Proverbs 18:23; 19:4, 7, Wealth And Worth Not The Same!

December 6, Proverbs 18:23; 19:4, 7

1 John 2:8-17 “He that loveth his brother abideth in the light.”

Wealth And Worth Not The Same!

There are obvious common elements in these three proverbs. They raise questions about the different treatment of rich and poor. What is our responsibility to both these classes? What about the poor-rich and the rich-poor? One of the most vexing and politically explosive issues today is how to “address” the widespread poverty and homelessness.

1. The Degraded: The meaning of entreaties (23) is “supplications for favour or grace” (Ruth 2:7). It is the picture of the poor man begging for time to pay his debt in Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and Scrooge’s harsh reply. The rich answers roughly, that is strongly or fiercely! How humiliating, how degrading for the poor, but that is too often the ugly reality in churches, as well as in this sinful world (19:7c; Jas. 2:3)! What gives the rich the right to so treat a fellow being? Arrogance is no man’s privilege! The poor are oftentimes to blame for their condition (1 Sam. 2:36), but frequently they are victims of a society where it’s “OK” for the poor to be ignored or “ripped off” by the rich (2 Kg. 4:1-2).

2. The Deserted: Nothing much has changed since Solomon’s day. Money wins where merit fails (19:4a)! Poverty still brings isolation (19:4b). The poor are left alone, the “untouchables”! Friends and neighbours are from the same word. Wealth makes friends while poverty looses former friends (19:7; Job 19:13-17). Here the word poor is different from 18:23 and 19:7. There it suggests basic need, the lack (same word) of the young lions (Ps. 34:10). The word in this verse has the sense of one “fallen on bad times,” like the poor cows in Pharaoh’s dream (same word). He now seeks help from friends and neighbours, but they desert him in the day of poverty or trial. It is the case of the Prodigal Son banished by old friends to the “pig pen” (Lk. 15:13-15).

3. The Disdained: All the brethren of the poor do hate him (19:7a). “Poverty breeds strife!” It is certainly used as the “excuse” for riots and protests today! “Poverty is no crime, but no credit either!” It all depends on how it comes about. Here the poor man is not just deserted; he is hated, disdained, by his brethren, how much more do his friends go far from him (19:7b). They are nowhere to be found in his need. Like the leafless trees, “in the Winter of my need, I am left naked.” He pursues them with words, yet they are wanting to him (19:7c). He cannot obtain help even from old friends. May not the spurned poor be skilled and godly (Ps. 40:17), while the spoiled rich have little aptitude and show no dependence on man or God (Lu. 12:20)? Let us not disdain the one nor flatter the other (Jas. 1:9-11). Are we not all poor and needy before a Holy God?

Thought: “The two great tests of character are wealth and poverty” (Anon.).

Prayer: Lord, give me a true spirit of dependence and trust in Thee.