Proverbs 4:3
When I was a son to my father, tender and the only child of my mother,
BSB
ASV
For I was a son unto my father, Tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother.
KJV
For I was my father’s son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother.
For I was my father's son,.... Or, "a son to my father" (p); so Solomon was to God, his heavenly Father, 2Sa 7:14; which Jarchi observes, and gives as the sense of this place: but his father David is meant, whose son he was; though he was not his only one, he had others besides him.
Observe, (1.) His parents loved him, and therefore taught him: I was my father's son. David had many sons, but Solomon was his son indeed, as Isaac is called ( Gen. xvii. 19 ) and for the same reason, because on him the covenant was entailed.
Probably the words of Solomon himself, who looks back from his glorious throne and his matured wisdom to the training which was the starting point. The part taken by Bathsheba in 1 Kings 1, no less than the friendship between her and Nathan, indicates that a mother’s training might well have laid the foundation of the king’s future wisdom. Among the Israelites and Egyptians alone, of the nations of the old world, was the son’s reverence for the mother placed side by side with that which he owed to his father.
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
The walk8
Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.
Through
Jeremiah 10:23I know, O LORD, that a man’s way is not his own; no one who walks directs his own steps.
leads to
A man’s steps are from the LORD, so how can anyone understand his own way?
The steps of a man are ordered by the LORD who takes delight in his journey.
The plans of the heart belong to man, but the reply of the tongue is from the LORD.
Sustain me as You promised, that I may live; let me not be ashamed of my hope.
My steps have held to Your paths; my feet have not slipped.
Through
Zechariah 12:10Then I will pour out on the house of David and on the people of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and prayer, and they will look on Me, the One they have pierced. They…
leads to
Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him—even those who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. So shall it be! Amen.
Through
Romans 12:16Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but enjoy the company of the lowly. Do not be conceited.
leads to
Finally, all of you, be like-minded and sympathetic, love as brothers, be tenderhearted and humble.
Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and turn away from evil.
