Proverbs 31:4-5
It is not for kings, Lemuel, not for kings to drink wine, nor for rulers to crave intoxicants; lest he drink and forget what is decreed, and lest he change a verdict for every oppressed person.
I think it's so apt that Proverbs 31 begins with instructions to a king against oppressive practices. The blindness of privilege can be checked by an open ear and an honest heart. Perhaps Lemuel's mother had experienced a degree of oppression herself as a women and this gave her open eyes to perceive the sufferings of others. She was perceptive too about the potential causes. I wonder what she had witnessed. Was it the actions of her own son or other royal relatives? Whatever it was, this specific instruction seems clearly born out of experience.
Was she a kill joy puritan? I don't think so. Just as verse 3b qualifies 3a (and I am still determined to return to verse 3 when I have something sensible to say) verse 5 qualifies verse 4. This is not about abstaining for some puritanical reasons to do with one's own holiness but about the justice and shalom of the whole community.
We evangelical protestants often get stuck at our own sanctification, being holy becomes about whether we as individuals are right with God. I believe God's desire for us to be holy is bigger than that. When God says be holy because I am holy in the Pentateuch, he says it to a nation not a person.
The word "intoxicants" according to one of my commentaries is any inebriating drink of 7 to 10% alcoholic volume. So this is specifically about getting drunk not just drinking. But there are wider principles at stake here too. As I said before, Lemuel's mother was encouraging him not to get involved in things that would distract him from the law or cause him to increase oppression in his country. I think there are many things that those of us who in some way or form have power over other people, tempt us to entrench oppression. Money, oil, fame, weapons, credit ratings, ideology, beauty, comfort, chocolate. All these things we can get drunk on and forget what is decreed and change verdicts. And this isn't me having a go at politicians again. This is for all of us to reflect on.
So a Proverbs 31 community guards itself against selfish indulgences lest it be distracted from doing right by others. It is also a community that expects God's holiness to transform its relationships as well as its individuals.
Just wanted to say how much I enjoy reading your blog, Jen. Praise God for the wisdom and passion he has given you for writing it and delving more deeply into his truths revealed in his word. I'm often pulled up short by the things you write as they reveal to me the extent of my own apathy and ignorance about important issues that should be central to how I live out my life as a Christian. I'm particularly enjoying your thoughts on Proverbs and what makes a Proverbs 31 community. Great reminders of what God intends us to be. I was particularly struck in this one by your thoughts on the things that tempt us to entrench oppression. For me it illustrates one what Jesus said about it being easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. Our privileged, westernised, consumer based lifestyles make it so easy for us to live in ignorance or denial of where pretty much everything we have initially comes from and who may have suffered to provide us with it. We live in a (generally) 'no questions asked' culture. Movements like Fair Trade do a great job of helping us to make more ethical choices but I'm sure there are still so many things in our daily lives that we use or buy without really knowing their origins. A good example for me recently has been to question where the seed I sow for the garden really comes from and who has grown and harvested it. I like to think that by being a gardener I am really participating in the stewardship role God has given us but even this is fraught with potential ethical pitfalls. I think it would be an interesting challenge to see what would happen if one chose to only buy things that one could guarantee had been produced ethically. How many things would one have to avoid. To be honest, I have no real idea of where most of the stuff on my weekly shopping list comes from or who has made it. And I wouldn't know where to start to find out the level of detail required to make an informed decision about each product. Going back to the seed example, an initial google search threw up no useful information on how large seed companies produce the seed we buy in our garden centres. I'll keep searching but it just highlights that there are an awful lot of products out there that we really have very little information on maybe other than their country of origin. Maybe labelling needs to change so that consumers can make more informed decision - I'm not sure this would be a widely popular choice mind you. The lure of cheap goods and our fallen human cravings for material goods do an amazing amount to blind us to the grim truth behind them. Sadly out of sight out of mind seems to be a canker in our society. Thank God that he stirs up hearts out of this complacency. Anyway, I've now written far more than I set out to but thank you for challenging me and making me think. Keep the blogs coming. Love Liz
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