Proverbs 10

At first glance these thirty two proverbs attributed to Solomon might seem to be unrelated, but looks especially at a glance can be deceiving. With the first verse of chapter ten, one can imagine Solomon leaning over and speaking softly to a child, sharing wisdom from years of experience. His observation is that the wise son brings joy to his father, but foolish son brings grief to his mother. Solomon uses the net nineteen chapters to expand on the type of wisdom a son should exercise. There are some overarching themes in these verses, such as the taming of the tongue and having wisdom of when to speak and when not to speak. Another is having the wisdom and foresight of not being lazy since laziness bring poverty. The last overarching theme here is that of integrity. Verses 7-10 speak of righteousness, obedience and love.

These thirty two sentences also share the same structure for the most part. The first sentence is a contrast to the second and this contrast is usually indicated with the use of the word ‘but.’ The contrast in these verses are between righteous and wicked, lazy and diligent, wise and a fool. Daily living is hard, but with a little wisdom we can navigate life better.