A General Appeal To Hear His Words And Sayings, And Instructions With Regard To His Heart, Mouth, Eyes And Feet (Proverbs 4:20-27).
Solomon urges those who hear him and read his words to take them to heart and keep them there because they offer life and health. They are therefore to watch over their hearts (and minds and wills), to put away careless or false words, to look straight ahead without deviation, and to watch where they put their feet on the path of life. They are not to turn to either right or left but are to ensure that they keep their foot from evil. They are not to be like the ‘strange woman', the adulterous woman or prostitute, who ‘does not watch the path of life' (Proverbs 5:6).
It will be noted how many parts of the body are mentioned in these verses: ear, eyes, heart, flesh, heart, mouth, eyes, eyelids, feet, hand, foot. The whole body is to be involved in responding to wisdom. The subsection may be seen chiastically as follows:
A My son, attend to my words, incline (bend) your ear to my sayings (Proverbs 4:20).
B Do not let them depart from your eyes (Proverbs 4:21 a)
C Keep them in the midst of your heart (Proverbs 4:21 b).
D For they are life to those who find them (Proverbs 4:22 a)
D And health to all their flesh (Proverbs 4:22 b).
C Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life (Proverbs 4:23).
B Put away from you a wayward mouth, and perverse lips put far from you, let your eyes look right on, and let your eyelids look straight before you (Proverbs 4:24-25).
A Make level the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established, do not turn (bend) to the right hand or to the left, remove your foot from evil (Proverbs 4:26-27).
‘My son, attend to my words,
Incline (bend) your ear to my sayings,
Do not let them depart from your eyes,
Keep them in the midst of your heart.'
In Proverbs 1:8 he called on them to hear disciplinary instruction and torah, in Proverbs 2:1 to hear his words and commandments, in Proverbs 3:1 not to forget his torah but to keep his commandments, in Proverbs 4:1 to hear the disciplinary instruction of a father and to attend, in Proverbs 4:10 to receive his sayings. Now he calls on them to attend to his words, and listen carefully to his sayings. They must read them constantly (let them not depart from their eyes) and keep them in the centre of their hearts, minds and wills. In ancient Israel the ‘heart' was the centre of mind, will and emotions. They must read, mark, learn and inwardly digest. Note the assumption that the sayings can be ‘seen' which suggests that they are in writing.
For they are life to those who find them,
And health to all their flesh.
And this was to be so because to those who truly discern them they offer the secret of wholesome living. They offer life and health. The life offered is spiritual life, life lived with God. Health is especially important here because in the next subsection the warning is against going in to loose women who would very likely have transmittable diseases. Thus those who listen to his words will avoid unpleasant diseases, and will have a healthy lifestyle. They will not be those whose ‘flesh and body are consumed' (Proverbs 5:11). It will be noted that in the chiasmus this verse is the central thought of the subsection.
Four Injunctions.
Solomon now tells his adherents to guard their hearts, to abjure a wayward mouth and false lips, to concentrate their eyes on what is true, and to watch which path they place their feet on.
Keep your heart with all diligence,
For out of it are the issues of life.'
The Israelite saw the heart as the centre of a man's being. It was the seat of the mind, will and emotions. It was also the repository of knowledge, especially about God. Thus the thought was to keep a guard on such by obtaining God's wisdom and living it out. For their response to the issues of life (basically all that they did) would depend on the state that their heart was in, and what knowledge and wisdom it contained. If their hearts were set on God's wisdom, then all would be well. But if they followed man's wisdom it could only lead to tragedy. Their hearts were therefore to be guarded ‘with all diligence'. A careful watch must be kept over them.
‘Put away from you a wayward mouth,
And perverse lips put far from you,
And part of this guarding involved putting away what was false. It is tempting to see this as an injunction to ‘his son' to guard his words, (as most commentators do), but the main emphasis in the subsection is on receiving and responding to teaching, not on proclaiming it. It is more probable then that this is a warning not to listen to the false words of others. Solomon is saying, ‘pay heed to my words (Proverbs 4:20; Proverbs 5:7), and do not listen to false words'. Thus ‘his son' is to ‘push away' the wayward mouth and ‘put far from him' perverse lips. In other words he is not to listen to those who say things which are wayward and perverse, who inculcate false wisdom. Indeed, the mouth and lips of those who are wayward and perverse are to be ‘put away' and ‘put far from him', because he is ‘guarding' his heart, and letting his eyes look right on, and we should note that the mouth and lips are not said to be ‘his', and that uniquely they were not mentioned previously in the subsection (as heart and eye were). Nor if they were his words do they fit well into the chiasmus. It fits far better with the context for this to be seen as indicating the necessity for not listening to false wisdom, rather than as referring to him speaking in such a way, for the context is about receiving and responding to teaching not proclaiming it. And this connects better with the following verse where the eyes could have been caused to deviate by listening to false words. By putting away and avoiding false advice it will be easier to look straight forward. Furthermore this ties in better with what follows later, where he is called on to avoid the strange woman whose lips ‘drop honey', and whose mouth ‘is smoother than oil'.
Nevertheless it is undoubtedly true that Scripture does teach us to keep a watch on our mouths, and that that is how most commentators see it, and taken in this way this would be seen as an injunction to honesty and truth in all that we say. In the words of Proverbs 5:2 our ‘lips must keep knowledge'. It is a salutary lesson. But in our view it is not what Solomon is saying here.
Let your eyes look right on,
And let your eyelids look straight before you.'
In Proverbs 4:20 Solomon's words were not to depart from his eyes. Now, therefore, he is advised to ensure that his eyes and eyelids look straight on, following his words of wisdom. They are not to wander to other paths (Proverbs 4:27), or listen to wayward and perverse words (Proverbs 4:24), but are to concentrate on the pathway of God's wisdom and knowledge (compare Proverbs 17:24 where ‘wisdom is before the face of him who has understanding, but the eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth'). This reminds us of the importance of having ‘the single eye' fixed on truth, which will cause our whole bodies to be filled with light (Matthew 6:22). It is because men's eyes wander so easily that they fall into sin.
‘Take heed to the path of your feet,
And let all your ways be established,
Do not turn to the right hand or to the left,
Remove your foot from evil.'
And in looking straight on he is to carefully watch the path that he treads on. He is to ensure that his way is established, walking in the straight path. He is not to turn to the right hand or to the left. He is to walk straight on, thereby removing his foot from evil (compare Proverbs 5:8, ‘remove our foot far from her'. Note the point that the way in which the eye is fixed will be the way in which he walks. What we look at will affect what we do.
This is in direct contrast with the strange woman in Proverbs 5:6 who ‘does not watch the path of life' but wanders aimlessly in her own ways.