Wisdom's authority

Proverbs 3:1-2 says: "My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments, 2 for length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you."

Wisdom has an inherent authority that demands acceptance. In this first section of chapter 3, Solomon again references Deuteronomy 6. He has just finished telling his son that the wise will inhabit the land. Now he says “let your heart keep my commandments.” When the wise inherent the land they are to obey God’s commandments.

While it is true that a life lived wisely will generally lead to a longer life (i.e. hard living leads to early dying), this is not primarily what Solomon has in view here (which is the take on this by many commentators, including Goldsworthy and Waltke). Again, Solomon is not only writing to his son, but he is writing to his "son" Israel and giving wisdom in covenantal language.

Contrary to those commentators who claim this word “command” has nothing to do with the Mosaic law, in Proverbs 3:1 Solomon is aligning himself with Moses. Deuteronomy 6:1 says, “Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the rules that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, 2 that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you…” Like the law which demands obedience, Solomon’s wisdom is *not* given with a take-it-or-leave-it option. His wisdom is given within the authority of the law.

The interesting point of Solomon’s interpretation of Deuteronomy 6 in Proverbs 3 is that he places obedience within the realm of the heart. We should learn from Solomon: it is a mistake to think that the Old Testament and its commandments keeping had nothing to say about the heart. The heart was always in view as far as the law was concerned.

When we hear Solomon's wisdom say "let your heart keep my commandments", we who live in the New Covenant must hear Christ, the true Wisdom of God, telling his disciples "if you love me, keep my commandments". Keeping Christ's commandments flows from a new heart (Jeremiah 31:33) in which love for Christ is the motivation for obedience to Him.

Then in Proverbs 3:2, Solomon gives his son the consequence of keeping the commandments: length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you. Again, Deuteronomy 6:2 is important: keep all of his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. 3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.” Life and peace is promised in return for obedience when Israel inhabits the land.

This is another instance of Solomon recasting the Mosaic Covenant and its Law as Wisdom. The “keep my commandments”/"length of life” is for Solomon what “do this and live” is for Moses (Leviticus 18:5). This long life in the Old Testament, not only is the consequence for obeying the covenant of works in the law, it points forward to the resurrection and the new creation of the New Testament in which the longevity of life extends into forever.