Royal Advice You Don’t Want to Skip

Today I finished reading the book of Proverbs with chapters 30 and 31. What caught my attention wasn’t the well-known poem about the capable wife at the end, but the lesser-discussed opening of chapter 31: a mother giving advice to her son, who happens to be a king.

A Royal Reality Check

This section is short—just nine verses—but it covers a lot. She begins with a set of rhetorical questions that feel almost like a scolding: "What are you doing, my son? What are you doing, son of my womb?" There’s urgency and intimacy in her tone. This isn’t abstract instruction; it's a parent speaking directly into the life of someone with real power.

Her first warning is against giving his strength to women, or spending his energy on pursuits that can ruin kings. Then she turns to alcohol: not in the usual moralistic sense, but as a practical concern. Kings, she says, shouldn't dull their senses with drink, because they have a responsibility to uphold justice. If they’re not thinking clearly, they might forget the rights of the poor.

Leadership: Not Just a Job, But a Duty

That last part landed more strongly than I expected. This ancient text is making the case that leaders are accountable not just to their own advisors or people in power, but especially to the vulnerable. It’s the only time the poor are mentioned in this little speech, but they seem to be at the heart of it.

I was also struck by how the advice moves from personal behavior to public responsibility. The mother tells her son to "speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves" and to "defend the rights of the poor and needy." It reads like a call to advocacy, not just rulership.

Crowns Come with Consequences

It makes me wonder how often we think of leadership this way. Today, conversations around power often focus on ambition, strategy, or influence. This short passage, by contrast, frames leadership as a kind of moral stewardship. Not about ruling effectively, but about protecting others from harm.

There’s a practical side to this too. If a leader is too caught up in distractions, they may neglect the very people they’re supposed to protect. It doesn’t name specific systems or policies, but the principle is clear: leadership carries with it an ethical obligation to those without power.

The Quiet Wisdom Before the Poem

It’s easy to skip over these verses on the way to the more famous poem that follows. But there’s a quiet force in this mother's voice, a reminder that wisdom in the public sphere often starts in private, around the kind of conversations we have with those closest to us.

Shaping leaders starts at home, with people who dare to tell the truth, even to those with crowns on their heads.