What Does Proverbs 3:3 Mean?

The father commands that steadfast love and faithfulness should never be released from the son's life. These two virtues are personified as companions that must be bound around the neck and written on the heart. Steadfast love (chesed) and faithfulness (emet) are the primary attributes of God mentioned in [Exodus 34:6]. The son is being told to wear what characterizes God himself. This binding and writing describe a acquisition that is both visible to others and deeply interior. The virtues must be both a public display and a private reality.

The combination of symbols involving the neck and the heart covers the entire person. A quality carried only in the mind might be forgotten when a crisis arrives while a quality only displayed on the outside might be performance rather than character. Proverbs requires both where the character has saturated the person at every level. Chesed and emet become what the person actually is rather than just what they say they believe. This formation is the reason for the father's constant repetition regarding how these virtues must be held close at all times.

John describes the Word made flesh as full of grace and truth in [John 1:14] which are the equivalents of these virtues. In Christ, the qualities the father asks his son to bind to his heart are fully present in a human person. Paul prays in [Ephesians 3:17] that Christ would dwell in the hearts of believers so they can be rooted in love. The binding mentioned in verse 3 finds its ultimate source in the indwelling of the one who is grace and truth. The son binds what the Spirit produces in the person who is rooted in Christ.