The world, as it stands, does not seem to look the way that Christians would expect it to. Rather than seeing a world marked by peace, where weapons have become pruning hooks and the lion lies down with the lamb, we see death. Alton Sterling and Philando Castile are victims of systems designed to protect people like them. Lorne Ahrens, Patrick Zamarripa, Michael Smith, Brent Thompson, and Michael Krol lost their lives in an act of violence committed by a trained gunman, one whom they swore to protect. Sin wrecks the systems of this world, and the principalities and powers of this age are not content to merely fuel individual violence, instead creating whole anti-Christian narratives. Systems designed to keep law and order end up being wracked by violence from both within and without.
When most Christians want to speak the language of the Bible and apply it to present situations, our first instinct is usually to look at the prophets. This is not wrong, but maybe incomplete. The prophets learned the language of justice from Israel’s extensive wisdom literature. To speak the language of the prophets, we should first learn the language of Lady Wisdom. Put another way, we look through the lens of the Proverbs: rather than listening to the instruction of our fathers, and the teaching of our mothers, we have gone astray to be with Lady Folly. Her alluring words, dripping with honey and smoother than oil, help us forget that she forgot the God of the covenant and left the companions of her youth. Humanity, under Adam, left the path of her fathers and followed the sons of Folly: ambushing those who were innocent without reason, rejoicing and delighting in evil, learning deviousness and crooked ways. By embracing the wisdom of this world, we have adopted the wisdom that killed the Son of Glory, becoming a part of the violent ways of Folly, at risk of never regaining the paths of life.
God calls us to hear the call of Wisdom from the streets (Proverbs 1:20-33). It was through her that God created the world, a dwelling made for God and designed with prudence, knowledge, and direction. In Proverbs, the figure of Lady Wisdom loves those who love her, and she offers her lovers the choicest of wines and meats. She makes her word known to us and offers reproof from our foolishness.
Solomon, the father in Proverbs, stands in the place of our true Father, the Father of Jesus Christ. Writing years before even the Babylonian exile, he seeks to instruct us in ways to prevent our own destruction, to guide us to repent and turn to the true Wisdom of God.
By admonishing his readers to grow in wisdom, Solomon actually points us towards some useful ways of thinking about justice issues. Most Christians who advocate for social justice generally believe that the source of their wisdom, and their strength to fight injustice, should come from the Spirit and from the Spirits, both of whom testify to He who rose to life to conquer death. That being said, I’m not sure we’ve always fully remembered why (or how) this matters. Therefore, I’d like to bring up four ways in which the words of Proverbs can help Christians learn to fight with more strength and wisdom against the injustice of the world.
First, by meditating on the Scriptures, we learn the heart of God. We learn that God is not concerned about matters of justice in an abstract or impersonal way: rather, God delights in justice and hates that which is unjust (Proverbs 11:21). Furthermore, while God set up the sacrificial system, the means by which Israel could approach God, He would rather have us practice righteousness and justice in the first place (Prov. 21:3). He is gracious and just to forgive us our sins, but He also delights in us living rightly, empowered by His grace and learning through His instruction via the Spirit and the Scriptures.
But God is not content to just show us His heart. After showing us His heart for justice, God delights in revealing Himself through His will in the world by telling us how to live justly. One of Solomon’s major examples comes from the Torah: the concept of just weights. Weights could be altered so that the seller would dishonestly weigh his goods and make them appear to be more profitable, thereby deceiving customers and making them pay more for less. Solomon tells us that this is a major problem in God’s eyes, and he finds it commonplace enough to call out directly (Prov. 11:1; 16:11; 20:10; 20:23). By following God’s precepts, as originally revealed by the law and explained more fully by Christ and His apostles, we strive against the unjust rather than joining in with those who praise the wicked (Prov. 28:4).
Not only that, but through learning wisdom, we find that we need not take the entire work into our own hands or despair when the world seems to have spun out of our control. After showing himself and teaching us how to live justly, God promises to reward those who do justice (Prov. 11:31). Even though we advocate for more accountability from communities and their police, God sees what happens with or without a bodycam or Facebook Live. Not content to passively watch suffering, Solomon tells us that God plans to do something about the injustice He sees, whether in this life through the natural consequences of injustice or in the next life (Prov. 19:5, 9; 20:21; 21:7; 21:12; 22:22-23; 29:16).
Finally, God has found it good that the righteous would ultimately benefit their communities and the world at large, so we work with the promise that God’s faithful promise of grace to build up our work is behind our efforts.. The righteous build up their cities (Prov. 11:11); set up foundations for themselves (Prov. 12:3; 14:1), their families, and their friends and spouses (Prov. 13:20). The wise are built up in strength to wage war against the principalities and powers of the world (Prov. 24:3-7). When the wise become exalted, everybody has cause for rejoicing (Prov. 29:2).
By showing us the heart of the Triune God who hates injustice, and works actively to oppose it, Solomon keeps us from despairing by showing us our friend who is on our side, and the side of the oppressed. Through His law, and Christ the Incarnate Word/Law of God, He has given us the instruction we need to fight injustice. He has promised to fight against injustice and promised to build up those who fight for righteousness. Because of the Proverbs, we can more boldly say: “Every word of God proves true; he is a shield for those who take refuge in him” (Prov. 30:5, ESV).