When we unreflectively take ‘democracy’ as our self-evident starting point, we gain individual rights and untrammeled liberties at the loss of other blessings. The economic and social benefits of prizing liberty are so obvious that we absolutize them. We convert the gift into the god. We idolize the product rather than the maker.
We behave stupidly, mistaking the part for the whole. We become fools.
It may be impossible for us to share all the assumptions that undergird the biblical proverbs. Indeed it may be unwise. History means something and ‘originalist’ attempts to re-make our society according to an ancient blue-print always fail. We are called to be wise, not antiquarian.
Yet even if we cannot and must not mimic the Israel that is blueprinted in the proverbial anthology, we must recognize that there is gold in them thar’ ancient hills.
Coherence, for example, a lost value in our time:
When a land rebels
it has many rulers;
but with an intelligent ruler
there is lasting order.
An intelligent ruler—the biblical descriptor is rich with wisdom resonance—projects a way that can be walked with satisfaction, vigor, and provision. He does not scatter his people. He shows them a way. He supplies their journey, at times he even requires it.
He knows what he wants for them. So do they.
The ‘rebellion’ that is demonized by the proverb is not opposition to tyranny but rather unthinking anarchy, the arrogation to individuals of power without the requirement of considering consequences. It is anti-social because it cares nothing for the commonwealth. It is pure, destructive frenzy, whether carried out in the name of ‘rights’ or ‘liberty’ or asinine self-absorption.
The wise ruler understands that incoherence costs lives, both passively and actively.
He looks beyond the present hills and valleys towards a lasting future for those whom it is his burden and pleasure to lead. He knows what he wants for them.
So do they.
Canter Bridge 
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