Matthew Henry on Proverbs 23:12-16
Here is, 1. A parent instructing his child. He is here brought in persuading him to give his mind to his book, and especially to the scriptures and his catechism, to attend to the words of knowledge, by which he might come to know his duty, and danger, and interest, and not to think it enough to give them the hearing, but to apply his heart to them, to delight in them, and bow his will to the authority of them. The heart is then applied to the instruction when the instruction is applied to the heart. 2. A parent correcting his child. A tender parent can scarcely find in his heart to do this; it goes much against the grain. But he finds it is necessary; it is his duty, and therefore he dares…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 23:15
The pleasure afforded the teacher by the pupil's progress is a motive to diligence.
John Gill on Proverbs 23:15
My son, if thine heart be wise,.... To that which is good; so as from it to understand in a spiritual and experimental manner things divine and heavenly; he may be said to have a wise heart who knows in some measure what his heart is, the wickedness, the original depravity and corruption, of it; the plague of his own heart; the weakness and inability of it to do that which is good; the insufficiency of his own righteousness to justify him before God; the poverty of his spirit, and the folly of his mind: and who also is wise unto salvation; that knows the way of peace, pardon, righteousness, and salvation by Christ; and who applies to him for the same; builds on him, the foundation; prizes an…
Read the whole note in the consoleKeil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 23:15-16
The following proverb passes from the educator to the pupil:
15 My son, if thine heart becometh wise,
My heart also in return will rejoice;
16 And my reins will exult
If thy lips speak right things.
Wisdom is inborn in no one. A true Arab. proverb says, "The wise knows how the fool feels, for he himself was also once a fool;"
(Note: The second part of the saying is, "But a fool knows not how a wise man feels, for he has never been a wise man." I heard this many years ago, from the mouth of the American missionary Schaufler, in Constantinople.)
and folly is bound up in the heart of a child, according to Pro 22:15, which must be driven out by severe discipline. 15b, as many others, cf. Pro 22:…
