Proverbs 15:16-17, Something Better Than Gold

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September 21, Proverbs 15:16-17

Eccl. 4:4-6, 13; 1 Tim. 6:1-6 “Righteousness with little is better than Riches with wickedness”.

Something Better Than Gold

Verse 16 and 17 are the first of many better than proverbs. Verse 16 also renews the theme of the Book of Proverbs, namely, the fear of the Lord. Today’s proverbs provide a much-needed reminder in our day that spiritual wealth is to be preferred to material bounty. “Taken in excess, even nectar is poison.”

1. Material Meanness with Moral Majesty: Little of this world’s goods and dining on herbs, is pretty mean fare. Yet where the fear of the Lord is, there is true majesty. This is the statute book of the King whose Kingdom is forever!

a. Poverty is only a disgrace when it is self-caused by either extravagance or indulgence or both. Poverty, with the fear of the Lord, is no disgrace. The patches of the good poor are better far than the purple of the wicked rich. Throughout history, good men in great poverty, have been a common sight. Some of heaven’s best have trodden that road. Does not our Lord Himself come immediately to mind?

b. Possessions and wealth are obviously not the highest or best rewards, even in this life. If wealth were the reward for godliness, then things would be very different in this world. There are still things that money cannot buy. There is, for instance, spiritual and moral freedom, a conscience void of offence, the blessed hope, and the purpose of a godly life. There is also the inestimable wonder of being seated with the King of Kings in heavenly places. There, in that realm, wealth does not barter and poverty is no barrier.

2. Splendid Wealth with Spiritual Wickedness: Wealth and wickedness seem to have been inextricably associated in every age. It raises the old enigma of the inequalities of life. Clearly, the Bible never regards prosperity as the symptom of virtue (Chesterton).

a. The Fatted Ox: There are things money can buy. You can have your stalled ox. You can set a splendid table with the best foods, with all the luxuries to cater to your every whim. You can have all this and hell too! Hatred spoils the richest table. Man’s life consists not in the abundance of the things that he possesses.

b. The Fearful Ax: To have this great treasure, but with trouble, confusion, disquiet of mind, hatred, and what do you have after all? Where there is no fear of the Lord, no hunger for spiritual food, no love for those sitting at your grand table, there is only bitterness of iniquity, a fearful ax ready to fall, like the fabled sword of Damocles. The problem of the prosperity of the wicked still causes some to question God’s providence (Ps. 73). The answer is where Asaph found it, where eternity’s values come into view. This is the answer of our two proverbs today. Better little with God. Better herbs with love. It is not the menu that matters most but the majesty. It is with whom you are eating, and in Whose Presence you dine. Are you with those that you love and that love you?

Thought: “Many a man’s gold has cost him his God” (Swinnock).

Prayer: “For the love that sweetens the meanest food” (Bridges).