“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11)
Growing Dominion, Part 102
“A wise servant shall have rule over a son that causeth shame, and shall have part of the inheritance among the brethren” (Prov. 17:2).
Biblical ethics are personal, and this includes biblical business ethics. Now in business, nothing is more common than the family business. “Miller and Sons” is a commonplace, and biblically speaking, it ought to be. Personal knowledge and connection is an asset, and ought not to be regarded as a liability. In our objectivist and technocratic age, with its fear of “nepotism” or “cronyism,” the personal connection is still paramount. It remains true that who you know matters more than what you know. But because of the assumptions we make about the desirability of objective “job searches,” our culture mandates an hypocrisy that says that we should go through the motions anyhow.
But, at the same time, precisely because biblical ethics are personal, if the owner’s son is a blockhead, now what? And if everybody knows it, now what? This proverb says, even though a “son who causes shame” started out in a privileged position, his misbehavior gave one of the servants a real chance for advancement. When someone slacks in their work, someone else has to pick it up. If this goes on long enough, a third party notices. This has an impact on the inheritance, or the business, or the partnership, or the project, as it ought to.