𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐛𝐬 𝟑𝟎:𝟏𝟕 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐲𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐲 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐲

How bad is a teenager rolling his eyes at parents? God sent His answer by the pen of Agur the prophet. Birds of prey will rip out the eyeballs of such terrible children and eat them! God will make them a public spectacle with horrific judgment for this wicked crime against father or mother. How much more the disrespect commonly allowed today! Is this proverb out of place in the 21st century, as most of this effeminate and rebellious generation would say? You must choose – God’s inspired Bible is wrong, or His decreed statutes are right. Solomon’s father David wrote of God’s laws, “Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way” (Ps 119:128). If you are one of the very rare thinking people still on earth, you know something is wrong somewhere, because the disrespect of authority at all levels and in all spheres is confusing and troubling. The change in a few decades has been great. What is the cause? What is the cure? What is the future of society without a return to honoring authority? Parents are the first authority children meet in life. If they do not learn to obey and honor parents, they will disregard other authority figures. Even facial dishonor of parents should be punished. God hates irreverent looks, gestures, and attitudes toward parents, so this proverb is added to God’s censure of verbal offences against parents (Pr 20:20; 30:11). Such a strong stand for parental reverence is lost today, though your grandparents knew it well. The result of rebellious, dysfunctional, selfish, and lazy young people should not surprise you. A prime theme of entertainment today, and a daily event in most homes, is flagrant disrespect of parents. This proverb sounds Neanderthal in the modern world. But it is the infallible word of Jehovah God, and the man who treats it lightly will eat the fruit thereof – trouble and pain from his children and the LORD (Pr 13:15; Is 1:19-20). Success or failure in life depends on you humbling yourself before God’s word and learning wisdom, no matter what the world thinks or says (Pr 1:20-33; 13:13; 15:32). Great men of prior generations – highly principled, noble, and of impeccable character – were never allowed the snotty and rebellious words and actions toward parents that are nearly universal today. So you should not be surprised that there is nearly a universal dearth of men and women comparable to those wonderful leaders of yesteryear. Agur used the eye as synecdoche for facial expressions. And he meant more than just the muscle and mucous membrane that reside in one of your sockets. No eyeball shows disdain for authority without the heart directing it to do so. If the eyes are the windows to the soul, there had better not be irreverence seen in the heart toward either parent. Mocking is haughty disrespect by ridicule or scorn. We call it “rolling the eyes” or “tossing the head” in disgust or resentment. It is now common, and any idea of punishing children’s looks and attitudes was rejected years ago by most. And everyone suffers the consequences by this arrogant and rebellious generation. But God hates such disrespect. Despising to obey a mother here is facial expressions of saucy refusal to honor her requests. Most mothers today have given up trying to get teenagers to do anything helpful or productive. They haughtily and lazily intend to make their own plans for their time, and they have no conscience against ignoring, mocking, or defying parental requests. God presents this rebellious brat as buzzard bait, with the hooked beaks and talons of these birds ripping out eyeballs and eating them. Though politically incorrect in this coddling society, it graphically shows God’s opinion of disrespectful children. Such fools will die under the harsh judgment of a holy God, Who defends His ordained offices.