I have been reading the book of Proverbs for the past month and it has now come to an end. As I finish reading this book, I cannot help but say a few words on the last chapter of the book. I don’t know much about the history of the compilation of the book of Proverbs but I find it interesting that the closing chapter are sayings of a queen mother through her king son Lemuel. All the other chapters are sayings of men, mostly king Solomon. As we have already discussed in other posts, the purpose of the book of proverbs is to give wisdom and understanding to the simple in order to live wisely in this world. The book starts with its purpose and tells us that the fear of the “Lord is the beginning of wisdom” and it ends with “charm is deceitful and beauty fleeting; but the woman who fears the Lord is to be praised”. The main theme of fearing the Lord is still at the centre of the book, it starts and ends with it. As beautiful as the last chapter of proverbs is, I would like to focus on two concepts that blessed me and I believe can bless you as well: the ideas of kingship and wife.
Let’s start with kingship. In biblical times, kings were usually appointed by God, chosen to be such and the throne was then transferred to the son when the king died if the king had followed God’s commandments. In today’s times and in places where there are still kingdoms, the kingship still gets transferred from father to son. The book of Deuteronomy lays out some of the instructions God had for kings. Among other things, kings were not to have many wives so that their hearts were not led astray, they were to keep a copy of the Law of God on their throne, read it all the days of their lives and not turn from it neither to the left nor the right (Deuteronomy 17:14-20). Additionally, kings were to lead the people of Israel and were also expected to rule in righteousness with the fear of God. According to Proverbs 31, the king’s role, his raison d’être is to “speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and the needy.” (Proverbs 31:8-9). This is not specific to Proverbs only but many other books of the bible tell us God’s intent for His kings. For example, in the books of Isaiah and Psalms we see that the king must be righteous, he must act justly for his people and seek the welfare of the people he has been entrusted with (Isaiah 32:1-2; Psalm 72;) In fact, we see that earthly kings were representation of God to the people. No wonder they had to be blameless themselves and held to a higher standard because the people looked to them for everything. The idea of a king being a king for the service of the people is very striking, the role of a king was not to please himself, it was not to think of himself more highly than others but it was to enact the justice of God in the people’s lives. A good king was a blessing to the people, a good king pointed the people to God through his kingship. Unfortunately many earthly kings failed that mission but Jesus fulfilled it marvelously. Indeed, he came to set to captives free, he came to bring justice to those that could not speak for themselves, he came to give us life abundantly (Isaiah 9, 11, John 10). Jesus was the perfect King, he did what no other earthly king did to the point of dying on the cross because of his service. The office of kingship was a privileged one but also a very serious one. No wonder when king Lemuel recounts what his mother said on the topic you can understand the reasons she lays concerning the prohibition of alcohol consumption for kings. Being a king was a serious business, people’s lives depended on it, and nations depended on it. It was a task that directly bore witness to who God is and it directly had an impact on the image of God you were displaying, it is not surprising that drastic measures (such as no alcohol) had to be taken to ensure not falling.
The second idea that blessed me in this last chapter of Proverbs is the wife of noble character. Other versions have an “excellent wife” or a “wife of value”. What I found intriguing is the blessing that this wife brings to her husband. She seems to just be a “goodies machine”, wherever she is you can be sure that there is provision. All that she does prosper and she works extremely hard. She is definitely not lazy and she is constantly thinking of ways to be a blessing whether materially or spiritually through the words of wisdom she dispenses. She has a servant heart and she is not doing all the work and the things she does for herself, it is for others. Her life blesses her husband and she is praised for her works. This is a huge contrast when comparing with what other chapters of Proverbs say about a quarrelsome wife, or the adulterous woman. This wife of noble character is nothing compared to the other women Proverbs warns us about. What is also particular about this woman is that she is hard to find. The question “a wife of noble character who can find?” suggests that it is not an easy task. Some might even say it is impossible. I remember my pastor saying that some scholars believe the wife of noble character spoken of here is attributed to Ruth, the wife of Boaz. This to mean would mean that it is possible to find such a wife. We cannot know for sure but where I find encouragement is in the fact that this woman of noble character fears the Lord. Her drive comes from the fear of the Lord she has and the things she is able to do are simply out of that desire to please her Maker.
The bible never ceases to amaze me and to destroy whatever misconceptions I may have had on any topic. I personally love that both an excellent wife and a king after God’s heart are a blessing to the people they have been entrusted with: the husband for the wife and the peoples for the king. They both display the image of God in their assignments and they bring good to their audience. This is simply beautiful! Because Jesus is our model, I love that it is possible to have good rulers and good wives if they submit to Him. I couldn’t help but dream about a world on this earth filled with the fear of the Lord from the greatest to the smallest. You could say I long for heaven. May those of us who fear the Lord strive to display Him in the various tasks He has entrusted us with. Rather than seeking perfection, let us submit to Him and press on, so that we too can achieve greatness for His glory and our good.
A Word Aptly Spoken 