Tiny Devotional for Tuesday, 08-17-2021

A great good evening to all my friends and neighbors in Internet Land! And to family members who have dropped by, Old Dan Tucker was a fine old man.

A servant who acts wisely will rule over a son who acts shamefully,
And will share in the inheritance among brothers.
Proverbs 17:2, NASB


I don’t want to write about this verse, because I don’t know anything about it, AND I don’t feel well. Still, duty requires. 

I’ve never had a servant, and very limited experience with inheritance. Therefore, what follows is conjecture, based on watching PBS series and movies about rich English people. 

According to what I see on those shows, I THINK a servant mostly differs from a slave, by not being actual property; they are hired, not purchased, and they can quit, if they want to. However, they live on the property, and seem to be on duty all the time, with every other Sunday afternoon off, or something.  

I also imagine that in the time of Solomon, the separation between servant and family status was even more extreme than that shown on PBS. Thus, it is an astoundingly radical concept that behavior could triumph over birth.

How do you establish a culture in which right behavior has such impact? 

People with more information than I describe many current Middle Eastern societies as based on family relationships. With families holding all the power, how is it even possible that advancement based on merit ever happens?

I can’t answer that, but clearly, this verse speaks of the advancement of a servant into family status. It occurs to me that this is a revolutionary concept, and one that comes from the top down.

How often do the tools for revolution come from the king?

Peace be on your household.

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