Proverbs 28b

 Long have I argued that one verse will never do. Nevertheless, let’s consider one verse in Proverbs, and then see how its point resonates with many other verses in the Bible. In fact, this turns out to be a major theme of the whole Bible.

28: 21.  To show partiality is not good–

Yet for a piece of bread

A person may do wrong.

 Not a verse that is framed and hung on the living room wall nor stuck on a car bumper, is it? 

 Proverbs is a list of collected sayings, so these little gems frequently are not related to verses around them, but let’s look before and after anyway. 

  Before: Verse 20 says, “The faithful will abound with blessings, but one who is in a hurry to be rich will not go unpunished.” I can remember what the old folks would say about a man who was on the make. They would say, “He’s in a hurry,” as if it were a judgment. Maybe it was. With all the scams around today, we are wary of the ‘get rich quick’ schemes, but sometimes we don’t recognize them as such. Some fall for them still. Remember Bernie Madoff? All his clients suffered when they tried this get rich quick scheme and then lost all their money. Madoff himself died three years ago in prison. That case is only the tip of the iceberg.  

 After: Verse 22 says, “The miser is in a hurry to get rich and does not know that loss is sure to come.” So, Verse 21 is sandwiched between two pieces of bread that come from the same loaf. The brand name of that loaf is Greed baked with a hint of Envy. 

 Now back to our verse. What does it mean? The first phrase seems to refer to an established practice of ‘recognizing faces’, as the Hebrew says. This practice is ingrained in people, taught by their culture, and persistent through many generations. The modern term for ‘to show partiality’ is to be prejudiced, that is, prone to prejudging according to facial recognition. This includes racism, sexism, and xenophobia (the immediate dislike of persons whom we assume are from another country).

 How ingrained is this? A former student of mine from Zimbabwe once told me that he set some books to check out on the desk at the Asbury Seminary library. The clerk looked up at his face, and said, “I’m sorry, only doctoral students and faculty are allowed to check out more than five books.” He was a doctoral student! Why did she assume otherwise? If we stand back and observe our practices, we probably show partiality every day. It is casual, it is hidden, and it hurts.

 The second phrase makes us sit up and think. “Yet for a piece of bread a person may do wrong.” The Hebrew word for ‘piece’ may also be translated as ‘bit’ or ‘morsel’. Are we that easily bought? Are we that prone to do wrong? Yes, I am afraid we are.

 First, there is the Old Testament admission that “They have all gone astray; they are all alike perverse; there is no one who does good, no, not one” (Psalm 14: 3). Restated in the New Testament, “For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…” (Romans 3: 22-23). There it is. Yes, we are that vulnerable, that culpable. 

 Do we sin in the faint hope that we might be rewarded with a morsel of bread? Yes. Do we sin because we go along with the crowd? Yes. Do we sin to impress someone who really doesn’t even acknowledge our existence? Yes. Do we sin out of envy, out of anger, or to get revenge? Yes.

 The Good News (Gospel) of the Bible is that there is a way out. Paul cried out, “Wretched person that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?” (Romans 7: 24). 

 Who will rescue us? Paul’s answer is, Jesus Christ. Paul says that we “...are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith” (Romans 3: 24-25).