Proverbs 25.6-7
6 Do not exalt
yourself in the king’s presence, and do not claim a place among his great men; 7
it is better for him to say to you, “Come up here,” than for him to humiliate
you before his nobles. – attributed to King Solomon
The Jews took the whole ‘king-thing’ pretty seriously. They
were into royalty much like we are today with célébrité. And with the whole king-thing came all the trappings:
courtiers, appointees, ministers, managers, servants, and the like. People with
power attract people who want power. And king’s courts were full of those who
deserved it – and those who desired it. It’s people.
But with royalty and kingship came kingdom culture. Nobles were typically the
thrusted leaders of the general populace – these included the relatives of the
king and men who were men of standing in their communities. Whether we’ll admit
it or not, we today, have nobles among us. And we have a culture. But with a
king, one has to have an, ‘in’.
So, Solomon said: don’t
[self] exalt yourself in the king’s
presence, and do not [self] claim a
place among his great men. Nobility was awarded not forged. Relationships
are forged, but someone with an agenda usually is pretty easy to recognize. Self-promotion
works slightly when there is evidence to back it up.
And then Solomon said: “…it is better for him to say to you, “Come up here,” than for him to
humiliate you before his nobles.” An invitation at the king’s request
always trumps self-promotion on one’s own initiative. And humiliation from
those, “on the inside” is worse than from those on the outside. Those on the ‘in’
have a culture that is apart from those on the ‘outs’. And humiliation stings the self-promoting.
But even amid the ‘in’s’ the culture of humiliation exists,
and an ‘in’ would be careful to recognize that fact. Being on the ‘in’ is as tenuous
as wanting to be on the ‘in’. Mind
your step, position is fleeting.
In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus is recorded as sharing a parable
about a wedding feast. The high-places in the feasts were for important guests.
To take one of those seats without invitation or appointment, was a bold and/or
selfish move. If someone more important that you showed up, the master of
ceremonies might: …come and say to you,
‘Give this person your seat.’ And, Then,
humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. Right in front
of everyone. Humiliating! Jesus then said: “For
all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves
will be exalted.” (Luke 14.9, 11) It has to do with culture and
self-promotion, and, self-denial.
I have been humiliated, and exalted. I don’t like either
one. They’re both tenuous (and embarrassment to me). One stings far worse than
the other – you choose which you prefer. My stance today remains: better to be humble in my approach, than to be
humiliated by self-promotion because of my choice.
Father, You seem to appreciate humility over humiliation.
You expect one, but use the other to obtain the other. May I learn to walk in
humility more, because I hate humiliation and its pain. Give me wisdom to avoid
self-promotion and acting too big for my britches; a busted waist-button, or
ripped out seat-seam is harder to deal with in front of men, than in private.
Teach me Lord, to eat the blessed fruit of humility. It only comes by eating
humble pie… Amen
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