Proverbs 30:24 ¶ There be four things which are little upon the earth,
but they are exceeding wise: 25 The ants are a people not strong, yet they
prepare their meat in the summer; 26 The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make
they their houses in the rocks; 27 The locusts have no king, yet go they forth
all of them by bands; 28 The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in
kings’ palaces.
One of the things about these verses that I like
is how the writer calls the ants a people and the conies (some say this is a
rabbit, some say it’s a mouse of some type) are a folk. In any event, these
four creatures are very small and physically weak in comparison to larger
animals but they do amazing things.
They are, in order, wise, industrious,
organized, and pervasive.
Proverbs 30:29 ¶ There be three things which
go well, yea, four are comely in going: 30 A lion which is strongest among
beasts, and turneth not away for any; 31 A greyhound; an he goat also; and a
king, against whom there is no rising up.
In these comparisons are found strength, speed,
and agility, with finally the key to these comparisons being found by the
mentioning of a king at the very end. All of these traits are then the ideal
traits of a human king; wisdom, industriousness, organization, having his
agents everywhere, with strength, speed of action, and ability to change
direction at a moment’s notice. In Niccolo Machiavelli’s classic work, The
Prince, he talks about how a successful ruler must think quickly and be
flexible.
A ruler is also called to be a judge and at
times in history has had to deliver his people from a great danger. Notice how
these positions are all defined and linked in these verses.
Exodus 2:14 And he said, Who made thee a
prince and a judge over us? intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the
Egyptian? And Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is known.
Notice that a prince is a judge in the way the
Bible is laid out for understanding. Now, when the martyr, Stephen, quotes this
verse in Acts, ruler is substituted for prince, showing these are synonyms or
having similar or like meanings. The concepts are then further explained by
simple word substitutions. This happens all through the Bible.
Acts 7:35 This Moses whom they refused,
saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? the same did God send to be a ruler
and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush.
In this verse the parallels; ruler and judge,
then ruler and deliverer, are made. Ruler is the hinge on which the self-defining
qualities of this verse are evident. A ruler is a judge, which explains the
Book of Judges’ secondary characters (the main character is Christ, the
physical image of God, acting on the Godhead’s behalf). A ruler is also a
deliverer, which also helps explain that Book. So, the Judges were rulers and
deliverers of their people, which is also evident by reading the book.
In the Law of Moses there were conditions for a
king’s rule laid out;
Deuteronomy 17:14 ¶ When thou art come unto
the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt
dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the
nations that are about me; 15 Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee,
whom the LORD thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set
king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy
brother. 16 But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people
to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the
LORD hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way. 17
Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away:
neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold. 18 And it shall
be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a
copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites:
19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his
life: that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this
law and these statutes, to do them: 20 That his heart be not lifted up above
his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right
hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom,
he, and his children, in the midst of Israel.
In 2nd Samuel we find a further qualification;
2Samuel 23:3 The God of Israel said, the Rock
of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear
of God.
Even a casual reading of the Old Testament can
show you just how the kings of Israel and Judah failed to live up to those
qualifications.
In the Bible we find the three branches of our
government; the judicial, the legislative, and the executive;
Isaiah 33:22 For the LORD is our judge, the
LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he will save us.
By what criteria do you judge the person you
would elect as chief executive of your own country? And is there any way to
even judge a modern, secular government office with the theocracy of the Hebrew
Kingdom of the Old Testament?
What about you, men and women, as the rulers of
your families? Do you share the qualifications for kingship as co-heirs in the
grace of life?
1Peter 3:7 Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with
them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker
vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be
not hindered.
What about your standing with each
other?
Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor
Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye
are all one in Christ Jesus.
Or is one of you a petty tyrant (and
that can be either male or female?) These character traits of a ruler can
easily be applied to Christian parenting, much more easily than they can be
applied to a secular elected president. What kind of a leader are you in your
home? We tend to try to put off the standards of God to people as far away from
us as we can get, to our political leaders or to some person in prophecy, but
all I am asking you to do is to apply them to yourselves and see where you
stand in the order of things. Consider it, please.
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