Few political leaders, it would seem, practice what they preach. One thousand years on from Solomon, Marcus Aurelius wrote his now famous "Meditations" advising his people on how to live a moral and ethical life while simultaneously murdering Christians by the thousands, in the most brutal of ways. Three thousand years on our world leaders are much the same, preaching one thing while practising another.¹

Solomon is credited with writing most of the proverbs, and generally considered the wisest king of Israel— despite his 1,000 wives and concubines, despite his worship of foreign gods, despite his vast, accumulated wealth collected at the expense of his subjects, and despite the fact that he was almost solely responsible for the never-repaired division of Israel. In fact, Solomon explicitly does everything a king is not supposed to do.²

It is easy to know what to do, and to advise others to do it; so much harder to live it ourselves. This doesn't only apply to kings and rulers, of course. It applies to you, to me, to all of us, we fall out of integrity all too easily. As a witty friend once said to me, "take my advice—I never use it".

¹ Like this, reported just 24 hours before this reflection was written: 'Follow the rules': what Matt Hancock told us, and what he did, Guardian, 25/06/2021
² More here: The Bible Says What? 'Solomon was not just wise, he was also greedy', Jewish News, 09/04/2021