The first four preserved proverbs in the collection by Onchsheshonqy read:
[If Pre] is wroth with a district, its overseer will abandon the law.
If Pre is wroth with a district, he causes the law to cease in it.
If Pre is wroth with a district, he causes purity to cease in it.
If Pre is wroth with a district, he causes truth to cease in it (P. Onch. 5/2-5).
Pre means the sun, who was the supreme creator god and model king. He was seen to be in charge of administering justice.
One of the curious things about these proverbs are their phrasing. The causation is backwards. We would expect it to be phrased something like "If a district's leader abandons the law, then Pre will be wroth with it." In ancient Egypt, however, criticizing governmental officials could be a capital offense. So the causation is reversed making it seem like the governmental official's abandonment of the rule of law is a symptom of the wrath of deity rather than an official's act bringing upon the district the wrath of God. This way the Egyptian writer would not be seen as criticizing an officials. In the context of Onchsheshonqy's frame story, Onchsheshonqy is already in prison and in trying to instruct his son cannot afford to antagonize an already irate monarch.
We have here in Onchsheshonqy an ancient Egyptian argument for the rule of law.
The following exchange from A Man for All Seasons seems appropriate:
William Roper: So, now you give the Devil the benefit of law!
Sir Thomas More: Yes! What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?
William Roper: Yes, I'd cut down every law in England to do that!
Sir Thomas More: Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned 'round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast, Man's laws, not God's! And if you cut them down, and you're just the man to do it, do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake!
After all, if the ruler has abandoned the law, who knows what he might do?
Concomitant with the ruler abandoning the law, the whole district abandons the law. There are two facets to this. The first is that the ruler's disposition tends to get passed on to the people. If the ruler has no concern for the law, others will stop obeying the law, because the ruler does not obey it so it must be fine and because obeying the law seems to do no good.
Purity also ceases in a district. Purity in ancient Egypt was more than simply washing hands, it was a system of behavior that needed to be observed. It included things such as abstention from adultery, homosexuality, and other sexual behaviors. It also included positive things such as giving proper offerings. The disregard for purity also brings down the wrath of god.
Finally, truth disappears. Usually it is one of the first things to go. Evil doers lie to others and themselves about what they are doing.
So the opening lines of Onchsheshonqy note the disintegration of society as both the laws of men and the laws of god are violated.
