At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Ps. 16: 11)
“A king that sitteth in the throne of judgment scattereth away all evil with his eyes”
Proverbs 20:8
One of the tasks that God assigns to the magistrate is the tasking of scattering evil.
We are aware of one of the more obvious ways of doing this. Paul says that the ruler is appointed by God, and the one who does evil should be afraid—because the ruler does not bear the sword in vain (Rom. 13:4). This is a right-handed justice. When this does not happen, then public order starts to disintegrate.
“Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil” (Ecclesiastes 8:11).
The second way this salutary thing can be accomplished is when a king does not tolerate wickedness in his cabinet, in his close circle of advisers. When a man assumes rule, what kind of men does he surround himself with?
“Then said he unto me, Son of man, these are the men that devise mischief, and give wicked counsel in this city” (Ezekiel 11:2).
A ruler has a duty to listen to the counsel of good and wise men, and not wicked and mischievous ones.
But a third way of dealing with evil in a realm is by means of the bully pulpit. In our proverb here, the king scatters the wicked by means of moral authority. He causes the wicked to flee with his eyes, by means of his countenance. In Romans 13, as the deacon of God, he is charged with more than just punishing wrongdoers. He is to reward the righteous, and they are to receive this reward through the praise of the king (Rom. 13:3).
One of the best ways to discern the effete nature of our times is to look at a list of the recipients of the presidential Medal of Freedom. This is the highest award that can be given outside a military context, and so we should not be surprised that Richard Nixon gave one to Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon. But other recipients have included Lucille Ball, Bill Cosby, and Mr. Rogers—not to mention previous presidents. What goes around comes around.
