Your life is a kingdom, how do you reign in it? Who do you appoint as the chief officers of state, the ones who will have all the influence in your life? It is a little parable. Do tantrums decide what you do, as though your kingdom was ruled by a child? If some great lust comes along, will you just put it in charge of your behaviour for the next few months? Do you say, ‘My counsellors will be people like me who reject God, people who sing my tune. I won’t pick individuals who will remind me of God’s standards. I want them well out the way’? If you do not appoint strong moral principles over your life, then your base desires will rise up because they know they can get away with anything. The fun ethic rules; senses and feelings count more than anything spiritual. That is far more important than truth. Who do you choose as your friends – people who are not going to make you feel uncomfortable or challenge you when you do things that are wrong, contrary to what God commands? Fallen human beings promote those values which are consistent with their sinful pleasures and latch onto anything that seems to give credence to their life of unbelief. Like the foolish king, they care more about themselves and their personal gratification than about the administration of righteousness within the sphere of their control. Far be it from them to extol integrity, or justice, or purity; that would only make it harder to achieve what they want. Instead, these things are given euphemistic names: purity is called fastidiousness or being over scrupulous; insistence on faithfulness in marriage is restrictive and a failure to face up to the realities of life. All must have the right to choose their own standards; disapproval of evil is intolerance and self-righteousness. In short, evil is called good, and good is called evil and God’s standards are rewritten. Some appoint nonsense, superficial things to be in charge. Humour is a great thing, but don’t make humour the chief office of state, nor appearances, nor money, nor conforming to the fashions of this world. The things that really matter are integrity, self-control, kindness, character, the deep things of life, knowing the Lord. The illustration is a very interesting way of helping the unbeliever to look at himself.
Some commentators would apply this to the land – a good Christian country. But Solomon is always speaking to individuals, so when he addresses the land, you know the land is an illustration of the individual. There can be no other purpose for the illustration.