So having described a very real event to his son, an event that happens to many young men, what is it that this father gives to his son to defend against the arsenal of a woman such as this?

This father does not add to the arsenal that he has already given but reinforces the instruction that he began with in the first verse of this chapter.

And it all has to do with words.

That is all that God has given us.

As Jesus Christ who is the Word made flesh is our Savior, so are words to be our saviour in the goings and comings of this life.

How powerful and so full are his words as he uses the words hearken and attend.

Both words buttress each other and communicate the seriousness of this father’s instruction.

Hearken means to gather every brain cell to my words, to focus all you have on my words, to hear intelligently implying that great attention is required and obedience is a given.

Attend means to prick up the ears, that is to give heed, to incline, to mark permanently in your mind, to regard as the utmost importance.

Absorb this Bible picture.

Absorb the idea of a father who has such respect and obedience that his son will hearken and attend to the words of his mouth.

If you get nothing else from this lesson get this.

That this father intends and makes it so for his children to hearken and attend to his words.

This does not automatically happen in the home.

The father has to see to it and it takes work and time.

But God gives him 18 to 20 years to see that it happens and God expects it to happen.

Proverbs 7:24-27,  Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye children, and attend to the words of my mouth. ²⁵Let not thine heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths. ²⁶For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have been slain by her. ²⁷Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death.

We have been witness to a father’s instruction to his son.

This instruction places great importance on the son’s obedience to his father’s word.

For his father’s word is designed to erect a wall around the son as a defense against the evils of this world.

This is a father’s duty to his children and this duty is expected by God to be carried out by every father.

For God gives to fathers the necessary authority to perform this duty.

And in carrying out this duty of instruction he very graphically describes the experience of another young man that he witnessed though his latticed window.

He does not shut his eyes to this evil nor does he keep this instruction from his son.

He does not bury his head in the sand and pretend that this future possibility will somehow bypass his son.

His son is of the same flesh as all sons.

He is not embarrassed by this event so that he does not use this experience to instruct his son.

He wants his son to be simple concerning evil but simple concerning evil involves the practice of evil, not the existence of evil.

It means to be harmless when it comes to the practice of evil.

It means having no plan and yielding to none of the attractions of evil.

It means being unacquainted with any plan of evil and avoiding any who would lead into evil.

The father’s desire for his son is to be equipped to discern the good from the evil and to show wisdom, by carefully avoiding the one and cleaving to the other.

The simple, concern themselves with the practice of evil and do not recognize the existence of evil or admit to the power of evil.

We are told in:

Proverbs 27:12,  A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself; but the simple pass on, and are punished.

The prudent man foresees the evil, means that he knows what is taking place and he wants no part in it.

He hideth himself means he bypasses the activity that he knows is evil.

He knows what evil is and therefore is able to discern what to hide or separate from.

But the simple pass on and are punished.

The evil draws the simple into its net and the simple fall right in because there was no hedge constructed around him.

That is what the young man void of understanding did, he passed on to her house and will eventually receive punishment.

But this father shows the existence of evil and prepares his son to defend against it.

Godly young people should be harmless or simple in the practice of evil, but not in their understanding of evil.

I have heard tell that some think children raised in a Christian school are sheltered.

Yes, they ought to be sheltered from the practice of evil but by being taught the Word of God they are convinced of the existence of evil and equipped with the wherewithal to avoid evil.

By knowing the Word of God which is clear as to the existence of evil the hedge should be strong about them to avoid the evil.

The Lord Jesus Christ taught his disciples this in:

Matthew 10:16,  Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.

Know the evil that is there but cause no harm.

There has to be a discernment between the good and the evil.

Again we come back to the scripture where we are taught that the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, who can know it.

This father uses this experience to hammer that truth home by using the way of the young man void of understanding.

For this is of the utmost, a serious business because it concerns eternal things.

As we see as he continues his instruction.

Proverbs 7:24-27,  Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye children, and attend to the words of my mouth. ²⁵Let not thine heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths. ²⁶For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have been slain by her. ²⁷Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death.

So having described a very real event to his son, an event that happens to many young men, what is it that this father gives to his son to defend against the arsenal, the weapons, of a woman such as this?

This father does not add to the arsenal that he has already given but reinforces the instruction that he began with in the first verse of this chapter and throughout his son’s life.

This instruction did not start when his boy was in his teens but it started very early in the son’s life.

But the arsenal, the weaponry, that the godly father provides to his son has only to do with words.

That is all of a lasting nature that God has given us in rearing children.

There is a season for the switch but when the father has to reach up to use the switch the season is over, there is a season for bodily force but when the son grows bigger than the father that season is over, there is a season for commands to be followed because of the father’s presence, but when the father is not there that season is over.

What then is left?

Words will be the only thing that is left.

As Jesus Christ who is the Word made flesh is our Savior, so are words to be our savior in the goings and comings of this life.

Notice the emphasis of this father.

Words, commandments. These are what will last.

We are told to not sacrifice the permanent on the altar of the immediate.

But as we raise our children do we sacrifice the permanent daily when we do not uplift our word and expect them to honor our word, but allow them to disobey and are not voice obedient?

In doing so we throw our word into the gutter as a thing of no value.

That which is plentiful and discarded so easily is of no value!

But our Bible father intends no such thing as he emphasizes words such as hearken and attend.

Both words buttress each other and communicate the seriousness of this father’s instruction.

Hearken means to gather every brain cell to my words, to focus all you have on my words, to hear intelligently implying that great attention is required and obedience is a given.

Attend means to prick up the ears, that is to give heed, to incline, to mark permanently in your mind, to regard as the utmost importance.

Absorb this Bible picture.

Absorb the idea of a father who has such respect and obedience from his son that his son will hearken and attend to the words of his mouth.

Absorb the idea of a father who has words that demand such respect and obedience from his son that his ears are pricked, that his brain cells are gathered to those words that they may be absorbed into himself and become his.

These are words that are based upon the principals of the Word of God, not just any old words.

If you get nothing else from this lesson get this!

That this father intends and makes it so for his children to hearken and attend to his words.

This does not automatically happen in the home.

The father has to see to it and it takes work and time and it takes pressure.

It is easy to lay back and not provide the pressure that our children need to be successful for God.

A father needs to cross his son often so that pressure is applied.

For pressure brings movement and movement brings change.

And God gives him 18 to 20 years to see that he hearkens and attends and God expects it to happen.

That is what God blesses.

God blesses His word and God will bless your word.

You can never uplift word enough.

Many people treat word as though it were litter.

Words pour forth and fall on the ground as though they were of no value.

Children who have been raised this way will have a difficult if not impossible time in receiving God’s word as anything but more litter.

If it were not for God’s grace they could not be saved.

But God exalts word as He exalts Jesus Christ and a father’s word must be so respected as to be exalted.

That is the tone that is expressed in this passage of scripture for the father’s word builds the hedge, builds the boundaries, build’s the wall of wisdom around the son.

Each obeyed word plants a brick in the wall.

Each disobeyed word takes down many bricks and eventually places the son in an open and unprotected condition where all kinds of evil will prevail.

A father’s disobeyed word simply shows disdain and disgust for any word including the Word of God.

Do not permit your heart to deviate from your duty to stay pure and instead follow her ways.

Do not vacillate from my words, to not stray from my commandments, do not reel from the path that my words have placed you on and follow her course of life.

This father puts the responsibility upon the son for this is a matter of his son’s will.

But he can honestly place this responsibility upon his son for he has prepared him and given him an arsenal, he has given him a hedge, which can be used to strengthen his will.

A father who does this can sleep peacefully for he has done his duty and has prepared his son to do his duty when the time comes.

So many father’s wonder at their son’s ways but should look no further than themselves as to those ways for they have failed in doing their duty to their son.

Here we see the result of the simple son who has not been prepared by his father.

It is an eternal result for all results are eternal.

We see that the paths of this strange woman are littered with the debris of many strong men, many wounded men with scars from encounters with her.

Many men who thought themselves strong are dead because of her and many men are in hell because of her.

They choose the path that leads to hell.

The father’s words lead to life but the woman’s words lead to death and eternal punishment.