Text: Proverbs 3:21
OT Text Referred to: Deuteronomy 6:6
Subject: Guarding wisdom within the heart
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Allusion
Connection Method(s): Longitudinal Theme
Significance: Proverbs 3:21 urges "do not lose sight of this" (אַל־יַלֻּזוּ מֵעֵינֶיךָ, al-yalluzu me'einekha) -- preserve sound judgment and discernment -- echoing Moses's insistence in Deuteronomy 6:6 that God's words remain "upon your hearts." Both passages share the concern that divine instruction not slip away from conscious attention; in Deuteronomy the danger is forgetting Yahweh amid Canaan's prosperity, while in Proverbs the danger is losing focus on wisdom amid life's distractions. The sage assumes the Deuteronomic framework -- the father-son instructional setting, the imperative to keep (נָצַר, natsar) wisdom inwardly -- and applies it to the cultivation of תּוּשִׁיָּה (tushiyyah, "sound wisdom") and מְזִמָּה (mezimmah, "discernment"), virtues the wisdom tradition treats as the practical outworking of covenant faithfulness.
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Text: Deuteronomy 6:6
OT Text Referred to: Proverbs 3:21
Subject: generational instruction
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Echo
Connection Method(s): Longitudinal Theme
Significance: Deuteronomy 6:6 commands that God's words must be "upon your hearts" (עַל לְבָבֶךָ, 'al levavekha), establishing internalization as the foundation of obedience. Proverbs 3:21 echoes this: "My son, do not let them depart from your sight; keep sound wisdom and discretion" (תּוּשִׁיָּה וּמְזִמָּה, tushiyyah umezimmah). Both texts demand constant, personal retention of divine instruction. The wisdom tradition adapts the Deuteronomic vocabulary of keeping Torah "upon the heart" into the sapiential language of preserving wisdom and discernment, showing that the sage understood wisdom's demands as continuous with the covenant's demands for internalized devotion to God's word.