1 The King’s Justice: What is its special concern? Rev. Dr Liphadzi Tshililo Abstract Every leadership has direct implications with regard to governance, responsibility and accountability. The same subject is looked at in this paper with special interest in African leadership. What is the African experience of the leadership in the continent with regard to its governance, responsibility and accountability? What is it that makes a leader a just leader? It is the hypothesis of this paper that African leadership has failed to meet the expectations of the overwhelming majority of the African populations. What has led to this failure? The importation of foreign notions of leadership, alien to the African history, philosophy and culture has contributed towards leadership failure in the continent. African notions of leadership were not tested against these new imports, but they were simply thrown away. In the African history, leaders are responsible and accountable to the ancestors for the wellbeing of the people. With their governance leaders are accountable to their ancestors and to the people. In the biblical book of Proverbs 28-29, we find a depiction of a leader who is accountable with his governance to Yahweh and to the people Yahweh created as his own image. Thus, in both communities successful leadership is accountable to God and to the followers. The special concern of the leaders’ justice is the poor and the powerless. The power of whatever kind (political, social, and economic) is to be used on behalf of the powerless. A just king is gracious to the poor. Therefore, leadership that is built on the relationship with the divine Being beyond us and on the recognition that all people, rich and poor are created in God’s image is l ikely to make a positive contribution in rebuilding African continent. Hence, we cannot afford the promotion of religious neutrality in the leadership practice in the continent. 1. Introduction. Professor Achille Mbembe said: “Most Africans do not want to be where they are. They want to be somewhere else” (etv channel show, Inside Out, on Sunday 8 th August 2010). He was referring to the level of poverty that Africans face in each day of their lives. He cited leadership in the continent as a major reason for this sentiment. Andrew Hacker, as quoted by Curtiss Paul DeYoung (1995:61), said: “No white American, including those who insist that opportunities exist for persons of every race, would change places with even the most successful black American” . On the other hand, there are many black people if asked to change places with white people, they will quickly go for it. It is again an affirmation that you find uneasiness among blacks about who they are because of their life circumstances. The woes that this continent is facing are blamed on the leadership of the continent. Ayyittey (1992:7) said: “The economic exploitation and political repression of the African people continued unabated.
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The King’s Justice: What is its special concern?
Rev. Dr Liphadzi Tshililo
Abstract
Every leadership has direct implications with regard to governance, responsibility and accountability. The same subject is looked at in this paper with special interest in African leadership. What is the African experience of the leadership in the continent with regard to its governance, responsibility and accountability? What is it that makes a leader a just leader? It is the hypothesis of this paper that African leadership has failed to meet the expectations of the overwhelming majority of the African populations. What has led to this failure? The importation of foreign notions of leadership, alien to the African history, philosophy and culture has contributed towards leadership failure in the continent. African notions of leadership were not tested against these new imports, but they were simply thrown away. In the African history, leaders are responsible and accountable to the ancestors for the wellbeing of the people. With their governance leaders are accountable to their ancestors and to the people. In the biblical book of Proverbs 28-29, we find a depiction of a leader who is accountable with his governance to Yahweh and to the people Yahweh created as his own image. Thus, in both communities successful leadership is accountable to God and to the followers. The special concern of the leaders’ justice is the poor and the powerless. The power of whatever kind (political, social, and economic) is to be used on behalf of the powerless. A just king is gracious to the poor. Therefore, leadership that is built on the relationship with the divine Being beyond us and on the recognition that all people, rich and poor are created in God’s image is likely to make a positive contribution in rebuilding African continent. Hence, we cannot afford the promotion of religious neutrality in the leadership practice in the continent.
1. Introduction.
Professor Achille Mbembe said: “Most Africans do not want to be where they are. They
want to be somewhere else” (etv channel show, Inside Out, on Sunday 8th August
2010). He was referring to the level of poverty that Africans face in each day of their
lives. He cited leadership in the continent as a major reason for this sentiment.
Andrew Hacker, as quoted by Curtiss Paul DeYoung (1995:61), said: “No white
American, including those who insist that opportunities exist for persons of every race,
would change places with even the most successful black American”. On the other
hand, there are many black people if asked to change places with white people, they
will quickly go for it. It is again an affirmation that you find uneasiness among blacks
about who they are because of their life circumstances. The woes that this continent is
facing are blamed on the leadership of the continent. Ayyittey (1992:7) said: “The
economic exploitation and political repression of the African people continued unabated.
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More treacherous perhaps was the continued denigration and, in some cases, the
destruction of indigenous African institutions and culture by the very African nationalists
and heads of state who claimed to have liberated Africa”.
Why are leaders blamed for the unfortunate situation of the African continent? They are
mostly blamed for their failure to build their leadership on the cultural values that African
society is built on. They import foundations of leadership that are alien to African
society. They have embraced alien ideologies which turned them into one-man
dictatorships, characterized by conspicuous consumption by the rich and the powerful,
and the suppression of the poor and the weak (Ayittey, 1992:105).
The purpose of this contribution is to explore the role of the king1 as depicted in the
biblical book of Proverbs 28-29. It is argued that this depiction can serve as a
foundation upon which we can build our understanding of what an African leader should
look like. The basis of this assertion is the similarity that one gets in comparing the
leadership role of a king in a pre-colonial Africa and the depiction of a king in Proverbs
28-29. The book of Proverbs contains experiential knowledge and understanding that
goes beyond borders of its original society2. It can shed light in our quest for the role of
a leader in our African contemporary society.
This paper will explore the following themes: 1. The basis upon which the king’s justice
is to be built and understood. 2. What distinguishes the righteous king from the wicked
king? 3. Relationship between the king and the poor. It is therefore the underlying
argument of the paper that the special concern of the king’s justice is the poor, the weak
and the vulnerable. A leader who gives a cold shoulder to the poor his leadership has
no future. He is depicted as a beating rain which brings no food (Prov. 28:3), and also
1 Though the focus of the article is on the role of the king, it needs to be mentioned that it is used here with all
leaders in private and public sectors of our community in mind.
2 This was clearly explained by Von Rad (1979:57), who said: “Proverbs deal with the experience of orders, indeed
of laws, of the truth of which men have become convinced in the course of many generations.” This definition of
wisdom implies that the truth expressed in the proverbs is accessible to every person anywhere in the world.
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as a roaring lion and charging bear over the poor people (Prov. 28:15). This should
serve as a lesson to our contemporary leaders.
2. The Foundations upon which the King’s Justice is to be built and
understood.
In this section the focus will be on the definition of justice, and foundations upon which it
has to be built. I will use the depiction of a just king as given in Proverbs 28-29, and the
depiction of a pre-colonial African leader as foundations upon which we are to build our
contemporary understanding of a king’s justice.
2.1. What is justice?
This is an attempt to define what a king should do to be called a just king. What makes
a king to be just? One can answer this question by defining what justice is. In Oxford
English Reference Dictionary, justice is defined as “just conduct, fairness, and to do
justice is to treat fairly or appropriately, and to show due appreciation of”. Thus one has
to accept what Jose Garcia Olives has said about justice. He said, “Justice is so subtle
a thing, to it one has only need of a heart” (Dictionary of Quotation, 2000:303).
Justinian 1 (482-565 AD), Byzantine emperor defined justice as follows: “Justice is the
constant and perpetual wish to render to everyone his due” (Dictionary of Quotation,
2000:303). Thus one can conclude that justice is a heart yearning to treat everyone on
an equal basis without prejudice.
In biblical language, justice is the vision of shalom, wherein human being dwells in
peace in all his or her relationship: with God, with self, with fellows and with nature
(Wolterstorff, 1987:69). Isaiah 11:6-8 gives us the following picture of shalom:
The wolf shall live with the lamb,
the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
the calf and the lion and the fatling together,
and a little child shall lead them.
7 The cow and the bear shall graze,
their young shall lie down together;
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and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,
and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.
There is no shalom when a society is a collection of individuals all out to make their own
way in the world (Wolterstorff, 1987:70). In such a society, human beings compete to
each other rather than complementing each other. It is the survival of the fittest. There
is no justice in such a society. Hence a just king is one who has constant and perpetual
commitment to the wellbeing of his followers. He is not alienated from the cries and
joys of his followers. He finds the agenda of his leadership in their mourning and
grievances. Thus, a just king strives for the equal treatment of all his followers. It is his
constant yearning in his leadership to bring equilibrium in the society. His care for the
poor is not election rhetoric when he needs votes for position.
2.2. How is a just king depicted in Proverbs 28-29?
The appropriate question to start with is: why Proverbs 28-29? For those who are
familiar with the structural analysis of the book of Proverbs, it is clear that chapters 28-
29 can be studied as a unit. There are formal, structural, and thematic analyses of the
text that support this assertion. Concerning the form of the text, Malchow (1985:239)
sees all the verses as individual two-line proverbs and most of them as antithetic
couplets. Malchow also observes that Proverbs 28-29 are structured through the use of
strategically placed proverbs employing the words qydx (righteous) and [vr (wicked).
These are the most repeated words in Proverbs 28-29. They are found in the first
proverb (28:1) and in the last one (29:27). Thus we have an inclusio. This devise
allows us to see Proverbs 28-29 as a unit (Liphadzi, 1994:7). Malchow (1985:239)
further sees relationships in some of the proverbs of the unit. There are lines that are
similar (28:12a and 29:2a), lines which can be matched word by word (28:12b and
28:28a), lines which have the same focus 28:28b and 29:16a and finally lines which are
comparable (29:2b and 29:16). Thus he argues for the thematic unity of Proverbs 28-
29. He says: “The four proverbs as a unit point out the responsibility of a sovereign to
reign righteously. Since, this whole collection is structured around these four proverbs,
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this seems to be its primary exhortation to its reader, the future leader” (Malchow,
1985:239). Hubbard (1989:106) agrees that the proverbs in Proverbs 28-29 focus on
the obligation of rulers to judge with integrity and to care for the poor. Derek Kidner
(1985:32) also acknowledges that there is a marked emphasis in Proverbs 28-29 on
rulers and on those who set the tone for a society. We therefore conclude that Proverbs
28-29 has a thematic unity, and that the editor of this collection arranged these two
chapters around the theme of the role of a king or ruler in a society. It is a biblical
portion that can enlighten us and deepen our understanding of the role of a leader in a
community.
Our analysis of Proverbs 28:5; 29:25-26 concludes that a king who enjoys a good
relationship with Yahweh can rule with justice and righteousness. Yahweh is depicted
as a true source of justice. Thus those who are in relationship with him understand how
justice works and its importance. This relationship is to be distinguished by trust and
obedience on the part of the king (Liphadzi, 1994:71). Trusting Yahweh, in the book of
Proverbs, points to the order created by Yahweh which controls the entirety of life.
Trusting, therefore, means grasping and living by this reality. A king has to conduct his
kingship according to these created orders. Von Rad (1979:92) says: “If experience
taught the awareness of orders, then it was teaching ultimate truth, truth about God”.
Thus a king, who is aware of these created orders and lives by them, is viewed as the
one who trusts Yahweh. From Proverbs 29:26, Yahweh, not a king has absolute
authority in all matters related to justice. A king has to submit himself under Yahweh if
he has to succeed in his administration of justice. A king serves as a representative of
Yahweh. Hans-Joachim Kraus (1992:119) says: “In the act of enthronement and of
basic legitimation, the anointed of Yahweh received the royal charisma and the concrete
commission which he was to carry as representative and administrator of the splendor
of his God”. It can be concluded that a king’s responsibility is to be the representative of
Yahweh’s kingdom among his followers. His kingship should promote that every
individual becomes what he was created to be in the beginning: the image-bearer and
servant of Yahweh, the object and agent of divine benediction, fruitful and having
dominion, and destined for life (Stek, 1978:160). It is this king whose kingship will
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express the true purpose of exodus which is an exodus back to the real land of
spaceship earth where we learn again to live in obedience to Yahweh and relate to each
other in harmony with the everlasting covenant of creation (Ruether, 1974:207). Thus,
a just king should be defined with the horizon of reality which God chooses and creates
for man.
It is my contention that the role of a leader as it is espoused in the book of Proverbs is in
agreement with the African pre-colonial understanding of the role of a leader in the
community3. According to this understanding, an African chief or king serves as a
representative of the ancestors. He has an obligation to maintain good relationship with
the ancestors if he has to rule justly and peacefully. He acted as an umpire to ensure
fair play and equal justice for all (Ayittey, 1991:125). Ayittey (1991:125) says: “If he
oppressed his people he can incur displeasure of the ancestors. He could not expect
the blessings or cooperation of ancestral spirits. He is the guardian not the oppressor”.
Thus from both the biblical and African understanding of the role of a leader, a leader
has to lead as a representative of the divine Being. A leader has to go beyond himself
and his followers to define his role. This is the foundation that an understanding of
leadership in Africa should have been built, but it has been rejected by leaders in Africa.
They build their leadership understanding on foreign concepts that have nothing to do
with the African context. They alienated their leadership from the context. Their
leadership was no longer understood as a tool to deal with contextual issues in order to
bring life to their followers. Hence, we have a leadership crisis in the continent.
The modern secular humanistic tendency of dethroning God as a source of life in all
spheres of life and unwillingness to submit to created structures and orders are
repudiated by this biblical and African understanding of a leader. If man is left by
himself, nothing good and just is to be expected but a return to Babel (Liphadzi,
3 This is not to romanticize the pre-colonial times. It is an attempt to show that leadership principles in that time
were enacted from the local context and not imported from an alien context as it happens after colonialism. Not
all leaderships were acceptable in the pre-colonial times. There were leaders who were exploitative towards their
followers.
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1994:75)4. Ramphele cries foul of the marginalization of religion in our struggle for
better life for all in the new democratic South Africa. She says: “Material freedom
disengaged from inner spiritual freedom puts us at risk of losing the focus on the larger
purpose of freedom…freedom to be fully who we can be in our democracy” (Ramphele,
2008:18). Hence we have lost what she calls voice of morality in our public discourse.
This explains shameful leadership squabbles in the political formations of our society.
In our society a person’s dignity and worth is derived from one’s education, position and
material wealth. If not so, how do you imagine our politicians going to bed peacefully
with the abject poverty before their eyes of our people in Tembisa and Alexander
Townships? How do you imagine churches assembling on Sunday and disperse in
peace without being traumatized by abject poverty in their neighborhoods? Indeed faith
has now become acceptance, not protest to the dehumanization of people. Willis
(1975:70) says: “One whose attitude is Godlike respects the poor man because he is
made in the image of God, he is moved with compassion for him, he puts himself in his
place, and he does all he can to help him overcome his problems and needs”. Where
leaders define themselves as Willis did, they have an obligation to share and contribute
to the growth of life of the whole community, and to guard the common welfare of the
community (Kobia, 2003:96).
The implications for the lack of this understanding in which leaders see themselves as
representing God are huge for today. It explains why Ramphela considers
marginalization of religion as one of the dilemmas of the transformation in South Africa.
It also explains why our society is rampant with corruption, the growing wedge between
the rich and the poor, suburbans and townships and cities and rural communities.
Leaders who are unconscious of their delegated authority from God; they will always be
trapped by the temptation to abuse their power. They will become leaders who are
4 This further explains that pre-colonial period cannot be romanticized because good leadership was not depended
on the person herself but on her relationship with the divine Being. This implies that in the pre-colonial times
those who did not practice good relationship with the divine Being did not practice good leadership.
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obsessed with power in itself, not to use it for the good of the followers5. They will be
indifferent to the welfare of their citizens. They will subordinate national interests to
personal aggrandizement (Ayittey, 2005:402).
3. What distinguish a just king from a wicked king according to Proverbs 28-
29?
Proverbs 28-29 compares the just king and the wicked king. In Proverb 28:5 the
distinction is on the ruler’s attitude towards justice. A wicked ruler does not understand
justice due to lack of relationship with God. The righteous ruler knows and understands
the constructive quality of justice and the destructive quality of injustice due to his
relationship with God.
Proverbs 28:12, 28; 29:2, 16 deal with the contrast between the consequences of the
actions of both righteous and wicked governments. People benefit from the actions of
the righteous leader, whereas they suffer from the actions of the wicked leader. When
the righteous achieve victory and come into power, they bring great glory and happiness
in the community. Righteous leader suppresses wickedness and pursues
righteousness. Wicked ruler brings fear and terror to the people. Righteous people are
forced to go into hiding, because the wickedness of a leader is the ruin of the man’s
soul.
In Proverbs 29:4 a just king brings stability. Stability manifests itself in his care for the
poor and the weak. Stability builds up community and restores dignity to the weak and
the oppressed. His leadership promotes what man ought to be: to live in harmony with
other people and the land. A wicked leader brings misery and distress in the land. He
also brings instability and infertility to the land.
5 This should not only be applied to the king in its traditional sense, but it should be applied to all kinds of
leadership in the community such as local, provincial and national political, religious and business leaderships.
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In Proverbs 29:7 the contrast between a righteous king and a wicked king is based on
their attitude towards the poor. A righteous identifies himself with the needs of the poor,
whereas a wicked ruler does not have that concern.
Thus we can conclude that a just leader knows and rules with justice, his leadership
brings happiness to the people and stability in the land, and he defends the rights of the
poor and renders justice to them. The recognition of poverty by the king as a lack of
shalom invites the leader to take sides (Wolterstoff, 1987:77). He sides with the poor.
The poor becomes the special concern of his justice. This is God’s position. He sides
with the poor. Isaiah 10:1-2 says: “Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who
issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from
the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless”.
The implication for these assertions for us is to reflect on the leadership of our society.
What is it that society is gaining from our leaders? Since the dawn of democracy, how
have our leaders addressed the plight of the poor? Where do our leaders get their
agenda? Of course we have to appreciate what we have achieved as a society since
the dawn of democracy. But we have to agree that our leaders are not yet prepared to
receive their mandate and agenda from the poor. The continued contestation between
the labour and capital is a clear example before our eyes that makes me doubt that our
leaders have poor people of this country in heart. I suspect collusion between our
leaders and the capital6. Thus we have a ticking bomb that will explode before our
eyes. Our society will be characterized, as it is today by instability and infertility of the
land. The call to our leaders is that they should side with the poor.
6 This is made clear in Chikane Files (The Star, 28 October 2010) in which he indicated how the pharmaceutical
companies influence our governments against the poor. They make profit at the expense of the poor people and
their governments. We need leaders who can be brave enough to stop this madness for the wellbeing of the poor
and the weak.
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4. Relationship between the king and the poor in Proverbs 28-29.
Seven proverbs in these two chapters deal with how a leader should relate to the poor,
i.e. Proverbs 28:3, 8, 15, 16, 27; 29:13, 14. It is therefore appropriate to look briefly into
the concepts that are used to describe the poor. Who are the poor that the king has to
relate to? In these proverbs two Hebrew words are used to describe the poor, i.e. ld
and vr. Both words may be translated as “poor”. Though these words may be
distinguished, generally they refer to the conditions of those in lower class. ld refers to
those people without riches and possessions, people without lasting resources (Harris,
et al, 1980:190). It has a sense of being low. It applies to those whose prosperity has
been reduced and who lack physical and psychological strength. The ld is poor
because she has been unjustly deprived (Malchow, 1985:122). These poor are often
oppressed by the powerful. vr refers to the destitute, e.g. orphan, widow, disabled. It
therefore refers to the disabled, impoverished, and powerless. These are the people
that leaders are expected to have relationship with.
A leader may relate to them in two ways. He either is an oppressor or a protector. In
Israel a king was always expected to be the guardian of the humble and the needy, the
weak and the helpless (Jer.21:12). He was the final hope of the unfortunate (Wolverton,
1959:278). Proverbs 28:3, 15 clearly deal with the relationship of a king as an
oppressor of the poor. In this type of relationship a leader is described as “beating rain
which brings no food”, and also as a “roaring lion and charging bear”. This simply
describes him as a danger to the well-being of his people. Proverbs 28:8 indicates the
means by which poor people are impoverished by the powerful, i.e. usury and interest7.
The leader’s accumulation of wealth is for his own personal glorification, not the well-
being of his people. This kind of relationship is condemned. The leader will not prolong
his days because of his injustices.
On the other hand, a just leader is a blessing and hope to the poor. He judges the poor
with justice. He knows that the power of whatever kind (social, economic, political) is to
7 Here we should think of our leaders in the banking industry and their way of charging interest. Do they have the
interest of the poor as they conduct their banking business? Are the poor not overly charged by the banks?
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be used on behalf of the powerless. It is given for service (Stek, 1978:154). Such a king
is described as the one whose throne will be established forever, and who will never
lack anything. His care and love for the unfortunate brings blessings back to him and to
his throne. Thus justice and righteousness are essential for the foundation of the
throne. The failure or success of a leadership depends on how a leader treats the poor.
Thus the poor becomes the leader’s justice’s special concern. Poor are also created in
the image of God, and failure to protect this image in the poor; it is a way of inviting
God’s wrath. He will intervene to see that the oppressors of his people are punished.
This helps us to reflect on the leadership in the continent, which I think most Africans
are not happy with. Hunger, civil wars, corruption and fear of the unknown are the order
of the day in the modern Africa. Power is sought for its own sake, not for doing good to
anyone else. This obsession with power has led to many dictatorship presidents for life
and many one party states. We can see the same obsession with power in our society.
People want power and influence for personal enrichment. We therefore need
Jeremiahs and Isaiahs who will remind our leaders that they should be accountable to
the Being beyond themselves.
5. Conclusions
It is clear from Proverbs 28-29 that the special concern of the king’s justice is the poor.
He has to protect them against the powerful so that they become what God intended
them to become. This is what we should see in the leadership in our communities. We
will therefore see the vulnerable, the weak being affirmed and empowered by our
leaders.
For us to promote this movement among our leaders, African Christian churches are to
be example to society of how to incarnate in people’s lives. For the church in Africa to
succeed in leading communities, she has to do much better at being and doing what
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she preaches. Christianity must be seen much more in the character, attitudes and
behaviors of those who claim to be Christians8.
The church in Africa must become genuinely African if she is to be an effective agent for
God’s kingdom in Africa. She has to develop contextual theology that addresses
challenges that Africans face in their daily lives. Her theology has to become genuinely
biblical and African. Her dependency on the Western church for ideas, theology and
money is unhealthy and detrimental to the witness of the church in Africa. The church
has to come up with a theology that investigates and comments on the socio-economic
and political structures and gives moral direction to the country. This is the task that
African Christians are to do themselves. They are to become their own authorities, and
not allow other people to interpret them. Thus the church will participate in the
movement of building leaders whose special concern is the poor and weak of our
