Proverbs 28:15 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Proverbs 28:15

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Pity the people who are in this condition. A poor people look to their ruler for sympathy, for measures to be taken by the state for their relief, for a sense that the ruler appreciates their suffering and see himself as responsible for alleviating it. They are poor and powerless and helpless; he has at least some power, some resources of state at his disposal. He can put himself in their position and consider what help they need, ease their burden, and from a position of power and authority protect their livelihoods and food supply. But the ruler in mind in this proverb cares about none of these things. He sees the people as being there to benefit him and feels no responsibility to them. He is a wicked ruler who wants power for the earthly honour and glory that it brings him. He does not mix with the poor, but uses his kingdom to boost himself in the eyes of the great ones of this world. The people are there to supply his needs, and he milks them for what he can get out of them, regardless of their poverty. He does not feel for their pain nor can he be bothered to try to relieve it.The extraordinary comparison that Solomon is forced to use is that of a roaring lion or a ranging bear. The lion has left its lair and is hungry. Everything he sees is a potential meal. Does it care about the creatures that it catches in his teeth? Of course not, they are there to be eaten. The whole jungle exists to supply its needs. What if its victims were to appeal to its mercy? They would find it non-existent. Instead they would discover only a creature who uses its superior strength to crush them in its path. They are the food and it is the eater. Or a ranging bear, a bear that is disturbed, angry, vicious; you had better not be found in its path. Perhaps its young have been threatened and it is out to defend them. The word ‘ranging’ means roving, rushing to and fro, running about. It is not safe to be anywhere near this animal. But what about its heart? Can this really be an apt comparison with a wicked ruler? Yes, because he too is utterly indifferent to the suffering he causes in his kingdom. It goes without saying that this is the opposite of what a ruler ought to be.

Application

How different is the Lord Jesus Christ, our heavenly King! How much he cares about his people! He has laid down his life for each one individually and loved them with an everlasting love. He hourly listens to our prayers and sends answers from heaven. He will not allow anything to separate us from his love. He is constantly training us and moulding us and preparing us for heaven by washing the remaining filth of this world from our souls. No service for our souls is too great for him, and he has done for us what no other human being would be willing to do for us, in order to save us.

Those who serve in his church must study to be like him. They are called to serve God’s people – that is what the word deacon means. They must ‘admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all’ (1 Thessalonians 5:14). Those who are appointed as elders and deacons must be men who have studied to be like their Lord, and to imitate his compassion, ‘not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money’ (1 Timothy 3:3).

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Proverbs 28:15 Commentary and Bible Study