, the dwelling place of His presence.

The heart is already assumed to be the center or innermost part of a person, but this further defines this area even more specifically as the inner chamber of what is already hidden and protected.

"Let them not depart from your eyes. Safeguard them in your heart" (Mishlei, 21)

(22) For they are life to those that find them, and health to all their flesh.

FIND THEM

"those that find them" 'find' meaning, "gain" or "secure".

"...to one who toils and labors until he succeeds in attaining them" (p.102, Mishlei, Proverbs, Art Scroll Series).

The Talmud suggests another interpretation: "...those who enunciate them", meaning "to take out, express, verbalize".

One who studies the Torah audibly is far more likely to retain what he learns than one who studies silently.

"The Torah is a source of life to those who recite its words aloud" (p102, Mishlei, Proverbs, Art Scroll Series, Note #2).

The study halls of Torah throughout the ages practiced this aspect of audibly reading the Torah.

HEALTH or HEALING

"health to all their flesh" is literally, "and for the whole flesh" and singular, referring specifically to the reader.

Rabbinic teaching is that there are 248 positive commands in the Torah corresponding to 248 bodily organs, each of which the Torah provides health and healing to. (Mishlei).

"The Talmud cites this verse in recommending Torah study to one suffering from a bodily ailment. Indeed, the Talmud notes that the tonic of Torah study remedies the entire body, unlike conventional medicines, which cure one malady but may also cause side effects" (p.102, Mishlei, Proverbs, Art Scroll Series).

"For they are life to him who finds them, and healing for all his flesh" (Mishlei, 22).

The plural "they" is used with the singular "him" or "his", "for that which is said refers to each one of the many" (Keil and Delitzsch, Vol.6, p.82).

 "For they are life to all who get possession of them, and health to their whole body" (Keil and Delitzsch, Vol. 6, p.82).

Where those who find or get possession of them is "an active conception...it means to attain, to produce, to procure...the action of...either health or the means of health..." (p.82, Keil and Delitzsch, Vol. 6).

(23) Keep your heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.

KEEP

The English loses the import of the Hebrew, which emphasizes, "above all" or "above everything else", keep your heart, "with more vigilant guarding than in any other case" (Proverbs, Toy, p.97). In other words, guard your heart above everything else.

"keep your heart", where "keep" refers to "a place under guard, a prison, or standing guard" meaning to keep in custody, or to restrain as a prisoner, or to protect from an enemy without.

"guard it as the most precious of possessions committed to thy trust" (p.82, Keil and Delitzsch, Vol. 6).

ISSUES of LIFE

"the issues of life" is a Hebrew idiom meaning "sources of life". The Hebrew noun "sources" is from a verb meaning "to come out" and combined with a Hebrew prefix conveys the action of "going out".

There are two aspects that are portrayed; or a double meaning:

1) life comes or "goes out" from the center of the heart.

2) the direction of life also is determined by the heart.

"More than you guard anything, safeguard your heart, for from it are the sources of life" (Mishlei, 23).

"the point of a thing, (eg). of a boundary, from which it goes forth, and the linear course proceeding from thence...[life goes] out from the heart...life has not only its fountain in the heart but also that the direction which it takes is determined by the heart". (p.82-83, Keil and Delitzsch, Vol. 6).

"Above all other things that are to be guarded, keep thy heart, for out from it life has its issues" (p.82, Keil and Delitzsch, Vol. 6).

[This, obviously, stresses the words of Jesus, that from the abundance of the heart, or, what is allowed to accumulate in the heart, the mouth speaks (Matt.12:34), and controls the direction of a persons life, like a bit in a horse's mouth, or a rudder of a ship (James 3:3-4)].

(24) Put away from you a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from you.

PUT AWAY

"Put away from you" or better, "Keep away from you".

FROWARD

" a froward mouth" or "crooked mouth", denoting speech that "distorts, disfigures, dissembles, and deforms truth". The Hebrew word for "froward" is actually used to refer to physical deformities in the body, where, "froward" is literally, "crooked".

PERVERSE

"perverse lips" refers to departing; to swerving from what is right and true. The emphasis is that what you say is going to not only affect your heart, but it will lodge in your heart and come back out of your mouth, directing your life.

"The proverbs of Solomon are full of straight talk about talking straight" (Proverbs, Bruce Waltke, p.300).

According to the Midrash, "distortion of the mouth" refers to gossip, which can cause such harm that it is comparable to murder. "Perversity of lips" refers to duplicitous speech, treating one's fellow in an outwardly friendly manner while inwardly harboring animosity towards him. (Mishlei, p.104).

"Remove from yourself distortion of the mouth, and distance perversity of lips from yourself" (Mishlei, 24).

"distorsio, refers to the mouth when what it speaks is disfiguring and deforming,...and to the lips when that which they speak turns aside from the true and right to side-ways and by-ways" (p.83, Keil and Delitzsch, Vol. 6).

It is presupposed that the words are vocalized and that the audible speech directly impacts your heart, becoming your "source" of your life and directing the "course" of your life.

(25) Let your eyes look right on, and let your eyelids look straight before you.

EYES and EYELIDS

"Let your eyes look" refers to a focused fixing of the eyes on something ahead down the road, that is "right on", or "straight-ahead".

"Realizing how great an effect vision has on a person's soul, we can appreciate the exhortation of this verse to look only at what is true and just so that we will be influenced by it" (Mishlei, Note 1, p.104).

"Let your eyes look ahead, and your eyelids will straighten your path before you" (Mishlei, 25). [This very well could be the seeming fact that whatever is intently starred at, the fluttering of the eyelids, like the shutter of a camera, lens, helps to bring into vivid focus].

"Thine eyes should look straight forward, and thine eyelids look straight to the end before thee" (p.82, Keil and Delitzsch, Vol. 6).

"straight-forward, unswerving directness toward a fixed goal, without the turning aside of the eye...properly fixing, or holding fast with the look...that which lies straight before us..." (p.83, Keil and Delitzsch, Vol. 6).

(26) Ponder the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established.

PATH

"the path" or the "track" of your feet; something that is well worn. It may specifically refer to a road or highway to take in life that you don't veer off from, but stay fixed on; focused on that path.

ESTABLISHED

"let all your ways be established" meaning, "in good condition of stability and security" (Toy). The idea being to choose the right road, and make sure that the road you chose to travel on, is in good traveling condition, and not fraught with endless potholes and construction hazards, in need of constant repair.

"Weigh the course of your foot and all your ways will be established" (Mishlei, 26).

"Make even the path of they feet, and let all thy ways be correct" (p.82, Keil and Delitzsch, Vol. 6).

"The admonition thus refers not to the careful consideration which measures the way leading to the goal which one wishes to reach, but to the preparation of the way by the removal of that which prevents unhindered progress and makes the way insecure" (p.84, Keil and Delitzsch, Vol. 6).

Visually, this would almost certainly provide a directive whereby someone else has gone before and cleared the pathway or road on which you are to travel, and you, knowing this fact, chose to travel on the highway, or path of life, that is unencumbered by debris or any false sense of security, because it is the way that is unobstructed to achieve and reach the goal or destination that is not only best but produces the desired outcome in life.

"...see to it that all the ways which thou goest lead straight to the end" (p.84, Keil and Delitzsch, Vol. 6).

(27) Turn not to the right hand, nor to the left; remove your foot from evil.

DO NOT TURN

"Do not turn" assumes that you are walking on the right path, if you're "attending" and "inclining" your ear and guarding these words, so you need to continue the same vigilance and maintain the same course, avoiding distractions that deviate from the path you're on.

REMOVE

"remove your feet from evil" or "make your feet pass by", meaning that you continue on the straight path that you have chosen, without stopping to focus on or be diverted by any potential distractions.

"Do not deviate right or left; remove your foot from evil" (Mishlei, 27).

"Turn not aside to the right and to the left; remove thy foot from evil" (p.82, Keil and Delitzsch, Vol. 6).

Most simply, the directive is to stay the course and keep focused and fixed on where you are going without any deviation, because the path that you are on is the right one, and any other option is a distraction that will not only impede your progress but potentially lead to the ruin of the fulfillment of purpose and the complete and total satisfaction of arriving at your God-given destiny.

You Are God's Best and God's Best is Yours

References:

The Book of Proverbs, Bruce Waltke

Proverbs, Professor C. H. Toy

The Book of Proverbs, W. Gunther Plaut

Mishlei, Proverbs: A new translation with a commentary anthologized from Talmudic, Midrashic, and Rabbinic sources, Art Scroll Tanach Series

Proverbs, Keil and Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament, Vol. 6