A Tale of Two People

Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained, but happy is he who keeps the law [Proverbs 29:18].

Charles Dickens is one of the finest novelists ever. He has a way with words to which few have ever attained, or ever will. We come away from reading his novels deeply stirred. The range of emotions Dickens evokes encompasses all which are known to man…and a few yet to be discovered! You just must dive in and relish the time spent in a Dickens novel.

One of his novels, A Tale of Two Cities, is particularly graphic in its historical exposé. The tale begins with the all too familiar words, It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Indeed, the remainder of the novel demonstrates the veracity of the statement.

The times involved occurred circa the American Revolution, but the location was not America. It was England and France during the French Revolution. The French peasants were driven to abject penury by the French aristocracy, until finally all hope was lost for the peasants. With nothing else to lose, they revolted.

The history of the French Revolution—and Dickens’ novel paints the scene with personalized detail—but the French Revolution stands in stark contrast to the American Revolution. This contrast is best understood by the verse quoted to start this study. The verse takes the Biblical Hebrew poetic form of parallelism.

Today we rhyme words at the end of lines to create poetry. The Hebrews back in the day rhymed ideas between lines to create their poetry. The rhymed ideas were in some sense “parallel” to each other. If they were comparable, they formed synonymous parallelism. If they stood in contrast or were opposites, they formed antonymous parallelism.

In the case of Proverbs 29:18 the two rhymed lines are contrasts. Hence they form antonymous parallelism. Let’s diagram the two lines now.

A. where there is no vision

B. the people are unrestrained

B. happy is he

A. who keeps the law

Notice the “A” or “B” before each line. The two “A’s” are antonyms, as are the two “B’s”. Let’s analyze the “A” lines first.

On the one side are those who have no vision of reality. They see no hope for the future. They haven’t a clue as to how to conduct their lives under the conditions in which they find themselves.

On the other side are those who know the Word of God (i.e., the law) and embrace it as God’s revealed truth. The Word of God, you see, is their vision. They have vision and they conduct their lives according to their vision. Accordingly they have hope for the future as well as for the present.

Now let’s see how these two types of people function, how their vision or lack thereof works itself out in life. This is the substance of the two “B” lines.

The people without vision “are unrestrained”. Nothing exists to hold their visceral inclinations in check. They are up one minute and down the next. We might label their lifestyle “roller coaster living”. Sometimes when we observe suchlike folks, we cannot help but be certain they are manic-depressive!

What a drag and a drudgery it is, to go through each day with no idea of right and wrong. Everything is relative and dependent on how they feel at the moment. What they feel like doing defines “right”, while what hampers them from doing what they feel like doing defines “wrong”. This is what it means to be “unrestrained”.

Not so for the people who embrace the Word of God, however! We are not “unrestrained” at all. We willingly accept the Bible as the definition of right and wrong and restrain ourselves accordingly. In doing so we are “happy”. We have the joy of the Lord for our strength, and nowadays that is an enviable position to be in.

The first category of people, those without a vision, portrays the peasants of the French Revolution. The second category of people, those who obey the Bible, depicts the people who made up the American Revolution. This explains why American democracy has lasted so long, while French democracy has succumbed to European socialism long long ago: France = no vision; America = vision.

So which category of people describes you? Does your daily living correspond with your verbal identification? Only daily time alone with the Lord and His Word can make us real in our daily living, dear friends. Let’s commit to a rigorous spiritual regimen with the Lord daily and stick to it. To God be the glory!

To further research this issue, I direct you to my books in the Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes Bible study series. To purchase my books please click on the "Shop" tab at the top of this page, where you will find a complete list of my books. Each book is available in both paperback (Createspace) and eBook (Kindle).

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