Proverbs 28:21
To show partiality is not good,
but for a piece of bread a man will do wrong.
TAG: Leaders Must Judge Justly!!
How you interpret this proverb may depend on what type of parallelism you believe the writer is using. This tends to be a synthetic parallelism proverb. In synthetic parallelism the second line of the proverb continues the thought of the first line. In the above proverb we see that the thought is that if you show partiality, it is not good (simple words to tell us how foolish and wrong it is for rulers or anyone to show partiality over one person compared to the other). If you believe this is synthetic parallelism, in the second line Solomon goes on to say, however, even the partiality can be enticed by something as simple as a piece of bread to commit this wrong. If, however, you believe this is synonymous parallelism (where the second line says the same thing as the first line but in different words) then the meaning of the proverb is to emphasize corrupt and unethical behavior between people: In the fist line the unethical behavior is partial judgement. In the second line the unethical behavior is selling your soul for something trivial and not lasting and eternal. This proverb teaches us that people will, in the midst of trouble, conflict and struggles, do things to create an advantage for themselves. We are not to be involved in unethical behavior to gain personal advantages. Godly wisdom does not live in this manner. The fear of the Lord in our lives does not produce this type of behavior, no matter how you interpret the proverbs.
No comments:
Post a Comment