Abide With Me

*Shame and *reproach is a *son who *ravages his father *chasing away his mother. (MAST)

*[Shame] literally, to put to shame in the active cause of the son, but in the hiphil passive of the father, to be ashamed. Therefore, shame is what the son is to the father as he actively chased away his mother. The question then follows how did this son chase away his mother.

*[reproach] literally, an embarrassment. Again, the verbiage is the same as shame, participle to the son. The son becomes a reproach to the father through his active demonstration of shame, but again the father is passive of the son’s actions. He hears of his son’s shame indirectly (third-hand) through the reproach and reputation set on him by the neighbors of the father and the son.

*[a son] literally, a male child. But this can be a child of any age, but the context calls for a (physically) mature adult capable of reason and aptitude of work. Nevertheless, he is spiritually observed as a young child. There is, in a sense, a reproach in this very thought. Picture a grown man with a pacifier still in his mouth. That’s the metaphorical intent (the reproach) behind this Hebrew thought.

*[who ravages his father] literally, ruins his father. Here is where we find the answer to the question of how this son is the cause of his mother’s departure from the father. While the verbs make the father appear passive in relationship to the hiphil stem, of which the son is the first cause, this verb, to ruin, works in unison with father in the Piel stem. In other words, the son is the cause of the father’s action here, in which the father actively comes to ruin by chasing away the son’s mother. But as we shall see, it is only in response to the actions of the son and “the mediation” of the mother. The father cannot carry this burden of raising a son under the discipline of the fear of the Lord alone and still be the sole provider of their home-life. The mother of this house must carry her own weight (Gal.6:1-5). She must commit to the teaching of the father and enforce it when he is away providing for their home-life. The father is responsible for directing the spiritual affairs of the house, but an unsubmissive wife can be a thorn in the flesh of the father’s progress. While she has her own conscience of liberty, in relationship to the discipleship of the son, she should follow the lead of her husband who knows and understands what is expected of a son learning the elementary principles of work and discipline. Parents may differ on the curriculum, but they should never differ on correction (Prov.1:8;6:20). A mother who fails to correct a child will never find rest (Prov.13:24;29:15,17). We find Solomon using the reproach that fell upon his neighbor as an opportunity to train his own son, for the following verse applies the corrective action needed lest the same reproach falls upon his own house (Prov.19:27).

*[chasing away his mother] literally, to cause to flee. The result of the son’s perpetual disobedience causes the mother to become “the mediator” between the father and the son. The father pushes away the mother because he has to continually “pass-through” her to impart reason unto the son, but the son refuses even to hear his mother, and so the son “passes through” his mother to inquire of the father to achieve what he sinfully desires, and therefore the shame and disgrace falls upon the father of the son indirectly (third-hand) (Rom.15:1-6;Ps69:9). This causes the mother to choose the side of her beloved son and departs the father, and so the father comes to ruin and reproach because of the disgrace of the son (Matt.10:33-42). The father refuses to be manipulated, and the result is a son of disgrace. Mothers are not created to be the mediator of the reproach of righteousness. This is why God has made man the head of our spiritual spheres of authority (Rom.13:1-7). Because God gave Christ as head over the church, he also gave the church male elders to represent the authority of the Beloved Son (in the church), who became our ruin so that the spiritual body of the church would have life, and life through righteous male headship, which is also to be represented in the individual family of a (spiritual) father (Jn.10:10). This is why it is important for wives to submit to their own husbands so that the reproach of Christ would not fall upon the Christian family (1Tim.3:7). This presents to us a case where the father, who works outside the home-life, requires a submissive wife to fulfill the discipline necessary to bring a son up in the fear and admonition of the Lord (Eph.6:4). This reproach doesn’t fall upon a rebellious family that does not profess the Lordship of Christ because they are not vowing to raise their child up in any particular holiness, but it does fall upon the Christian family because they are responsible to pay their vow to the Lord. While mercy and grace remain in such cases, the Word gives us the cause and effect of this reproach so that we can order our lives of faith appropriately. Failure to recognize these facts will fail to justify our excuse should this reproach fall upon our individual home-life. We must search our hearts and confess our guilt if we are to expect to find more grace in a time of need. This Word searches our hearts and intentions and will judge us accordingly. Your wife is not the mediator to your son or daughter, nor is your mother the mediator to your father’s heart. If we are to find the smile of God’s favor and grace, it must come to us by obeying Christ (the only mediator) through a heart of faith (1Tim.2:5). The father who is forced to provide for the home by leaving home is favored by the Word in this spiritual case because the mother of the son was unwilling to submit to the father’s headship. She is to back up the father’s instructions if the child is ever going to learn discipline. Discipline is a principle every man must learn, but the father’s example to provide here is what is favored in comparison to the son’s disobedience (Prov.17:15). Though the mother is chased away, the father, if he abides in the grace of Christ, is still credited with the righteousness and justification of the heavenly Father through the Son. Though the father of the son “feels” the reproach of this disgrace, the guilt and shame fall upon the unrepentance of the son and the mother who is “led away” by him (2Tim.2:26;3:6;2Pet.3:17;1Cor.12:2). In this sense, the mother lives in submission to a wayward son and has forsaken the grace of Christ (1Cor.7:10-16).