”The king’s wrath is as the roaring of a lion; But his favour is as dew upon the grass.“
Proverbs 19:12
The word translated,”roaring,” is only used twice in the entire Bible and both instances are in the book of Proverbs. Once here and once in the next chapter. One of the definitions could actually be taken as, “the roaring of a king.”
It appears, therefore, the Author could be anthropomorphizing a lion as a king. In simple terms that could look something like a king with lionlike features sitting on the throne of judgement. If there is disrespect for authority or an attack made on the province or perhaps an attempted coup to overthrow the king, the lionlike king roars to signal his power is being wielded to face the challenge.
In other words, “making the king angry is not a good idea if you want a long and happy life.”
In contrast to the kings wrath is his favour, which is an alternative spelling of favor; as in, a feeling of favor or regard or being shown favor so as to be chosen over another, or even being the favorite; which basically has the same meaning. In other words, the king likes you.
To summarize:
If the king is angry with you= not good.
If the king favors you= good
Therefore, stay in the kings favor if possible. If, you cannot stay in the kings favor it would be wise to relocate and find a new leader that you can be in their favor.
As few people today actually still serve a king, allow me to introduce an alternative definition: “one that is set up” also, “one who counsels.” Not counsel as in a Counselor we would go talk to for advice, but as in one that makes decisions, an Authority figure. This could certainly be seen as a Boss or a Manager under which we work or a Judge that can make a legal ruling over us. At some point, even Parents or Legal Guardians may fall under this heading.
Authority is a science and failing to know or follow the rules of that science will cause you great distress in life.
This is not an excuse to say, “never challenge the Authority.” There are many times and reasons to challenge your Authorities correctly, this passage is an admonition to conduct yourself in a way that you do not give the Authority a reason to ROAR against you.