Again there are just 4 verses on righteousness:
- It is better to be righteous even though less well off than to have more wrongly acquired (v8)
- A throne is established by righteousness (v12)
- Righteous lips are the delight of a king (v13)
- Grey hair is a sign of righteous life (v33)
Righteousness is important. It is often tempting to take short cuts, indeed it is sometimes seen as the clever thing to do, and those who insist on acting rightly are seen as naive. This is nonsense, for the truth is that a truly safe kingdom is established on righteousness, any other sort is liable to collapse in a moment.
Moreover, if you are in charge, if you are the king, you need people you can trust. Imagine you get to the "top" by devious means. What if all those who are then working for you are equally devious. How will you ever know if you can trust them? A leader needs people he can trust.
And righteousness leads to a long life.
The chapter starts with various sayings relating to how it is the Lord's will that prevails. Men have many ideas, but only the Lord knows what is really going to happen. Moreover, He knows our motives better than we do ourselves. So what should our response to this be? To commit our ways to the Lord.
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