1DO NOT BOAST about tomorrow,
for you do not know what a day may bring forth.
2Let another praise you, and not your own mouth;
someone else, and not your own lips.
3Stone is heavy and sand a burden,
but provocation by a fool is heavier than both.
4Anger is cruel and fury overwhelming,
but who can stand before jealousy?
5Better is open rebuke
than hidden love.
6Wounds from a friend can be trusted,
but an enemy multiplies kisses.
7He who is full loathes honey,
but to the hungry even what is bitter tastes sweet.
8Like a bird that strays from its nest
is a man who strays from his home.
9Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart,
and the pleasantness of one’s friend springs from his earnest counsel.
10Do not forsake your friend and the friend of your father,
and do not go to your brother’s house when disaster strikes you—
better a neighbor nearby than a brother far away.
11Be wise, my son, and bring joy to my heart;
then I can answer anyone who treats me with contempt.
12The prudent see danger and take refuge,
but the simple keep going and suffer for it.
13Take the garment of one who puts up security for a stranger;
hold it in pledge if he does it for a wayward woman.
14If a man loudly blesses his neighbor early in the morning,
it will be taken as a curse.
15A quarrelsome wife is like
a constant dripping on a rainy day;
16restraining her is like restraining the wind
or grasping oil with the hand.
17As iron sharpens iron,
so one man sharpens another.
18He who tends a fig tree will eat its fruit,
and he who looks after his master will be honored.
19As water reflects a face,
so a man’s heart reflects the man.
20Death and Destruction are never satisfied,
and neither are the eyes of man.
21The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold,
but man is tested by the praise he receives.
22Though you grind a fool in a mortar,
grinding him like grain with a pestle,
you will not remove his folly from him.
23Be sure you know the condition of your flocks,
give careful attention to your herds;
24for riches do not endure forever,
and a crown is not secure for all generations.
25When the hay is removed and new growth appears
and the grass from the hills is gathered in,
26the lambs will provide you with clothing,
and the goats with the price of a field.
27You will have plenty of goats’ milk
to feed you and your family
and to nourish your servant girls.
Original Meaning
THE “PROVERBS OF Solomon copied by the men of Hezekiah” (cf. 25:1 and the introduction to that chapter) go on to explore themes of friendship and trusting relationships. The first twenty-two verses (the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet) gather into groups of two, although the relationship between some pairs is more clear than others (27:5–6, 15–16). The last five verses form a longer poem that uses pastoral imagery to describe the rewards of care and diligence.
Praise and rebuke (27:1–6)
Family and safety (27:7–12)
Bad neighbors and quarrelsome wives (27:13–16)
Iron to iron, face to face (27:17–22)
Care for one’s animals1 (27:23–27)
The pastoral poem of verses 23–27 provides the positive answer to the first proverb, “Boast not about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth.” It challenges our superficial assumptions about human self-sufficiency, skills, accomplishments, or anything else that might displace our need to love and depend on family, neighbors, and even the plants and animals of God’s good earth. Boasting isolates and has the potential to destroy; healthy interdependence nurtures. These challenges to our misguided individualism also come with a number of surprise reversals: Friends may wound, and enemies may kiss (27:6).
Praise and Rebuke (27:1–6)
IN BETWEEN SAYINGS about boasting and praise (27:1–2) and wounds and kisses (27:6–7) are reminders that folly and jealousy always bring others down.
27:1–2. The first proverb pair is connected by the Hebrew root for “praise” (hll), urging readers to reject the negative “boast” in favor of “praise” from the mouth and lips of someone else. Related to the proverbs about “honor” and the fool, this pair uses a format similar to that of 26:4–5; the initial prohibition of “do not” is followed by an admonition “do.” “You do not know” (27:1) is surely an indictment in a book about wisdom (see 27:23 for what one should “know”). Any boast about what we will do finds its limit with the unknown.2 A friend of mine often says, “You never know—you or I may not be here tomorrow.” Both lines of verse 2 state the reverse of boasting, praise from an “other” (zar; cf. 5:10, 17; 14:10)3 or “someone else” (nokri), followed by the negative—not one’s own mouth and lips. In Proverbs, lips were made for building up one another with teaching and correction, not for building up ourselves.
27:3–4. Like the fool satires of 26:1–3, this pair takes a threefold form of comparison. The weights of stone and sand in verse 3 are not the little markers the ancients used on their scales but reminders of the sweaty work of lifting heavy loads and carrying them on one’s back (27:3; cf. 26:27). The fool’s provocation is even heavier, harder to bear, more burdensome than sand and rocks put together. A play on the word kabed (lit., “weighty”) sets the “honor” that is not fitting for the fool (cf. 26:1, 8) against his true character; the vexation a fool brings is weighty but not an honor (cf. 27:18). Just as boasting is a burdensome form of folly (27:1, 3), so the raging fires of anger and fury are small matters compared with the quiet burn of jealousy (6:34; 14:30; cf. the discussion of envy in ch. 26). We may think ourselves burdened by the folly of others, but who among us has not been knocked down by our own jealousy?
27:5–6. Two proverbs about correction reverse common expectations, telling us what we already know but pointing out the irony we often miss. The contrasts of verse 5 are plain, but the wit of the proverb leads one to ask why “open rebuke” is better than “hidden love.” We might say that hidden love is no love at all, for it does the loved one no good; reproof, even if it comes with anger (27:4), is painful but profitable. Hiddenness can be a sign of wisdom when one does not blurt out every thought, but it can also be a sign of hatred, as verse 6 shows. The enemy who kisses is (lit.) “one who hates” (root śnʾ; cf. 26:28; “malicious” in 26:24, 26); “multiplies” or “excessive” denotes some form of deception.4 Friendship sometimes brings praise (27:2) and sometimes wounds (27:6; cf. 20:30), but those wounds are also faithful (“trusted,” ʾmn).
Family and Safety (27:7–12)
FRIENDS CAN BE like family; to ignore them is to be like a bird that strays from the nest and heads for danger.
27:7–8. The theme of reversed expectations continues into this pair of proverbs about rejection. One whose hunger is satisfied literally walks past or tramples honey (5:3; 16:33; 24:13; 25:16, 27), while someone who strays from home is like the bird that leaves the safety of the nest. However, if you are hungry, even the bitter tastes sweet, and so we should be glad for the homes we have. It is not clear why leaving home is a problem, because the word “strays” is difficult to translate; in some biblical contexts it means “fly away” (16:2; Nah. 3:17), in others, “flee” (Ps. 31:11; Isa. 21:5), and in still others, “wander” (Job 15:23; Hos. 9:17). It may be that the hunting practice of beating bushes to drive out birds is in view (Isa. 16:2). Just as every other bird in Proverbs is in some sort of danger (Prov. 1:17; 6:5; 7:21–23), so here a young man leaves the nest of security and heads toward potential harm (cf. 27:12). Together, the proverbs warn against taking anything for granted.
27:9–10. Like the previous pair, a proverb about sweetness (matoq; cf. 27:7) is followed by one about home and family, each depicting a welcome reception.5 The sweet smells of perfumed oil and incense cause the heart to rejoice (śmḥ; cf. 27:11), just as the sweetness of a friend and neighbor is better than one’s own counsel (cf. 24:13–14). The extended proverb of verse 10 combines an admonition with a “better than” saying, twice repeating the word “neighbor” from the verse before (reʿa; cf. “friend,” 27:9). Neighbors like this make sure that they follow up their earnest counsel with support in a time of need. “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity” (17:17). Neighbors, like family, are precious and should not be rejected or abandoned (cf. 27:8). The Hebrew word “day” (yom, 27:10; lit., “day of your disaster”) may link this proverb to verse 1, reminding readers that a day may bring calamity.
27:11–12. These proverbs are linked by contrasting wisdom and prudence, and like the pairs at verses 7–8 and 9–10, satisfaction is followed by the error of “going.” The address “my son” has not appeared since we left the “words of the wise” (23:15, 19, 26; 24:13, 21), and this is the last one we will see until Lemuel’s mother instructs him (31:2). If this son learns wisdom, his father will rejoice (“wise” in 27:11 falls in the middle of the twenty-two verse acrostic; cf. 10:1; 13:1; 15:20; 23:15); “joy to the heart” repeats the phrase from 27:9, and “father” appears in 27:10.
“Contempt” in Proverbs is typically directed toward the Maker (14:31; 17:5) and his poor children; by a similar identification, contempt for the father can be silenced by the son’s wisdom and virtue (Ps. 119:41–42). The saying about “danger” in Proverbs 27:12 is nearly identical to 22:3. In this context it implies that a father is also glad to see his son exercise prudence and “hide” (str; cf. 27:5) than to be simple and walk right into trouble (cf. 1:8–27; 7:1–9; 9:1–6, 13–18).
Bad Neighbors and Quarrelsome Wives (27:13–16)
UNPLEASANT EXPERIENCES WITH neighbors and household make a strong contrast with the positive sayings on friends and family that have gone before.
27:13–14. A proverb pair about treating strangers like neighbors and neighbors like enemies shows that friendly actions are inappropriate when they do too much. Certainly rash pledges of security have been named a danger throughout Proverbs (cf. 1:15; 6:1; 17:18; 22:26–27), but taking a chance by doing this neighborly deed for a “wayward woman” or a “stranger”6 is clearly out of place. In any case, the one making the loan should take the garment as security (something not done for a poor neighbor, Deut. 24:10–13) because it may be all the payment he will ever see.
Blessing a neighbor too early and too loudly (27:14) may be more a sign of insincerity than disregard for peace and quiet (cf. 27:9–10; 1 Sam. 13:10). Regardless of the social context understood by original readers, what is meant as blessing is taken as curse (qll, Prov. 26:2; cf. Ps. 109:17–18), a sign of hostility.
27:15–16. If the loud neighbor is annoying, worse is the quarrelsome wife, here again compared to a leaky and potentially dangerous roof (cf. 19:13); like the constant dripping, the arguments seem to have no end. Two other metaphors expand the picture of trouble in verse 16, but translation is difficult. (1) “Restraining” can also be translated “hiding” or even “storing like treasure.”7 (2) It is not clear what the Hebrew of the second line means (lit., “oil—his right hand—meets/calls”). Most solutions propose unusual idioms8 or emendations; perhaps it is best to say that just as wind cannot be shut away, so the hand makes a poor container for oil. The point is clear that little can be done with a contentious person, female or male (cf. 26:21).
Iron to Iron, Face to Face (27:17–22)
THE KEY WORD “face” (27:17, 19) stresses the importance of knowing other people in order to discern their motivations.
27:17–18. Two proverbs speak about good relations with neighbors and employers. In verse 17, the point is clear enough; we all want friends who will keep us sharp through challenging conversation and personal feedback. The comparison with striking iron points out the need for two to hone the edge (cf. Ezek. 21:14–16); one (lit.) “sharpens the face [cf. Prov. 27:19] of his neighbor” (reaʿ; cf. 27:9, 10, 14).
The imagery of verse 18 is straightforward also, for it is common knowledge that those who tend a garden enjoy its produce. Bringing the two proverbs together and setting them in context, readers learn that it is by serving well and keeping the employer sharp that servants receive the “honor” (kabed, 27:18; cf. 26:1, 8, “heavy” in 27:3) that so many seek (27:1–2).
27:19–20. Like the pair at verses 17–18, a saying about “face” is followed by one about eating. The Hebrew “face to face” of verse 19 mirrors the “iron to iron” of verse 17, and it is possible to read “one human heart reflects another” (NRSV); the translation of the NIV implies that the heart is the reflection of that same person’s character.9 Both readings are possible, but the first fits the chapter’s theme of friendship more closely. Sheol and Abaddon (see NIV text note on v. 19; cf. 15:11; 30:16), those abodes of death, were always hungry, ready to swallow anything that lives. So the avaricious appetite of humans is compared to that which destroys. The parallel use of body parts draws the contrast (“man,” ʾadam, in both 27:19–20); if kind hearts can reflect one another in friendship, it is also true that greedy eyes can devour another’s life.
27:21–22. The words “praise” and “fool” of 27:1–3 appear in this proverb pair, creating a frame at the beginning and end of the twenty-two-verse acrostic. The word “tested” does not appear in Hebrew but it is implied by the image in the first line; crucibles and furnaces test metal ores, revealing what they contain and separating what is valuable from dross (cf. 25:4). The NIV translation suggests that the way we react to the praise of others reveals our motives, honorable and dishonorable (cf. 17:3). Other translations take the “mouth of his praise” as the community’s assessment of character: “A person is worth what his reputation is worth” (NJB; cf. 12:8).
Verse 22 presents another metaphor of processing natural material. Unlike the crucible and furnace that separate, a mortar and pestle grind grain that has already been removed from its husk by the thresher. The point is that folly cannot be separated from the fool, for it is too deeply ingrained. If verse 11 speaks of “wisdom” at the midpoint of these twenty-two verses, the last names the “fool” and “his folly.”
Care for One’s Animals (27:23–27)
27:23–27. UNLIKE THE COLLECTION of proverb pairs that precedes, these last five verses make up an extended poem, notable for the pastoral imagery that appears in all but one of its sayings (27:24). That saying about riches and crown is the only real proverb in this section, and it may provide the clue to the poem’s meaning. The contrast of fleeting wealth and power with nature’s ever-renewing provision teaches further lessons about faithfulness in relationships. This mini-instruction urges the listener to “know” the condition of the animals, foreshadowing the emphasis on knowing that appears in 28:2 and 22. In addition, verbal links suggest that this poem is a metaphor of wise rule, just as wisdom and the woman of worth exercise wise rule in the “house” with “servant girls” (27:27; cf. 9:1–3; 31:15).10 Ancient Near Eastern writings also tell us that kings of ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt were sometimes called “shepherds.”11
Two charges to attend to one’s animals in verse 23 repeat terms from verse 19. The person is to know the “condition” (lit., “face”) of the flocks and set his “heart” on the herds, just as the wise study and know the human heart. The imperative “know” answers the warning of verse 1, “you do not know”—certainly an approach to the future that pleases Yahweh (cf. 29:7).12 The emphasis seems to be on the interdependence between humans and their animals, not on compassion for them (cf. 12:10–11).
The charge to know is followed by a motivating reason in verse 24, stated in the negative: “Riches do not endure forever.” Unlike a herd that will replenish itself if cared for, riches can be squandered and lost for good. So also a crown113 is not guaranteed from generation to generation if a healthy relationship with the subjects is ignored (cf. 14:28). One never arrives at the place where work is not necessary. Images of harvest and plenty illustrate the rewards of proper attention to the farm, where gathering hay to feed the animals in turn provides homespun goods and fields in trade (27:25–26).14
Verses 26–27 describe the payoff for diligence, the second line of each describing the abundance that buys fields and feeds family and servants. “Plenty” in verse 27 translates the same word used for eating just “enough” honey in 25:16; having “enough” is for sharing, not gorging, so the servants who look after their employers should be cared for in turn (27:18). While some interpreters think the message of the poem was directed to landed young men called into service at the court,15 the metaphor for attentiveness and diligence applies to many areas of life (cf. 2 Tim. 2:6).
INTERDEPENDENCE. Despite translation difficulties and some uncertainty about the use of metaphors, we have seen that the themes of friendship and interdependence tie together the acrostic of verses 1–22 and the pastoral poem of verses 23–27. Repetition of the key term “know” draws the reader’s attention to the link. If a person should not boast because one does not “know” the future, one should “know” the conditions of the flocks and herds that provide for the coming days (27:1, 23).
Likewise, key terms from verses 2–3 are repeated at the end of the acrostic. If one should let another offer “praise” in place of boasting, one should remember that with all “praise” comes testing (27:2, 21). If a “fool” is hard to bear, it is also true that a “fool” cannot be separated from his or her folly (27:3, 22). So also the sages who assembled this collection of proverbs drew words from the instructions (“Be wise, my son,” 27:11) and put them together with proverbs and parts of proverbs that appeared earlier in the collections (27:12, 13, 15). Again and again, the proverbs themselves leave clues that they are to be read side by side, the interaction between like proverbs and themes offering richer insight for living. One who learns to bring like sayings together knows how to use them and is deemed wise (cf. 26:4–5, 7, 9).
In a sense, this strategy of juxtaposition carries over into our experience of life together. Just as proverbs take on richer meaning when they work together, so human beings are at their best when they come together around some greater purpose, be it worship, good works, or mutual edification. In the social outlook of Proverbs, we are not wise or whole unless we are related; the autonomous person is hardly a person at all. So it is for the church, the visible body of Christ. As William Willimon put it:
It is difficult for Christians to imagine a truly isolated individual who is unattached to some communal, social framework. Even the person who says, “My behavior is my own business and no one else’s” is thereby demonstrating his attachment to a community, namely, the community that fosters isolated, unexamined, lonely people whose only purpose is self-aggrandizement.16
So these proverbs elevate praise over boasting and the near neighbor over the distant relative, valuing those face-to-face relationships that refine us like precious metal and hone us sharp like iron blades. The matters of character are inevitably communal, for our hearts are both proved and improved through interaction. Read in their literary “communities,” these sayings teach us to assess and encourage good character in ourselves, but also in others. The pastoral poem reminds us that we demonstrate good character as we live in committed relationships with one another.
Assessing and encouraging character. (1) To start, we can assess and encourage good character in ourselves. The proverbs on friendship use metaphor in ways that are difficult to apprehend, but we see that friendship meant more to the people that used the proverbs than simply helping each other materially. One person keeps another sharp through counsel and correction, but a worker also makes sure that the employer gets a hundred percent effort (27:17–18). Praise and rebuke both assume that there is excellence worth pursuing, that some behaviors are worthy of a good word and some need a “No.” We assess and encourage good character in ourselves by setting aside boasting in favor of praise. This does not mean that we act only for complements, for that too is a form of boasting. It does mean that we strive for those characteristics that are praiseworthy, especially being a good neighbor, one as good as family.
Reversals of common expectations appear throughout the chapter. Acts of love may sting, and acts of betrayal may kiss one on the cheek (27:6–7). Perhaps, then, it is this deep understanding of relationships that moves a parent to call a child “wise” (27:12). We make our first steps toward wisdom when we learn that the sacrifices of neighbor love are not repaid in a this-for-that fashion but in the abiding commitment people develop for one another. Why else would some people say that their friends are like family to them (27:9–10)?
(2) Just as these proverbs call us to encourage good character in ourselves, they also invite us to assess and encourage good character in others. As we do so, we may find that praise and encouragement make boasting unnecessary. Although I may want to say nothing complementary to a braggart for fear of encouraging the offensive behavior, I am trying to learn to point out that person’s good qualities, hoping to fill the need that motivates the boasting in the first place. If we must take care to avoid getting caught up in the fool’s provocation, the quarrelsome person’s strife, or our culture’s encouragement of greed (27:3, 15, 20), we need not write off such persons entirely; they too need our commitment to their emotional, moral, and spiritual growth.
The reasons why people act as they do, contrary to much of what we see on television, are not easily interpreted, explained, or challenged, but this does not mean that we do not need to understand them. In our days of unrelenting loneliness and angry interaction, the cultivation of friendship is one way to encourage good character and make God’s kingdom visible.
The pastoral poem. Whether the pastoral poem of verses 23–27 was directed toward rulers and their courtiers is a matter of debate, but for our purposes, it is important to remember that it was included in the biblical canon because its lessons on interdependence are for us as well. Just as the Israelites learned important lessons about pride and responsibility from the trials and triumphs of King David, his son Solomon, and their descendants, so people in Shakespeare’s day were moved and instructed by his dramatic portrayal of kings from their history. The lives of the rulers became lessons for everyone. Therefore, although efforts to identify the original intended audience for this poem are important, we must also remember that wisdom’s proverbs and instructions have a way of taking on a more universal appeal, and we will look for a similar strategy here.
The symbolism of the poem can yield a number of insights, but the primary and foundational message is the importance of nurture and care. So, for example, if rulers were encouraged to think of a kingdom as a farm that requires attention but yields a harvest, they would also think of the relationship between themselves and the people they ruled as mutually beneficial. They might read the poem’s contrast between humble farm work and the acquisition of riches and power as the difference between cultivation and ownership.
So too in our day, we seem to be more caught up in acquiring the things of this world than with tending and maintaining a living system placed in our care. I think it is significant that in the Midwest, where I live, the business report appears on prime-time news, but to see the farm report, I would have to get up before daylight. I know that this is the time when farmers rise to start work, but to me it is also a sign of how our economy has changed over the last century, a sign of where we have placed more value.
Perhaps, then, the reversals of the chapter are at work, reversing our sense of what is most important and valuable. One would expect that riches are to be preferred over a barn of hay, or that being a ruler with servants is better than working the farm, but verse 24 reminds us that wealth and power do not endure or renew themselves. Moreover, we know from experience that they can cut off the one who possesses them from meaningful relationships, leaving one isolated and lonely—a phenomenon that receives much attention today. We may go so far as to say that one cannot really live without relationships that require nurture and care, for it is in that mutual giving and receiving that we find our true selves.
We noted that the term “plenty” may also be translated “enough” (27:27), enough for oneself but also enough to share. It is striking that the mention of “servant girls” leads the reader to the wise woman’s care for the “servant girls” of her “household” (along with mention of “clothing” and “field” in 31:15–31), and the maids who are sent out to invite travelers to Wisdom’s feast (9:1–4). Since both Woman Wisdom and the noble wife represent the life of wisdom, it is not an exaggeration to say that wisdom is “known” and recognized where people “know” and understand mutual interdependence, where there is always enough to share. Therefore—and this is important—it is our network of relationships that helps us decide how much is “enough.” In our own day of disproportionate distribution of wealth among individuals and nations, we must rightly be concerned about our networks of responsibility and care. We must ask ourselves how we have become so desensitized to the world’s need.
Contemporary Significance
BILL MONROE, the originator of bluegrass music, spent his whole life taking his band and songs to every rural southern town his wood-paneled station wagon (later a bus) could take him. There is a story that in his last years, Monroe would hitch up a horse to plow the field in front of his home. He would plant seed, watch it grow, but never harvest, leaving the grain out for the birds and animals. Obviously a symbolic act, he plowed and sowed not because he needed the food; it was enough for him to feel a connection with the earth and its rhythms of life.
Monroe also had a strong sense that connection to the land implied connection to one’s neighbors. While visiting a flea market, he picked up an old worn farm tool and said, “These were good people.”17 While it is possible to romanticize the rural life, it is striking that agrarian imagery has been used throughout the centuries to communicate important truths about interdependence and its implications for personal character and vocation.
“Enough.” We have already examined the significance of these proverbs and the pastoral poem for personal character, particularly informing our notions of what is “enough.” These writings challenge our way of looking at things, for we live in a time that portrays character in caricatures, and as a result, our choices seem forced. Stories in broadcast and print media make it seem as though one either lives for self, like a robber baron, or for others, like Mother Theresa. Yet most of us live and work in the daily grind of earning a living, loving and caring for our families, and trying to be good to our neighbors. We do not want excess, we want to have “enough.” Still, in the backs of our minds, we wish there could be a little more, just a little more to take the edge off our financial worries and make things a little easier.
It is therefore hard to see when that legitimate concern for well-being turns the corner into avarice, the immoderate desire for possessions that takes the means of material goods and makes them into ends, into gods. “And when a creature is made into a god, it becomes a devil.”18 The proverbs and poem of this chapter help us to see that there is an approach to life and possessions that sets them in proper perspective so that we realize that we need one another, not things we can own. It is possible, then, to have “enough” for ourselves and also to have plenty to share.
Our view of created things will determine how we act toward them. Adam and Eve were placed in the garden to till and keep it, but they could not bear the limitations of possession that were placed on them; they worked the garden but could not own it. William Stafford paraphrases Augustine’s teaching that humans can treat created material possessions as substitutes for God:
Things carry something of their maker with them, whether the maker is God or a human being. That “something” can be grasped for its own sake, apart from the maker; when it displaces God, it is idolatry. A woman who catches a reflected glimpse of God’s beauty through a certain view of redwoods down a certain river may ignore God, take those trees as the beauty she seeks, and spend her life buying the property. This applies to human products as well; once we put our wisdom and spirit into them, it is possible to put them in God’s place.19
Yet “riches do not endure forever, and a crown is not secure for all generations” (27:24), for only God and God’s children are eternal. It is better to worship God instead of created things, and it is better to view God’s children as neighbors and not competitors when it comes down to who gets what. Throughout its history, the church has seen its members express their faith in one of two ways: Some have chosen voluntary poverty, either for a limited time or a lifetime, while others have taken the path of stewardship, holding possessions as a trust. The first proclaim that all belongs to God by having little or no possessions, the second by holding them lightly.20 The theme of care and nurture in these proverbs reminds us that our possessions will not love us, no matter how much we love them, but given the proper care, our neighbors will.
Work as service. A second and related principle of the chapter is that work is a form of service. We have seen the dangers of gluttony, literal and symbolic, and certainly work that does nothing but provide us with more than we can possibly enjoy is out of harmony with God’s self-giving work in Christ. Paul reminded the Christians at Philippi to “look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others,” pointing to Jesus who took the nature of a servant (Phil. 2:4). We do our work mindful that, at root, all our work is (or should be) loving service to others, and by analogy, service to the God who loves and cares for all his children, sending rain on the just and unjust (Matt. 5:45).
Some forms of work exploit the well-being of others, either by its product, as in the case of pornography and tobacco, or by unfair treatment of workers. Yet so many occupations do make some contribution to the well-being of others and therefore reflect the work of God in the world.21 Therefore, we work to provide for our needs, but this is only part of our motivation. Provision and service need not be mutually exclusive.
As I write, a number of American companies are under scrutiny for overreporting income, underreporting expenses, and engaging in good old-fashioned insider trading. Friends in the business community remind me that this is not the norm for the majority of companies, but the news does leave the public asking hard questions about the objectives of these corporations.
In a book titled When Good Companies Do Bad Things, the matter of mutual responsibility is translated in terms of the global business community, stressing the need for trust and accountability between three parties: businesses, the governments of the countries in which multinational corporations do business, and nongovernment organizations like Greenpeace that watch and comment on business practice. So, for example, European business leaders often ask why so many of their American colleagues do not seem to understand environmental responsibility: “What is it about American executives? They don’t seem to care about the environment personally. You’d think they didn’t have to breathe the same air or drink the same water everyone else does.”22
One American executive answered that if thirty years ago businesses resisted, and twenty years ago they saw the need, only now is action starting to take place; that, say these authors, is too long. If public campaigns against business practices can make accusations that border on caricature, the authors believe that there is some truth to be heard and that businesses often insulate themselves from hearing how these concerns affect real people. By interacting with public opinion and anticipating what might go wrong, companies can avoid being blindsided. One company learned this the hard way; it made plans to deal with environmental protection but was blindsided by accusations of racism in the organization.
By reviewing the public failures of a number of visible companies, the authors of When Good Companies Do Bad Things concluded that good companies fail to prevent bad things from happening by fostering a corporate culture that does not tolerate dissent, focusing exclusively on financial performance, discouraging employees in their efforts to integrate business and moral intelligence, not listening to organizations who disagree with them, and letting a commitment to a project overshadow all other considerations. In short, business leaders who do not consider ethical and social issues to be their responsibility do not set out to do wrong, but neither do they take the steps that are needed to do right. In the imagery of the pastoral poem, they do not pay attention to their flocks and herds or heed the other proverbs’ teaching about mutual connection and correction. Holding out the positive value of honor and a good reputation, the authors sound like so many of these proverbs:
A company attracts the best, brightest, and most committed employees not as a result of slick recruiting campaigns, but by creating a corporate reputation that makes the best people want to work there. Once the best people are working for the company, they will want to maintain their own self-respect, the company’s image, and its reputation by continued improvement and innovation in social as well as business practices—a virtuous circle.23
The writers speak of integrity and integration. Not only must businesses and those who work for them act in honest and honorable ways, they must integrate what they do with the countries that host them. Their lessons reflect the proverbs: To ignore that we are related to one another and to God’s creation is to court trouble; to recognize it is to live to the full.
In Charles Frazier’s novel Cold Mountain, a young woman named Ada has fallen on hard times. Her intended is off fighting for the Confederacy and her father has died. The war economy has made the father’s stockholdings worthless, leaving her with nothing but a small farm tucked away in the North Carolina mountains. Raised and educated in the city, Ada finds she can barely milk a cow, let alone churn butter or make cheese. The neighbors take pity and send over Ruby, a resourceful young woman whose father had left her alone in their shack when he joined up.
The two strike a deal, Ruby sharing her know-how, Ada working as an assistant as they put her farm in working order. “To Ada, Ruby’s monologues seemed composed mainly of verbs, all of them tiring. Plow, plant, hoe, cut, can, feed, kill.”24 They would survive the winter, but only because Ruby paid careful attention to the weather as well as the signs of the moon and stars for planting and harvesting. Once in the fall, to check on how well Ada was learning, Ruby put her hands over her student’s eyes and asked what she heard. Ada replied that she heard the wind in the trees.
Trees, Ruby said contemptuously, as if she had expected just such a foolish answer. Just general trees is all? You’ve got a long way to go. She removed her hands and took her seat again and said nothing more on the topic, leaving Ada to conclude that what she meant was that this is a particular world. Until Ada could listen and at the bare minimum tell the sound of poplar from oak at this time of year when it is easiest to do, she had not even started to know the place.25
Wisdom shows itself in attention to details, but also in the understanding that the details of life work together, just as we were meant to do in the mind of our Lord and Creator.