My son, keep your father's commandment,
and forsake not your mother's teaching.
21 Bind them on your heart always;
tie them round your neck.
22 When you walk, they will lead you;
when you lie down, they will watch over you;
and when you awake, they will talk with you.
23 For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light,
and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life,
The one effective antidote to the moral and spiritual declension mentioned in 1-19 is found in cleaving to God and His Word. This is why the words in 20, 21 are repeated- ly echoed in the first nine chapters of Proverbs. As we have seen, 'father's command- ment' can be taken both literally and spiritually, for in fact, inasmuch as children are brought up faithfully to God, their parents' instruction is as the word of God to them. We should note that there is no thought of a generation gap here, indeed the opposite; and when the exhortation is heeded, the promise of God is sure, and a certain kind of expe- rience will result: led by the Word, kept by the Word, communion by the Word (22). The first assurance is basic: we shall be led in God's way, and that leading will be sure; mind and spirit will be so saturated with divine teaching that the divine will and directive will become 'second nature' to us. The idea of being 'kept during sleep' is intriguing, it may simply refer to protection from danger from without (from enemies, and such like) dur- ing the hours of rest, but it may surely also be taken to mean that if our waking hours are spent in obedience to the word of God, our sleeping hours will be blest, not only in terms of reasonable rest and refreshment, but also of being undisturbed by lawless thoughts and dreams; furthermore, God's continuing work will go on unhindered in our lives. He Who keeps Israel slumbers not nor sleeps, but continues His work in us while we do, if our hearts have been towards Him in obedience during the day. That is a com- forting pillow to go to rest on! And when we wake, He is there, whispering in our ear, blessing us in the fellowship of His Spirit. The living Word a glorious reality to us from our first waking thoughts in the morning. This is the heritage of those that heed the voice of wisdom (20, 21).