Proverbs 4:6 Commentary and Bible Study

‘Forsake her not’, and the Hebrew is ‘loosen away not from her’. Well, how would you do that? It is not forsake here in the sense of suddenly discard her. It is, do not loosen in your relationship with her. Now you have found the perfect and the tender bride, do not in your foolishness lose interest in her. And that so often what happens, alas, in marriage. People experience love in courtship, and they marry, and then almost at once, and it is usually the man first, are loosened in this way. In his foolishness, he ceases to appreciate his bride, and he is drawn aside by his interests and his desire for fulfilment in his business, or other pursuits, or other interests. We do not yet have in mind unfaithfulness, or another woman; this is just foolishness. Oh, says Solomon, forsake her not. Do not lose your appreciation of her. You have just embarked on the beginning of a lifelong mutual discovery, the discovery of one another, and drawing even closer, and being more supportive, and a greater blessing to each other. But this is not primarily about marriage, this is an illustration of seeking salvation, and the benefits of salvation. Do not lose interest in your tender bride. Do not lose appreciation. You see the picture here is all one way: this is the man’s affection for the woman. The picture here is of a tender bride, and she is very fond of him, and she has powerful affection, and great potential to shape and bless his life, and his family. But he is already losing his sense of appreciation, and in his fickleness he is being drawn aside to other things. ‘Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee; love her, and she shall keep thee’, she will preserve and protect you. Of course, the bride of ancient times had many, many responsibilities. We see from the closing chapters of Proverbs all that the wife in the family may do. She would virtually keep the accounts for the smallholding; run the business as it were, buy and sell fields. She did a great deal besides looking after the family and the welfare and training of the children. She enriched the whole home, and added much to it with her talents and her abilities, and her gifts. But here it says she will preserve, she will protect. She will be your protection from fraud and from cheating when you have not seen what people are doing to you, implies Solomon. She will keep you, which means hold your interests highly in her concern. The idea of keep or guard, why, it is the thought of a bodyguard. You have a bodyguard, that person must get between you and the bullet if you are some great person. That person must have your interests at heart.