Proverbs 30:17

The book of Proverbs gives us a lot of instruction on a lot of different subjects. One subject that can keep us in God’s wisdom is Godly Follower-ship. Who we follow; where we follow; how we follow are all spoken about in Proverbs. Here is one of them about honoring leadership:

Proverbs 30:17 (ESV)

The eye that mocks a father

and scorns to obey a mother

will be picked out by the ravens of the valley

and eaten by the vultures.

In our society today the rebellious nature toward parents is at an all time high.   Today's children think they can rebel and have little consequences for their rebellion.  In this proverb we see that God is in control of those who rebel against parents.  God will deal with them.  If you roll your eyes toward the authority in your life you will have bad consequences.  In this proverb we see that the "eye" that rolls toward the parent will be picked out and destroyed by the birds.   Solomon gives us a graphic look at the cost of rebellion.   Whether he is telling of an actual event or a metaphor, we see that God will destroy the roll of the eye by removing them.   You can think you can mock a father and scorn a mother, but when you do, God will provide exceptional retribution on those same eyes. Absalom is a great example of this. He rebelled against his father David.   He was wanting to have the kingdom to himself.  King David discovered the plot and left Jerusalem.    Eventually David returned and Absalom was destroyed.   This is a living example of the above proverb.  Perhaps Solomon had that in mind when he wrote the above proverbs.   His half-brother tried to steal the kingdom from his own farther.