A wise son heeds his father's instruction, but a mocker does not respond to rebukes. – Proverbs 13:1

Today's Scripture Reading (November 10, 2022): Proverbs 13

If you are a parent, you have probably had "the conversation." No, not that conversation, but the one that begins with the words, "Please listen to me. I only want the best for you." The talk usually introduces something important we need to tell our kids, but we think they won't hear it because it goes against what they want to do. After all, we are only the parents; in their eyes, we don't know anything.

Someone once commented that it was incredible how much smarter our parents get as we grow older. Of course, behind the words is the slow recognition that our parents knew a lot all along, and if we had only listened to them, life might have been a little smoother. But we didn't listen; instead, we did our own thing, ignoring mom and dad's well-worn wisdom, some of it likely handed down from their parents, because we didn't think they knew anything.

This is Solomon's "Please listen to me; I only want the best for you" moment. All of Israel might rejoice in the wisdom of Solomon, but to his son, he is just a dad, and like every other father in the nation, he knows nothing. We often ignore our parents' wisdom because we think we know more than they do. And the older we get, the more we realize our error, usually just in time to have "the conversation" with our kids. But just because Solomon's words are part of "the conversation" doesn't make Solomon's words any less true.

Solomon, talking to his son, likely Rehoboam, argues that if he is wise, he will listen to his dad's words. But if he ignores the words, then he will never be anything more than a common mocker. And if Rehoboam refuses to hear Dad's advice, then the chances are he won't respond to Dad's rebuke either. The Bible is filled with sons who rejected Dad's advice and didn't respond to any rebuke. And this is true of even some of the most powerful people in the biblical record. God spoke to the child Samuel about the failure of the family of Eli.

And the Lord said to Samuel: "See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it tingle. At that time I will carry out against Eli everything I spoke against his family—from beginning to end. For I told him that I would judge his family forever because of the sin he knew about; his sons blasphemed God, and he failed to restrain them (1 Samuel 3:11-13).

Whether Eli's sons ignored their father's message or Eli didn't even bother to have "the conversation" with them because the Priest was sure that he would be forgotten doesn't really matter. The truth is that Eli seemed to do a better job at raising Samuel than he did his own sons.

Unfortunately, Samuel's sons also failed to listen to the wisdom of their father.

When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as Israel's leaders. The name of his firstborn was Joel and the name of his second was Abijah, and they served at Beersheba. But his sons did not follow his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice (1 Samuel 8:1-3).

The Book of Samuel gives us some hope that eventually, Joel and Abijah cleaned up their act and became trusted leaders again. Still, in the meantime, they went through many struggles they could have avoided if only they had listened to the wisdom of their father.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Proverbs 14