My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother. Even bad parents generally instruct their sons to do right. But good parents, including under the term pious preceptors, are chiefly meant (1 Samuel 10:12). After the First Table of the Law, which teaches "the fear of the Lord," Solomon subjoins obedience to parents' counsels, the precept which stands foremost in the Second Table. Piety to one's parents comes next after piety toward God. The best way of instruction for any one is that he should receive the instruction of his parents from childhood. The parents should pray as did Manoah, "How shall we order the child, and how shall we do unto him?" (Judges 13:12.) It is right that children should hear their parents' counsel, as well because of the parents' love, as also from a regard to the parents' greater knowledge by reason of years. But "children are to obey their parents" only "in the Lord" - i:e., only in so far as the word of the earthly father does not run counter to that of our heavenly Father. The "mother" especially has a powerful influence in moulding the character of the child in tender years, whether for good or for evil. Hence, the mother's names are given in the Old Testament histories of the kings: cf. (Lois and Eunice) 2 Timothy 1:5; 2 Timothy 3:14-15: (Lemuel's mother) Proverbs 31:1.