The proverbs of Solomon. A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother.
Here begins the second part of the whole book, and extends to the close of Proverbs 24:1-34. It differs from the first part, which forms a connected maashaal (H4912) or Parabolic commendation of wisdom, in its being a series of loosely connected maxims, except that from Proverbs 22:17 to the end of Proverbs 24:1-34 there is a more continuous and connected Mashal enclosed between an introductory recommendation of wisdom (Proverbs 22:17-21), and a closing brief collection of maxims (Proverbs 24:23-34). The first part is the porch leading into the interior of the book, the Proverbs proper. As the first part was addressed to the young, and was therefore in a more ornamental and flowing style, so this second part is addressed to men, and is therefore in a brief, business-like style, compressing a great deal in a short compass, for the right conduct of life. Proverbs 10:1-32, weighty sentences, generally distichs - i:e., two sentences in one verse, mutually illustrating one another. The general scope is the blessedness here and hereafter of the ways of goodness, the misery of the ways of badness.
The Proverbs of Solomon. The same preface as in Proverbs 1:1; thus it here marks the division.
A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish son (is) the heaviness of his mother. 'And a glad mother' is to be supplied in the first clause; 'and of his father' is to be supplied in the second clause. The father, however, is specially said to be gladdened by "a wise son," as he is of a more severe nature, and not so likely to form a partial estimate, and therefore not so easily gladdened as the mother; so that it is the stronger praise of the wise son to say that not only the mother, but also the father, is gladdened by him. On the other band, the mother is apt, through fondness, to ignore the errors of her son, and even to encourage them by indulgent connivance. The wise man admonishes her that she is laying up "heaviness" in store for herself. This verse is an admonition alike to parents and to children.