Tiny Devotional for RED Friday, 09-08-2023

 A great good morning to all my friends and neighbors in Internet Land! And to family members who have dropped by, I ate the last banana.

By me kings reign,
And rulers decree justice.
Proverbs 8:15, NASB

Wisdom is speaking, and this is part of her resume.
It’s pretty impressive! She sets things up, so that kings get to do king stuff. Check this out:

Kings ( מֶלֶךְ, meleḵ) reign ( מָלַךְ, mālaḵ ). See? The melek gets to malak!
I was hoping we’d get another pun with the rulers, but no such luck:
Rulers (רָזַן, rāzan) decree (חָקַק, ḥāqaq) justice (צֶדֶק, ṣeḏeq). 
If there is any wordplay in that, I don’t see it. 

The form of government Wisdom is working with is a monarchy, which means ‘one ruler,’ or king. The monarch doesn’t do it all, though. Under him are the rulers (some translations say ‘princes’) and they are responsible for implementing the king’s rule by establishing and enforcing laws. Absolute monarchy is no longer popular; even the 7 or 8 strongest monarchies left have at least a token representative body.

Could it be that wisdom is a pretty rare quality? 
Is that why monarchies no longer exist? 
I find the idea fascinating; from what I know, it was a lack of wisdom that precipitated the American Revolution. 

Is there a subjective way of evaluating how much wisdom a head of government possesses? If you believe social media, you would conclude that wisdom is NEVER present in the White House. We get the same results when we consider members of Congress: no apparent wisdom.
But wait: WE elected them!
Could it be that WE are the ones in need of wisdom?
Here’s some wisdom: 
Do justice; love mercy; walk humbly with God.
Peace be on your household.

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