At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Ps. 16: 11)
“For three things the earth is disquieted, and for four which it cannot bear: For a servant when he reigneth; And a fool when he is filled with meat; For an odious woman when she is married; And an handmaid that is heir to her mistress.”
Proverbs 30:21-23
This proverb displays Hebraic rhetorical technique that is fairly common in the book of Proverbs. “I have three things to say, and no, wait, make that four.“ It has the effect of making you feel like that list has now been topped off or completed.
The four intolerable things mentioned all have one thing in common, and before getting to that, we should note just how intolerable it is. According to Solomon, these four things are completely disruptive. The earth is disquieted. The earth trembles (ESV). The earth quakes (NASB). The earth is perturbed (NKJV). In short, whatever this is, it is kind of a big deal. These are all things which the earth just simply cannot bear.
The thing they all have in common is the fact of an unwarranted promotion or windfall. The first is a slave who rules. The second is a fool with a full belly. The third is an odious woman who managed to land a husband. And the fourth is a handmaid who has become her mistress’s heir. The idea is that we have four people from a lowly position who get an unexpected advancement, and who all let it go to their head. Like giving a glass of whiskey to a three-year-old.
In short, Solomon believes that while everyone should know their place, these sorts of people should particularly know their place. But alas, he says, when they receive the unlooked for promotion, they forget their lowly origins, and become the worst versions of what their new status. And as Richard Feynman once put it, “When you are dead, you don’t know that you are dead. It’s pain only for others. It’s the same thing when you are stupid.”
This proverb contains wisdom which we, in our egalitarian age, would like to forget or minimize. But it remains true, and perhaps it is our age that is most in need of learning the truth of it.
