The ideal teacher
Solomon had all possible advantages to qualify him for the work of a teacher of men. He had
I. IS AFFECTED BY THE PRESENCE OF IGNORANCE AND ERROR. He notices the "simple" man and the "young man" (Proverbs 1:4); he has regard to the fact that there are those about him who need to be led into the paths of "justice and judgment and equity"(Proverbs 1:3). His eye rests on these; his mind perceives how urgently they need the "instruction" and "understanding" which will save them from the perils to which they are exposed; his heart goes out to them; his sympathies embrace them; he desires "to give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion." He is, therefore, the man who—
II. CONVEYS KNOWLEDGE.
1. He seeks to impart a knowledge of facts; to give "instruction" (Proverbs 1:2); to make known to the simple-minded and inexperienced the truth that "all is not gold that glitters," that men are often very different from that which they seem to be, that under a fair exterior there may lurk uttermost corruption, that the sweetest morsels may be the introduction to bitterest consequences, etc.
2. He seeks also to convey a knowledge of principles; to give "understanding;" to make plain to the mind distinctions between that which is true and that which is false, that which is honourable and that which is shameful, that which elevates and that which lowers, that which is permissible and that which is desirable. He is, further, the man who—
III. IMPARTS WISDOM. He will not be content until he has instilled into the mind and introduced to the heart discretion (Proverbs 1:4) and wisdom itself (Proverbs 1:2). Wisdom is the pursuit of the highest end by the surest means. No teacher of men who recognizes his true position will ever be contented until he has led his disciples to walk in the path of wisdom—to be seeking after the noblest ends for which God gave us our being, and to be seeking them by those ways which are sure to lead thereto.
1. Our highest wisdom is to seek "the kingdom of God, and his righteousness" (Matthew 6:33).
2. Our one "Way" is the Son of God himself (John 14:6). The true teacher thus becomes the man who—
IV. CONDUCTS TO MORAL EXCELLENCE. For he who is the child of wisdom will also receive the instruction of "justice and judgment and equity." He will be a man who will have continual regard to the claims of his fellow men; who will shrink from encroaching on their rights; who will endeavour to give to them the consideration, the care, the kindness, which they may rightly look for as children of the same Father, as disciples of the same Saviour, as citizens of the same kingdom, as travellers to the same home. The ideal teacher will also be a man who—
V. FOSTERS INTELLECTUAL GROWTH. (Proverbs 1:5, Proverbs 1:6.) We ourselves are not truly and satisfactorily progressing except our mental capacities are being developed, and thus truth and wisdom are being seen with clearer eye and held with tighter grasp. The wise man is therefore bent on training, exercising, bracing the intellectual faculties of his disciple, so that he "will increase learning," will "attain to wise counsels," will think out and see through the proverbs and problems, the puzzles and perplexities, which come up for investigation. We know something in order that we may know much. We are wise that we may become wiser. We climb the first slope of the hill of heavenly truth that we may ascend the one which is beyond; we master the "deep things of God" that we may look into those which are deeper and darker still. Ours is ever to be the spirit of holy inquiry; not of querulous impatience, but of patient, untiring effort to understand all those truths which are within our reach, waiting for the fuller revelation of the days which are to come.—C.