In today's public conversation, justice is often understood as a moral matter: about right and wrong, about punishment for offenders. But the Proverbs of wisdom view justice much more broadly. It is not just an ethical value that is nice to talk about, but the foundation for the order of life together. Without justice, a society, even a country, will be fragile from within.

Proverbs 25 begins with the message that wisdom is also related to the governance of power. One interesting illustration appears in verse 4, "Remove the impurities from the silver, and the result is material for the silversmith." In the world of metallurgy, impurities from oxidation that adhere to the metal, if not removed, will cause the metal to become brittle and break easily when forged. Here the refining process is not just about beautifying the metal, but ensuring that it is strong enough to withstand the pressure.

Amsal uses this image as a social analogy. Slag represents the presence of the wicked or corrupt behaviour around power. Without a process of "cleansing", the power structure will have hidden flaws that make it easy to collapse when faced with a crisis. Therefore verse 5 continues, "Remove the wicked from before the king, and his throne shall be established by justice." The word "justice" here relates to the Hebrew concept of tsedeq, which refers to the justice that upholds the order of the common life.

The perspective of political sociology helps us understand this wisdom more broadly. In the study of power, scholars point out that the stability of a state is greatly influenced by the quality of the people surrounding the centre of power. When the circle of power is surrounded by opportunists, sycophants, or individuals pursuing personal interests, the resulting decisions will be full of distortions. Information is filtered for the benefit of the group, not for the common good (bonum commune). In this context, justice functions as a filtration process: cleaning up access to power so that decisions made truly serve the public good.

Thus, justice is not just a matter of punishing the wrong, but also a matter of purifying the fabric of common life. A throne, or any system that holds power, will only be strong when it is built on truth. So, today we are invited to reflect more deeply, that a just life is not only about maintaining personal behaviour, but also about having the courage to get rid of the "dirt" that may secretly stick within us: greed, self-interest that has the potential to destroy others, or opportunistic attitudes that secretly undermine our integrity. For like silver refined by fire, a life cleansed of "impurities" will make us stronger to face the pressures of the times.