- “My son, if your heart is wise, my heart too will be glad. My inmost being will exult when your lips speak what is right” (Proverbs 23:15–16 ESV).
- “Be wise, my son, and make my heart glad, that I may answer him who reproaches me” (Proverbs 27:11 ESV)..
Proverbs shows a father finds joy and public vindication in the acquired wisdom of his son. In my book, Solomon Says (Amazon, Kindle) I write quite a bit of how Proverbs relates to Genesis. The first father-son relationship in the Bible is God’s creation of mankind. That may not seem obvious at first, from Genesis 1 and 2, but Genesis 5 gives us an interpretive key:
This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created. When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.
Genesis 5:1–3 ESV
So being made in God’s image (Genesis 1:26, 27), is to be a son of God. Thus, Luke 3:38 shows God as our ultimate ancestor and the father of Adam. Ultimately, God is the one who delights to see us become wise. Luke, indeed tells us that Jesus was a source of joy to his father while he grew in wisdom.
- “And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him” (Luke 2:40 ESV).
- “And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man” (Luke 2:52 ESV).
But Proverbs, while it points to Jesus, does not apply for him alone. The book of Hebrews refers to how Jesus grew and matured as a model for the lives of believers.
- “For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering” (Hebrews 2:10 ESV).
- “Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him” (Hebrews 5:8–9 ESV).
Jesus learned obedience through suffering and “all who obey him” must learn to do so by the same means. The writer of Hebrews immediately points out (5:11-14) that his readers need to become mature (same word as “perfect”) by being “trained by constant practice.” Indeed, earlier in chapter 2, the author assumes we are going through a similar experience to what Jesus went through: “For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted” (2:18 ESV).
Jesus is portrayed as the ultimate one of those who, by faith, “received their commendation” (11:2). After surveying previous heroes of faith, the author brings the list to its climax in Jesus.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:1–2 ESV
This leads directly to an application of Proverbs 3:11-12:
Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?
Hebrews 12:3–7 ESV
So when Proverbs addresses a son, a christological interpretation does not rule out a general exhortation. Jesus had to suffer as a son God loved, but that does not exhaust the meaning of the passage. All who believe are God’s sons and daughters and they are maturing into wisdom through trials that bring us to what God wants for us. He exults when we become wise. He stops the mouths of his accusers by displaying the growth and transformation of his sons and daughters.
This may explain something about the book of Job. While Job was unique and what happened to him was extreme, why shouldn’t we learn a general lesson that applies to all of us? “And the LORD said to Satan, ‘Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?’” (Job 1:8–9 ESV). Clearly, God wants to boast about us! Is this not what the Apostle Paul writes about every genuine believer? “His praise is not from man but from God” (Romans 2:29 ESV). Paul’s statement is focused on the temptation to acquire human approval, but it assumes that there is another source of approval available. God wants to praise us!
Jesus himself taught this in his parable of the talents. “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master” (Matthew 25:21, also 23).
All of this is implied in the fact that God created a race of sons and daughters to subdue the earth and have dominion over it (Genesis 1:28). Why did God need rulers when he already ruled over creation as the omnipotent creator? For some reason he was pleased to not rule only through his power. He wanted children to join in. He wanted finite replicas of himself to do what he was already doing, though, of course, do so in a finite way. As I argue in my book, the fact that humanity is to grow in their role as rulers over the earth means that, in taking dominion of the world, they must take dominion of themselves. They must grow in wisdom.
God loves to witness that growth. And he delights in the result of it. We are created in God’s image but we can become more like him and, in that process, get to know God better. We make God’s heart glad.