Exegetical Interpretation of Proverbs 4 in the Context of Homeschooling among the Urhobo People of Delta State

Abstract

Homeschooling as a form of child education helps to teach children the basic ways of life and moral values which help to mould them morally in the society. The biblical parent in Proverbs 4 exemplifies commitment to this important form of child education. Similarly, typical African parents were both beneficiaries and benefactors of homeschooling. This is no longer the case with most modern parents, especially among the Urhobo people today. Effective homeschooling has lost its place for so many reasons. The effect of this is moral decadence and ailing society. The aim of this paper therefore, is to use Proverbs 4 to address this unpleasant phenomenon ravaging contemporary Urhobo society. The methods used in the paper are historical, exegetical and hermeneutical.  Phenomenological approach was also employed, of which oral interview was used to gather information randomly from Urhobo people in different communities. From the exegesis of Prov 4, the study finds that a child who is properly homeschooled would be more morally upright and better ethically oriented; consequently, the society would be healthier and more stable. The study concludes that the moral crises confronting the modern society today is due largely to poor parenting as manifested in the defective and inadequate homeschooling among the Urhobo people. Therefore, modern parents in Urhobo contemporary society should take homeschooling very seriously in order to mould their children properly.

Keywords: Proverbs 4, Homeschooling, Urhobo people, Modern Parents, Moral Values.