This brought to my mind the moment when Samuel was growing old and the people demanded a king. You can find the story in I Samuel 8. One of the warnings he gave them was that a king would make all kinds of demands on them. This relates to the “forced labor” (4522) that Proverbs speaks of.
(1 Samuel 8:16 KJV) And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work.Solomon understands this because he became the prime example of drafting his subjects to complete all the project he planned. The one everybody knows was building the temple but it extended to roads and forts. Large numbers of people were forced into hard labor for long periods of time. The reason was that they had turned away from letting the Lord be king and demanded to be like everyone around them.
They turned off their diligence. They took the easy way, or the one they thought would be easy. Too often God’s people substitute other sources of authority for God Himself. Instead of the Bible they have gurus and mantras. They clean them up and make them nice but that is what it becomes. It is not longer “what does the Bible say” it becomes “what does ________ say” and you can fill in the blank with a contemporary or historical figure.
So? As Joshua said and the people forgot: “Choose this day whom you will serve.” It will make a difference. And it seems to be almost a daily choosing.
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