Oct. 3, 2011

Background Scripture: Proverbs 28:1-29:27

Devotional Reading: Deuteronomy 1:9-17

The Book of Proverbs is not only about the acquisition of wisdom, but the use of it in maintaining and growing in our relationship with God. So our aim is not simply to gain wisdom, but with it to walk as closely with God as we can.

In Proverbs there is an emphasis upon living by the Law: “Those who forsake the law praise the wicked. But those who keep the law strive against them” (28:4). So, the Israelites were people of the Law received from God. This emphasis upon God’s laws made Israel unique. Unfortunately, over the centuries, the literal observance of Israel’s religious laws (in Hebrew: Torah) supplanted the purpose of God the Lawgiver.

In the life and ministry of Jesus, though he was respectful of the law, his ultimate loyalty was always to the Lawgiver. His attitude indicates that the law, as understood by Judaism, no longer was their ultimate authority (Luke 16:16; Mark 2:23-28). The Law was an instrument intended to reveal the will of God, but the Lawgiver was always the ultimate source.

As Archbishop William Temple put it: “For no law, apart from the Lawgiver, is a proper object of reverence …” We might also say that no wisdom, apart from the Divine source of Wisdom, God, is a proper object of obedience.

Apart from law

Paul honored and revered the Law, but he was eager to keep it in a gospel perspective: “For no human being will be justified in his sight by works of the law, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it” (Romans 3:20-21. See also 7:4; 3:10; Galatians 3:11-13, 24).

Proverbs, then, is a compendium of wisdom that brings us closer to the God who transcends all wisdom and law. The easy mistake is to regard some proverbs as laws.

For example, “A rich man is wise in his own eyes, but a poor man who has understanding will find him out” (28:11). This does not mean that all rich people are wise only in their own “understanding,” or that all poor people are free of perversity: “Better is a poor man who walks in his integrity than a rich man who is perverse in his ways.” (28:6).

In other words, proverbs can be signposts to God’s wisdom, but we should not make laws of them. When the proverbs speak of justice, we must remember that many who seek justice are not really interested in justice for all, but justice for themselves and kin alone. So “justice,” as Stephen Hequet has observed, may simply be “vengeance dressed up in its Sunday clothes.”

And Sydney J. Harris reminds us, “We evaluate our friends with a Godlike justice, but we want them to evaluate us with Godlike compassion.”

In my state we have the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. But if justice means equality under the law, than the term is inappropriate here, for there are people who escape imprisonment because they can pay for better lawyers, utilize political influence or even bribery.

On the other hand, Dallas County, in which I live, has carried on an “innocence project” that has released a record number of prisoners proven innocent by use of their DNA, including a man served who served 20 years for a crime he did not commit.

So, some of the Proverbs in chapters 28 and 29 remind us of the nature of true justice: “To show partiality is not good; but for a piece of bread a man will do wrong” (28:21). “If a king judges the poor with equity his throne will be established for ever” (29:14).

My concordance tells me that the “poor” are mentioned 35 times in Proverbs and none of these references are condemnatory. I count 25 similar references in the four gospels and these also are not negative. Why, then, do I encounter so many Christians whose attitude to the poor is condemnatory at the worst and neglectful at the best?

Jesus condemned the scribes, Pharisees and priests, but not the poor. Proverbs 29:7 says: “A righteous man knows the rights of the poor; a wicked man does not understand such knowledge.” Should we assume, then, that this proverb is a judgment upon those of us who fail to heed both the Lawgiver in Proverbs and Jesus in the gospels?

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments for Rev. Althouse may write to him in care of this publication.