Under three things the earth trembles;
under four it cannot bear up:
a slave when he becomes king,
and a fool when he is filled with food;
an unloved woman when she gets a husband,
and a maidservant when she displaces her mistress.
This is an interesting proverb. It is an observation about life during Solomon's day and our, the same. The truth being conveyed by Solomon is that the world, our society, struggles with four things. They struggle with a servant who moves into a place of authority. For some reason we can't handle this ascension from the place of the lowly to the place of position. We can't handle someone who is a fool who also has prosperity (food). That simply puts a bad taste in our mouth. A women who is not loved, but is married, also causes us to pause. We see marriage as an unnatural way for those who are not loved. Unloving marriages are like cars with no engines; they shouldn't run, at least not very far. The last example of difficult situations we struggle with, occurs when the maid is now the mistress. Life struggles come when we see those honored who shouldn't be and those who have honor lose it. The key in this proverb is to realize Solomon is telling us that the "earth trembles" at these things. The earth can't handle an imbalance of some of life's "perceived " natural order. The lesson for us is to realize despite the lack of order we, as the faithful, don't have to worry about what is happening in life. God is still on the throne and in control. It is God who makes a servant a king (David). It is God who makes the fool full of food (Nabel). It is God who makes the unloved married (Jacob and Leah). It is God who displaces the mistress with the maid (Sarai and Hagar). God is in complete control. These things amaze the world. They should not amaze the people of God. We have faith that God knows what He is doing and is in control.
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