Proverbs 17:6 Commentary and Bible Study

To translate with the bare word ‘grandchildren’ may be a literal rendering, but it obscures the more general idea of the multitude of descendants that is in mind here. The proverb teaches the importance and value of respect across the generations in both directions: from fathers to children, and from children to fathers. Societies will be strong where these generational ties are in place, for they exhibit the wholesome compassion of fathers towards their children and children’s children, which makes them protective and wise in preparing their offspring for the difficulties of life and ready to warn them of the pitfalls and snares they will encounter. In the other direction it makes the children submit to parental authority and have respect for all the older generations who have trodden life’s paths before them.The spiritual equivalent of this is easy to see, for Scripture often calls the relationship between the gospel preacher and those who come to faith through his labours a spiritual father-son relationship (1 Corinthians 4:15). Within the church we are to honour those who have gone before us in the life of faith (Leviticus 19:32; Job 32:6; 1 Timothy 5:1-2). A pastor looks upon the assembled congregation and remembers that this one and that one came to faith. They each had their individual pathway and struggles, but they experienced the same stages of seeking, of repentance and faith, and now God has planted them in his church so they are one with God’s people. These are the children and maybe grandchildren of the pastor of that church and of others in the congregation who also were instrumental in their conversion. Christian parents pray continually for the conversion and spiritual good of their children, not regarding them as so many parents in the world do, as extensions of their own ambition, and instruments of their own hunting after human praise by proxy. Their children’s greatest good is not their education or their enrichment or their fame or security in this world, but their understanding of the purpose of life, their reconciliation with God through Jesus Christ, their instrumentality in the kingdom of heaven, the transformation of their character. These things fill the parents’ hearts with joy because they are enduring riches which will not be taken away by death. Children must not therefore be taken over-seriously, with parents only able to talk about their children’s accomplishments. Children need to learn that they take second place to the Lord and their parents’ priorities put the Lord first so that children are expected to make the same sacrifices along with their parents for the Lord’s sake. Parents are training their children to serve the Lord as they do. This means learning to do things for him even before they know him, just as Israel was trained to live for God and serve him in external ritual partly as a means of bring them to know him. It is a tremendous thing when there is unity across the generations.