Bird's-eye view
This proverb sets before us a stark and fundamental contrast, one that defines the course of nations, churches, and individual lives. It is the contrast between a society that is anchored to the authoritative Word of God and a society that is adrift on the sea of human autonomy. The first half of the verse describes the inevitable chaos that ensues when divine revelation is ignored or absent. The second half presents the alternative: the profound blessedness that comes from treasuring and keeping God's law. This is not a contrast between having a five-year plan and not having one; it is the contrast between submission to God's revealed will and the ruin that follows from rejecting it.
At its heart, this is a proverb about authority. Does authority come from God, revealed from the outside in His Word? Or does it bubble up from within each man, according to what is right in his own eyes? Solomon tells us plainly that the first path leads to blessing, stability, and life. The second path, however popular, leads to a people "out of control," a society unraveling at the seams. The choice is between revelation and revolution, between the Torah of God and the chaos of man.
Outline
- 1. The Condition for Chaos (v. 18a)
- a. The Nature of Vision
- b. The Consequence of Lawlessness
- 2. The Condition for Blessing (v. 18b)
- a. The Nature of Keeping
- b. The Consequence of Obedience
Where there is no vision...
The first thing we must do is rescue this verse from the clutches of corporate strategists and ambitious church planters. The word for "vision" here is the Hebrew word chazon, and it refers to divine, prophetic revelation. It is the Word of God delivered to the people through His appointed spokesmen, the prophets. Think of Isaiah's vision (Isaiah 1:1) or the word of the Lord that was rare in the days of Samuel (1 Sam. 3:1). This is not about a CEO's mission statement or a pastor's clever idea for church growth. It is about the presence, or absence, of the authoritative, objective, spoken and written Word of God.
So, "where there is no vision" means "where there is no revelation from God." It describes a people who are not hearing from Heaven. They are not receiving correction, instruction, rebuke, or promises from their Creator. They have, for one reason or another, been left to their own devices. They have plugged their ears to the prophets, or God has become silent because of their obstinacy. This is a terrifying state to be in. It is a famine of the Word of the Lord (Amos 8:11).
...the people are out of control,
The consequence of this famine of the Word is immediate and catastrophic. The people are "out of control." The Hebrew here is para, which means to let loose, to cast off restraint, to run wild. It is the word used to describe the Israelites dancing around their golden calf while Moses was on the mountain. Aaron "had let them get out of control" (Ex. 32:25). When men are not governed by the Word of God from heaven, they are not left in a state of neutral liberty. No, they are immediately governed by the lusts of their own hearts from within.
Without an external, objective standard that comes from God, every man becomes his own god. Every man does what is right in his own eyes, which is the very definition of anarchy and the recurring refrain in the book of Judges. When the Word of God is removed from the public square, from the church pulpit, and from the family hearth, the people cast off all moral and spiritual restraint. Society begins to fray, then to unravel, and finally to disintegrate into a chaotic war of all against all. This is not a complicated formula. No Word, no restraint. No revelation, no cohesion.
But how blessed is he who keeps the law.
Here is the glorious antithesis. The first man is a picture of a mob, a people running wild. This man is a singular individual: "he who keeps the law." The contrast is between the chaos of the lawless multitude and the settled blessedness of the obedient man. The word for "law" is torah, which means instruction, direction, God's revealed will. It is the positive counterpart to the "vision" in the first clause. The vision is the revelation received; the law is the revelation written down and to be obeyed.
And the one who keeps it is blessed. The word for "keeps" is shamar, which means to guard, to watch over, to treasure. This is not a grudging, resentful, bare-minimum sort of obedience. This is the man who delights in the law of the Lord, and on His law he meditates day and night (Psalm 1:2). He guards it because it is his life. And because he guards it, he is himself guarded. He is blessed. The Hebrew word is esher, which speaks of a deep, abiding happiness and well-being. While the lawless are running wild to their own destruction, the law-keeper is walking a straight path, a secure path, a path of life.
This is not legalism. This is life. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul (Psalm 19:7). The blessedness comes not from earning salvation through law-keeping, which no sinner can do, but from walking in the grain of the universe as God designed it. And for the Christian, we know that this law is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. We keep the law by faith in Him, and He writes that law on our hearts by His Spirit, enabling us to walk in a way that pleases Him. The ultimate vision was the revelation of God in His Son, and the ultimate blessedness is found in keeping His commandments, which are not burdensome (1 John 5:3).
Application
The application for us is direct and piercing. First, for our society, we must see that our cultural chaos is a direct result of having rejected God's "vision." We have told God to be silent, we have expelled His law from our schools and our courts, and we are now reaping the whirlwind. The people are casting off all restraint. The only solution is a return to the public acknowledgment of the Word of God as our standard.
Second, for the church, we must reject the temptation to replace God's vision with our own. We do not need a new marketing strategy; we need faithful preaching of the whole counsel of God. When the Word is faithfully proclaimed, the people of God are restrained from error and built up in true righteousness. A church without the vision of God's Word will soon be a people out of control, chasing every doctrinal fad and worldly desire.
Finally, for each of us as individuals and families, the path to blessing is clearly marked. It is the path of keeping the law. This means we must be people of the Book. We must read it, study it, memorize it, meditate on it, and, by the grace of God, obey it. The world thinks freedom is casting off restraint. God tells us that true freedom, true happiness, true blessedness, is found in joyfully submitting to His perfect law of liberty.