16 Two Paths (Proverbs 4:10-19)
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Proverbs 4:10-19 reads
‘Hear, my son, and accept my words, that the years of your life may be many. 11 I have taught you the way of wisdom; I have led you in the paths of uprightness. 12 When you walk, your step will not be hampered, and if you run, you will not stumble. 13 Keep hold of instruction; do not let go; guard her, for she is your life. 14 Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of the evil. 15 Avoid it; do not go on it; turn away from it and pass on. 16 For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong; they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble. 17 For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence. 18 But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day. 19 The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know over what they stumble.’
Last week we looked at the two parents presented in verses 1-9, and today in verses 10-19 we are presented with two paths: the path of wisdom that leads to life, and the path of wickedness that leads to death.
Let’s talk about it.
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Welcome to the X+1 Podcast, where we meet you where you are with Jesus Christ and seek to take you one step closer to Him.
I’m your host, Luke Metzler, welcoming you to episode 16 in our series entitled ‘Pursuing Wisdom in Proverbs’.
Today we are looking at what Michael Fox in his commentary on this text called ‘the doctrine of two paths’, which I feel after reading needs no explanation. I think our text today is best broken down into three parts:
the path of wisdom in verses 10-13,
the path of wickedness in verses 14-17,
and then a summary of the two paths in verses 18-19.
So looking firstly at verses 10-13, Solomon instructs us that wisdom is a path to life.
In verse 11 he says
11 ‘I have taught you the way of wisdom;
I have led you in the paths of uprightness.’
Solomon is letting you and I know here that wisdom is not a one time, stationary, end all, be all thing. No. Solomon is showing us here that wisdom is not something one arrives at, rather, it is something one progresses with and toward.
Solomon in a sense is saying we are not just to metaphorically shake wisdom’s hand in agreement, but we are also to walk with wisdom until our life’s end.
In other words:
Wisdom is a path to be walked on, leading to life.
Now I think the connections between this section of Scripture here in Proverbs 4 and sanctification as described in the New Testament are very strong. Paul writes in the book of Galatians to ‘walk in the Spirit’ (Galatians 5:16) and to ‘also keep in step with the Spirit’ (Galatians 5:25).
It's clear the Spirit of God never lies idle or dormant in any soul. If we truly receive Christ, if His Spirit truly lives in us, it will be evident in the paths we walk - in our walking with Him. To join that in context to this series and our text, Solomon does not want us to just receive wisdom, he does not want us to just receive Christ, he also wants us to walk with Him & to keep hold of Him.
He says in verse 13,
‘Keep hold of instruction; do not let go; guard her, for she is your life.’
Solomon’s words to his son here are similar to Paul’s when writing to Timothy, a son of his own in many respects, where he encourages him to ‘continue in what you have learned and firmly believed’ (2 Timothy 3:14).
Paul is telling Timothy in that verse to continue in Christ, to continue walking with Him, and to not let go of the truth of the gospel. Likewise, Solomon is saying to his son and to us that Christ is someone to never let go of. He is saying that wisdom is a path one must continue on. We are to continue in what we have learned and firmly believed about wisdom, not just in this moment, but for a lifetime.
Solomon’s words here embody why last week I asked the question ‘Is not then wisdom, is not Christ, the principal thing, not only important, but all important?’.
The gospel of truth, the instruction found in His Word which illuminates who Christ is in all His splendor and majesty, that is something and someone to ‘not let go’ of. Christ is worth ‘guarding’, for He truly is the principal thing, He truly is all important, because He ‘is your life’.
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Going back a verse, verse 12, Solomon says that with wisdom,
‘When you walk, your step will not be hampered, and if you run, you will not stumble.’
What confidence can we gain from these words here! They remind me of Isaiah’s words in Isaiah 40, when he says that
‘Those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength; they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not become weary, they will walk and not faint’ (Isaiah 40:31).
There’s a great sense of security to be found in these Scriptures. With wisdom, with the Lord, one’s path is secure. One can walk freely without fear of great hindrance, and one can run without fear of falling. Now that does not mean that won’t happen, but when it does, when you feel your foot is slipping like the Psalmist in Psalm 94, you can rest assured that the ‘steadfast love’ of the Lord will ‘hold you up’ (Psalm 94:18-19). With our God, you can ‘run and not become weary’, you can ‘walk and not faint’.
Now it must be said this path, this way of wisdom that Jesus says leads to life in Matthew 7, is narrow, and only a few find it (Matthew 7:14). And the way of the wicked is wide, the road that leads to destruction is broad, and many enter through it (Matthew 7:13).
You and I are to enter through the narrow gate that leads to wisdom, and not the one of wickedness.
Solomon speaks to this, continuing in verse 14…
‘Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of the evil. 15 Avoid it; do not go on it; turn away from it and pass on. 16 For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong; they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble. 17 For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence’.
Please make careful consideration and take prudent note of what the wisest man who ever lived says here about the wicked path (1 Kings 3:12, 4:29-31).Notice how he doesn’t just say do not enter the path of the wicked, but he says do not even go near it. Avoid it when near, Solomon says, and also avoid nearness to it altogether.
One commentator on this says,
‘[The path of the wicked] is like living in the atmosphere of contagion; taking up your abode in a pest-house, in the midst of virulent and fatal disease. The earnest repetition of the warning shows at once the imminency of the danger, and the certainty of the injury. The world around us is the action of mind upon mind. We are continually, through the medium of fellowship, molding ourselves by other minds, and other minds by our own.’
The end of that quote makes me think of our episode Friday on the ripple effect we have on people and the one they have on us! ‘We are continually, through the medium of fellowship, molding ourselves by other minds, and other minds by our own’.
Let us stay far away from those whose ripple effect would mold us into wickedness, who would draw us away from the path of wisdom!
Let Solomon, the wise man himself, be a guiding example for you and me.
Look at his life that drifted from God because of his ungodly relations with women warn us how far only the entrance into the path of the wicked may carry us; lengths that we could never have contemplated in prospect without horror. You can look also to David, the man after God’s own heart, as an example of what merely an extended glance at the entrance into the path of the wicked may carry…from ‘O it's just a glance, to…‘I slept with her, got her pregnant and now I’m murdering her husband so that I might be able to cover all of this up and marry her’.
Let these men of Scripture, who were renowned in many ways for their character, give you severe warning as to what nearness to and involvement with the path of the wicked can do.
Those on this path ‘...cannot sleep unless they have done wrong; they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble. For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence.’
Those on this path were first sinners that have now become tempters, seeking to cause others to stumble. They find their sustenance in what is evil in the sight of God.
Now on the surface this path seems easy to avoid, does it not? I mean how is it possible to join on a path with those who are distinctly marked by doing wrong, causing others to stumble, and feasting on wickedness and violence?
Don’t be so arrogant to assume this path does not have its allure and disguise. Again, if Solomon and David can fall into it, so can you.
I think a better question to ask is: how do we recognize and distinguish between the path of wisdom and the path of the wicked as described in these verses?
Well the last two verses, verses 18 and 19, give us some clarity as to how we do that:
18 But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day. 19 The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know over what they stumble.’
The contrast given in these verses of the time of day I think is so helpful in distinguishing the different paths in your own life.
The wise/righteous begin their life’s path at daybreak and as they walk along it the light shines brighter and brighter until full day.
That means that the righteous way is a path of progressing in holiness until the last day. Just like the sun is seen at dawn and then gets brighter and brighter until it reaches its peak, so those who walk on the path of wisdom will see more and more of the path and walk in greater and greater wisdom until the day they are made truly wise in the presence of Jesus (Christ Centered Exposition).
In short, the path of the righteous is one that gets continually brighter and more clear.
Looking in contrast, the wicked set on their way at dusk, only to find themselves immersed in a 'deep darkness' so dense that they 'stumble' without knowing why or what they are stumbling over.
What I find so interesting about this is that at the beginning of each journey, at dawn or at dusk, one will have a very similar amount of light. When you see the fully revealed text in Proverbs 4 it seems easy to discern the path of the wicked and the path of the wise, but at its beginning, at its most youthful state, the light from each looks similar.
But as we can see in verses 18 and 19 the resulting pilgrimage from each path could not be more different: one, secure in the ability to look from horizon to horizon and know exactly how the land lies; the other, walking aimlessly with every familiar landmark obliterated by the dense darkness and every step an exercise in fear and futility.
The simple difference is that as one walks along each path, though it may begin similarly, one’s light will increase, and the other will vanish as they walk. That means there is some visible promise and appeal, some allure, to the path of the wicked to start. But it ends in deep darkness. Do not go near, do not walk that path Solomon says.
I think that’s very important to hear as a younger person. To the younger audience, to those who are at the beginning of your path and journey of life, do not be allured by vanishing light the wicked path may present. You may be surrounded by people who seem to be living a life full of more fun, joy, freedom, & fulfillment than you are, but this text is a promise to you and to me that those on that path will not experience light for much longer. Their light is temporary, it is fleeting, and it will vanish.
But for those on the path of wisdom, every day you walk on it, every step you take, your path gets brighter. The more you walk, the more your eye becomes unveiled; the more your heart becomes enlightened; the more your conscience becomes vividly impressed upon with truth; the more understanding you will have in the 'fear of the Lord;' the more taste you will have discerning between good and evil.
This is the path of the righteous, ‘which shines brighter and brighter until full day’. That’s the path you want to be on. One with Jesus, the light of the world (John 8:12), who illuminates your path and leads you to life. But if you do not have this light, if you do not have Jesus, you cannot see where to walk. You are like a blind man walking down a road full of potholes. You will stumble. And eventually, you will fall.
Next week we will look at the last section in Proverbs 4, which speaks on our last pairing, the two hearts.
See you then. I love you. God bless.
