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Proverbs 21 · a question people ask

"He turns it wherever he desires" (21:1). If the king's heart is in the LORD's hand, does the king choose at all?

In the text

The verse gives a picture: "The king’s heart is in the LORD’s hand like the watercourses. He turns it wherever he desires" (21:1). It doesn't say how the LORD turns it, or whether the king knows. The next saying speaks of every man, and of the LORD weighing hearts: "Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the hearts" (21:2) (tap weighs). Proverbs has other sayings that set a man's plans beside the LORD: "A man’s heart plans his course, but the LORD directs his steps" (Proverbs 16:9), and "There are many plans in a man’s heart, but the LORD’s counsel will prevail" (Proverbs 19:21). And it has sayings about what kings do: "It is an abomination for kings to do wrong" (Proverbs 16:12). The book holds these sayings together and doesn't say how they fit. The honest question on 1 Kings 12 asks the same kind of question about Rehoboam's choice: it sets out the two main ways Christians explain how the LORD's hand and a king's choice fit together, each with its verses, one of them pointing to 21:1, and picks neither. The notes on Proverbs 16 quote 21:1 too. The verse names no king, and these notes don't apply it to any ruler or government today.

The verses

“The king’s heart is in the LORD’s hand like the watercourses. He turns it wherever he desires. Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the hearts.”
Proverbs 21:1-2 · World English Bible
“A man’s heart plans his course, but the LORD directs his steps.”
Proverbs 16:9 · World English Bible
“It is an abomination for kings to do wrong, for the throne is established by righteousness.”
Proverbs 16:12 · World English Bible
“There are many plans in a man’s heart, but the LORD’s counsel will prevail.”
Proverbs 19:21 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Proverbs 21

Proverbs 21: In the LORD's hand

The chapter says to do justice three times with the same Hebrew words: it is "more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice" (21:3), the wicked "refuse to do what is right" (21:7), and "It is joy to the righteous to do justice" (21:15). And the sluggard's hands "refuse to labor" (21:25) in the Hebrew words of 21:7's refusing.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions