And welcome back. I’m Bill English, the publisher here at Bible and Business and the author of the book that you’re looking at here on the screen called Biblical Wisdom for Business Leaders. 30 sayings from Proverbs in this extent did video series, because there’s going to be 30 parts, since we’re going to go over 30 sayings, I’m going to be going over each of the sayings that the sage gives us in Proverbs 22: 17 through 24 34, just like I did in my book. And so I’ll take each saying and outline the contents of my book and apply it to business ownership and business leadership. So this will be an ongoing series that will take me a while to produce, but I’m up to the challenge and I’m looking forward to it.
But before we get started, what I’d like to do is just remind you that you can get a hold of me in several ways or follow Bible and Business in several ways. One is to follow me on Twitter, I guess is how they do it there at Bible and Business. You can also visit my website, bible, andbusiness.com you can also follow me and the work that I’m doing@facebook.com, Bible and Business. And of course, you’re always welcome to email me directly, Bill@bibleandbusiness.com. So let’s go ahead and get started and kind of dive into this first of 30 sayings from Proverbs 22 through 24.
And the saying reads like this do not exploit the poor because they are poor, and do not crush the needy in court, for the Lord will take up their case and will exact life for life. Now, just a couple of notes here. First, the word exploit there, the Hebrew, means to tear away by force or to seize or to rob or to take by force. The word is used in Proverbs 416 where it says, those who are bent on evil cannot rest until they do evil. They are robbed.
That word is translated, they are robbed of sleep until they make someone stumble. So the idea here with this word is that while the oppressors rob the powerless of their meager possessions, their need to oppress robs them of their own sleep, of their own peace of mind, of their own tranquility of life, in a very real sense, they oppress themselves when they oppress other people. And also the word there for crush literally means to be broken to pieces, to crush someone or a group of people. It’s used 18 times in the Old Testament, and the word appears in Isaiah 53 five, a verse that many Christians are familiar with. He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities.
So do not rob the poor because they are poor, right? Do not exploit the poor. Do not take by force or seize or rob the poor simply because they’re poor and do not crush. Do not literally break to pieces the needy in court. Why?
Because the lord will take up their case and he will exact life for life. In other words, the Lord is going to come along and do to you what you did to them. That’s kind of a common English way of saying that you exploit the poor because they’re poor. You crush the needy in court, you know what the Lord’s going to do to you what you did to them. And that’s really kind of what the sage is saying here.
So this opening saying uses the example of the powerful using the court system to oppress the powerless for their own purposes. And I would say really to advantage themselves. This is an unjust act in the eyes of God. And the thrust behind the example is to be kind and fair to those who are in a desperate situation. So when I come back here and I say, God’s going to do to you what you did to them, well, if you’re not going to exploit the poor and if you’re not going to crush the needy in court, you’re still going to have the poor around you.
You’re still going to have the needy around you. So what’s really the teachable moment here, the teachable item, and I think it’s that you are kind and fair to those who are in a desperate situation. When you find somebody who could be taken advantage of even if their desperation results from their own sin. Christians and Christians in business do not take advantage of their plight in order to advantage themselves. Christians are fair with others even when they could take advantage of them and it would be legal.
So there are two examples where this happens in the Old Testament. Just want to go through both of them with you. There’s a lot of text here on the slide. I’ll just kind of summarize it for you. The first example is Zsaw, who sold his birthright for a bowl of stew to his brother.
Now, Jacob is his brother and the Hebrew here, the text describes Zsaw as being famished. And the word there literally means to be physically and mentally fatigued, especially when you’re hungry and you’re thirsty. So Esau is mentally, he’s physically fatigued and he’s very hungry and he’s very thirsty. And I think that physical degradation, if I can use that word, really puts him in a desperate situation. And so when Jacob offers him a bowl of stew, esau is really not in a position to not say no.
And as a result, Jacob uses this situation, this moment. He strikes while he has the advantage and he advantages himself unfairly in God’s eyes with Esaw and says, give me your birthright and I’ll give you some stew. And because Esau is so famished, he trades his birthright for his stew. Now look, we could sit here and say, well, Esau, it was still a voluntary transaction. It was something that Esau didn’t have to do.
But really, when you’re in a desperate situation. You do desperate things. And not all transactions that would normally be voluntary are actually voluntary. Esau sinned, however, by not Stuart in God’s entrustment as a first born in spite of his desperate situation. But his brother Jacob also sinned by taking advantage of his brother.
In other words, he crushed the needy. He exploited his brother because he was in a position where he could be exploited. The second example here is Labon giving Leah to Jacob after Jacob worked seven years to marry Rachel. Now, I suspect that Laban knew Jacob would work another seven years for Rachel, and he thought, you know what? I’m going to take my two daughters and unload them on Jacob in exchange for 14 years of service.
So Laban advantaged himself and really took advantage of Jacob because Jacob was so in love with Rachel, he was willing to work 14 years together as his wife. So desperate to marry Rachel, jacob agrees to Laban’s terms, but Laban really takes advantage of Jacob. I think that was sin, and I don’t think it worked out well for Laban, and it certainly didn’t work out for Jacob or Rachel or Leah. So the larger point here, the point that I want to drive home with this episode, is that those who are in a position of power have the responsibility to not use their power to advantage themselves if doing so is going to injure the powerless. And people can become powerless pretty quick when they get into a desperate situation.
So power is an entrustment from God to be stewarded under his direction, not to be used to advantage yourself in order to disadvantage the needy or the poor. So one example here christian business owners should account for any lack of negotiating power when their employees need a raise. But the employees lack the power or the position or even the negotiating skills to effectively ask for one. Christian business owners should account for that. And they should not take advantage of people and pay them lower wages simply because they can.
I know American business would say, hey, if they’re willing to work for $10 an hour, pay them $10 an hour. If they’re willing to work for 15, pay them $15.
But if you know that they really need 18 an hour, 20 an hour, and you can afford it and you can see your way to seeing how the job actually pays is is worth that, then you ought to pay it even if they don’t ask for it. So I’ve once or twice I’ve had somebody coming in and saying, I’m hoping to get $45,000 as a full time salary. And we come back and they’ve never worked for us before, but we’ve come back and said, scratch our heads a little bit and we say, you know, we don’t want them looking over their shoulder wondering how they’re going to pay for their next meal or how they’re going to pay for their car payment. So let’s start them at 49,000 instead of 45 and with it with an opportunity maybe to get to 53, 54,055 within 90 days. Why do we do that?
Because we want to be fair, we want to be kind, but we don’t want to exploit anybody in any way, shape or form. That’s just not what a Christian business owner does. So the opposite of exploitation is generosity. Let’s remember that. And let’s demonstrate God’s love as Christians who are in business.
Let’s demonstrate God’s love by protecting the rights and the interests of those who are disadvantaged, either economically, politically, socially, maybe even skill wise or mentally, whatever the disadvantage is. Let’s not advantage ourselves by disadvantaging the poor and the needy. Let’s not use the powers that are available to us as business owners and as business leaders to exploit the poor. Now, in our next episode, I’m going to go over the second of these 30 sayings proverbs 22, verses 24 and 25. And the title of the next episode is Stay Away from Angry People.
We’re going to talk about how anger really is a distancing emotion and it doesn’t produce quality work in your employees and it doesn’t motivate them at all. So we’re going to talk about why you, as a Christian business owner, or as a Christian in business, to the extent possible, should stay away from angry people. So until we see each other again, I want to thank you for joining me today. I’m Bill English, the publisher here at Bible and Business, and I hope that you go out and make have a great day. Take care.