My dear readers,

The Lips of Kings!

Proverbs 16:10: “A divine sentence is in the lips of the king: his mouth transgresseth not in judgment.”

The literal translation is: “A divine sentence is in the lips of the king: in judgment, his mouth shall not act covertly.” The kings in Israel represented God. Unlike the kings of gentile nations where they did what was right in their own eyes, Israel’s kings must obey the Word of God. The qualifications of an Israelite king are revealed in Deuteronomy 17:14-20:

“When thou art come unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me; Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the LORD thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother. But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the LORD hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way. Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold. And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites: And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them: That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel.” (Emphasis added)

If the kings of Israel had obeyed these qualifications, Israel would have had godly kings. Tragically most of them were not godly. The ones that came the closest were King David as king of all Israel and King Josiah as king of Judah, the southern kingdom.

The kings of Israel needed to know that they made decisions and judgments on behalf of God. Thus, the laws they passed were called “divine sentence” here in Proverbs 16:10. The lips of gentile kings could not make any divine sentence even if they wanted to. The Israelite kings could because they had the Word of God. That is why they must know the Word of God through the instruction of the holy priests of Israel and the reading of it all their lives. This was God's plan for a godly witness for Christ during the monarchy. However, most of the kings failed the Lord, just as many churches fail the Lord today. Idolatry crept in in great abundance when King David’s son, Solomon, married hundreds of wives.

This was God’s indictment against Solomon according to 1 Kings 11:33, “Because that they have forsaken me, and have worshipped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the children of Ammon, and have not walked in my ways, to do that which is right in mine eyes, and to keep my statutes and my judgments, as did David his father.” These were not destroyed until King Josiah’s reign as seen in 2 Kings 23:13-14, “And the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had builded for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king defile. And he brake in pieces the images, and cut down the groves, and filled their places with the bones of men.”

Nearly 350 years of idolatry occurred within these temples adjacent to the temple of Solomon! Thus, judgments were skewed most of the time when the kings were evil. They acted covertly for personal gain and glory. They made merchandise of the people of God as they sat on the throne of kingly power. Godly men were grieved in their hearts as they looked up to the LORD, crying for mercy. They could not leave, for this was the Land of Promise. It had become a Land of Transgressions through these evil judgments. Unbelievers would have been stumbled as these were supposed to be godly kings ruling and speaking on behalf of the LORD. They sat on His throne, but they passed deadly sentences instead of divine ones. Prophets were sent by the LORD to rebuke and give hope. But they were spurned, incarcerated and killed.

The monarchy ended for good when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple in 586 B.C. But that does not mean Proverbs 16:10 has become meaningless. The New Testament church has replaced the national witness of the Old Testament. Every true believer is royalty now. 1 Peter 2:9-10: “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.” (Emphasis added)

The words of the people of God must now be the divine sentence of God for today’s world. Divine sentences are judgments made according to Holy Scriptures. Every word that comes out of a believer’s mouth must be biblical as he is to speak on behalf of God like the kings. He has the lips of kings! He must never act covertly, deceiving and being deceived. His heart must be pure. His words must be true. His life must be transparent. He is now the representative of the LORD to a world dying in sin. His words can bring either life if they are scriptural, or death if they are carnal. Whichever the case might be, he will be seen as speaking on behalf of God most High!