Proverbs 20:13-14, Buyer and Seller, Beware!

December 31, Proverbs 20:13-14

Gen. 25:27-34; Heb. 12:16-17 “I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and man.”

Buyer and Seller, Beware!

We have met with this idle fellow (vs.13) before (6:9-11). Early to bed, early to rise has been the maxim of many who attribute their success to the habit of early rising. “Early risers gain the dew of the day.” There is a warning in both proverbs, but we concentrate now on vs.14 because of its wide application today. Vs.14 applies, however, to both buyer and seller. One is bent on buying low, the other on selling high. The one vilifies unjustly; the other flatters untruly!

1. The Buyer whose gain is loss (14). There is, of course, nothing wrong with a good bargain, but here there is deliberate deception.

a. An Accepted Practice: This buyer finds sham faults with the article, the material, workmanship, anything. Literally, he says, It is bad. It is bad. His attitude, however, reverses when he is abroad. He now boasts of his great buy. He has beaten the seller down. He has been so clever. His conceit and greed are gratified. “There is no wrong in this,” he quiets his conscience. Everybody does it? Have I not been smart, that’s all?

b. An Amoral Practice: There is falsehood here. If it is naught, bad, why buy in the first place? If it is naught how can he now boast over it? There’s only one word for this. It is a lie, and lying lips are abomination to the Lord. Is it not such fraud that marks a thief and a cheat? Such a bargain comes at too great a price! “Better a purse empty than full of other men’s money,” for “that which is owned ill will never wear well” (Henry).

2. The Owner whose loss is pain. It is naught, it is naught, says the buyer, but the seller now wails that he has been cheated, robbed! Buyer can also mean possessor, or owner (Gn. 14:19), and the buyer becomes the owner. Sometimes we attach greater value to something after it is lost than before. This seems to be a law of human nature. It is nothing, says the owner, but when it is gone he sings a lament over his loss. Boast and sing are from the same root. “Sell honestly, but never sell honesty,” is excellent advice.

a. Lost but Rescued: In His wonderful parables our Lord taught us the value of lost sinners (Lk. 15). The owner was not concerned until the loss was realised. The lost sheep was a 1% loss; the lost silver was a 10% loss; but what percent can be put on a lost son? The finding of each was likened to the rejoicing in heaven over one sinner repenting!

b. Lost but Ruined: Recall Esau who possessed a birthright but sold it for a mess of pottage and thus despised it. It was a choice of terrific importance, but it was a choice with terrible consequences. “Afterward when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears” (Heb. 12:17). Esau could not undo what his father Isaac had done, in spite of all his tears!

Thought: “No honest man (or woman) ever repented of his honesty” (Anon.).

Prayer: Lord, help me to be honest and upright in all my dealings.