Helmsmanship.
I. The many (the people) are dependent upon the few for guidance. The word counsel is literally “pilotage,” “helmsmanship.” The many passengers in the vessel are dependent upon the few who guide it. The dependence of the many upon the few for guidance runs through every phase of human life. The dependence of the children upon their natural head is but prophetic of all the periods of after life, which very much consists in the dependence of the many upon the few. The child’s life at home and at school is a preparation for the rough handling of circumstance in this matter in the time of manhood. Although the man’s ability to guide his own life is far greater than that of the child, yet his need of counsel and guidance has increased with his years and responsibilities. This need of guidance springs from men’s unequal gifts. The physical, mental, and moral inequalities of men create and supply the demand for leaders—for counsellors for the many. This inequality is an ordination of the Divine Ruler of the universe—God is the Author of the inequalities. In nature we see that the strong give shelter to the weak. The mighty oak protects the tiny plant at its roots. Counsellors are the giant trees which give shelter by giving guidance to those who are in some respects inferior to them. Men may be born free, but they are nowhere born equal in mental and physical qualities. Hence some must counsel, others must be counselled. Guidance is felt to be a necessity, and men make a virtue of the necessity. The passengers on board a vessel submit to the direction of the pilot because they feel that their safety depends upon submission, and so do the members of a nation—the citizens of a city. They know from experience that the way out of a difficulty is not found by those who follow, but by those who lead—that if they would enjoy the advantages of civil peace and safety, they must submit to the guidance and direction.
II. That “no counsel” in a nation will end in their being no nation to counsel. “Where there is no counsel the people fall.” The passengers in a ship who have no one to steer the vessel will soon cease to have need of a helmsman. So the nation which has no head—no government—will cease to be a nation. Its national existence will be ruined by the anarchy that must follow.
III. Many men to give counsel are as a rule better than one. When the sea is heavy and breakers are ahead, one man at the wheel of a vessel would not be able to hold her on her course, many hands at once must be at work—the united strength of the many is indispensable. “In the multitude” there is “safety.” So it is generally in the case of the ship of the State. As a rule, there is more wisdom and ability in the union of many men than in one—there is likewise less danger of despotic rule. But there have been many exceptions to this rule. Joseph knew how to provide for the safety of Egypt when all the rest of Pharaoh’s counsellors were at their wits’ end. Before the battle of Plassey—which laid the foundation of British rule in India—Clive called a council of war to decide whether or not the battle should be fought. The majority pronounced against fighting. But it is now generally allowed that if the advice of that council had been followed the British would have never been in possession of India. Clive decided to act in opposition to the opinion of the majority, and the day was won for England. (See Macaulay’s Essay on Lord Clive.) Sometimes in the multitude of counsellors there has been national ruin. “All the council” of the Jews sought to put Jesus to death (Matt. xxvi. 59), and so brought about the destruction of their nation. But these are exceptions to a rule.
outlines and suggestive comments.
The case supposed, appears to be that of a self-willed, self-sufficient, headstrong ruler who glories in his power; who determines to wield the rod of that power in his own way, and who plays the hasty, jealous, resolute, sensitive and vindictive tyrant; who disdains to call in counsel, or who does it only for the pleasure or showing his superiority to it by setting it at nought. I conceive the phrase, “Where no counsel is,” to be intended to convey not a little of the character of him by whom it is declined or disregarded. We have an example of such a character in Solomon’s own successor Rehoboam. And yet, at the same time, in his case we are taught the necessity of understanding all such maxims as admitting of exceptions. Rehoboam did take counsel; and his counsellors were not few. Had they been fewer, there would in that instance been more safety. Had he stopped with the “old men who had stood before Solomon his father,” all would have been well. . . . How much better would it have been for Ahab, had he taken for his sole counsellor Micaiah the son of Imlah than it was when he preferred the four hundred prophets of Baal! The maxim, therefore, is general. It affirms the danger of solitary self-sufficiency, and the safety of deliberate and, in proportion to the complexity and difficulty of each case, and the nature and amount of its consequences, of extensive and diversified consultation.—Wardlaw.
It is a penalty inflicted by God on a sinful state to give it princes void of counsel (Isa. iii. 4; chap. xv. 22).—Fausset.
Care seems to be taken after a proverb lauding silence, always to put in a eulogy of speech. (See chap. x 20, 21.) Secrets are not to be hid until the whole community is one covered over wickedness. The same faithfulness that conceals a secret, intrudes counsel, and grasps control, and saves the people by that leadership that the pious alone are intended to achieve. The word counsel or “helmsmanship” is from a root meaning a cord; hence the tacking of the helm; and, now, that princely guidance, which piety in the world (though the world does not think so) does actually bestow. “Safety”—or “salvation.” The inspired sentence-maker is always managing what the music men would call a crescendo, for the second clause. The first clause speaks of the people as falling, the second as not only “not falling,” but though fallen, as actually raised.—Miller.
Tyranny is better than anarchy. And yet “Woe also to thee, O land, whose king is a child”; that is, wilful and uncounsellable. . . . One special thing the primitive Christians prayed for the emperor was, that God would send him a faithful council.—Trapp.
It is not said that in the multitude of counsellors there is safety, but in the largeness or muchness of a counsellor, that is, such a counsellor as is furnished with a variety of counsels, and can look many ways for direction. For such a one is indeed of many, nay, often far better; because he can sooner resolve what is best, than many will or can. And therefore, though it be good to have many, and when they agree perhaps to follow them, yet it may be better to have one of many counsels, on whom to rely.—Jermin.