Thursday, November
1, 2018 – Proverbs 22:8-9
Have a Good Temperament Wielding
Your Finances &
Be Blessed Because of Your Generosity
Be Blessed Because of Your Generosity
Grace Fellowship Church
Pastor/Teacher, Jim Rickard
Proverbs 22
1. The wise
discipline themselves to follow God in everything, vs. 1-16.
2. Wisdom tells us when to speak and when to be silent, vs. 17-21.
3. The wise ones care for and protect the poor, vs. 22-29.
Prov 22:8, “He who sows
iniquity will reap vanity, and the rod of his fury will perish.”
In vs. 1, we are
exhorted to have a good reputation; in vs.
2, to have good community relationships; in vs. 3, to have good avoidance of evil; in vs. 4, to have a good relationship with the Lord; in vs. 5, to have good in our soul by
guarding it from sin through humility; in vs.
6, to have good training in the precepts of God; in vs. 7, we are to have good management of our finances, and now in vs. 8, we are to have a good
temperament wielding our authority.
“Sow” is the Qal
Active Verb ZARA, זָרַע that means “to sow or to bear seed.” The verb is used
figuratively here for evil or immoral action, cf. Job 4:8; Prov. 22:8; Hosea 8:7.
Job 4:8, “According
to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity and those who sow trouble harvest
it.”
Hosea 8:7, “For they
sow the wind and they reap the whirlwind. The standing grain has no heads; it
yields no grain. Should it yield, strangers would swallow it up.”
It can also be used figuratively for good moral action, Psa 97:11; Hosea 10:12.
Psa 97:11, “Light is
sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart.”
Hosea 10:12, “Sow
with a view to righteousness, reap in accordance with kindness; break up your
fallow ground, for it is time to seek the LORD until He comes to rain
righteousness on you.”
“Iniquity” is the
Noun AWLAH, עַוְלָה that means, “wrongdoing, wickedness, injustice, or
unrighteousness.” It occurs about thirty times in the OT, and the feminine
noun, as here, is used to denote an action that is not morally or ethically
right. It can refer to a violent deed of injustice, 2 Sam 3:34, when Joab murdered Abner. It can also refer to
injustice in speech, for example, Job
13:7, “Will you speak what is unjust for God, and speak what is deceitful for
Him?”
So, as we have noted throughout this chapter, this has
context regarding speech, the handling of finances, treatment towards the poor,
and involves crimes of a social, property, or commercial nature. Therefore,
“sowing iniquity,” generally refers to walking in sin. And, the rest of this
verse continues to warn us of the consequences of doing so.
QATSAR, “reaping,” speaks both in the positive
and negative sense figuratively, here the negative sense, cf. Hosea 10:13.
Hosea 10:13, “You have plowed wickedness,
you have reaped injustice, you have eaten the fruit of lies. Because you have
trusted in your way, in your numerous warriors.”
Our verse tells us
that sowing iniquity (sin or evil) does not produce a harvest of value.
“Vanity” is not a good translation here
in this compound word, because the second part is made up from the Noun AWEN
that is generally used as a term for “sin or evil.” Elsewhere in this book, it
means the abuse of power to harm and destroy, Prov 6:12, and it can be used for “deception, or nothingness,”
where we get vanity from. But vanity does not quite cut it here.
It is also used in
the Proverbs to acknowledge the generally observed truth that God blesses the
righteous, but the wicked are followed by trouble, Prov 12:21; 21:15; 22:8.
Prov 12:21, “No harm befalls the righteous,
but the wicked are filled with trouble.”
Prov 21:15, “The exercise of justice is joy
for the righteous, but is terror to the workers of iniquity.”
Therefore, the main
principle continues in our passage, where the wicked will not simply reap “vanity,”
but instead they will reap even further “sin, evil, and trouble,” as they also
sow it. As such, the unjust will reap the malevolence of abuse he gave to
others.
The second half of
this passage tells us, “the rod of his
fury will perish.” The saying, “rod of his fury,” is from the Nouns SHEBET,
שֵׁבֶט and EBRAH, עֶבְרָה.
SHEBET originally
meaning, “rod, staff, stick, or piece of wood,” was broadened to metaphorically
mean, “scepter or rod” which a ruler or master of a slave, held as a symbol of
authority. The staff was also used as an instrument of discipline, Cf. Prov 13:24; 26:3; 29:15. Therefore, it
symbolizes the authoritative power of the unjust oppressor and his powerful
means to beat down the oppressed.
EBRAH, for “of his
fury,” means, “wrath, outburst, anger, excess, etc.” It reflects the idea of intense rage and is a
title given to the proud, haughty, or arrogant individual, Prov 14:35. This word is also used for the “day of wrath” of the
Lord, speaking both to the Lord’s current discipline on His people or children,
and eschatologically of His second coming. In our passage, it is speaking of
the emotional abuse of authority, be it a parent’s emotional anger towards his
children, or the lending wealthy’s emotional outburst towards the poor
borrower. It tells us that we are not to abuse our God given authority, and
especially not to allow the emotional revolt of the soul to take over when we
are dealing with others under our authority. And using “fury” here for wrath or
anger tells us of mental attitude sins in emotional revolt of the soul that can
lead to further sinful overt actions towards others.
Yet, if there is an
emotional abuse of someone’s authority, he and it “will perish,” which is the Qal future Imperfect of KALAH, כָּלָה
that means, “to cease, finish, exhaust, come to completion, come to an end, or
be destroyed.” It speaks of God’s discipline towards the one who has emotional
outbursts of anger in arrogance. So, Divine judgment or discipline is in view
here. The verse warns the wicked that not only will their wickedness bring them
to grief, but they will eventually lose the ability to injure others. They will
lose their power and authority, which may also mean the resources that give
them that authority. At the same time, this should comfort the righteous that
the wicked will not always be oppressive.
So, we see that
“sowing injustice” and “rod of fury,” depict the rich person as an
unsympathetic tyrant exercising cruel misconduct toward a neighbor. And, “will
reap vanity,” and “will perish,” tell us the tyrant’s iron rod will come to an
end. That is, ironically, the unjust sowed a crop of injustice hoping to reap
more than his investment, but the riches he gets in return are a delusion, for
they will come to nothing; in the first half of this verse, he will lose his
property, in the second half, his power and authority.
Divine justice
demands that those who abuse their power will end in utter and eternal
disappointment, cf. Prov 10:28; 11:7;
11:18, 19; 12:3; 13:9, 25; 21:12; 24:19-20; 28:22.
Therefore, vs. 8, points beyond this harsh reality
to the Lord, who will end the wrong, and vs.
9, points to the generous, who remedy it immediately, and receive the
Lord’s reward for doing so.
Vs. 9
Prov 22:9, “He who is generous will be
blessed, for he gives some of his food to the poor.”
In vs. 1, we are exhorted to have a good
reputation; in vs. 2, to have good
community relationships; in vs. 3,
to have good avoidance of evil; in vs. 4,
to have a good relationship with the Lord; in vs. 5, to have good in our soul by guarding it from sin through
humility; in vs. 6, to have good
training in the precepts of God; in vs.
7, we are to have good management of our finances, in vs. 8, we are to have a good temperament wielding our authority,
and now in vs. 9, we are to have a
goodness in our giving. This passage also speaks to those who are in authority,
the rich, powerful lender, etc., as we will see.
This passage begins with, “He who is generous,” which is the third person singular Personal
Pronoun HU, with the Adjective TOB for “good, useful, pleasant, or proper,” and
the Noun AYIN that means, “eye, appearance, gleam or spring.” So, literally it
means, “a good eye.” But, here it is used metaphorically for, “one who gives or
is giving,” meaning one who is generous as the second half of this passage
indicates. It is the contrast to the “evil eyed or envious man,” cf. Prov 23:6; 28:22. It is in contrast to
the tyrant of vs. 8.
The reward for generosity is then given, “will be blessed,” which is the Pual
Imperfect of the Verb BARAK, בָּרַךְ that means, “to bless or to praise.” The
Pual stem is the intensive passive. It means he will be blessed abundantly.
This gracious action is continued in the second half of this
verse, “for he gives,” KI NATHAN, “some of his food,” MIN LECHEM.
Then, we see the recipient of his generosity, “to the poor,” LE DAL. DAL can mean poor
or weak, that is those without power and authority, as we will also see in vs. 16, 22.
Prov 22:16, “He who
oppresses the poor to make more for himself, or who gives to the rich, will
only come to poverty.”
Prov 22:22, “Do not
rob the poor because he is poor, or crush the afflicted at the gate.”
Therefore, as we have seen, and see in this verse, our generosity
is rewarded by being blessed, both by God, Prov
19:17, and by the objects of our charity.
Prov 19:17, “One who
is gracious to a poor man lends to the LORD, and He will repay him for his good
deed.”
Generosity is encouraged throughout Scripture. It grows out
of understanding the person and nature of God and depending upon Him. The
source of confidence is not what one has accumulated, but the foundation of
one’s trust, cf. Mat 6:19-34; 2 Cor 9:7.
2 Cor 9:7, “Each one
must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under
compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
Interestingly, in the Septuagint, (the Greek translation of
the OT), there is a passage between Prov
22:8 and 9, that many believe is
the genesis for 2 Cor 9:7. It reads
something like, “The Lord acts
graciously (bestows a blessing) to
the cheerful and giving man (cheerful giver). But, a worthless man works towards his own end.” “Towards his own
end,” uses the Greek word SUNTELESEI, the word used for “come to an end” in vs. 8, where
the Hebrew word is KALAH.
The tyrant out of his excess uses his power to exploit the
weak and powerless, who cannot maintain their own life, but the generous person
sacrificially shares his food to feed and sustain them. This generosity of the
blessed entails his prior hard work and labor of his land, the harvesting of
his crops, tending to his animals, and slaughtering them. From his hard work
and labor, he has been blessed by God which he recognizes and subsequently, he
blesses others from his bounty. As a result, the Lord, (from whom all blessings
flow), rewards the generous from His auspicious powers to grant prolonged life,
progeny, property, and power, cf. Prov
10:6-7; 11:24-26.
Prov 14:31, “He who
oppresses the poor taunts his Maker, but he who is gracious to the needy honors
Him.”
So, we see from these two verses that the greedy loses his
property and his power, and the liberal participates in a cycle of endless
enrichment. Instead of becoming a professional money-lender, enslaving the
poor, these passages instructs us to give to the hapless poor generously, Prov 3:26-27; 11:25; 28:27; cf. Deut 15:9-10;
Job 31:17; Psa 34:10; Isa 32:8; 58:7; Ezek 18:7, 16; Neh 5:16-18; Mat 25:31-46;
Luke 14:13; 2 Cor 9:6-8; 1 Tim 6:17, 18.
Prov 3:26-27, “For the
LORD will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught. 27Do
not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do
it.”
Prov 11:25, “The
generous man will be prosperous, and he who waters will himself be watered.”
Prov 28:27, “He who
gives to the poor will never want, but he who shuts his eyes will have many
curses.”
Luke 14:13, “But when
you give a reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind.”
2 Cor 9:6-8, “Now
this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows
bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7Each one must do just as he
has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a
cheerful giver. 8And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so
that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for
every good deed.”
1 Tim 6:17-18, “Instruct
those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their
hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all
things to enjoy. 18Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good
works, to be generous and ready to share.”
Interestingly, the Septuagint also has an additional passage
with vs. 9, that reads something
like, “Victory and honor are obtained by the gift given, however the life is
taken away from the acquirer / gainer.”
Therefore, these proverbs exhort us that blessing will be
upon those who are concerned, kind, and generous towards others, especially
those who are in need. The person who has a good or bountiful eye, i.e., is
generous, will be blessed. And, as we have seen, that which we give to the
poor, we are in essence giving that to the Lord Himself.
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