God’s Image Study • Commandment 5: Father and Mother
Honoring father and mother brings us into a relationship with instruction. Proverbs asks the son to retain what both provide, then follows that instruction into the heart and the daily walk.
Held Together Within the Heart
Proverbs 6:20 names the father’s commandment and the mother’s law, with the LSB footnote also giving instruction for law. Verse 21 directs the son to bind them continually upon his heart.
Both are retained. The passage then describes guidance while walking, protection while sleeping, and speech upon waking. Read Proverbs 6:20–22.
There is a detail worth noticing: where the LSB reads “they” in verse 22, its footnotes preserve the literal “she.” The instruction is presented as an active, accompanying presence.
This feminine wording deserves attention as we follow the imagery of teaching and wisdom through Scripture.
Lamp, Light, and Life
Verse 23 connects commandment with a lamp, law or instruction with light, and disciplinary correction with the way of life.
The following verses explain an immediate purpose: protection from the seductive speech that draws someone into adultery. Instruction guards the hearer against a competing voice and a destructive desire. Read Proverbs 6:23–29.
Wisdom Raises Her Voice
Proverbs 1 also begins with the father’s instruction and the mother’s law. Later, Wisdom calls publicly—in the streets and at the city gates. Her appeal includes turning at correction and receiving what she makes known.
The passage examines the consequences of refusing to listen as well as the security associated with hearing her. Read Proverbs 1:8–9, 20–33.
Placed alongside Proverbs 6, this develops our examination of voice, instruction, response, and preservation.
Does a voice appeal to what I already desire, or lead me toward what is right? Am I willing to receive correction when it exposes something I would rather protect?
God’s Word Illuminates the Walk
Psalm 119:105 describes God’s word as a lamp for the feet and light for the path. Later, the psalm connects the unfolding of His words with light and understanding. Read Psalm 119:105, 130.
These connections invite us to examine the source and content of instruction. What illuminates our path should help us walk faithfully before God.
Carrying Motherhood into the Wider Study
Paul explicitly identifies Jerusalem above as our mother in a discussion of freedom and children of promise. Read Galatians 4:26–31.
This gives us a further relationship to follow alongside the mother’s teaching in Proverbs and the Jerusalem imagery examined in our Bridegroom and Bride Study.
We will attend to how these passages connect motherhood with belonging, instruction, and life, preserving the details each contributes.
Threads to Follow
Jerusalem as Mother: Examine freedom, promise, nourishment, and children.
Christ’s fatherhood: Follow Isaiah 9:6 alongside his role in bringing life.
Hearing and honoring: Consider how receiving faithful instruction relates to the fifth commandment’s promise.
The books were opened…
🌿 By Maria Emilia
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