Spiritually Excused?
Proverbs is a very practical book. If it were part of the New Testament, it would probably have been written by James. It is about action in the world. Of course, its content has plenty of spiritual and eternal consequences, but the focus of Proverbs is the here and now. Do what your required to do in this life and you will secure a reward in the next life. Since that emphasis predominates, it is always amazing to find how comfortably Christians convert what should first be a concentration on my life on earth into declarations about “spiritual” concerns. This subtle shift is frightening. It moves us from “Thy will be done on earth,” to a justifiable excuse not to worry about God’s will on earth. It changes the emphasis of the Kingdom from radical redemption of this world into tolerance of evil while I wait for the next world.
Let’s consider a particularly important example.
“Deliver those who are being taken away to death, and those who are staggering to slaughter. Oh, hold them back. If you say, “See, we did not know this,” does He not know it who weighs the heart? And does He not know it who keeps your soul? And will He not render to man according to his work?” Proverbs 24:11-12
There is no question that this verse has enormous spiritual implications. I don’t have to ask myself if God is anxious for me to do all that I can to rescue those whose lives are in peril of eternal damnation. Read as declaration of “spiritual” warfare, I am required to do something about the fate of others. I am to deliver them! There can be no excuse for my ignorance or lack of concern. My job is to hold them back and to quite literally pull them from the grave.
But is that all? Is my obligation satisfied if I offer the saving power of Jesus to those who are headed to hell?
The Hebrew words in this verse suggest something more – something that pushes us into the arena of social injustice in this world.
Deliver is the Hebrew verb natsal. The root is anchored in the idea of separating. That range covers the act of separating something from another by appropriating it for oneself to rescuing someone from peril. “Even in passages where nsl takes on the meaning “protect,” a perceptible notion of “rescuing” still hovers in the background.” (Hossfeld-Kalthoff, TDOT, Vo. IX, p. 536). Natsal is most often used with persons and most often about the power of one person to overcome and take from the power of another. In this sense, to be delivered is to be removed from a power someone or something that threatens life by the strength of another. Quite importantly, this verb is not exclusively the domain of God (as is one of its synonyms). Many of the occurrences are descriptions of the acts of human agents. Hossfeld-Kalthoff distinguishes two nuances within the context of rescuing or saving. The first is found in those circumstances where escape is possible (for example, to rescue someone from the hand of another). The second is found in those circumstances where escape seems unimaginable (for example, to rescue from death).
How does this help us understand the exhortation of Proverbs 24:11-12? First, it tells us that the required action is not exclusively God’s. We as human agents are expected, even commanded, to act as deliverers. This implies that the escape we provide can be accomplished by human beings. It seems likely, therefore, that this verse cannot focus its attention solely on spiritual matters for the simple reason that no human being ultimately has the power to rescue another from the clutches of eternal damnation. Salvation is God’s prerogative. Jesus Himself acknowledged this fact. “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28). If Proverbs exhorts us to act as deliverers, then it must expect us to deliver in arenas where we are able to complete the action. That means it must have as its primary emphasis deliverance in this life.
We should not be surprised, either by the emphasis on this world application or by the usual misdirection found in Christian circles. First, we must recognize that life, even life in this world, is sacred. It is so sacred that there are enormous biblical penalties associated with responsibility for its termination. God demands capital punishment because life is sacred. God is the only One Who has authority over life and death. Consequently, He directs us to do all that we can to maintain life. In this context, we are to act at rescuers and deliverers, snatching back those who are in peril.
Deliver those being taken to death. The passage makes it clear that we are to intervene on behalf of life. It also makes it clear that the victims in this case are not willingly pursuing their own extinction. They are “being taken” to death, not of their own free will but by the power of another.
Unfortunately, the expectation of action found in this verse creates considerable strain on our routine lives. It is a unmitigated demand for involvement in the rescue of the unrepresented victims of social injustice, genocide and violence. It demands that we act on behalf of those unborn human beings who are taken without their consent to death by abortion. It demands that we act on behalf of the starving millions who are victims of political, economic and social callousness. It demands that we fight for the aged, the disenfranchised, the exploited – anyone and everyone whose life hangs in the balance of another’s neglect or evil intentions. And, unfortunately, such a demand disturbs my cloistered world. Consequently, it is far easier for me to shift the emphasis of this demand to the “spiritual” realm where I can comfortably send my money to the mission for the distribution of the good news but never lift a finger (or disturb my home life) on behalf of those starving children in the Sudan or the aborted children in Seattle or the exploited children in Sri Lanka. If the emphasis is their “spiritual” rescue, I can ignore their emaciated bodies, their helpless push into mass graves and their hopeless communities. I can be a good Lutheran under the German Reich, putting my money in the special collection for missions but refusing to acknowledge the smoke from the chimneys at Auschwitz.
The exclamation point is added with the word mawets (death). The noun covers death by both natural and violent means. It can suggest a host of life-terminating circumstances like disease, plagues and disasters. Derived from muts, the word is associated with being killed and being executed as well as dying from old age. It is possible to extend this clearly physical meaning into the spiritual realm, but this is not the typical Old Testament usage. In fact, since the Old Testament has only a fairly clouded view of the afterlife, we are hard pressed to claim that this Proverb is primarily concerned with a person’s eternal fate. To suggest that the Proverb ignores the experiences in the present tangible world is to modify the verse according to a theologically motivated perspective.
Where does this leave us? That’s really is crux of the issue. If, as we have discovered, Proverbs 24:11-12 command us to act in life-saving ways for those who are being carried to the death without their consent, then we have no excuses for our apathetic attitude toward the world’s greatest social evils. We are compelled to stand against abortion, death camps, genocide, ethnic cleansing, starvation and any other force, human or otherwise, that seeks to destroy the life of the innocent. We cannot simply pray for their souls. That is a spiritual cop-out. As long as there is smoke from the chimneys, we are called to act – forcefully, directly, as God’s militia against evil.
Where in the world is a government whose goal is to exterminate innocent citizens? We must fight it. Where is there a company whose policies and practices result in the deaths of the unaware? We must boycott. Where are there starving masses? We must feed. Where are they who are dying from exposure? We must clothe. Where are the sick, the weak, the helpless, the hungry, the thirsty, the imprisoned? We cannot sit by, consoling ourselves that we have done what we could by sending the gospel out over the airwaves. When we stand before the throne of judgment, what we will say to the Lord of the innocent when He asks, “What did you do for the least of these? You did it to me!”
