The rich rules over the poor, And the borrower becomes the lender's slave. Proverbs 22:7

Proverbs is an interesting book in that it is presenting wisdom to us.  But as we read it there are times when we struggle with what is being said.  Here we read about how the rich rules over the poor - and we wonder about the wisdom of this statement.  But before we make the fatal mistake of questioning an all-wise God, let's take a moment to look at this proverb without the liability of the class warfare that has too often been used to color our thinking about such things. 

The rich does rule over the poor.  This is too the advantage of both if they are wise in how they conduct themselves.  The rich often become that way because they have learned how to manage things and deal with them so that they are profitable.  These sound like the kind of skills needed to be a leader.  Solomon is saying that this is the case - that the ones who rule over others are usually those who have worked hard to accomplish something.  Ones who have used their abilities to manage and accumulate wealth and influence.  that influence naturally puts them in a position to exercise even greater influence over a larger and larger number of people. 

For those who are offended that the Bible speaks of the rich ruling over the poor also need to consider the things the Bible says to protect the poor.  God has said numerous things to make it clear that He bring judgment upon the man who oppresses the poor.  He warns the rich again and again not to put their hope in riches.  He also warns about how riches can deceive a man and destroy him if he decides to pursue wealth about pursuing the things of God.  God may say that the rich rules over the poor - but He does not in any way condone the rich abusing the poor.  In fact, God promises that He will rise up to defend the poor and needy. 

The second thing we learn from this passage is the dangers and evils of living on borrowed money.  We learn that the borrower becomes the lender's slave.  When I read this statement I remember the rendition of a Disney song that goes, "I owe, I owe, so off to work I go."  The borrower owns the lender - or at least he owns whatever was purchased with loans until they are completely paid off.  Things become worse for the one who owes an exorbitant amount to the lender.  More and more interest is charged the larger the amount - and the worker suddenly is working to pay off the interest without even touching the loan amount itself.  Then the borrower becomes the lender's slave.  He will never get out of debt and spends a lifetime paying for something he will never own.

When I read this particular proverb I fear for our nation.  We are no longer a lender nation - but a debtor one.  Our leadership on both sides of the aisle have mortgaged our future trying to buy our votes.  The sick reality of our situation is that they've bought our votes promising things they've bought with our money as they enact more and more confiscatory tax policies.  Thus we've been bought using our own money - and those who have used it have done so to further enslave us to government programs and promises to save us.  In the end, this house of cards will come crashing to the ground.  Our greed to become rich with loans will come home to roost as our currency and our economy become worthless. 

The wise man does not seek riches through becoming a lender's slave.  Instead he uses industry, sacrifice, and saving to purchase what he wants - and greater wisdom to have what he has saved be used to increase his ability to earn more.  And if he is truly wise, he will use the wealth God has given him the ability to earn to bless others.  He will not allow riches to use him, he will use riches to bring glory to God.

Take away the dross from the silver, And there comes out a vessel for the smith; Take away the wicked before the king, And his throne will be established in righteousness. Proverbs 25:4-5

How important is it for a national leader to be surrounded by godly counsellors?  According to what we read here in Proverbs 25, it is absolutely vital!  When a king, chancellor, or president is surrounded by the wicked - there is a much greater chance that his rule or administration will be visited with problems.

The picture that is given for us first is a silver vessel that is being made by a smelter or silver smith.  If he is making something valuable and something that will last, he will take the time and the effort to remove the dross from the silver.  This requires a crucible and a lot of heat.  It requires watching over the silver to make sure that he scapes off all the dross that comes to the surface as it heats.  Dross is the junk and impurities that are in the silver ore.  As it heats up this rises to the top and can be scraped away.  It is what will make the silver polluted, less valuable, and more liable to be brittle and break.  If he takes the time to properly take the dross out of the silver - he will have something he can properly mold - and something that will both last and be very valuable. 

The dross in any governmental structure is the wicked who are trying to influence and counsel the king.  We read next that if the wicked are taken from before the king - his throne will be established in righteousness.  The wicked are constantly trying to gain the king's ear - so this is often a matter of wisdom in the king himself - and how he views his power.  If he sees power as something he himself has - and something he uses to do what he wants - he will be far less likely to take away the wicked from before him.  The reason this is the case is that men will use flattery and his own ego against him.  Consider the story of Daniel and the lion's den.  The king's greatest ally and wise advisor was Daniel.  But because the king was liable to be led astray by his own ego, he listened to men who wanted to declare a day where no one could pray to anyone except him.  When he made the fateful choice to enact this law - he learned that any real honor to him was the farthest thing from the minds of his advisors.  They lay in wait for Daniel to pray - knowing he would.  Then they brought the king's most trusted advisor before him - demanding that he pay the price for his evil prayers to God.  Even though the king hated the action - he did so - and were it not for God's intervention, Daniel would have been torn to pieces.  This is why it is so important for a king to know WHERE he got his power - and HOW he is to use it. 

Kings and presidents get their power from God.  Ultimately He has allowed them to come into a position of power - and the king and president would be wise to use that power to advance God's agenda in that nation.  We read that "righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.  Therefore it is a wise king who removes wicked advisors from his presence and seeks to advance his kingdom on godly, righteous principles.  Consider the advice of Ahithophel, who counselled Absalom when he robbed David of the kingdom of Israel.  He told Absalom to rape the king's concubines in public view - to strengthen his kingdom.  This was foolishness - because he was not strengthening anything but wickedness.  God was not going to advance such a man - and it is no surprise that he was killed soon afterward in battle. 

There is one misnomer I need to correct in commenting on this particular passage.  The Bible does not say that this course will keep a king from trouble.  Sometimes it puts a king in the crosshairs of the ungodly when he does this.  But what is does do for a godly leader is place him in the safest of all places - the center of God's will.  If a kingdom has previously been run by godless men and has been filled with godless leaders, there will be much opposition to this kind of rule.  In the end, though, that king will be blessed, because historically, God rises up and brings wonderful deliverances to such a leader. 

Something built with dross can look good upon first glance.  It may even be useful for a time.  But in the end - in a time of stress and testing - it will fail because it does not have inner strength upon which to draw in difficult times.  It is far better to withstand the heat of becoming pure - because the heat (which is usually pretty unpleasant at the time) will in the end ensure greater strength and stability in the end.  Therefore - pray for our president and for all our leaders.  Do not be cowered into a corner by the separation of church and state crowd.  Not only are they wrong constitutionally in their assertions, but more importantly - they are only seeking to lay a foundation that will NOT stand.  Our forefathers understood much better that a nation built upon righteousness will stand.  Any other foundation is only paving the way for failure in the end. 

Haughty eyes and a proud heart, The lamp of the wicked, is sin. Proverbs 21:4

Two things that God hates are haughtiness and pride.  They are actually two sides of the same sin - but nevertheless God really despises these things.  We learn from this proverb that these two things are the very lamp that shines within the wicked - it is what they think gives them light and guidance.  It should be a no brainer then why they are so blind to the things of God. 

Haughty eyes are the first thing mentioned here.  The word for haughty here means something having height - and actually refers to the physical height of the heavens.  In the oriental culture it was considered a good thing to cast your eyes down before a superior.  It showed respect.  To this day orientals show their honor and deference to someone by bowing to them and lowering their eyes.  Thus to have lifted eyes - even eyes raised to the heights - is to be a very disrespectful and arrogant person.  It is a way of saying that you recognize no greater authority in life than yourself.  Everyone else is "below" you. 

A "proud heart" is also mentioned here.  The word proud means something wide, spacious, and broad.  When put with the word "heart" it came to mean someone arrogant - of a broad and prideful heart.  One of the ways this speaks to us is that in biblical times someone who held a "broad" view of their morals and choices was someone who ignored the Scriptures and the Law - and chose rather to walk in the pride of their own desires (broad as they may be - yet still wrong!) rather than submit themselves to the Law of God and the boundaries it put on their actions and attitudes. 

When a man has arrogant eyes that refuse any authority but their own, and a heart that refuses God's Law - that person is wicked.  This proverb tells us that this is the "lamp" of the wicked - these arrogant eyes and proud heart.  The lamp refers to the light by which this person seeks to live.  The psalmist prayed, "Send forth Your light and Your truth, let them lead me."  This was his request - that the light and the lamp that shone within him would be in agreement with God's Word - God's Law.  Thus, as this light shone within him - he would see to know where to go and what to do.  But for the wicked, their light is their own arrogance and pride.  The light that guides them utterly rejects God's authority over their lives - and God's Word that speaks what is truth and light.  The result is that their lamp shows darkness and not light.  They are blind as a bat when it comes to any kind of vision or any kind of ability to walk in God's ways. 

Oh, how we as believers need to reject in us eyes that are arrogant and lifted against God's authority in our lives.  How we need to reject a heart that says that God's Word has nothing to say to us.  If we want to be spiritually blind, these are the things we need to embrace - but if we want any kind of spiritual vision whatsoever - we need to reject anything that has to do with arrogance or prideful attitudes toward God or toward His Word.

A fool rejects his father's discipline, But he who regards reproof is sensible. Proverbs 15:5

Why is it so important for a child to learn to submit himself and learn from his parents - especially a son from his father?  First, we need to learn from this relationship because we will be dealing with authority all the days of our lives.  I love the story of the son who, rebelling against his father's authority says, "I don't have to live under this kind of dictatorial authority, I'm joining the Marines!"  Believe me when I say that when we don't learn under the authority that God has in our lives - the Lord is very willing to up the ante on our next authority figure.  The second reason we need to learn to live under authority - especially with our fathers is because that relationship more than any other is suppose to parallel that between a man and his God. 

Only a fool rejects his father's discipline.  He looks at his father's rules and boundaries for his life with contempt.  He spurns them and rejects them outright.  He comes to despise the role his father is supposed to play in his life.  Interesting to note here is the fact that this same word is used for blasphemy elsewhere in the Old Testament.  Fancy that now - the same term that is used to describe the rebellion of a son to his father - is the same one used to describe the rebellion of a creation to his Creator. 

The reason we need so desperately to learn how to deal with discpline and correction is because this is the way of life.  Proverbs tells us elsewhere that reproofs for discpiline are the way of life.  We are rebels by nature - and by choice when that nature kicks into full gear.  The better we learn how to deal with disicpline and reproof - the better suited we are when the Holy Spirit comes to bring conviction of our sin so that we can respond to the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

The one who "regards" reproof is called sensible.  The word for "regard" here is our old friend "shamar" which means to watch out for something - to attend to it, to be careful to keep something and watch over it.  This word has the idea of diligence and watchfulness over what is said in reproof to us.  We listen and regard rather than reject what is said.  Oh the lessons that we could learn - and the pain and suffering that we could avoid in life if we would just listen to those who offer us reproof.  It is the sensible thing to do.  It is wise and prudent to listen to those who can offer us reproof and instruction on how to do things better.  It is wise to listen to those who see our mistakes and who desire for us to take a fork in the road so that we don't go the wrong way.  It is prudent to listen to those who've been where we have not - who've experienced shame and disgrace because of choices we are about to make.  That is why we need desperately to learn how to handle loving reproof - and even outright rebuke.  God knows that this is truly the way of life - and the way to avoid great sin and sorrow. 

Listen to your fathers - and learn from them.  This will be a lesson that will be repeated often as others who will serve as father-figures offer additional advice and counsel that can bless your life.  If you learn to listen now - while a child - oh, what blessings are in store for you from that one lesson later in life.

As the heavens for height and the earth for depth, So the heart of kings is unsearchable. Proverbs 25:3

Three things here are considered unmeasurable - or unsearchable.  First we cannot search out the measure of the heavens.  Astonomers concur with this fact.  No matter how powerful our telescope - the heavens are pretty much unsearchable.  And even if we could begin to fathom just how vast our universe was - we could never actually search it out and exhaust the information we could gather on it.  The second thing we cannot search out is the depths of the earth.  We have theorized just what is underneath us - but considering we are still discovering fish that we had no idea ever existed - I think it is safe to say that we cannot fathom all there is to know about the depths of the earth.  The third thing is different from these first two.  We are told that neither can we search out all there is about the heart of a king.

This is true on several levels.  First, kings and leaders have information that the local people do not have - and probably will never have.  I think it would absolutely blow our minds to realize how much information about different things - important things - comes across the desk of our president or any other ruler in our world.  They do not have the time to inform us of everything that goes into their decision making processes - neither do they need to.  This is why we need to pray that God would surround our leaders with wise and understanding counsellors.  Much of the decision making that happens in Washington D. C. happens because of the advice of those around our president.  Pray that he will have godly, discerning advisors.  We see what just one Daniel did in the kingdom of Babylon - one Mordecai in the kindom of Ahasuerus - and one Ahithophel in the kingdom of Absalom.  Whether for good or for bad, those who advise our leaders will greatly affect our nation. 

The king's heart is also unsearchable because they will not ever share all their reasonings for their decisions.  Their role is to make decisions and lead a nation.  Quite often pundits and writers will try to tell us what has gone on insider the minds of our leaders - but they don't really know.  All we can hope and pray for is that they will make godly decisions that will bless our nation.

Finally, the heart of a king is just like every other heart among mankind.  The king's heart is fallen.  He is sinful no matter who he is.  Thus, just like anyone else, the heart of the king is desperately sick and beyond even his own understanding.  What we need to pray for is that our rulers are Christians who derive their wisdom and leadership from seeking God and knowing His Word.  The king, like any other human, is sinful - and has aspects of his life that grieve him and plague him.  He has weaknesses.  This is the reason we need to pray for those in power and authority.  They need our prayers because they do have to lead us.  Our hope is that the One who searches all hearts - will search theirs as well.  Our hope is that our leaders will have godly advisors and godly reasoning behind all that they do.  Then we will have a blessed nation - because a nation ultimately must have its blessings from God.  Oh that we would have leaders who turn to Him for that blessing.