Women with a Story to Tell. King Lemuel's Mother.

 Last week we were introduced to someone we did not know; King Lemuel or Chief Lemuel, probably the leader of a clan outside the Israelites, but still one of the children of Abraham, just not a child of the Isaac–Jacob line that leads to the Israelites. King Solomon collected wisdom sayings, mostly his own, but he also added at the end Lemuel’s mother's teachings. Though not in the Hebrew tradition, wisdom is wisdom, and all wisdom is God’s wisdom.

 Lemuel’s mother’s first teaching was about letting lust for women drive your desires and warp your character. We see daily what this does to our own society. But especially if you are the leader of the nation, a history of immoral behavior certainly twists a leader’s personality and affects every decision that is supposed to be made in the interest of the people. 

 What else can become a problem for kings? 

Proverbs 31:5-6.

It is not for kings, O Lemuel,

    it is not for kings to drink wine

     or for rulers to desire strong drink,

lest they drink and forget what has been decreed

     and pervert the rights of all the afflicted.

 At first glance, this looks like the standard warning against drinking too much alcohol, a problem often for those in positions of power. Such addiction affects their decision-making ability; their preference schedule gets rearranged.

 However, look closer because there is more. The issue is not just what addiction does to oneself, though that is bad enough. It is also about what one’s addiction does to others in the addict's community. The addict (everyone who drinks too much is an addict) is not only hurting himself or herself. Lemuel’s mother says that the trouble begins this way. The addict tends to “forget what has been decreed.” 

 What has been decreed and who decreed it? Isn’t the king the one who decrees laws and ordinances? Before the king, there is God. What is not spoken here but is certainly implied is that God himself decrees laws and ordinances including how the king should act on behalf of the people.

God begins by declaring who he is, what his character is like, and what principles he operates by. 

 For that we go back to the father of the Hebrews who is also the father of the Ishmaelites and thus the clan Lemuel and his mother belong to. God presented himself to Abraham as the supreme being who not only was able, but would in fact, “make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:2-3). 

 Then, God showed Abraham the way to behave properly. “And he (Abraham) believed the LORD; and the LORD reckoned it to him as righteousness” (15:6). On that basis God made a covenant with Abraham. That is, he entered into a lasting relationship with Abraham, and Abraham was blessed, and Abraham was to be a blessing to others. 

 Later, God made specific decrees about how to behave toward him (how we worship) and have to behave towards others (how we live in community). God expanded on these decrees with Moses; but the point is that God expects faithfulness to the relationship, a quickness to admit wrongdoing, to confess, and to ask for forgiveness. To these, God responds with a quickness to forgive, to restore, and to bless the one who is dedicated to him. 

 Why is that relationship foundational to living a righteous life? God says that when we depart from our relationship with him, we do so at a cost to ourselves and at a cost to others. 

” For if you truly amend your ways and your doings, if you truly act justly one with another, if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own hurt, then I will dwell with you in this place, in the land that I gave to your ancestors forever and ever” (Jeremiah 7:5-7).

 King Lemuel’s mother understood this. Give yourself up to addiction, and that hurts your relationship with God; it hurts you and it hurts others, whether you are a king or not. You tend to “forget what has been decreed and pervert the rights of all the afflicted.”

 Bill and Bob, the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous nearly 100 years ago also understood this. My list below is a paraphrase of their “Twelve Steps.”

Admit that we are powerless over addiction.

Believe that a Power greater than ourselves is able restore us to sanity.

Confess our wrongs, both to God and to those whom we have harmed.

Ask God to remove our shortcomings; then make amends where possible.

Repeat this process daily; practice prayer and good behavior toward others. 

Be ready and willing to tell others what God has done for you.