To show partiality is not good — yet a person will do wrong for a piece of bread
This wise saying is not about a specific character in Proverbs, just a reminder…about any and all of us!
“To show partiality” is to see someone and then make a judgment about them. I sort of size them up and then decide how I’m going to treat or respond to them.
While this phrase might seem to be focused more on showing respect to certain people, it actually applies to disrespecting others, as well.
So, our proverb is simply a reminder that such thinking and behavior “is not good.” And the second phrase in the verse reminds us why…”yet a person will do wrong for a piece of bread.”
The fact is, any of us are capable of making terrible decisions. None of us are worthy of any special respect…but we all are worthy of some respect!
This wise saying discusses how we should think about others. But, it should also caution me about how I think about myself — I still have it in me to do the dumbest stuff!
There’s a modern proverb I think nicely compliments this ancient one:
Be kind to everyone on the way up; you’ll meet the same people on the way down