Hermenutics matter

Proverbs 4:4b (ESV)

“Let your heart hold fast my words;
keep my commandments, and live.

This is a verse that many people are familiar with, yet more often than not, is improperly understood and taught, particularly concerning the phrase "and live." The typical application of this passage is an if/then promise from God. If we keep God's commandments then we will have a long life, or at least a full life, if we can't have a long one. Some of this, I believe, is due to our Western Christian culture's obsession with God promising us health and wealth. We simply love the prosperity gospel (thank you Joel Osteen and friends!). And it is also be partly to blame in translation from Hebrew to English, which is inevitable with any translation. When properly translated though, the hermeneutical and theological implications are enormous! This slight translation variance is something that I was not made aware of until recently.
It is sometimes difficult to translate Hebrew imperatives (commands) into English. These imperatives are visible within the grammatical "pointing" in Hebrew, but this grammatical "pointing," unfortunately, is not available in English. Therefore, when translating an imperative into English, the command must be translated in the sentence structure. (Come! Eat! Be strong! etc.) In Proverbs 4:4 the words "keep" and "live" are both in imperative form. It is easy to see the command in "keep my commandments," but no so easy so see it in the phrase "and live." And because of this ambiguity created in translating from language to language, we have inferred upon it, intentionally or not, to mean that we will live as a result of obeying the commandments, instead of as a command to live. When properly understood as a command to keep his commandments and then to go live, it has enormous theological implications!

The father never promises that his son(s) will live long lives if they kept his commandments. He commanded them to keep his commandments and then commands them to go live in light of that. Carpe Diem if you will.