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The Glory of Kings: A Festschrift for James B. Jordan
Fyodor Dostoevsky
(Christian Encounters Series)
Athanasius
(Foundations of Theological Exegesis and Christian Spirituality)
The Four: A Survey of the Gospels
Defending Constantine: The Twilight of an Empire and the Dawn of Christendom
From Behind the Veil: The Epistles of John
Deep Exegesis:The Mystery of Reading Scripture
1 & 2 Kings
Brazos Theological Commentary
The Promise Of His Appearing: An Exposition Of Second Peter
A Great Mystery: Fourteen Wedding Sermons
Deep Comedy: Trinity, Tragedy, And Hope In Western Literature
Miniatures & Morals: The Christian Novels of Jane Austen
The Priesthood of the Plebs: A Theology of Baptism
A Son To Me: An Exposition of 1 & 2 Samuel
From Silence to Song: The Davidic Liturgical Revolution
Ascent to Love: A Guide to Dante's Divine Comedy
Blessed Are the Hungry: Meditations on the Lord's Supper
A House For My Name: A Survey of the Old Testament
Heroes of the City of Man: A Christian Guide to Select Ancient Literature
Brightest Heaven of Invention: A Christian Guide To Six Shakespeare Plays
Wise Words: Family Stories That Bring the Proverbs to Life
The Kingdom and the Power: Rediscovering the Centrality of the Church
INTRODUCTION
Last time, we reviewed the structure of this passage, and noted that it is an acrostic poem, describing the excellent wife from A to Z. This passage fits into the larger structure of Proverbs by picking up on the descriptions of Lady Wisdom from the opening chapters of the book. The book begins with the king instructing his son the prince to choose wisely between the women who vie for his attention. His father warns him about Lady Folly and urges him to seek out Lady Wisdom. In the final chapter, we find that the prince has chosen well: He has made Lady Wisdom his bride. As King Lemuel’s mother urged, he has renounced the women who destroy kings (31:3) and embraces the woman who enables him to rule well.
It’s important to recognize that the woman here is not merely an individual woman. Few individual women are as active, as widely competent, as shrewd, as this woman. But we shouldn’t minimize the application to individual women. Over the course of a lifetime, many godly women have done almost everything described her – working with their hands, bringing food, rising at night to feed her family, purchasing property, shopping carefully for the best merchandise, spinning yarn or sewing clothes, helping the needy, all while their husbands sit in the gates, judging and ruling, entirely confident that their wives are managing the household well.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Thursday, May 19, 2011 at 4:58 pm
Proverbs concludes with the portrait of the “excellent wife” (31:10). The portrait reaches back to the beginning of Proverbs and the portrait of wisdom. Like Lady Wisdom, the excellent wife’s value is far above jewels (v. 10; cf. 3:15; 8:11). Like Lady Wisdom, the excellent wife offers food (31:15; cf. 9:2, 5). The excellent wife brings gain (31:11), like Wisdom (cf. 3:14). Wisdom begins from the fear of Yahweh, which is precisely what animates the excellent wife (31:30).
The final section of Proverbs is organized as an acrostic. The first letters of the verses of the poem move through the Hebrew alphabet in succession. JA Motyer has described acrostics as “a poetic way of saying that a total coverage of the subject was being offered.” He goes on: “In the common form of acrostic found in Old Testament Poetry, each line or stanza begins with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet in order. This literary form may have been intended as an aid to memory, but more likely it was a poetic way of saying that a total coverage of the subject was being offered — as we would say, ‘from A to Z.’ Acrostics occur in Psalms 111 and 112, where each letter begins a line; in Psalms 25, 34, and 145, where each letter begins a half-verse; in Psalm 37, Proverbs 31:10-31, and Lamentations 1, 2, and 4, where each letter begins a whole verse; and in Lamentations 3, where each letter begins three verses. Psalm 119 is the most elaborate demonstration of the acrostic method where, in each section of eight verses, the same opening letter is used, and the twenty-two sections of the psalm move through the Hebrew alphabet, letter after letter.” These acrostics have different rhythms. Psalms 9, 10, and 37 devoted two verses each to a letter; 25, 34, and 145 only one verse each; Psalms 111 and 112 have a line – a half verse – for each letter.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Saturday, May 7, 2011 at 5:53 am
Verse 5 describes the results that follow if a king relaxes and rests before the battle is done, if a king indulges in drink too much or at the wrong time. While rejoicing with strong drink and wine is often associated with memorial and memory, in fact drink can cause loss of memory. Memory is essential to good rule. You need to remember the “statutes” (chaqaq) or boundaries, both the limits of the king’s authority and the limits imposed by the law. Drink on throne leads a king to forget what the statutes require, and leads him to overstep his bounds and transgress the law. The connection between drinking and forgetting is reinforced by a pun: “Drink” is shatah and “forget” is shachach. Continue reading…
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Thursday, May 5, 2011 at 3:27 pm
PROVERBS 30:32-33
Chapter 30 is enclosed by exhortations to humility, warnings against self-exaltation. “I am more stupid than any man, and I do not have the understanding of a man,” Agur begins (v. 2), and he ends with a warning to puffed-up fools to stop their mouths before problems arise.
Verse 32 is a warning against self-exaltation. The verb “be foolish” is the verb form of the name Nabal, the self-exalted husband of the wise Abigail, who endangered his entire household with his coarse and rude treatment of David (1 Samuel 25). Don’t be a Nabal, Agur says. And one becomes a Nabal by lifting oneself, by making oneself the banner to which everyone will gather, by making oneself the battle standard. Again, this fits into the whole of Proverbs and this chapter in particular as advice to rulers, to kings and princes. Instead of puffing ourselves up, we should be humbling ourselves before God and before others, serving them rather than demanding their service.
What is foolish is self-exaltation that takes the form of plotting and conspiracy. The men of Babel “plotted” to unite all humanity rather than scattering and filling the earth (Genesis 11:6), and the law warns against brothers plotting against brothers (Deuteronomy 19:19). David was the object of plots (Psalm 31:13; 37:12), and of course Jesus was too. Agur is addressing those who, like the men of Babel, plot to make a name for themselves, or those who, like the plotters in the Psalms, want to bring David down so that they can take his place. Both the men of Babel and the conspirators of the Psalm were plotting to lift themselves up.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Friday, April 15, 2011 at 1:49 pm
PROVERBS 30:18-20
Yahweh is a God of wonders. The first “wonderful thing” (pala’, which basically means “to separate” or “distinguish”) that He does in Scripture is to give Sarah a son in her old age, a live son from a dead womb, the wonder of resurrection life (Genesis 18:14). He does wonders again in stretching out His hand to smite Egypt (Exodus 3:20). The wonder here is not only the terrible wonder of plagues and judgments on Egypt (cf. Deuteronomy 28:59), but the wonder of raising up dead Israel to new life. During the covenant-renewal after the golden calf incident, Yahweh promises to make a covenant and “do wonders which have not been produced in all the earth” (Exodus 34:10). This is followed by a promise that the Lord will drive the Canaanites from the land. The wonder is the wonder of conquest, and the fact that Yahweh has entered into covenant, and remained in covenant with a people that turns harlot to pursue other gods (cf, Joshua 3:5). God’s works in creation and history are all wonderful, according to the Psalms. “Wondrous works” appears again and again (9:1; 26:7; 31:21; 40:5; 71:17; 72:17; 75:1; 78:4, 11, 32; 86:10; 96:3; 98:1; 107:8, 15, 21, 24, 31).
Agur highlights a several of the wonders of creation in this short poem. He confesses once again his own ignorance (cf. 30:2), professing to know nothing of the wonders of the creation. The three-four pattern of this list is significant. Three is the number of the levels of creation in the original creation narrative, and the first three of these wonders correspond to the three zones of creation. The eagle flies in the heavens, the serpent slithers on the rock, the ship tosses in the sea. Yet, the list expands out to a fourth item, and that number four suggests that the wonders fill the world to the four corners. Wonders are everywhere we look: Heaven, earth, and sea; north, south, east, west. The “three, yea four” suggests a creation motif in a different way: Three and four makes seven, an allusion to the days of the creation week. Not only all space, but all time is filled with wonders.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Friday, February 4, 2011 at 4:08 pm
Christine Yoder argues in an article on Proverbs 30 that Agur’s exhortation to humility and his puzzling observations are deliberately placed at the climax of the book so that the experience of reading the book actually inculcates the wisdom that the book talks about.
She sums up the message of chapters 28-29 this way:
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Friday, February 4, 2011 at 3:20 pm
INTRODUCTION: STRUCTURE
There are five identified collections of Proverbs in the book. The choices are set up in the opening section, identified as “proverbs of Solomon, the son of David” (chapter 1-9). Chapter 10 begins another section, also identified as “proverbs of Solomon.” That section lasts until the beginning of chapter 25, which begins a collection of “proverbs of Solomon which the men of Hezekiah the king of Judah, transcribed (25:1). Chapter 30 is the fourth collection, and chapter 31 the fifth. Five is the number of military formation in Scripture, the number of fingers on the hand that grasps weapons of war and musical instruments for battles against principalities and powers.
Bruce Waltke, alternatively, has suggested that the book breaks down into seven collections: 1:1-9:18; 10:1-22:16 (Solomon); 22:17-24:22 (thirty “sayings of the wise”); 24:23-34 (further “sayings of the wise”); 25:1-29:27 (Solomon); 30:1-33; 31-31. This heptamerous arrangement suggests at least a numerical connection with the creation account. As Yahweh created the world by His wisdom, so He has revealed His wisdom to form us into faithful subcreators. If we can press the arrangement a bit more, then Proverbs 30 is in the “Day 6” slot of Proverbs, the day of man’s creation. Proverbs 30 describes Adamic life and the way of wisdom for new Adams.
Proverbs 30 is a distinct section of the book of Proverbs. It contains the words of someone identified as “Agur the son of Yaqeh” (v. 1). Chapter 31 introduces a new author, “King Lemuel.” Thus, chapter 30 stands alone. It differs in style from much of Proverbs as well. Instead of pithy two-line proverbs, we have more extended meditations, including a number of annotated lists. Agur asks “two things” of Yahweh (v. 7), lists four different “generations” (Heb. dor; vv 11-14), describes the two/three daughters of the leech (vv. 15-17), lists three/four things that are beyond his understanding (vv. 18-20), three/four things that shake the earth (vv. 21-23), four things that are small but strong (vv. 24-28), and three/four things that are stately in their march (vv. 29-31). The whole chapter is surrounded by exhortations to humility, warnings against self-exaltation. “I am more stupid than any man, and I do not have the understanding of a man,” Agur begins (v. 2), and he ends with a warning to puffed-up fools to stop their mouths before problems arise.
There are seven lists, which are punctuated with shorter proverbs. It might be outlined as follows:
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Friday, November 5, 2010 at 2:18 pm
INTRODUCTION
Bruce Waltke notes that these verses hang together around the theme of correction and discipline. Verse 17 starts the sequence with instruction about correcting sons. Verse 18 expands to correction and training, restraining, of an entire people, and verses 19-21 deal with treatment of servants and slaves. Embedded within these proverbs about servants is one concerning hastiness in speech, which, Waltke says, qualifies the warning about maximizing the power of speech by stressing the dangers of minimizing speech.
Scripture teaches us to love our neighbor as ourselves. As the Westminster Larger Catechism emphasizes, we are to act with faithfulness and love toward those above us, alongside us, beneath us. But Scripture’s teaching concerning love is not sentimental and soft. Love is bold, requires discipline, corrects and rebukes. Love seeks the genuine good of the other. Too often, what passes for love in our lives is simply indifference and self-indulgence. We “tolerate” because we don’t want to go to the trouble of genuinely loving others.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Friday, October 1, 2010 at 7:39 pm
PROVERBS 29:14
Verses 12-13 move toward the themes of verse 14. Verse 12 is about a ruler who gives heed to falsehood, and verse 13 is about the poor. Verse 14 combines the two interests with a statement about the role of a king.
According to the Torah, judges are supposed to judge righteously, without regard to social standing, wealth, or influence. Judges ought not favor the poor (Exodus 23:1-3), nor accept the bribes of the rich (Exodus 23:8; Leviticus 19:15). Judges are to do impartial justice to all (Deuteronomy 16:18-20). Yet there are also passages that emphasize that judges are to give special attention to the poor, and these passages are often directly concerned with the actions of rulers (Psalm 72:13; 82:3-4; Isaiah 10:1-4; 11:1-5). This proverb is among the passages that emphasize the duty of the king to judge the poor in truth or “faithfulness” (emeth). In defending the rights of the poor, the king is imitating Yahweh Himself, who is particularly kind to the poor and the helpless (1 Samuel 2:8; Psalm 113:7). Yahweh is Father of the fatherless, Husband to widows, the Help of the helpless, and Defender of the weak.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Friday, September 3, 2010 at 2:36 pm
Some thoughts arising from a discussion of Proverbs 29:8, 11 with Toby Sumpter.
Verse 11 says that a fool “sends forth all his spirit, but a wise man holds it back.” ”Sending forth spirit” is what Yahweh does in creating (Psalm 104:30), what Jesus does on the cross (John 19:30), on Easter (John 20:22), from the right hand of the Father (John 15:26; Acts 2). But the proverb indicates that there’s a human analog to that divine sending: Fools at least send forth spirit that creates turmoil and strife. Through the words of a fool, he communicates the spirit of confusion. Surely fools are not the only ones who can send forth spirit. By wise and timely words, the righteous and wise send forth spirit, inspiring holiness, courage, faithfulness.
Timely: That’s a key. The wise man holds back spirit. He doesn’t hold it back forever, or all the time. But he holds it back until the right time. Just like Jesus: Jesus is filled with the Spirit from the first, gives authority and power to His disciples when He sends them to the lost sheep of Israel, but He does not send forth the fullness of His Spirit on them until His death and resurrection. He doesn’t breathe out all of His Spirit until they are ready, until the time is right. Untimely inspiration, even in a righteous cause, is folly.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Saturday, August 7, 2010 at 7:51 am
PROVERBS 29:1
This proverb deals with a man with a hardened neck. The combination of terms is often translated as “stiffnecked” and typically described Israel. They display their stiff necks when they erect the golden calf (Exodus 32:9; 33:3, 5; 34:9), and their stiffnecked response to the prophets led to the exile (2 Kings 17:14; Nehemiah 9:17). Moses exhorted them not to stiffen their necks but instead to circumcise the foreskin of the heart (Deuteronomy 10:16).
Proverbs 29:1a is a fair summary of the history of Israel from exodus to exile: Israel was the man who hardened his neck despite much correction, and he was broken. According to Stephen, even long after the Jews had not learned their lesson; in stoning him, they were showing themselves to be “stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears” who “always resist the Holy Spirit. You are doing just as your fathers did” (Acts 7:51).
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Thursday, June 17, 2010 at 2:54 pm
PROVERBS 28:22
Though this verse uses different terminology from Proverbs 28:20, it overlaps with that previous proverb. In both cases, there are observations about the relationship between wealth and hastiness. Verse 20 indicates that the one who makes haste to become rich, who chases dreams of quick prosperity, will end up guilty. Here, the one who rushes to riches is said to have an “evil eye.”
What is an evil eye? Eyes are organs of judgment and evaluation in Scripture, and the first time eyes are mentioned in connection with evil is in garden of Eden. As soon as Adam and Eve eat from the tree of knowledge, their eyes are open to know good and evil. One who has an evil eye is one who makes false judgments and evaluates things wrongly. Thus, Proverbs 23:6 warns that we should not eat the bread (literally, “bread the bread”) of a man with “an evil eye”; he may seem like a generous host, but “his heart is not with you” (v. 7). Jesus connects the “bad eye” with a wrong evaluation of wealth in the sermon on the mount (Matthew 6:23; see Luke 11:34). Hearts are fixed where our treasures are (Matthew 6:21), and our eyes follow our hearts, so that our eyes gaze toward and value what our heart treasures. When our heart is clear, directed by a heart set on heavenly treasures, the whole body is a body of light. Bad eyes blind and darken; the body cannot glow with the light of God if it is guided by a heart set on Mammon.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Thursday, May 13, 2010 at 3:17 pm
PROVERBS 28:20
This proverb, like many, is structured in parallel:
The man of faithfulnesses is great with blessings
But the one haste to be rich shall not be pure.
The contrasts are revealing. Faithfulness is contrasted not with obvious terms like “disobedient” or “rebellious” or “unfaithful,” but with “hastiness.” The verb (‘utz) can refer to pressure coming from another, as when the Egyptian taskmasters “hasted” the Hebrews to get their work done (Exodus 5:13). Here, it refers instead to self-pressure, the self-imposed urging to pursue wealth and to get it quick. This is a particularly telling emphasis in our culture, which celebrates quick riches and encourages, through media and advertising, a longing to imitate the lifestyles of the rich and famous. It is particularly convicting in a 24/7 culture that urges us to drive, drive, drive, to run on all cylinders all the time.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Friday, February 19, 2010 at 10:00 am
PROVERBS 28:17
The Proverb can be translated this, woodenly, in this way: “A man oppresses with the blood of the soul unto the pit he flees. Let no man hold him back.”
Again, the proverb uses the word adam, and again we are put in mind of the sin of the first man. Adam’s sin was an act of impatience and rebellion against Yahweh’s commandment, but here the “adam” is acting violently, shedding innocent blood. Was the first man’s sin also an act of violence? Not in any obvious way. But after his sin, he immediately separates himself from God and from Eve, and even becomes Eve’s accuser. Perhaps we can also see his failure to protect Eve from the serpent’s temptation as an implicit act of oppression.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Thursday, February 18, 2010 at 4:01 pm
PROVERBS 28:12
The proverb is structured in parallel:
In the triumph of the righteous
Much glory
But in the rising of the wicked
Hide men.
“Triumph” doesn’t quite capture the force of the Hebrew verb ‘alatz. It is used only a handful of times in the Hebrew Bible. Hannah “exults” in Yahweh because the Lord has vindicated her by giving her a son, vindicated her against her rival wife; she exults because the Lord has raised up her horn (1 Samuel 2:1). 1 Chronicles 16:32 calls on the fields to “exult” before the Lord. Exultation is connected with victory (Psalm 5:8-12 [v. 11]; 9:2, with the context of verses 3f.; 25:2; 68:1-3), but the word doesn’t refer to the victory itself so much as the praise and emotional high that comes with victory. “Boast” would not be a bad translation, and that brings Proverbs 28:12 directly into contact with Paul’s repeated references to the “boasting” of the righteous (Romans 15:17; 1 Corinthians 1:31; 2 Corinthians 10:17; Galatians 6:14).
When the righteous exult in victory, the proverb says, there is glory. This particular word for glory is first used with reference to the “beauty” of priestly garments (Exodus 28:2, 40; cf. Psalm 96:6), and can mean not only physical, external beauty but the “glory” or honor that we pay to God in our praise (Psalm 71:8). In context, the glory that accompanies the exaltation of the righteous is contrasted with men going into hiding when the wicked arise. That implies that glory refers to something visible, evident. When the righteous are victorious, it is safe to bring glory, talent, gifts, treasures out in the open.
When the wicked achieve primacy (are raised up on high, as stars in the heavens), then it is dangerous for glory to be seen. Men go into hiding. This is an important dynamic of political history. Wicked rulers suppress talent and energy by pushing men into hiding. They may hope to achieve glory, but they achieve the opposite – a drain of glory.
The Proverbs specifically says that adam hides when the wicked rise up, and that takes us back right to Genesis 3. Adam went into hiding when he gave way to the serpent’s temptation. The serpent, the wicked one, was raised up above him, and instead of exulting over the serpent, he hid from God. Throughout the old covenant, the wicked are continuously rising and the righteous are hidden. In Jesus, however, the righteous one finally exults in triumph over all His enemies. He is raised up, and Adam comes from hiding to share in the glory of the Last Adam.
PROVERBS 28:13
Again, the proverb is structured in parallel:
Whoever hides his rebellion
Succeeds not
But whoever makes known and forsakes
Finds compassion.
Another proverb about hiding, though using a different verb. The word for “transgression” means “rebellion” or trespass, and describes not inadvertent sins but willful trespasses against others. Hiding a rebellion might take several forms: It might be that one rebels, and then tries to cover up the rebellion; or, one might promote covert rebellion, hiding the rebellion even as the rebellion is taking place; or, one might hide rebellion within, in the heart, while making a hypocritical show of deference and submission. Any sort of hiding, though, is counter-productive. God sees the heart, and He sees the secret things; everything is open and laid bare before Him, and so we can never hide rebellion.
And the Lord frustrates rebels: They do not succeed. Perhaps for a time, perhaps for what appears to be a long time. Even when they look like trees, they are grass and will fade away.
Importantly, the contrast in the verse is not between rebels and non-rebels. Like a good Calvinist, Solomon assumes that everyone is a rebel. The only difference is what one does with the rebellion. And, paradoxically, the way to success is uncovering the rebellion. It seems that the best way to escape the consequences of rebellion is to keep it in hiding forever. Solomon says, “Cause it to be known.”
Confession and making-known is important, but Solomon adds “forsake.” It’s the word used of a man leaving home for his wife (Genesis 2:24) and it’s used of physical bonds and burdens. Making rebellion known is the first step. Cutting ties is the second.
This proverb rings changes on the paradoxes of concealment, covering, and unveiling that are at the heart of the sacrificial system. When Adam sinned, he went into hiding, seeking to conceal his rebellion and shame. To be redeemed, he had to come out of hiding, and had to strip off the fig leaves that covered him. Only then did he receive a proper covering, an “atonement” covering of garments, which were also garments of glory and beauty.
Those who confess and forsake rebellion find “compassion.” In the structure of the verse, that is the counterpoint to “no success.” They don’t seem to be opposites; in fact, they don’t even seem to be within the same realm of discourse. What hath prosperity to do with compassion? But of course, what ensures that our way succeeds (in the proper sense) is that our way is overshadowed by the compassion of God.
PROVERBS 28:14
Fear is not always a blessing. The curse of the covenant is that Israel will be in continuous dread (Deuteronomy 28:66-67), and Job (4:14; 23:15) dreads God. When Yahweh comes to the wicked, He strikes fear into them (Psalm 14:5), but if the wicked are fearful before His face, the righteous are secure and rejoice. If the Lord is with us, whom shall we dread (Psalm 27:1). But the proverb tells us there is a kind of fear that is healthy, and a kind of fear that should be permanent. Blessing comes to the fearful in this sense, and the implied object of fear is Yahweh. Fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom; continuous fear of Yahweh is the beginning of blessing.
It’s the adam who fears here. The word for man in each of these three verses is adam, and that suggests that they are all reflections, in one fashion or another, on the first man in the garden. Adam was cursed precisely because he failed to fear always, but the Last Adam is the truly blessed man, who fears and obeys His Father.
The “Blessed is he” form reminds us of Psalm 1 and Psalm 32. The man who fears is likewise the man whose transgression is forgiven, and the man who meditates on the law of the Lord day and night. “Continuously” in Proverbs 28:14 translates tamid, used originally for the various “continuous” rites and institutions of the tabernacle worship: Showbread is continuously before the Lord, the lampstands continuous burn, Aaron wears a memorial on his heart and on his forehead continually before Yahweh, incense ascends perpetually, and the fire of the altar is to be kept burning. The tamid offerings are the daily, continuous ascension offerings. That one fears continuously thus hints at continuous sacrifice: The one is blessed who fears and continuously offers himself as a living sacrifice.
Pharaoh, we might said, is the counterpoint. He has no fear of Yahweh. “Who is Yahweh?” he asks, and then hardens his heart (Exodus 7:3). Israel often enough acts like Pharaoh, hardening their necks instead of receiving the easy yoke of Yahweh (2 Kings 17:14). The histories of Pharaoh and of Israel are, as Paul indicates (Romans 9-11), cautionary tales for the nations. Their histories are summed up by this proverb: hard-hearted men and nations are destined for a fall into “evil.”
PROVERBS 28:15
Rulers are supposed to be protective of their people. They are shepherds. Rulers are also compared to powerful predators: David’s Son is the “lion” of the tribe of Judah. When righteous rulers are compared to lions, it is because they are a terror to the enemies of their people. Yahweh Himself is a lion who is roused to roar against and defend Israel. Rulers are not to prey on the flock. Proverbs 28:15 describes wicked rulers as predators who are revved up for attack. Roaring is a prelude to the kill, as Isaiah says about the “distant nation” that the Lord is raising up against His unfaithful people (Isaiah 5:29-10). The bear in the proverb rushes around like an army scurrying over a defeated city (Isaiah 33:4; Joel 2:9; Nahum 2:4).
The threat of uncontrolled, wicked rulers falls especially on a poor people. They are defenseless against the predatory rulers, and have no recourse to bride him or hire protection. They are entirely vulnerable before the roaring lion and rushing bear.
The word for ruler, mashal, describes the government of the stars over the night (Genesis 1:18) and other forms and types of government. It is, however, also a pun on the word for proverb or parable (Number 21:27; Proverbs 1:1, 6; 10:1; Ezekiel 12:23). The wicked ruler is somehow being associated with the wisdom of the proverbs themselves. Perhaps this indicates that the ruler is sly and cunning, operating by a wicked form of wisdom.
Jesus is the poor one, who is oppressed by bulls of Bashan who open their mouths like lions against Him (Psalm 22). He is the Lamb led to slaughter, who gives Himself to be torn in pieces like a kid.
PROVERBS 28:16
Yet another proverb about rule. Here, the word for ruler is not mashal but nagid, derived from nagad, “announced one.” In technical terms, the nagid is the crown prince. The syntax of the Hebrew is different from that the NASB translation. Instead of “the prince who is a great oppressor lack understanding” the relation is reversed, “the prince lacks understanding and increases oppression.” The lack of understanding seems to be the root and cause of the oppression, rather than being an inference from the oppression.
“Understanding” is among the gifts of the Spirit given, along with wisdom, to Bezalel and Oholiab (Exodus 31:3; 35:31; cf. 1 Kings 7:14).
Just as a craftsman must have understanding of his materials, tools, and goals in order to produce a beautiful object, so there is a craft to rule – state-craft. That is what the oppressor lacks. He doesn’t understand the materials that he is manipulating (that is, people), doesn’t understand how to use the tools without ripping the materials apart, doesn’t know what’s he’s trying to accomplish. Lacking this understanding, he will end up being oppressive and abusive to his people.
“Oppression” seems to be more precisely “unjust gain” or “extortion.” Extortion from the people reveals a lack of understanding of rule. Rulers who extort from their people – whether they extort through high taxes, through conscription, through other means – are enriching themselves, so they think. They believe they will enhance their rule by squeezing more from their people. The result is the opposite. They don’t understand that the glory of the kingdom comes from the flourishing of the people. They don’t understand their material or their tools.
A good ruler is full of hate – hate for rape and predatory confiscation from his people. The word for “unjust gain” in the second half of the proverb means plunder from enemies (Judges 5:19; Micah 4:13). The ruler lacking understanding treats his people like enemies, plundering them as if he has defeated them in battle. A ruler who renounces extortion, and suppresses unjust gain within his kingdom, is prolonging his days. He will rule for a long time, and will live a long life.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Friday, February 5, 2010 at 1:52 pm
PROVERBS 28:9
Again Solomon speaks of our attitude toward torah. The central command of the law was a command to “hear” (Deuteronomy 6). It was a command addressed to the ear. We are to have open ears (Psalm 40; Isaiah 50:5) so that we can obey His commandments. The connection between hearing and obeying is so close that sometimes the Bible uses the verb “hear” as a synonym for “obey.” Not hearing is disobedience; eventually, Israel is sent into exile for “not hearing” the words of the prophets (2 Kings 17:14).
Ears set the direction of our lives. Ears determine which way we turn. Moses warns the people not to turn their hearts toward other gods are refuse to hear (Deuteronomy 30:17).
When we turn our ears to the Word of Yahweh, the word that urges us to repentance, that leads us to turn from a way of wickedness and being to live (Jeremiah 35:15; 44:5). Jesus (Matthew 13:15) and Paul (Acts 28:27) condemn the Jews using the words of Isaiah: Their ear cannot hear, their eyes cannot see, and therefore they cannot understand and their hearts cannot turn back to the Lord.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Friday, December 18, 2009 at 6:22 am
PROVERBS 28:7
We again have a proverb about torah and knowledge. The one who keeps watch over torah is a son who knows. The word translated as “wise” in the NASB is a form of the verb byn, used in verse 5. Here, the verb puns with the word for son, ben. The son who guards torah becomes more fully son, a son who knows, a ben mebyn.
The son who spends his time in the company of drunks and gluttons brings shame to his father. The word “riotous” is translated elsewhere as “glutton” (Deuteronomy 21:20, the passage about the rebellious son). The Hebrew is zalel, and may have some kind of punning connection with the verb “praise,” halel. Gluttony and drunkenness are a kind of false worship, a counterfeit form of the joy of the presence of God.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Saturday, November 21, 2009 at 6:46 am
PROVERBS 28:4
Law (torah) is mentioned about a dozen times in Proverbs. Most of the uses refer to the torah of a mother (1:8) or a father (3:1), and in these uses the emphasis is on the fact that torah is “instruction” rather than strictly “law” in our sense of the term. The word is used four times in a few verses of Proverbs 28 (vv. 4, 7, 9), and here the referent is the torah of Israel, Yahweh’s own torah, His instruction to His people, the instruction of Israel’s “Father” to his Son, the instruction of mother-Israel.
These references to torah highlight the continuity between the Mosaic and Solomonic eras of Israel’s history. There is a transition from priestly to kingly order, from “law” to “wisdom” as the dominant theme of rule and leadership. But this transition to the new doesn’t leave the old behind, but builds on it.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Friday, November 20, 2009 at 6:20 am
PROVERBS 27:12
As we have seen repeatedly in our study of Proverbs, wisdom is a kind of foresight, an ability to foretell the future, an ability to see down the road. The prudent or “crafty” (arum) man can see the evil ahead and does what he needs to do to avoid it. The prudent man is “cautious” and wants to know where he’s stepping before he takes the next step. By contrast, the simpleton doesn’t have the guile or subtlety to see past his immediate horizon, and stumbles into destruction.
This much is obvious, but there are several interesting literary and theological dimensions to this. Literarily, the first phrase (“the prudent see evil”) is full of alliteration and word-play in the Hebrew. “Prudent” is ‘arum, “see” is ra’ah, and “evil” also is ra’ah, though there is one consonant different (“see” has an aleph, “evil” an ayin). That makes for a nice resonance at the beginning of the verse.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Friday, September 18, 2009 at 5:10 am
PROVERBS 27:1
Like James (4:13-17), Solomon teaches us that we don’t have control over the future. We are creatures, living in sequence from moment to moment. The past leaves its imprint in our memories and in the artifacts that surround us – books and buildings, roads and institutions. But we don’t live in the past, we can’t recover the past, we can’t change what’s done. The future is also with us by anticipation, in our planning, in our hopes and aspirations. Much of what we do is rooted in a future hoped for or feared, but we can’t determine the outcome of the future and we don’t live in the future.
James explained our inability to control the future by saying that we are “vapor,” using Solomon’s favorite word from Ecclesiastes. Proverbs 27:1 doesn’t use that word (it is used only at 21:6 in Proverbs, talking about the transience of wealth), but Solomon is making the same point. 27:1 is one sign that Proverbs and Ecclesiastes are not fundamentally at odds with each other. Both assume that Yahweh, not we, control the world.
Let’s look at how Proverbs 27:1 makes this point.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Thursday, June 18, 2009 at 11:00 am
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