While we know that Solomon received his unprecedented wisdom as a gift from God at his first wedding (1 Kings 3), Solomon insists a part of his inclination for it came from his father, David. Thus, he reaffirms the critical importance of inter-generational teaching by his own personal example. Sadly enough, his own heir Rehoboam didn’t take this advice and lost half his kingdom. However, this serves to reinforce the lesson of at least giving consideration to wisdom from your elders.
Then Solomon asserts in the strongest terms that moral wisdom is the single most important pursuit of humanity. Nothing else in life matters nearly as much as having moral discernment. This kind of wisdom can make you the pinnacle of humanity. Solomon compares it to a smoothly paved highway for your feet. Then he warns against the twisted path of wanton violence. Notice that he does not say all violence in wrong — Solomon was quite the warrior himself, as was his father — but uses Hebrew idioms for abusive violence. It is like the difference between walking in the light of mid-day versus stumbling around in the darkest night.
He then subtly reemphasizes the importance of learning from his mistakes. We know that Solomon compromised with moral purity because of his numerous marriages and got way off track. So he warns the generation following him that they don’t need to experiment with such folly to see where it leads. We get just a taste of his own bitter regrets here about letting your heart be misled. Watch your mouth and don’t be distracted from the straight and narrow.
