20 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,
We should not miss the significance of the description of the law of God as lamp and light, in 23. The implication is surely that the law is not bondage, but liberty. To think of it in restrictive terms is to misunderstand it. It is true that in the contrast that is sometimes presented between law and grace it has this meaning; but when the Old Tes- tament speaks of the law as it does in these verses, it has no reference to legalism at all, but speaks rather in terms of the glorious liberty of the children of God. This is the force of the last statement in 23 'reproofs of instruction are the way of life'. Such reproofs might seem to be in their essence restrictive, but it is a mistaken idea to suppose so. A horse might think the bit and bridle to be restrictive of its liberty, but in fact the control and discipline they place upon it brings out the best in the animal. The law, with its re- proofs of instruction, does exactly the same, rightly understood. You will always, of course, on occasion find a horse that refuses the bit and bridle; and there are those peo- ple who cannot stand correction; but the future is never very bright for such. For those, however, who can take correction, and stand reproof, there is almost no limit to the ad- vance that can be made in the spiritual life.