The Expositor's Bible: The Book of ProverbsHorton, Robert F. (Robert Forman)
Religion
The Expositor's Bible: The Book of Proverbs
Horton, Robert F. (Robert Forman)
Bible. Proverbs -- Commentaries
But there is still one other characteristic cause of the perverted
kingship, to which attention is drawn in xxxi. 2-8: "Give not thy
strength unto women, nor thy ways to that which destroyeth kings. It
is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, nor for
princes to say, Where is strong drink? Lest they drink and forget the
law, and pervert the judgment of any that is afflicted." These fleshly
vices are peculiarly common and peculiarly ruinous to kings,
preventing them from pleading "the cause of such as are left
desolate," and from "ministering judgment to the poor and needy."[635]
It is in realizing the private life of kings, and in observing how
seldom they have practised temperance, chastity, self-control, and how
readily their contemporaries and even posterity have dispensed them
from these primary obligations, that we plainly recognise the broad
divergence between the facts of earthly monarchies and the description
of the heavenly monarchy, and thus are prepared to recognise with
gratitude and awe the sole sovereignty of Christ. The cry of the
Florentines under the temporary excitement created by Savonarola's
preaching was, "Jesus is our King, only Jesus." That is the constant
and ever-swelling cry of human hearts. The types and shadows fall
away; through the forms the spirit becomes apparent. It is Christ that
claims and wins and enchains our loyalty. We are His subjects, He is
our absolute Lord; we have no king but Jesus.
There is in every human heart a loyalty which seeks for a fitting
object; if it finds no lawful king, it will attach itself to a
pretender. What pathos there is in the sacrifice which men have made,
and in the deeds which they have dared, for Pretenders who have had no
claim upon their devotion or allegiance! "Show me my rightful
sovereign," seems to be the implicit demand of us all. And the answer
has been given, "Behold, your king cometh unto you," in the lowly
person, but commanding majesty, of Jesus. Many have accepted this and
have cried, "Blessed is the king that cometh in the name of the
Lord."[636]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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