For a servant when he reigneth; and a fool when he is filled with meat;
The chapter to which the saying belongs contains the words of Agur and is later in date than the main collections of Solomon's proverbs. It numbers a servant or slave coming to rule among the things that the earth cannot bear and that disquiet it. That unbearable rule is the harm done when power over others is exercised tyrannically. Applied to political revolutions, the warning is that a people unprepared for self-government will exchange monarchs for demagogues and endure worse oppression. Lasting freedom under this principle therefore requires an intelligent, temperate, sober, and thoughtful people. Jeroboam exemplifies the servant who rules, for raised from an obscure plebeian position he opposed King Solomon, and impatient ambition caused him to lose the honors intended for him and his house.
The chapter to which the saying belongs contains the words of Agur and is later in date than the main collections of Solomon's proverbs.
It numbers a servant or slave coming to rule among the things that the earth cannot bear and that disquiet it.
That unbearable rule is the harm done when power over others is exercised tyrannically.
Applied to political revolutions, the warning is that a people unprepared for self-government will exchange monarchs for demagogues and endure worse oppression.
Lasting freedom under this principle therefore requires an intelligent, temperate, sober, and thoughtful people.
Jeroboam exemplifies the servant who rules, for raised from an obscure plebeian position he opposed King Solomon, and impatient ambition caused him to lose the honors intended for him and his house.