A foolish son is a grief to his father, and bitterness to her that bare him.
A foolish and wayward son always brings grief to his father's heart and bitterness to the mother who bore him. By contrast a wise son is one who fears the Lord and is therefore a Christian, since the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the contrast shows the sorrow a son brings when he lacks wisdom and goes astray. A wise son instead brings joy and comfort and is a help in his home, growing into one his father can regard with pride and trust to carry on his unfinished plans, and he does not bring sorrow to his parents in their old age.
Whether a boy becomes a joy or a sorrow, a blessing or a curse to his parents, depends largely on the training he is given. Parents must therefore invest time, earnest prayer, care, and painstaking restraint to teach self-control. If they give a bright, headstrong boy loose rein with little or no home training and leave him to follow his own will and wander in idleness while the father is taken up with politics, business, and pleasure and the mother with housework, sewing circle, or daughters, he will take the downward road and make shipwreck of himself. The blame then lies with the parents when they cry out in bitterness of soul against him.
The verse warns that when a mother lets the seeds of evil in her child's heart grow unchecked, the child may come to ruin and bring her shame. In the story of Eli, it warns parents that a child's wrongdoing brings sorrow when they fail to correct him.
A foolish and wayward son always brings grief to his father's heart and bitterness to the mother who bore him. By contrast a wise son is one who fears the Lord and is therefore a Christian, since the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the contrast shows the sorrow a son brings when he lacks wisdom and goes astray. A wise son instead brings joy and comfort and is a help in his home, growing into one his father can regard with pride and trust to carry on his unfinished plans, and he does not bring sorrow to his parents in their old age.
Whether a boy becomes a joy or a sorrow, a blessing or a curse to his parents, depends largely on the training he is given. Parents must therefore invest time, earnest prayer, care, and painstaking restraint to teach self-control. If they give a bright, headstrong boy loose rein with little or no home training and leave him to follow his own will and wander in idleness while the father is taken up with politics, business, and pleasure and the mother with housework, sewing circle, or daughters, he will take the downward road and make shipwreck of himself. The blame then lies with the parents when they cry out in bitterness of soul against him.
The verse warns that when a mother lets the seeds of evil in her child's heart grow unchecked, the child may come to ruin and bring her shame. In the story of Eli, it warns parents that a child's wrongdoing brings sorrow when they fail to correct him.