Proverbs 29:12-16

Proverbs 29:12-16​
English Standard Version

12 If a ruler listens to falsehood,
    all his officials will be wicked.
13 The poor man and the oppressor meet together;
    the LORD gives light to the eyes of both.
14 If a king faithfully judges the poor,
    his throne will be established forever.
15 The rod and reproof give wisdom,
    but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother.
16 When the wicked increase, transgression increases,
    but the righteous will look upon their downfall.

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The ruler who has a wicked heart that causes him or her to listen to falsehood will end up surrounding himself of herself with wicked officials who will lie to him or her.  The ruler who insists on honesty will surround himself or herself with righteous people.

​Both the poor man and his oppressor have the same spiritual need.  They both came to the Tabernacle or Temple to make the same sacrifices and to ask for the same atonement.  They needed to sit and hear the same teaching from His Word that was taught by the Levites and priests, and they were saved in exactly the same way (by the blood of Jesus, shed on the cross for their sins).

With this in mind, the king is admonished to treat the poor property.  Give them their civil and human rights and treat them with dignity and honor.  Do not show partiality towards the rich.  God then promises that the king's throne will be established forever.  Only one King will actually rule forever and that is Jesus who is the perfect king, but the good kings will be ones we will talk about forever and say, "I wish I lived during his time" and people may even desire to make their current situation as good as the days of that king.  We will see this throughout the books of 1 Kings and 2 Kings that every successive king was compared to the last good king and occasionally a king was so good that a new standard of excellence was set.

Solomon says that discipline and correction lead towards wisdom.  It is the one who has received no such correction that often is a spoiled brat and a fool.  Such an undisciplined food brings shame to his mother (and father).  Why?  Because the parents know that an undisciplined child is inclined towards evil, and without correction, that wickedness increases until it so consumes the life of the wicked person that they either are as good as dead or die an early death (many times before their parents, and it is quite a sad thing for a parent to have to bury their adult child because of wickedness).  The righteous however will survive and look on the downfall of the wicked and will glorify God for how He is holy and just and righteous in all His ways.