The generalisation of the first nine chapters here descends into particular applications. The chemist dilates upon the power and excellence of certain elements, and then illustrates what he has affirmed by showing their action in particular cases. Solomon has dwelt long upon the general blessings which will flow from listening to the counsels of Divine Wisdom, and he now shows some particular instances of it. He begins with its effect in the family. Consider-- +I. How the author here speaks from personal experience.+ 1. _In his relation to his father._ Men in positions of far less importance than that which David held are solicitous that their sons should possess such a character and such mental qualifications as will enable them to fulfil the duties which they will bequeath to them at their own departure from the world. The owner of a large estate, if he has a right sense of his own responsibilities, desires that his heir should be one who will exercise his stewardship wisely and generously. The head of a mercantile firm hopes that the son who is to succeed to his position will be prudent and far-seeing, and possess an aptitude for business. If a monarch is what he ought to be, and feels how very great is his power for good or evil, it will be a matter of the deepest anxiety to him that the son who is one day to sit upon the throne should be one who will discharge his weighty duties wisely and well. David was such a monarch, and we can well imagine how great was his solicitude that his well-beloved son Solomon should possess such gifts and graces as would enable him worthily to fulfil the high position he would one day be called to occupy. And, from what we know of Solomon's youth and early manhood, we have every reason to believe that he was such a son as gladdened his father's heart. In the wonderful seventy-second Psalm--which, although it has its entire fulfilment only in the "greater than Solomon," refers, doubtless, in the first instance, to the great king--we have a glimpse of David's desires and hopes concerning him. He begins with a prayer for him: "Give the king Thy judgments, O God, and Thy righteousness unto the king's son" (verse 1). And then he gives utterance to the hopes which he cherished concerning his prosperous and beneficent reign--hopes which, alas! would have been sadly dimmed could he have foreseen the cloud which overshadowed Solomon's later days, but which were founded in the evidences which he gave of youthful piety and devotion. Solomon knew that he had been the gladness of his father's heart, because he had been a "wise son," and therefore he spoke from experience when he uttered the first clause of this proverb. But he spoke no less from experience when he gave utterance to the opposite truth. Solomon was a father as well as a son, and he speaks 2. _In his relation to his son._ Rehoboam's youth and manhood--for he was a man long before his father's death--were not, we may fairly conclude,