Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 5:13
And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!
Pro 5:13
And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers.
Consequences of disobedience
Can any state be more distressing than that of an individual who has enjoyed the best opportunities of securing his own happiness and promoting that of others, totally failing in both these, and becoming the subject of bitter self-reproach?
I. There is the admission of having had the great advantage of teachers. There are scarcely any but have had some very considerable advantages and means of religious instruction. They involve you all in a serious responsibility to God and your own conscience.
1. The best, purest, most commanding instruction in the Bible.
2. The living voice of teachers, either parents or ministers, or kind friends in schools.
3. The Spirit of God unfolding the truth to your understanding and conscience; striving with your heart, and inwardly calling you to seek those things which belong to your peace.
II. There is an implied connection between instruction and obedience. The text admits the obligation resulting from such advantages. I ought to have obeyed, but I have not.
1. You are bound to obey the good instruction you have received, because it is clearly the will of God, the Being who is above all, and who holds you amenable at His tribunal.
2. By the tender and unspeakable love of the Saviour, Jesus Christ, who came forth from His Father, and became the Redeemer of men by the sacrifice of Himself.
3. By a regard to your own highest interests. Obeying the Divine precepts is the only way to secure your own peace of mind, your joy through life, your hope in death, and your immortal felicity after death.
4. By a regard to the interests of others to whom you may be related in this life. You have social relations, duties, and obligations which you ought to regard, and cannot neglect without great criminality. You ought to become yourselves, and endeavour to make them, such as God would have us all to be.
5. By the obligation which arises from your final accountableness at the bar of judgment.
III. There is a confession that instruction had not been obeyed. This text does not express the case of those who have only partially, or in some respects, failed of obedience, but have in the main been mindful of the instruction they have received. It is applied to those who have failed altogether, and in the general habits of their mind and life have disregarded the great and holy principles inculcated upon them in early life. Some of the causes of this failure are–
1. There is in our own hearts a disinclination to serve God, and an aversion to the Divine precepts.
2. There are innumerable and incessant temptations to forsake the guide of our youth.
3. There will be a direct and powerful influence of the worst kind exerted over those who give themselves to evil companions.
IV. There is an expression of penitential regret for disobedience. The text seems to be the language of remorse.
1. A perception that our misery has resulted from wilful disobedience, not from ignorance.
2. The feeling that this disobedience has been maintained against light and knowledge.
3. The consciousness that you once possessed all the means necessary to promote your happiness and secure your salvation. (The Evangelist.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Of my teachers; of my parents, and friends, and ministers, who faithfully and seasonably informed me of those mischiefs and miseries which now I feel.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers,…. Parents, tutors, masters, and ministers of the word; neither regarded the advice of parents, nor the instructions of tutors, nor the commands of masters, nor the sermons of ministers: these are all lost on some persons; they are proof against them all; these make no impressions upon them, and are of no use to them;
nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me! or to my masters, as the Targum and Vulgate Latin version; turned away the ear from them, stopped it to them, and would not hear what they had to say; at least would not receive it, and act according to it.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Pro 5:13 And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!
Ver. 13. Nor inclined mine ear. ] I would not so much as hear them, nmch less obey their voice. Intus existens prohibet alienum. The songs of those syrens had so enchanted him, that it was past time of day to give him counsel. If you speak against his sweet sin, and dissuade him from that, he shrinks back into the shell, and lets his hood hearken. All that is of ‘Davy Dutton’s dream,’ as the proverb is, and therefore, Surdo fabulam, he will in nowise give ear to you.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
obeyed = hearkened to.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Luk 15:18, 1Th 4:8, 1Th 5:12, 1Th 5:13, Heb 13:7
Reciprocal: Jdg 6:10 – ye have 1Sa 25:31 – grief Psa 50:17 – hatest Pro 1:7 – but Pro 12:1 – he that Pro 15:32 – heareth Jer 3:25 – and have not Rom 1:28 – as they did 2Th 3:14 – obey Heb 13:17 – Obey