Local Honey for the Soul

“My son, eat honey, for it is good, Yes, the honey from the comb is sweet to your taste; Know that wisdom is thus for your soul; If you find it, then there will be a future, And your hope will not be cut off” (Proverbs 24:13–14).

I like honey toast. Solomon is obviously a big fan of honey, too! And when contemplating the effect of wisdom on a young man’s soul, this wise king imagines something like eating a freshly buttered piece of warm honey toast. Notice, however, that the benefit of wisdom is far more than just a pleasing taste; internalized wisdom affects one’s legacy and prospective quality of life. This soul-honey positively alters one’s future! Where can we get some?

Would it surprise you to know that the Bible actually contains a complete curriculum for imparting this wisdom to the hearts of our children? If you have a Bible in your possession, it includes two specific volumes that provide all the essentials. Think of these two volumes as your indispensable source of local honey for the soul.

Few even know about these two parenting resources. Want to check yourself? Answer this question: What two books in the Bible were expressly written as complete parents’ guides for the training of their children? I have given you enough clues in previous posts so that any self-respecting member of the light-work brigade should be able to name at least one book. (Spoiler alert: I am going to reveal the identity of one of these books before the end of this post. Don’t keep reading if you want to figure it out for yourself first.)

These two Bible books for parents inform our master chart, Crucial Steps to Proverbs 22:6. If someone wants to know where I “came up with” this chart, my answer is “largely from the two volumes of the Bible that were expressly written as parents’ guides.” Certainly many passages outside these two volumes constitute valuable supplementary material. But the key to the chart comes from these two parenting books. Most L-W readers would correctly identify one of these sources as “The Book of Proverbs.” If you did, congratulations!  

The prophet Jeremiah once recounted a common saying in Israel: “The law is not going to be lost to the priest, nor counsel to the sage, nor the divine word to the prophet!” (Jeremiah 18:18). Of the three different modes of divine revelation he cites, Proverbs (along with other wisdom books) fits with this second group and concerns the development of skill in godly living. In the preface to the Book of Proverbs, this purpose is clearly stated: “The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel: To know wisdom and instruction, To discern the sayings of understanding, To receive instruction in wise behavior, Righteousness, justice and equity; To give prudence to the naive, To the youth knowledge and discretion, A wise man will hear and increase in learning, And a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel, To understand a proverb and a figure, The words of the wise and their riddles” (Proverbs 1:1–6).

The majority of this introduction cites the many benefits of the Proverbs of Solomon. But note the two target groups that are specifically identified. In verse four, “the naive” and “the youth” are parallel terms: The “naive” person who lacks good judgment is synonymous with “the youth.” (See Proverbs 7:7 for this same pairing.) This couplet speaks to the wisdom novices. In verse five, “a wise man” is another name for “a man of understanding” – these are synonymous expressions for men on the opposite end of the spectrum from the novices. Taken together, these two pairs declare that Proverbs is intended to benefit the young simpleton for all of his days, even if he someday becomes a true sage. In other words, Proverbs invites the young and naive to enter its school of wisdom as a life commitment.

Proverbs 1:1-6 provides a glimpse of what “Wisdom U” can accomplish in the lives of the young and naive. It promises that even advanced students will not lack for continued benefit at this school. As the young student enters, he is greeted by the school motto, the first principle of wisdom, inscribed over the entrance: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Proverbs 1:7).

Having made his way inside, the young man is introduced to the faculty: “Hear, my son, your father’s instruction And do not forsake your mother’s teaching” (Proverbs 1:8). What follows are the wisdom teachings of parents to their son. For the father teaching his first lessons in Proverbs 101, things have come full circle. He was once the student himself: “Hear, O sons, the instruction of a father, And give attention that you may gain understanding, For I give you sound teaching; Do not abandon my instruction. When I was a son to my father, Tender and the only son in the sight of my mother, Then he taught me and said to me, 'Let your heart hold fast my words; Keep my commandments and live'” (Proverbs 4:1–4).

Proverbs is key to passing along a wisdom legacy from parents to sons (and, by implication, to daughters). Fifteen times in Proverbs, a son (or sons) is called to listen to his father. Here is a representative example: “My son, keep my words And treasure my commandments within you” (Proverbs 7:1). In this book, we hear a father repeatedly calling his son to heed the voice of wisdom, to apply principles of wisdom to special situations, and to learn from observing examples of wise and foolish sons. In Proverbs 31, daughters are introduced to a woman of wisdom worthy of their aspirations. The most reasonable explanation for the striking presence of these verses is that Proverbs is written as the words of a father training his children in the ways of wisdom. (Click Here if you would like to download a categorized list of all the relevant verses.)

At its heart, Proverbs is one of two books of the Bible written expressly for parents training their children to become skilled in godly living. Many others can be helped by Proverbs, and Proverbs has much to say about them. The man who is too loud in the morning; the fool who torches others with his words and demurs, “just kidding;” the man who pursues vain things – these and dozens more can learn much as they see themselves through the lens of wisdom. But Proverbs was not written for them but for the naive young man, and the parents who would train him in the ways of wisdom.

This is the book that explains and illustrates how to “train up a child in the way he should go” (Proverbs 22:6). It is the book where a father enjoins, “My son, eat honey, for it is good, Yes, the honey from the comb is sweet to your taste; Know that wisdom is thus for your soul; If you find it, then there will be a future, And your hope will not be cut off” (Proverbs 24:13–14).

Honey toast, anyone?