If a king judges the poor with fairness, his throne will always be secure. Proverbs 29, verse 14.
Fair is a four-letter F-word. That’s a saying that I tell my kids when I hear “that’s not fair” or “this is so unfair.” I hear enough of that other four-letter F-word that I figure it’s only fair to fight fair with fair.
But let’s face it: with or without entendres about profanity, we all want a fair shake. Despite the pessimistic bent of so many stories in the news these days, I still believe the good old US of A is a fundamentally fair country. It’s true that there are injustices in the world and that’s not fair…but that isn’t what the verse is talking about. And it’s true that sometimes the deck seems stacked in favor of the elites, the glitterati and the people with the Benjamin Franklins in their wallet…but that isn’t what the verse is talking about either. And it’s also true that it takes a very long time to dispense criminal or civil justice through our system of jurisprudence…and that isn’t what the verse is talking about either.
Both rich and poor alike want fair interpretation before the law, and that’s part of what the verse is saying. It’s saying that the subjects of the king want fairness. To demonstrate this, they live peacefully under their ruler’s charge when he administers government fairly. Justice in the courts, laws that aren’t oppressive, conditions conducive to the pursuit of happiness: if a ruler administers fairly, these can result and, when they do, the subjects are happy. When we’re happy, we’re quiet and orderly. It’s fair.
The verse is also talking about judging the least of the subjects. It’s no coincidence that it talks about the poor and not “the rich” or even “his subjects.” It talks, instead, about judging those with the most to gain from both justice and the king’s favor. Could it be that ‘the poor’ might also be an allusion to you and me and our state as imperfect beings? After all, to be righteous is to be rich, and we’ve already covered the ground of how we’re not righteous on our own. On our own, we’re poor. The ultimate fairness is divine love in that it is just, it is even-handed, it is a gift of grace, and it is a constant. Maybe you and I are the least of all subjects. Chief of sinners am I; how about you? I don’t always deserve real justice; none of us really does. But God gives it anyway.
And then the verse is talking about security, namely the security of the king. If a king judges the least of his subjects with fairness, they will keep his throne secure. He will have the reputation of being wise and even-handed. There will be that placidity and peace in the kingdom, and the king’s reputation as a good ruler will grow. The wise king will see this and realize his fairness is a gift given to him that he is privileged and charged to share. The wise king will also see that keeping the subjects happy will be the easiest way to keeping his place on top of the pyramid. It’s easier to rule when the kingdom is at peace.
This is one comparison, though, where ‘the king’ doesn’t translate to God. God’s throne is always secure whether he rules one way or another. He doesn’t need our actions or even our loving fealty to make His place secure. He’s God; He just Is. Yet because He Is and because He Is true love incarnate, He is just. He is just and fair in all things, perhaps the only real fairness and justice in this mixed up world. It isn’t in His nature to be unfair, unjust, lying, or wrong in any way: He can’t. It’s impossible for Him because He is holy. Because of that, He gives His love as the perfect expression of his fairness, giving justice to those who least deserve it and setting things right when public life has set them very wrong. In God, there is no ‘fair’ and there are certainly no F-words. In God, there is only love.
What could be fairer than that?
We all do want a fair shake, especially the teenagers among us. Sometimes it’s hard to give them that fair shake. They do things that aggravate us, and they cross the line with talk, smoking, drinking, getting in trouble at school, mouthing off, not doing their work…and it’s only Wednesday. As parents, we want to both be fair and also be just (and sometimes we want to let the hammer fall too). In those times, though, we do best when we remember He who loved us first and loved us best. His fairness is shown in forbearance; his grace in giving; his love in loving where love wasn’t deserved. That’s the fairest shake of all.
Practical Proverbs 