When the Righteous Thrive, the People Rejoice
1 He who is often rebuked and stiffens his neck will be destroyed suddenly, with no remedy. 2 When the righteous thrive, the people rejoice; but when the wicked rule, the people groan. 3 Whoever loves wisdom brings joy to his father; but a companion of prostitutes squanders his wealth. 4 The king by justice makes the land stable, but he who takes bribes tears it down. 5 A man who flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet. 6 An evil man is snared by his sin, but the righteous can sing and be glad. 7 The righteous care about justice for the poor. The wicked aren’t concerned about knowledge. 8 Mockers stir up a city, but wise men turn away anger. 9 If a wise man goes to court with a foolish man, the fool rages or scoffs, and there is no peace. 10 The bloodthirsty hate a man of integrity; and they seek the life of the upright. 11 A fool vents all of his anger, but a wise man brings himself under control. 12 If a ruler listens to lies, all of his officials are wicked. 13 The poor man and the oppressor have this in common: Yahweh gives sight to the eyes of both. 14 The king who fairly judges the poor, his throne shall be established forever.
The last collection turns to public life, and its judgment on a government is measured by whether ordinary people are glad or groaning.
The chapter opens with a warning about repetition. He who is often rebuked and stiffens his neck will be destroyed suddenly, with no remedy. Two words carry it. Often — this is not a first refusal but a pattern. And suddenly — the collapse, when it comes, does not match the slowness of the process that produced it.
The political sayings that follow are unusually plain about how power feels from below. When the righteous thrive, the people rejoice; but when the wicked rule, the people groan. The test proposed is not the ruler's stated intentions or his achievements. It is the sound the population makes. And the mechanism is named: The king by justice makes the land stable, but he who takes bribes tears it down. Bribery is described as demolition of the country rather than as private enrichment.
One verse gets at how corruption spreads through an administration: If a ruler listens to lies, all of his officials are wicked. Not some. The reasoning is that a man who rewards flattery selects for it. Within a few years, everyone standing near him is a person willing to supply it.
The run's most quoted line about the poor is stated as a matter of attention: The righteous care about justice for the poor. The wicked aren't concerned about knowledge. Caring about a poor man's case is classed as a form of knowing something, and indifference is classed as ignorance rather than as cruelty.
Two verses on temper are placed among the political ones, which is itself an argument. Mockers stir up a city, but wise men turn away anger. And the definition: A fool vents all of his anger, but a wise man brings himself under control. The word all is precise. The fool is not described as angrier than other men, only as emptying the whole of it, every time.
And one verse states the common ground between the two parties the chapter has been separating: The poor man and the oppressor have this in common: Yahweh gives sight to the eyes of both. The same maker, the same gift, given to the man doing the oppressing as well as to the one under it.
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