Proverbs 17:25

Pro 17:25 A foolish son [is] a grief to his father, and bitterness to her that bare him.

Ver. 25. A foolish son is a grief to his father.] {See Trapp on "Pro 10:1"} {See Trapp on "Pro 15:20"}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Pro 17:25-26. A foolish son, &c. — This was said before, Pro 15:20, and elsewhere; but he here repeats it, as a point of great moment and constant use, and as a powerful motive to oblige both children to conduct themselves wisely and dutifully toward their parents, as they would not be thought to be unnatural and inhuman, and parents to educate their children prudently and religiously, at least for their own comfort, if not for the public good. Also to punish, &c. — The particle also, here, seems to have relation to the foregoing sentence, and to imply that, as it is a very evil thing for children to cause grief to their parents, so is it also to do what here follows. To punish the just is not good — For parents, princes, or rulers, (to whom alone this power belongs,) to punish innocent and good men, is highly evil and abominable; nor to strike princes for equity — Nor to smite magistrates, either with the hand or tongue, for the execution of justice, as condemned persons are apt to do. But some learned interpreters read this clause, Nor for princes to strike any man for equity, or for doing his duty, or what is just. The Hebrew will very well bear this reading, and it agrees better with the former clause than that which our translators have adopted. Besides that it belongs properly to princes, or magistrates, to punish or strike.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

17:25 Foolish children: This proverb is equally true of sons and daughters.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Observe, 1. Wicked children are an affliction to both their parents. They are an occasion of anger to the father (so the word signifies), because they contemn his authority, but of sorrow and bitterness to the mother, because they abuse her tenderness. The parents, being joint-sufferers, should therefore bring mutual comfort to bear them up under it, and strive to make it as easy as they can, the mother to mollify the father's anger, the father to alleviate the mother's grief. 2. That Solomon often repeats this remark, probably because it was his own case; however, it is a common case.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

a grief--or cross, vexation (compare Pro 17:21; Pro 10:1).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

A foolish son is a grief to his father,.... Because of his folly and wickedness, and the ruin he is bringing himself to;

and bitterness to her that bare him; a cause of bitterness of soul to his mother, more distressing than the bitter pains with which she brought him forth into the world. Jarchi, by the father, understands the blessed God; and by her that bare him, the congregation of Israel; to whom Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, was bitterness, who caused Israel to sin; see Pro 10:1.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Compare Pro 17:21. Here is added a reference to the sorrow which the folly of a child brings especially to the mother.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

This he said before, Pro 15:20, and elsewhere; but he here repeats it as a point of great moment and constant use, and as a powerful motive to oblige both children to carry themselves wisely and dutifully to their parents, as they would not be thought to be unnatural or inhuman, and parents to educate their children prudently and religiously, at least for their own comfort, if not for the public good.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

25. Foolish son — Comp, Pro_17:21; Pro_10:1.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

This verse is more or less a repetition of ver. 21; Pro_10:1 Pro_15:20; and comp. Pro_19:13. A grief (kaas). The Vulgate and Septuagint translate, "anger." A foolish son provokes the wrath of his father, and is bitterness to her that bare him, "Bitterness" (memer) oesurs nowhere else; mar and marar are common enough.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The series of proverbs, v. 25-18:2, begins and closes in the same way as the preceding, and only Pro 17:26 stands by itself without apparent connection.

This verse begins connecting itself with Pro 17:21 :

A grief to his father is a foolish son,

And a bitter woe for her that bare him.

The ἅπ. λεγ. ממר is formed from מרר (to be bitter, properly harsh), as מכס from כּסס. The Syr. and Targ. change the subst. into participles; some codd. also have ממר (after the forms מחל, מסב, מפר, מרע), but as may be expected in 25a, מבעיס. The dat. obj. instead of the accus. may be possible; the verse immediately following furnishes a sufficient example of this.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

Surely the Divine Spirit did not repeat the proverb (Pro 17:21 ) for nought. Was it not to deepen our sense of parental responsibility and filial obligation? Can parents be insensible to the prospect of this grief? Can children be hardened into the unnatural selfishness of piercing a parent’s heart with such bitterness? (Pro 19:13 .) The mother’s anguish is here added to the father’s grief. (Gen 26:35 .) "As a sword in her bones," is the apprehension of having "brought forth children to the murderer." (Hos 9:13 .) How uncertain are the dearest comforts of earth! Our fallen mother anticipated the joy of "having gotten a man" — perhaps the promised seed — "from the LORD." (Gen 4:1 .) Yet to the bitterness of her soul "he was of that wicked one, and slew his brother." (1Jn 3:12 .) Her daughter naturally "remembereth no more her sorrow, for joy that a man is born into the world." (Joh 16:21 .) Already she grasps the delightful vision of his infant training, and ripening maturity. And yet too often he proves in the end a foolish son, and bitterness to her that bare him.

Absalom was named ’His father’s peace.’ Yet was he the source of his most poignant grief. This is not the "weeping of a night," succeeded by a "joyous morning" (Psa 30:5 ); but the "heaviness that maketh the heart stoop" (Pro 12:25 ), perhaps for years, perhaps to the end of days. Its connection with eternity gives to the trial its keenest edge. To see a foolish son hurried irrevocably into his eternal doom — Oh! this to the godly parent is an awful conflict. (2Sa 18:33 .) Strong indeed must be that faith (yet such faith has been vouchsafed)†1 which bows reverentially to the Divine Sovereignty, and maintains the serenity of peaceful submission.

But parental anxieties and sorrows must stimulate the enquiry — ’How may this piercing thorn be spared, this bitter grief — the bitterest that ever a parent’s heart can know — averted?’ The primary root of this sorrow is the indulgence of the will.†2 The vast power of parental influence must be used wisely, at once, at any cost. We must not instruct, or entreat only, but command.†3 We must allow no appeal from our authority, no reversal of our decision. This discipline in the spirit of love, and enforced by example, is God’s honoured ordinance.

Then to give power to all other means, there must be a living faith in the word of God. For if I really believe that awful fact, that my child is "a child of wrath," that Satan claims a right in him, and that if he die unconverted, hell must be his everlasting portion; shall not I apply myself with ceaseless energy to all the means for his soul’s salvation; under the clear conviction, that if he be not saved, "good were it for him that he had not been born"?

But this faith brings encouragement fully proportioned to the tremendous anxiety. For, if I be a Christian Parent, may I not claim a place for my child in the covenant of God? (Gen 17:7 .) May I not plead with him, and for him as a covenanted child? Here I desire to exercise a sound balance of well-disciplined confidence; encouraging parental hopes, and moderating parental anxieties. The law of the kingdom is, "that men should pray always, and not faint." (Luk 18:1 .) The fondest desires may not be accomplished till the eleventh hour. There may be many haltings, many withering blasts, many windings of the path. But "the bread cast upon the waters shall be found," though it be not till "after many days." (Ecc 11:1 .)

Only let us see to it, that our faith proves it soundness as a practical principle. Do parents never pray, that God would take their children as his own, while yet they train them, as if they were for the world? Are we sure, that we desire nothing for them besides, or unconnected with, eternal life?†4 One such desire stirs up another; till at length these few little things thrust down the primary blessing from its place, and it becomes a nullity.

In fine — would we look for rest in our beloved children? (Gen 5:29, margin=Noah: Gr. Noe: that is Rest, or, Comfort ) Hold them loose for ourselves; fast for God. Connect them early with his Church. Train their first years in his yoke. Instead of a sinking grief to us, they will then be "the restorers of our life, and the nourishers of our age." (Rth 4:15 .) Instead of being our bitterness as rebels against God, he will own and seal them, as "a seed to serve him, to declare his righteousness," to set forth his praise. (Psa 22:31 ; Psa 92:13 .)

Footnotes:

†1 Lev 10:1-3. 1Sa 3:18 .

†2 Pro 29:15.

†3 Gen 18:19. 1Sa 2:23-25 .

†4 Mark the golden rule, on which all hangs, Mat 6:33 .

Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs (1846) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

v. 25. A foolish son is a grief to his father, causing him sorrow and mourning, and bitterness to her that bare him, by the vexation which he causes.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

A foolish son is a grief to his father

This speaks of a son causing his father grief as if the son himself were "grief." AT: "A foolish son brings grief to his father"

A foolish son ... and bitterness to the woman

This speaks of a son causing his mother bitterness as if the son himself were "bitterness." AT: "A foolish son ... and brings bitterness to the woman"

who bore him

"who gave birth to him"

bitterness

emotional pain, sorrow

it is never good ... neither is it good

These statements can be written in positive form. AT: "it is always wrong ... and it is evil" (See: Litotes)

the righteous person

Another possible meaning is "the innocent person," anyone whom others have accused of a crime that he did not commit.

flog

whip severely

who have integrity

The word "integrity" can be expressed with the adjective "honest." AT: "who are honest" (See: Abstract Nouns)

translationWords

fool

punish

noble

integrity

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

A foolish son causes anger to his father [A foolish son] like Jeroboam causes anger to the Holy One, blessed be He.

and bitterness to her who bore him To the people of Israel, whom he caused to sin.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.