Day 334: The ideal king - Proverbs 16 vs 10 - 15

10 An oracle is on the lips of a king; his mouth does not sin in judgement. 11 A just balance and scales are the Lord's; all the weights in the bag are his work. 12 It is an abomination to kings to do evil, for the throne is established by righteousness. 13  Righteous lips are the delight of a king, and he loves him who speaks what is right. 14 A king's wrath is a messenger of death, and a wise man will appease it. 15 In the light of a king's face there is life, and his favour is like the clouds that bring the spring rain. Proverbs 16:10-15 English Standard Version

For those of us living in Western Countries, Kings (or Queens) nowadays are merely figureheads of the nation, and even tourist attractions! But in the days Proverbs was written Kings had absolute authority and power. Notice how vs 14 expresses that. Wise people took care not to offend the King. What sort of King do you think these verses spoke of?

They speak of a King whose words are like divine decisions and based on righteous laws. A King who approves of those who stand up for what is honest and fair, and his approval is like refreshing rain when it is needed. He himself shuns evil because he wants his kingdom to be a righteous one.

The problem is that we know from reading the history of the Kings who ruled over Israel and Judah, that many of them (if not most) didn’t measure up to these things. Take King Ahaz for example. We read in 2 Chronicles 28:1-2 that “Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and reigned for sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as his father David had done,  but he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel. He even made metal images for the Baals.” Similar things were sadly true of many of their Kings. So while many of them had absolute power and authority, as Proverbs describes, they fell far short of the other things mentioned, such as a love of righteousness and truth.

I suggest that what Proverbs describes is what the ideal King would be like. An ideal King would speak God's word and never sin in his judgements. He would regard sin as an abomination and his blessing would be on those in his kingdom who loved righteousness as he did. And, as vs 11 implies, he would desire honesty and integrity in all who serve him.

Solomon may have had his father David in mind when he wrote these things. King David had certainly shown many of the good attributes of a God fearing King. Many of David's words were oracles – i.e. divinely inspired. The Bible contains the Psalms he wrote and the many prophecies they contained. But we know too that even David did not match up fully to the ideal King.

But the Bible does tell us of such a King. The writer of the New Testament book called Hebrews quotes verses from Psalm 45 which said: “Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a sceptre of justice will be the sceptre of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy.” And he tells us that these words were spoken ultimately about the Lord Jesus Christ. (Hebrews 1:8-9)

Jesus is the only one who truly loved righteousness so as to never sin in his words or judgements. He is the only one who, every time he spoke, made God's words known to us. In the West we’ve become so accustomed to 'democracy' – a system where people can speak with contempt of those in authority. But, if we are a Christian, we are called to humble our hearts and lives before King Jesus and submit to Him completely. His words are indeed life and blessing and His favour is like refreshing rain. Happy are those who belong to this King and who serve Him in the world.