The Covenantal Economy: Honor, Truth, and Joy Text: Proverbs 23:22-25
Introduction: A Generational War
We are living in the middle of a great unraveling. Our civilization is not just fraying at the edges; it is deliberately sawing off the branch it is sitting on. And the central point of attack, the place where the enemy has concentrated his fire, is the family. Every revolutionary movement, from the Jacobins to the Bolsheviks to the sexual liberationists of our own day, understands that you cannot create a new world order without first demolishing the old one. And the old one, the creational one, is built on the foundation of father, mother, and children.
Our age despises this structure. It despises fatherhood, calling it patriarchy. It despises motherhood, calling it drudgery. It despises the wisdom of the aged, calling it bigotry. And it despises the gift of children, calling them a carbon footprint. In place of this God-given order, it offers a toxic sludge of autonomy, self-invention, and perpetual adolescence. The result is a generation that is adrift, cynical, fragile, and desperately unhappy. They have been taught to despise their fathers and to be embarrassed by their mothers. They have been told that truth is a commodity to be sold for social acceptance, and that joy is found in the pursuit of fleeting pleasures.
Into this chaos, the book of Proverbs speaks with the force of a thunderclap. It does not offer gentle suggestions or therapeutic advice. It lays down the law of reality. It describes how the world actually works, because it describes the world that God made. The passage before us today is a dense, potent distillation of covenantal wisdom. It addresses the fundamental duties of children to their parents, the non-negotiable value of truth, and the resulting joy that flows from a rightly ordered household. This is not just good advice for a stable society. This is the blueprint for a culture that endures. This is the pattern for generational faithfulness.
The Text
Listen to your father who begot you,
And do not despise your mother when she is old.
Buy truth, and do not sell it,
Get wisdom and discipline and understanding.
The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice,
And he who begets a wise son will be glad in him.
Let your father and your mother be glad,
And let her rejoice who gave birth to you.
(Proverbs 23:22-25 LSB)
The Unpayable Debt of Honor (v. 22)
We begin with the foundational command, which echoes the fifth commandment.
"Listen to your father who begot you, And do not despise your mother when she is old." (Proverbs 23:22)
The first clause is direct: "Listen to your father who begot you." This is about more than just auditory reception. The Hebrew word for "listen" is shama, which means to hear intelligently and with intent to obey. It is the same word used in the Shema: "Hear, O Israel." This is a call to submission, to receive instruction. And the basis for this obligation is creational: "who begot you." Your very existence is owed to him, acting as God's agent. This is not a relationship you entered into by choice; it is a given. It is a fixed reality. To rebel against your father is to rebel against the very structure of your existence. Our culture of autonomy hates this. It wants all relationships to be contractual, voluntary, and easily dissolvable. But the family is covenantal, permanent, and hierarchical. Your father is your head. You are to listen to him.
The second clause balances the first: "And do not despise your mother when she is old." Why is this specified? Because the temptation shifts with time. A young child is tempted to disobey his father's strength and authority. An older, established son is tempted to despise his mother's weakness and frailty. As she ages, her physical strength wanes, her mind may not be as sharp, and she becomes dependent. The world, which worships at the altar of youth, power, and utility, sees such a person as a burden. The world says, "Put her in a home and forget about her." But the Word of God says her value is not in her utility but in her identity. She is your mother. The one who bore you, nursed you, and sat up with you through fevers. To despise her in her old age is a particularly grotesque form of ingratitude. It is to forget the unpayable debt you owe her. Honor is not transactional. You don't honor your parents because they are performing well. You honor them because of who they are. This is the bedrock of a stable society, because it teaches us to honor God, whom we honor not for His performance, but for His identity.
The Supreme Commodity (v. 23)
Next, Solomon tells us what to acquire with all our might, and what must never be for sale.
"Buy truth, and do not sell it, Get wisdom and discipline and understanding." (Proverbs 23:23)
This is the language of commerce, but applied to the highest values. "Buy truth." This means you are to pursue truth at great cost. It will cost you time, effort, comfort, and popularity. It may cost you your job or your reputation. Truth is not something you stumble over; it is something you must actively, sacrificially acquire. You must hunt for it. And once you have it, you must "not sell it." This is the great temptation of our age. We are constantly pressured to sell the truth for a bowl of cultural pottage. Sell the truth about creation for academic respectability. Sell the truth about male and female for peace at the office. Sell the truth about sin and salvation to avoid being called a bigot. But truth is not a negotiable asset. It is the gold standard of reality. To sell it is to declare spiritual bankruptcy.
The verse then unpacks what this truth consists of: "Get wisdom and discipline and understanding." These are not separate commodities, but facets of the same jewel. Wisdom (hokmah) is the skill of godly living, the ability to apply God's truth to real-life situations. Discipline (musar) is the moral training and correction that shapes character. It's the willingness to be corrected, to learn from rebuke. Understanding (binah) is the discernment to distinguish between truth and error, good and evil. Notice the progression. You listen to your parents (v. 22), and what you are to listen to is this instruction in truth, wisdom, discipline, and understanding. This is the inheritance a godly father leaves his son. It is of infinitely more value than money or land.
The Father's Great Joy (v. 24)
Verse 24 describes the emotional and spiritual dividend that comes from this kind of covenantal faithfulness.
"The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice, And he who begets a wise son will be glad in him." (Proverbs 23:24)
Here is the payoff. A father's deepest joy is not found in his son's athletic success, his financial prosperity, or his worldly fame. The thing that causes a father to "greatly rejoice" is to see his son become a righteous man. It is a joy rooted in character, not in circumstance. The word for "righteous" here is tsaddiq. It means one who is in right relationship with God and who therefore lives rightly before men. It is a son who has bought the truth and refused to sell it.
The second clause parallels the first: "he who begets a wise son will be glad in him." Righteousness and wisdom are two sides of the same coin. A righteous man is one who lives wisely. This is the goal of all Christian parenting. We are not raising children to be happy, though happiness is a wonderful byproduct. We are raising them to be righteous and wise. This is what brings gladness to a father's heart. Why? Because it means the covenant is being passed down. It means his life's work has not been in vain. It is the joy of seeing the family name honored, not in the pages of a business journal, but in the book of life. This is covenant succession in its essence.
The Compounded Gladness (v. 25)
The final verse expands this joy to include both parents, with a special emphasis on the mother.
"Let your father and your mother be glad, And let her rejoice who gave birth to you." (Proverbs 23:25)
This verse is not a command to the parents, but to the son. It is the result of the preceding verses. "Let your father and your mother be glad." Your conduct, your character, your wisdom, these are the things that are to be the source of your parents' gladness. You have a moral obligation to live in such a way that your parents can rejoice over you. This cuts straight across the grain of rebellious individualism, which says, "It's my life, and I'll do what I want." No, your life is not your own. You are connected. Your choices have consequences for those who brought you into the world.
And then, a beautiful and tender conclusion: "And let her rejoice who gave birth to you." The mother is mentioned specifically. Why? Because her investment is unique. She is the one who endured the pains of labor. She is the one whose body was the vessel for your life. Her joy is therefore unique. A father's joy is often in the public righteousness of his son, the man who stands at the city gates. A mother's joy is often more visceral, more personal. To see the child she bore walk in wisdom is the ultimate vindication of her sacrifice. It is the crown of her life. A wise and righteous son is God's great gift of gladness to his mother.
Conclusion: The Gospel Economy
This entire passage is a picture of the covenantal economy, an economy of honor, truth, and joy. But like every part of the Old Testament, it finds its ultimate fulfillment in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the perfect Son, the one who perfectly listened to His Father. He is the one who never despised his mother, but cared for her even from the cross.
Jesus is the one who "bought truth" for us. He purchased it not with silver or gold, but with His own precious blood. He is the very embodiment of truth, wisdom, and understanding. And He never sold it, though He was tempted with all the kingdoms of the world.
And because of His perfect righteousness, His Father "greatly rejoices" in Him. At His baptism, the Father's voice thundered from heaven, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." This is the ultimate gladness of the ultimate Father in the ultimate Son.
And here is the gospel. In ourselves, we are foolish and rebellious sons. We have despised our parents, sold the truth for trifles, and brought grief instead of joy. But in Christ, we are adopted. God becomes our Father, and He looks upon us and sees the perfect righteousness of His only begotten Son. Through faith, we are brought into this family, into this covenantal economy. And now, by the power of His Spirit, we are enabled to begin to live as true sons. We can learn to honor our earthly parents, to buy truth, and to bring joy to our Father in Heaven. For He is the Father of all who are righteous in Christ, and He will greatly rejoice over us, forever.