Saying 17

Listen to your father, who gave you life,
    and do not despise your mother when she is old.
Buy the truth and do not sell it—
    wisdom, instruction and insight as well.
The father of a righteous child has great joy;
    a man who fathers a wise son rejoices in him.
May your father and mother rejoice;
    may she who gave you birth be joyful!

Proverbs 23:22-25

We are to listen to the wisdom and instruction of our fathers (Proverbs 1:8; Ephesians 6:1). How many sorrows and mistakes young men can avoid by listening to their fathers. Prodigals and know-it-alls don’t listen; in time they will see that they should have.

“Truth,” spoken of in this verse as “wisdom, and instruction, and understanding,” is something to obtain at all costs and something not to part with regardless of what earthly or momentary gains one may get by doing so.

Again, the subject of parental joy comes up (see v. 15; Proverbs 1O:1; 15:20). Jesus brought joy to His Father (Matthew 3:17; 17:5), and so have good children down through the centuries. Notice how that righteousness and wisdom bring joy and rejoicing just as unrighteousness and foolishness bring sorrow

V. 24 spoke of the joy of the father of a good child; verse 25 speaks of the joy of both the father and the mother. Much of a mother’s time and life is wrapped up in her children, and she is ever ready to rejoice over every success and attainment of her children.