Pass On The Lessons from the Past - Proverbs 4

 Proverbs 4:3

When I was a boy in my father’s house,

still tender, and an only child of my mother

Children ought to be tender in our sight. In this proverb Solomon is going back to his youth. He remembers the time when his father, David, king of Israel, would sit him on his lap and give him instructions. He is recalling how precious he was to his mother, Bathsheba. It must've been a great memory to him, and it must've been the basis for the teaching and studies he is providing us. Yet, if you look at his history you will note that not everything in his past was what it should've been. His mother, Bathsheba, is the one who had an affair with King David.  To be honest toward Bathsheba, it was probably David that forced her into the relationship. But nevertheless, many in Israel, at the time, may not have seen Bathsheba and therefore Solomon, in the same light as we do today. Solomon was a child born after David had Bathsheba’s father killed and the child born out of that affair had died in infancy.  Solomon's mother may have had some real issues in her life as a result of her past with King David. She had baggage. Yet Salomon only recalls the tenderness of his youth. He only recalls how special he was to his mother and to his father. All of us have baggage, or, so the saying goes. It is so important that we don't transfer that baggage to our children. The memories that our children have, as they grow up, ought to be like that of Solomon.  Solomon knew just enough about his mother and father's past to weave it carefully and comfortably into his teaching. (We should note that throughout the book of Proverbs, Solomon uses adultery as a metaphor for folly vs wisdom.  Ironic he would do that, have come from David and Bathsheba.) 

Solomon didn't grow up having to live their past: To be burdened with it. Let's make sure that our children grow up with a tender past and not anchored by those events that we regret and must bare as a burden. Our past should not complicate our children's present lives. It should propel them like it did Solomon; to become great teachers of the lessons we can give them through the past pain and suffering. We should not ignore the past!  But we can pass on to our children the things that we have learned and experienced so that those truths might be the bedrock of their own future.  King David and Queen Bathsheba learned valuable lessons during those times. They made sure that Solomon learned them in a tender way that he might pass them onto us in an inspiring way.