When it goeth well with the righteous, the city rejoiceth; and when the wicked perish, there is shouting.
A proverb about public life: a whole city's mood rises and falls with the character of the people in it. It raises two questions. Why does a world that dislikes godliness still cheer for the godly? And is it right to be glad when the wicked fall?
An upright life makes people uncomfortable. Yet their resentment is not the last word.
However much men resent a life that condemns them without a word, their conscience still has to justify the true-hearted. That is why, when it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices. Compare Esther 8:15-17. In the same way, when the notoriously wicked fall, men cannot hide their loud satisfaction.
The verse does not say the righteous rejoice. It says the city does. What God gives to a few does not stop with them.
If the righteous in a city are blessed, the city itself gains a great deal from this. In the same way, if the wicked perish, there is celebration (v. 10), because this is a great relief to many. The upright receive blessing, so any city will prosper; but the words of the wicked bring the opposite results (v. 11).
Kelly points to Esther for a picture of it. A decree had marked the Jew Mordecai and his people for death. The plot collapsed, and he walked out of the palace in royal robes. Shushan, the Persian capital, erupted.
What a change of scene! For people plunged into the night of despair, the sun has risen... Where fear and terror ruled, there is now only joy and happiness. It is a feast day, a day of celebration. One man alone, Mordecai, has been the instrument and organiser of this immense deliverance. Joy spreads to the capital of the nations. "The city of Shushan shouted and was glad" (v. 15). They see the man appear who had already walked through its streets as a saviour — now holding power.
History keeps repeating the second half of the verse. Under Queen Mary, England burned Christians at the stake for their faith. She died in 1558.
The news of her death filled the country with rejoicing. It is said that people lit bonfires, set tables in the street, brought out bread and wine, and ate, drank, and rejoiced. Despite the natural hostility of the heart, the world still bears witness to consistent godliness, in rulers and in ordinary people alike. And what a testimony against wickedness it is when the death of a wicked ruler becomes a cause of national celebration! Rome felt the same joy at the death of Nero, and France at the death of Robespierre.
But is this shouting just a taste for revenge? One writer draws a careful line between two things the righteous could be glad about.
The righteous rejoice at the deliverance rather than at the judgment by itself, though all of it will prove perfectly in keeping with the full character of God.
The proverb also sets an order: first the wicked go, then the city shouts. Athaliah had murdered her way to Israel's throne. Only after her death did the people rejoice over their young king Joash.
What a solemn lesson we learn from these closing words! "The people rejoiced, and the city was quiet." When? AFTER they had put Athaliah to death... When will this groaning creation rejoice? When will the city of the whole earth be quiet? AFTER the judgment already announced has been carried out... but not until then. Could Joash have reigned in fellowship with Athaliah? Impossible! The scene must be cleared of the king's enemies before he takes his throne.
- Conscience — a godly life irritates people, yet their conscience still sides with it. The city ends up admitting who the good ones were.
- Overflow — the blessing is personal, the benefit public. A city gains from the righteous in it; the words of the wicked bring the opposite.
- Shushan — Esther 8 shows the proverb in action. One rescued man walks out in royal robes, and a whole capital shouts.
- Relief — the shouting at a wicked ruler's fall is the world's own verdict on wickedness. The joy is over rescue, not revenge.
- After — the full joy still waits. Creation rejoices, and the city is quiet, only after judgment clears the scene for the King.
By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted; but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked.
This proverb traces a whole city's rise or ruin to two small sources: the character of its upright people and the speech of its wicked ones. So how much does the quiet life of a few good people matter to a whole place, and can words alone pull a city down?
Much of Proverbs 11 deals with what a person's integrity does for that person. This line turns outward. One writer reads the "blessing of the upright" as good fruit the upright bear toward everyone around them.
Also, good fruit toward others is expected from the upright. Here public ruin comes from the same source that destroys a private reputation. A cover of piety only adds to the wickedness and the harm.
Two things follow. The same mouth that ruins a neighbour's name can bring down a whole city. The source of the damage is the same; only the scale is wider. And a religious cover does not soften the wrong; it makes it worse.
Commentators differ on which direction the blessing travels. Another writer takes the phrase to mean the blessing given to the upright. That blessing then spills over into the whole city.
When blessing is given to the upright, any city will prosper. But the words of the wicked bring the opposite results (v. 11).
Either way the outcome is the same. The city does not prosper by its own cleverness. It prospers because upright people are in it, and blessing rests on them.
This is not only theory. One account applies verses 10 and 11 to England under Queen Mary. Hundreds died at the stake for their faith, and the country celebrated when she died.
The world bears its own witness to consistent godliness, both in rulers and in ordinary people, despite the natural hostility of the heart. And what a witness against wickedness when the death of a wicked ruler becomes a matter of national celebration!
Even people with no love for God can tell the difference between a life that is straight and one that is corrupt. Their instinctive relief when a tyrant falls is the proverb proving itself.
There is a deeper way the upright exalt a city: their presence delays its judgment. One writer draws this out from Lot, a righteous man living in the doomed cities of the plain.
Lot had to be provided for before the fiery storm could fall. The Lord said He could do nothing until Lot had gone out of the city. The little city of Zoar was spared for his sake, because he asked for it. For the sake of the righteous the wicked are spared. "You are the salt of the earth." If ten righteous men had been found in those five cities, they would have been spared.
The upright are not merely useful citizens. They are the reason the roof stays on. A place is safer than it knows because of people it may not even respect.
If the upright lift a city, the practical question is how. One writer points to God's instruction to His people in captivity. They were a failing people in a condemned city, told to pray for it anyway.
The people who were told to pray were a failing people. The city they were told to pray for was a doomed city. Still, they were to pray. We might think it hardly proper for such people to pray for others, and quite useless to pray for such a city. But no! The Lord fully recognises the shame of His people, and that His hand was upon them in judgment. He says, "I have caused you to be carried away captive." Yet He goes on, "Pray to the Lord for the city," for His mercy is very great.
Neither your own weakness nor the city's corruption cancels the call. Prayer for the place you live in is one of the ways the blessing of the upright reaches the streets.
- Source. A city's rise comes not from its trade, walls or leaders, but from the upright living in it. Good fruit is expected from them toward others.
- Direction. Commentators read "the blessing of the upright" two ways: blessing flowing from them, and blessing given to them. Either way, the city is better off because godly people are in it.
- Weapon. What pulls a city down is a mouth. The tongue that wrecks one neighbour's name wrecks a nation by the same method, and religious cover only deepens the guilt.
- Shelter. The righteous do more than improve a city; they hold judgment back. Zoar was spared for Lot, and ten righteous men would have saved five cities.
- Practice. Pray for the city you live in, even a failing city, even as a failing person. God told His people in captivity to do just that.