Proverbs 20

Proverbs 20

1 Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise. 2 The terror of a king is like the growling of a lion; whoever provokes him to anger forfeits his life. 3 It is an honor for a man to keep aloof from strife, but every fool will be quarreling. 4 The sluggard does not plow in the autumn; he will seek at harvest and have nothing. 5 The purpose in a man's heart is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out. 6 Many a man proclaims his own steadfast love, but a faithful man who can find? 7 The righteous who walks in his integrity— blessed are his children after him! 8 A king who sits on the throne of judgment winnows all evil with his eyes. 9 Who can say, “I have made my heart pure; I am clean from my sin”? 10 Unequal weights and unequal measures are both alike an abomination to the Lord. 11 Even a child makes himself known by his acts, by whether his conduct is pure and upright. 12 The hearing ear and the seeing eye, the Lord has made them both. 13 Love not sleep, lest you come to poverty; open your eyes, and you will have plenty of bread. 14 “Bad, bad,” says the buyer, but when he goes away, then he boasts. 15 There is gold and abundance of costly stones, but the lips of knowledge are a precious jewel. 16 Take a man's garment when he has put up security for a stranger, and hold it in pledge when he puts up security for foreigners. 17 Bread gained by deceit is sweet to a man, but afterward his mouth will be full of gravel. 18 Plans are established by counsel; by wise guidance wage war. 19 Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets; therefore do not associate with a simple babbler. 20 If one curses his father or his mother, his lamp will be put out in utter darkness. 21 An inheritance gained hastily in the beginning will not be blessed in the end. 22 Do not say, “I will repay evil”; wait for the Lord, and he will deliver you. 23 Unequal weights are an abomination to the Lord, and false scales are not good. 24 A man's steps are from the Lord; how then can man understand his way? 25 It is a snare to say rashly, “It is holy,” and to reflect only after making vows. 26 A wise king winnows the wicked and drives the wheel over them. 27 The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord, searching all his innermost parts. 28 Steadfast love and faithfulness preserve the king, and by steadfast love his throne is upheld. 29 The glory of young men is their strength, but the splendor of old men is their gray hair. 30 Blows that wound cleanse away evil; strokes make clean the innermost parts.

Devotional

Introduction

Have you ever heard of a perfect ruler in the world? I know of good rulers, people who have led the world. I know of leaders who have fought for justice. I know of kings who have truly sought the good of their people. But even those people make mistakes. Even those people have character flaws.

Solomon talks a little bit about kings and their rule in Proverbs 20 - something he would know a lot about, being a ruler himself. But Solomon knows there are improper ways to lead. Because of the wisdom God granted him, he is able to distinguish what would make a good king. He characterises a wise king, in many verses of Proverbs 20.

He reminds us that any good leader would assume these traits, and he reminds leaders to focus on adopting such wise characteristics.

Study

1) He is righteously angry (vs.2)

"The terror of a king is like the growling of a lion;  whoever provokes him to anger forfeits his life." (vs.2)

Have you ever done something that causes someone to become very angry? There are two situations this can cause: one where they are wrong, and one where you are wrong. For example, you might have said something, and for whatever reason, they retaliate with unkind and angry words. Perhaps this might be characteristic of a bully. However, if you have done something wrong - especially if you have done wrong knowingly - then for a parent or guardian or older sibling to get mad at you is actually a righteous anger, if done in the right way. Righteous anger can also be seen in your reaction to injustice in the world.

A wise king would feel a righteous anger towards the erroneous ways of his people. To bring a wise king to anger would be to put yourself at the doorstep of death, but they have a right to be angry at you.

Such righteous anger is seen in God himself:

"Remember and do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the wilderness.From the day you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the Lord. Even at Horeb you provoked the Lord to wrath, and the Lord was so angry with you that he was ready to destroy you." (Deuteronomy 9:7-8)

"It was for the sins of Jeroboam that he sinned and that he made Israel to sin, and because of the anger to which he provoked the Lord, the God of Israel." (1 Kings 15:30)

"But the people of Israel broke faith in regard to the devoted things, for Achan the son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of the devoted things. And the anger of the Lord burned against the people of Israel." (Joshua 7:1)

In all of these cases, the Lord is righteously angry because of the sins of these people. In many of these cases, people face the judgement of death for provoking the Lord to such anger.

A wise king will be like God, he will be righteously angry with his people because he will distinguish wrong from right. He will not put up with sin, because he will want his people to follow the Lord. A good leader does not sit back and watch sin take place, he will intervene in anger. Sounds terrible, but it is necessary.

2) He sits on a throne of judgement (vs.8,26)

"A king who sits on the throne of judgment winnows all evil with his eyes." (vs.8)

"A wise king winnows the wicked and drives the wheel over them." (vs.26)

Nobody likes the idea that they will face consequence for what they have done. Life would seem so much better if there was not fines, no tickets, no jail when you do something unlawful. Or would it?

You see, a good king will not only be angry, he will do something about it. People should not go unpunished. A wise king knows what to do when discipline is needed.

When Jesus comes back, we will stand before the Lord under judgement. For Christians, this will be a good day, because we will be judged as righteous through the blood of Christ. For others, they will be condemned.

Both verse 8 and 26 use the word "winnow" - it was a process where air would be blown onto a grain to remove the chaff. It would be to remove the impurities. This metaphor is used to demonstrate this idea that those who remained in their sin will be cut off and destroyed. God will remove these impurities from our world.

Matthew 25 says this:

"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him,then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left." (Matthew 25:31-33)

Jesus uses this same sort of idea, but with sheep and goats. Sheep are the Christians and the goats are not. Move past the metaphor (and whether or not goats are cuter than sheep :) ) and know this: when judgement comes, you will want to be a sheep, not a goat. You will want to be someone who says they have followed the shepherd.

You know, the wise king rules in judgement not only to establish justice, but because he is, technically, God's representative. I guess you could say he mimics God's rule on earth (though he is not God).

As much as we hate to hear it, judgement is essential for justice. And it is essential for a peaceful world.

3) He has steadfast love and faithfulness for his people (vs.28)

Steadfast love and faithfulness preserve the king, and by steadfast love his throne is upheld. (vs.28)

A wise king will rule with benevolence and kindness towards his citizens. Because he loves his people, his people love him.

There has never been a leader in all of history who has not met opposition of some kind. There are often groups: people who really like the leader, and people who really don't, and all sorts of groups in between. A good leader is often liked by the majority and it is these characteristics that often make him more popular to the people.

In a sinful world, I don't think any leader, and I mean any leader, can truly be loved by all. Not even God. There are so many people in our world who hate God and his rule, even though God literally is the perfect ruler. Psalm 26 says this:

For your steadfast love is before my eyes, and I walk in your faithfulness. (Psalm 26:3)

Proverbs does as it does, it states a generalisation. Someone who endeavours to mimic these traits in their own life is not only wise, but will likely be loved by the people. They will likely face a peaceful reign.

So a wise king will be like God and reign in steadfast love and faithfulness to his people.

Conclusion

Did you notice a pattern? Everytime we talked about the wise characteristic of the king - righteous anger, judgement, faithfulness and love - it was an attribute and characteristic of God himself? That's because God in his very nature is wise and perfect. He reigns in true holiness and justice and love. He is everything we should seek in a ruler.

When the Israelites wanted a king like all the other nations, God was righteously angry. He was their perfect ruler, they should have been content with him. He gave them a king, Saul, but he turned out to be pretty wicked.

You know, no king will ever be perfect, but a king can endeavour to be wise in these ways. Ultimately, no human king will ever suffice, will ever have a perfect rule. But I thank God that his rule is perfect and just. I thank God that he is both just and loving. I thank God for his perfection. I thank God that the leaders in our world can turn to him and ask to be ruling in the way he would want.

Praise the Lord!