Proverbs – Lesson 3 – Proverbs 1.8 -19 – Click to Download (downloaded notes have better format)

 

PROVERBS:  God’s Handbook for His Image Bearers

Lesson 3  •  Proverbs 1:8–19

Series Review

This is the third lesson in our Proverbs series. In the first two lessons we learned:

• God created us to share a relationship with Him and to fill the world with His image. Proverbs is His handbook for equipping us to do that.
• Solomon was God’s chosen king. God gave him wisdom above anyone who ever lived before or after him — but Solomon had to apply himself and grow in it.
• Solomon’s purpose for writing Proverbs was to equip the simple, the young, and the wise with the skill to live according to God’s instructions.
• The fear of the LORD is both the starting point and the foundation of all wisdom. There is no wisdom apart from it.
• Every person is on one of two paths. The wise hear God’s instruction and obey. The fool does not deny God exists — he says no to God. And both paths lead somewhere.

In this lesson: Three voices compete for the attention and allegiance of the son — his parents, sinful influencers, and Wisdom herself. Each one demands to be heard. The son must choose.

 

The Voice of Parents: Don’t Listen to Sinful Influencers

 

Proverbs 1:8–9 (KJV) — My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother: For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.

 

Solomon addresses his son. He is writing as a father to his child, and the son he is writing to is Rehoboam. Remember from Lesson 1 — Solomon’s own parents were David and Bathsheba. Solomon grew up in a home marked by moral failure, repentance, and the grace of God. He understood what it meant to receive instruction from a father who had learned hard lessons. Now Solomon is passing that wisdom to the next generation.

Both parents are speaking here — father and mother. God designed the family as the first place where wisdom is transferred. This is God’s pattern throughout scripture.

 

Deuteronomy 6:6–7 (KJV) — And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

 

God gave parents the responsibility to teach His words to their children — constantly, daily, woven into every part of life. The parents’ voice is first because God made it first. Before a child hears from teachers, friends, or the culture around them, God intended them to hear from their parents.

 

Ephesians 6:4 (KJV) — And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

 

The word “nurture” here carries the same idea as the Hebrew word musar — the discipline, correction, and training we studied in Lesson 2. God holds parents responsible for shaping their children in His ways.

The word “hear” is the Hebrew word shama. Shama means to hear with the intent to obey. Solomon is commanding his son to receive his parents’ instruction and follow it.

And Solomon tells his son — do not forsake the law of thy mother. The word “forsake” means to abandon or cast off. Solomon knows a time will come when his son will be tempted to throw away what his parents taught him. Other voices will pressure him to move on from it. Solomon says don’t.

 

Proverbs 1:9 (KJV) — For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.

 

Solomon compares parental instruction to an ornament on the head and chains around the neck. In the ancient world these were symbols of honor, dignity, and standing. A person who holds to the wisdom their parents taught them will carry themselves with honor. Their character will mark them. It will be visible.

 

Proverbs 1:10 (KJV) — My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.

 

Before the influencers ever speak, the parents issue a warning: they are coming. The word “entice” means to persuade or seduce — to be lured in by something that looks appealing. The parents know the enticement is coming and they prepare the son in advance.

The command is direct — consent thou not. Do not agree. Do not go along. Do not give in.

 

Rehoboam: The Son Who Rejected His Father’s Voice Solomon wrote these words to his son Rehoboam. And Rehoboam is one of the clearest examples in scripture of what happens when a son rejects the voice of his parents and listens to the wrong voices instead.

 

1 Kings 12:6–8 (KJV) — And king Rehoboam consulted with the old men, that stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, and said, How do ye advise that I may answer this people? And they spake unto him, saying, If thou wilt be a servant unto this people this day, and wilt serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be thy servants for ever. But he forsook the counsel of the old men, which they had given him, and consulted with the young men that were grown up with him, and which stood before him.

 

When Solomon died, Rehoboam became king. The people came to him and asked for relief from heavy labor. Rehoboam had two voices speaking to him — the experienced advisors who had served his father Solomon, and the young men he had grown up with. The advisors told him to serve the people. His friends told him to dominate them.

Rehoboam rejected his father’s advisors and followed his friends. The result was the kingdom of Israel splitting in two — ten tribes broke away and never returned. The kingdom that David built and Solomon expanded was torn apart because Rehoboam listened to the wrong voice.

Solomon warned his son. His son did not listen. And an entire nation paid the price.

 

Application God’s original design was for parents to be the first and most influential voice in a person’s life — shaping them into image bearers of God. But sin entered the world and with it came a competing voice. Satan came to Adam and Eve in the Garden — their home — and influenced them through the serpent to abandon what God had taught them. That decision was deadly. Satan is the original sinful influencer. And his strategy has not changed. He still reaches us in our homes — through friends who do not follow God, through social media, music, television, podcasts, and worldviews that contradict God’s word. He urged Adam and Eve to set aside what they had been taught and follow him instead. He is doing the same thing to us today. With this in mind — how important is it to know, hear, and obey God’s voice?

 

Discussion Questions 1.  Are you still holding to what your parents taught you or have other voices replaced it? 2.  If you are a parent — are you the loudest voice in your child’s life or have you allowed other influences to take that place?

 

The Voice of Influencers: Don’t Listen to Your Parents

 

Proverbs 1:11–14 (KJV) — If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause: Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit: We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil: Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse:

 

Solomon puts words in the mouths of the influencers so you can hear exactly what the enticement sounds like. Their appeal has three parts:

First — come with us. They offer belonging. They invite you into their group.

Second — they promise gain. We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil. Following them leads to wealth, status, a better life.

Third — cast in thy lot among us. Commit to us. Become one of us. They are asking for your full loyalty and full participation.

But underneath the offer they are asking you to harm innocent people for personal gain. They dress it up with promises of belonging and wealth, but the path they are calling you to is the destruction of others for selfish purposes.

 

The Pattern of Enticement

 

This pattern — belong, gain, commit — is the same pattern sinful influence has always followed. Solomon is describing a principle that applies to every generation and every setting where people are pressured to abandon God’s instruction for the approval or benefit of others.

The nation of Israel experienced this firsthand. God set them apart as His people with His laws, His worship, and His way of life. But they looked at the nations around them and wanted to fit in.

 

1 Samuel 8:5 (KJV) — And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.

 

God was their king. His system was their government. But they rejected it because they wanted to look like everyone else. They traded what God gave them for what the culture offered them. God told Samuel plainly what was happening:

 

1 Samuel 8:7 (KJV) — And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.

 

When you abandon God’s instruction to conform to the voices around you, God does not see it as a poor decision. He sees it as a rejection of Him.

This is the same pressure you face today. It comes through politics that demand you set aside biblical convictions to align with a party. It comes through your workplace where getting ahead means lying, cheating, or compromising your integrity. It comes through social groups that require your loyalty even when what they stand for contradicts how God told you to live. It comes through parenting — where the world tells you how to raise your children and following God’s word makes you the outsider.

The pressure always sounds the same — come with us. And it always costs the same — forsake what God taught you.

Lot is a clear example. When Abraham gave him a choice of land, Lot looked toward Sodom and chose it based on what he could gain.

 

Genesis 13:10–11 (KJV) — And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar. Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other.

 

Lot moved toward the gain. He pitched his tent toward Sodom. Eventually he was living inside Sodom. And by the time God destroyed it, Lot had lost nearly everything — his home, his wealth, his wife, and the moral direction of his children. The gain he chased consumed him.

 

2 Peter 2:7–8 (KJV) — And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)

 

Lot was a righteous man living in torment because he followed the voice of gain instead of the voice of God. He was saved but everything he built in Sodom was destroyed.

 

The Trap They Cannot See

 

Proverbs 1:15–16 (KJV) — My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path: For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.

 

The father breaks back in with an urgent command — do not walk in their way. Refrain thy foot. The word “refrain” means to hold back or restrain. You will feel the pull. You will be drawn toward it. Hold yourself back.

And he exposes what the influencers will never tell you — their feet run to evil. They are not wandering into sin. They are running toward it. And they want to take you with them.

 

Proverbs 1:17–19 (KJV) — Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird. And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives. So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.

 

Solomon uses a comparison. A bird can see a trap being set in the open and will avoid it. But these influencers are less perceptive than a bird — they cannot see that the trap they are setting for others is actually catching themselves. They lay wait for their own blood. They are destroying their own lives and cannot see it.

Solomon gives the reason — greed. The desire for gain is what drives them and it is what destroys them. The very thing they are chasing is taking their lives.

 

Application The voices change — friends, coworkers, social media, political movements, cultural expectations — but the pattern remains: come with us, gain what we have, commit to our way. And the cost is always the same — abandon what God has taught you. You must decide whether you will hold to God’s instruction or follow voices that are running toward evil and setting a trap for their own lives.

 

Discussion Questions 1.  What voices are you allowing to influence the direction of your life? 2.  Have you compromised God’s instruction in any area to fit in or get ahead? 3.  What did it cost Lot to follow the voice of gain? What is it costing you?

 

Conclusion

 

In Lesson 1 we established the foundation of this series — God created us to share a relationship with Him and to fill the world with His image.

 

Genesis 1:26 (KJV) — And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.

 

That is your purpose. You were created to reflect the character of God in how you live. Proverbs is God’s handbook for equipping you to do that.

In Lesson 2 Solomon told us where that begins — the fear of the LORD.

 

Proverbs 1:7 (KJV) — The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

 

The fear of the LORD is a deep reverence for God that orders your entire life around who He is, what He says, and what He values. Without it there is no wisdom, and without wisdom you cannot image God.

In this lesson Solomon put two voices in front of you. The voice of godly instruction — rooted in the fear of the LORD. And the voice of sinful influencers — offering belonging, gain, and acceptance in exchange for your obedience to God. These are the two paths.

When you follow godly instruction — when you hear it and obey it — you are developing the skill of living according to God’s word. You are growing into the image of God. You are fulfilling what you were created for. And that path leads to life.

 

Proverbs 15:24 (KJV) — The way of life is above to the wise, that he may depart from hell beneath.

 

When you follow the voice of sinful influence you are rejecting God Himself and His purpose for your life. You cannot image God and follow voices that contradict Him. That path leads to destruction.

 

Proverbs 14:12 (KJV) — There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

 

The sinful influencers Solomon described are on a path that feels right to them. They see the gain. They feel the belonging. But the end of that path is death — separation from God for eternity. And the most alarming part is they do not know it.

 

Proverbs 14:27 (KJV) — The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death.

 

The fear of the LORD keeps you on the path of life. It guards you from the traps Solomon described — the enticement, the greed, the destruction that the influencers cannot even see coming for themselves. Every time you choose God’s instruction over the pull of sinful influence you are walking in wisdom, honoring God, and becoming what He created you to be.

Two voices. Two paths. Two destinations. The question is which voice are you following.

 

Join us for the Next Lesson: In the next lesson Wisdom herself will stand up and speak. She will call out publicly. She will make an offer. She will issue a warning. And she will draw a line that determines everything. Do not miss it.