Commentary - Proverbs 28:21

Bird's-eye view

This proverb delivers a sharp, two-part diagnosis of a particular kind of moral collapse. It begins with a general principle concerning the evil of partiality and then provides a startling illustration of how cheap a compromised man can be. The core issue is a loss of integrity, a willingness to bend justice based on external factors rather than on the objective truth of a matter. The proverb teaches that once a man abandons God's standard of impartial judgment, his own standard becomes laughably low. The one who can be swayed by the rich man's finery is also the one who can be bought for a pittance. It is a profound warning about the slippery slope of compromise; the first step off the path of righteousness is the critical one, and the subsequent descent into trivial corruption is almost guaranteed.

The progression of the proverb is key. It moves from the sin of respecting persons, which is a sin of the courtroom and of social interaction, to the motivation for that sin, which can be something as pathetic as a piece of bread. This reveals that the heart of the man who shows partiality is not ultimately impressed by the gold ring and fine apparel of the rich man, but is rather controlled by his own belly. His god is his appetite, and so his justice is for sale. The price is irrelevant; the fact that it has a price at all is the damnation of it. This is a call for men, particularly those in positions of authority, to fear God and to maintain a justice that cannot be bought, whether by a bribe of a thousand talents or a bribe of a crust of bread.

Outline

Context In Proverbs

Proverbs 28 is a chapter full of sharp contrasts between the righteous and the wicked, the wise and the foolish. It repeatedly addresses issues of justice, integrity in leadership, and the handling of wealth. For example, the surrounding verses discuss the blessings that come to the one who gives to the poor (v. 27) and the folly of trusting in one's own heart (v. 26). Verse 20 contrasts the faithful man who abounds with blessings with the one who makes haste to be rich and will not be innocent. Proverbs 28:21 fits squarely within this context. It exposes a specific kind of unfaithfulness, a specific way that a man seeking gain makes himself guilty. The sin of partiality is a direct violation of the kind of societal righteousness that the book of Proverbs champions as the only foundation for a stable and blessed community. It is a sin against the poor, a sin of corrupt leadership, and ultimately, a sin of foolishness that leads to ruin.

Key Issues

The High Cost of a Low Price

We have a tendency to measure the gravity of a sin by the size of the temptation. We might cluck our tongues at a man who embezzles a million dollars, but we would be tempted to think of him as a serious sinner. We understand, in a worldly way, the allure of a million dollars. But what of the man who embezzles ten dollars? We don't know whether to be more appalled at his dishonesty or his stupidity. He sold his soul for lunch money.

This proverb forces us to look at compromise from God's perspective. The issue is not the price tag. The issue is that a man's integrity is for sale in the first place. Once the "For Sale" sign goes up on a man's conscience, the price becomes a secondary detail. The man who can be swayed from righteousness by a hefty bribe has already established the principle that his judgment can be purchased. The man who is overawed by a rich man's status has already decided to judge by sight and not by faith. From there, it is a very short step to being bought off for a trifle. The initial compromise is the great sin. The subsequent cheapness of the transgression is simply the revelation of how hollow that man's heart was to begin with.

Verse by Verse Commentary

21 To show partiality is not good,

The Hebrew for "show partiality" is literally "to recognize a face." This is the sin of looking at who a person is, their status, their wealth, their connections, their poverty, or their weakness, and letting that factor into your judgment of their case. The law of God was crystal clear on this point. "You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor" (Lev. 19:15). Justice is supposed to be blind, meaning she is not "recognizing faces." She is only weighing the facts in the scales of God's law. To do otherwise, the proverb says, is "not good." This is a classic Hebrew understatement. It is not just a minor social faux pas; it is a detestable evil. It undermines the very foundation of a godly society because it replaces God's objective standard with man's shifting, subjective, and self-serving standards. As the apostle James tells us, showing partiality is to make distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts (James 2:4).

Even for a piece of bread a man will transgress.

This is the punchline, and it is a staggering one. The same man who defers to the great, who is so impressed by the man with the gold ring, will turn right around and sell his verdict for a piece of bread. This is what his soul is worth. This is the value he places on his own integrity. Why is this so? Because the man who judges by the face has no internal gyroscope. He has no fixed point of reference. His standard is outside himself, in the approval or provision of other men. Therefore, he is entirely at the mercy of his circumstances and his appetites. If a rich man offers him favor, he will take it. If a desperate man offers him his last crust, and that is all he can get, he will take that too. Once a man decides that righteousness is not his highest good, his highest good becomes whatever is dangled in front of his face. The man who abandons God's standard does not become his own master; he becomes a slave to the most trivial of temptations. He has made his belly his god (Phil. 3:19), and so it is not surprising that his god can be placated with a simple piece of bread.

Application

This proverb ought to land on us with real weight. The temptation to show partiality is not confined to judges in a courtroom. We do it all the time. We laugh louder at the jokes of the important man. We give more of our time to the person who can advance our career. We are quicker to believe a report that favors our political tribe. We excuse sins in our friends that we would loudly condemn in our enemies. In a thousand subtle ways, we "recognize faces." We are constantly tempted to trim our convictions and adjust our standards based on who we are dealing with. This is "not good."

The second half of the verse warns us where this leads. When we make these small compromises, we are training our hearts to be unfaithful. We are teaching our conscience to be silent. We think we are making sophisticated social calculations, but we are really just cheapening our souls. We are preparing ourselves to transgress for a piece of bread. The application for us is to cultivate a rugged and principled impartiality in all our dealings. Our "yes" should be yes, and our "no" should be no, regardless of who we are talking to. Our standard of truth should be the Word of God, not the shifting sands of social advantage.

And the only way to do this consistently is to be utterly captivated by the one Man who never once showed partiality. Jesus Christ is the righteous judge. He was never impressed by the powerful nor did He despise the weak. He spoke the same truth to Herod that He spoke to the woman at the well. And He did this because His food was to do the will of His Father. He would not even turn stones to bread for Himself, let alone sell His righteousness for it. He is the incorruptible judge. Because He died and rose again, we who are in Him have been set free from the need to curry favor with men. We have already received the verdict of "righteous" in the highest court of the universe, by grace. Therefore, we are free to be impartial, to speak the truth, and to refuse to sell our birthright for a piece of bread.