It’s very easy to talk about Solomon when it comes to Proverbs, right? We do know that Solomon had one wayward son in Rehoboam, who refused to follow the father’s instruction. What we may have ignored is that David had actually in 1 Chronicles 22 the charge of building the temple. 1 Chronicles 22:12-13 to Solomon to follow the Law of the LORD their God. I really believe that David wrote several instructions for Solomon to follow. Solomon would later edit them in the sense, that he would present himself as a speaker, and speak the words that his father had taught him.
Proverbs 4:3-4 has these words written which goes like this:
3 When I was a son with my father, tender, the only one in the sight of my mother. 4 he taught me and said to me, “Let your heart hold fast my words; keep my commandments and live.
We can read through the whole of Proverbs 4 for some sound advice that really came from David, not Solomon. We see how David sings of wisdom in the Book of Psalms. The Book of Psalms is also wisdom advice and not just Proverbs. Solomon himself had to be taught to govern wisely because he was God’s choice to become the next king after David. David may have not thought Solomon to be the next king. Maybe, David wanted Absalom but we know how the latter turned out.
The late J. Vernon McGee’s Thru the Bible Commentary also talks about it in verse 4 in this way which further leads me to believe David did write some of the Proverbs with Solomon:
David probably gave him a great deal of advice. When Solomon was made king, David said to him, “Play the man!” I think he said that because he felt that Solomon was not manly. He said, “Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments and live.” David had learned by experience that you better obey the LORD. Probably David was not as kind in teaching his son as he coudl have been. I have never felt that David was a success as a father. Unfortunately, that has been true of a many great famous men.
The life of David was something that Solomon could emulate. Perhaps you are saying, Yes but look what David did. Well, David’s great sins were committed before Solomon was born, and David had turned from that type of life altogether.
We know how David was a poor father to most of his older sons. Amnon the firstborn was a disappointment and an incestuous pervert. Absalom was infamous for leading a rebellion against his own father David. Later, Adonijah would try to seize the throne for himself. I could blame David’s violation of not having many wives and horses as warned in Deuteronomy 12:16-17. I’m led to believe that David’s sons rebelled against him because he couldn’t keep them in order. How can David keep most of his older sons in order when he had so many wives? In the end, David only loved Bathsheba even if the story too had a very bad start. David was practically old enough to be Bathsheba’s father back in their day. Most marriages happen when people are teenagers, unlike today.
David gave Solomon much advice on how to be a good king. Solomon, like David, had a good start. Later, we read that Solomon backslid horribly in 1 Kings 11. Later, we read Solomon’s whole repentance book in Ecclesiastes. We are made to read the mistakes of the heroes of the Bible so we don’t repeat them.
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