Inactivity is complicity.
Proverbs 24:11–12 is a staggering couplet. This 25th Saying is a sobering and threatening proverb. There are two imperatives: One is to “hold back” and the other is to “rescue”. It’s a Hebrew word translated “rescue” can also be translated “pull out” or save.
11 Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter. 12 If you say, “Behold, we did not know this,” does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will he not repay man according to his work?
It is used in texts like Genesis 32:11 (ESV),
11 Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, that he may come and attack me, the mothers with the children.
Or Judges 6:9 (ESV),
9 And I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land.
This is a specific call to get involved. “The general application would include any who are in mortal danger, through disease, hunger, war—we cannot dodge responsibility, even by ignorance.”[1] We are not told about the circumstances behind this proverb. We don’t know who is being taken away to death and stumbling to slaughter, but the themes within this literature may suggest either those who are experiencing injustice”.[2]
We note that the response to this crisis is “we did not know”. As individuals viewing injustice we might think, “I can’t do anything.” By placing the responsibility within the community, it eliminates that excuse. The problem exists within the community. And the community is judged, not so much for inaction, but lying. There is One who evaluates all this. The one who evaluates motives (lit., “who weights hearts”) refers to the Lord (“All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the spirit.” (Proverbs 16:2, ESV)). “To deny knowledge and responsibility is futile because God weighs hearts (Proverbs 21:12; Psalm 44:21). Inactivity is complicity (Ezekiel 3:17–18).”[3]
God is fully cognizant of what is going on. The rhetorical question is, “Will he not repay man according to his work.”[4] The negligent will be repaid for his or her negligence. The righteous person, the one who embraces the way of wisdom in the Proverbs can never rest idly simply caring for his or her own well-doing without rescuing those who are being mistreated. Christians believe in justice. We believe that the innocent ought to be defended and that the guilty should be punished in a just manner.
Our modern culture has perverted and confused the issues of justice, but that should not dissuade Christians from acting biblically. Our God is a God of justice. “O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted; you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.” (Psalm 10:17–18, ESV).
“When the Christian faith functions in the way it should, Christians will take leadership in defending the cause of the one who has no defender. William Wilberforce and other English Christians fought a heroic battle to end the slave trade, which had utterly oppressed so many. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in trying to rouse German Christians to work to save the Jews in Nazi Germany made much use of Galatians 6:10.”[5]
One cannot read this passage without including with things like racism, inequity among marginalized peoples, the horror of abortion. With little imagination we think of the millions of babies that are in need of “rescue” and are “those who are being taken away to death.”[6] We need to hear the words of this proverb and take them to heart: “Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will he not repay man according to his work?”[7]
Where do we start when the work is so momentous? I think Bonhoeffer got it right.
“So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.” (Galatians 6:10, ESV)
[1] Expositor's Bible Commentary, The, Pradis
CD-ROM:Proverbs/Exposition of Proverbs/IV. The Sayings of the Wise
(22:17-24:34)/A. Thirty Precepts of the Sages (22:17-24:22), Book Version:
4.0.2
[2] Crossway Bibles. (2008). The ESV Study Bible
(p. 1176). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.
[3] Stabnow, D. K. (2017). Proverbs. In E. A. Blum & T. Wax (Eds.), CSB Study Bible: Notes (p. 991).
Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[4] The Holy Bible:
English Standard Version. (2016). (Pr 24:12). Wheaton, IL:
Crossway Bibles.
[5] https://www.backtothebible.ca/articles/john-neufeld/what-is-the-christian-view-of-social-justice-part-1/
[6] The Holy Bible:
English Standard Version. (2016). (Pr 24:11). Wheaton, IL: Crossway
Bibles.
[7] The Holy Bible:
English Standard Version. (2016). (Pr 24:12). Wheaton, IL:
Crossway Bibles.
