A wise rich man
[Proverbs 22:1-16]
In the New Year, I read and meditate on the Book of Genesis every Morning Prayer meeting. In particular, when I personally meditate on Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and think of the blessings God has given them, I believe that our God is a God who is pleased to bless and that a true covenant God who faithfully fulfills the promised words. I see that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, despite being incomplete and unfaithful before God, God has fulfilled his promise to bless them faithfully. The God of the covenant promised Abraham that “I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing” (Gen. 12:2), and God blessed him in every way according to His promise (24:1). This God of Abraham also gave words of blessing to Isaac, the son of Abraham: “… I will be with you and bless you, for to you and to your descendants I will give all these lands …” (26:3; Note: v. 24). And in the end, God blessed Isaac, and he was “became rich, and continued to grow richer until he became very wealthy” (v. 13). But what about Jacob, Abraham's grandson and Isaac's son? He was blessed by his father Isaac (28:1, 4), went to the house of his maternal uncle Laban and worked for 20 years, eventually God made him “exceedingly prosperous” (30:43). Therefore, he prayed to God like this: “I am unworthy of all the lovingkindness and of all the faithfulness which You have shown to Your servant; for with my staff only I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two companies” (32:10). When I meditate on God's faithful blessing to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, I remembered the words of 2 Timothy 2:13 – “If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.” So, while reading and meditating on the Bible words about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, I meditated on Genesis 28:15, the word of God's promise to Jacob – “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” And as I remembered the words of the promise the Lord gave me again, I reaffirmed and reconfirmed that the true covenant God will fulfill those promises. So I praised God “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing”: (v. 1) “Come, Thou Fount of ev'ry blessing, tune my heart to sing Thy grace Streams of mercy, never ceasing, Call for songs of loudest praise. Teach me some melodious sonnet, Sung by flaming tongues above Praise the mount! I'm fixed upon it, Mount of God's unchanging love.”
The Bible Proverbs 10:22 tells us: “The blessing of the LORD brings wealth, and he adds no trouble to it.” I would like to receive a lesson from God while meditating on six things about what kind person a wise rich man is under the title of “A wise rich man” centering on the words of Proverbs 22:1-16.
First, the wise rich man makes the right choice.
Look at Proverbs 22:1 – “A good name is to be more desired than great wealth, Favor is better than silver and gold.” The right choice is that the wise man chooses “A good name” over “great wealth" and “Favor” over “silver and gold.” Have you chosen “A good name” or “great wealth”? When I think about “A good name”, I think of Ecclesiastes 7:1 – “A good name is better than a good ointment, And the day of one's death is better than the day of one's birth.” There is a reason I read Ecclesiastes 7:1, not just the first half. The reason is because I think there is connection between “A good name” and “the day of one’s death”. The connection is that on the day of our death, our names are evaluated for good or bad. In other words, on the day of our death, when the condolers think of our names, they will evaluate our lives in their own way and we may have a good or bad reputation. Whether that reputation is good or bad depends on how we lived before God and people when we were alive.
In Proverbs 22:1, King Solomon says, “A good name is to be more desired than great wealth.” Here “A good name” is an honorable reputation for good character (Walvoord). King Solomon says that this good name is better than great wealth. That’s why he’s telling us to choose the good name over great wealth. Do we really think that the good name is better than great wealth, or do we still believe that great wealth is better than the good name? Think about it like this. We believe that great wealth is better than the good name, and we have accumulated a lot of wealth by working hard so far. But if we had gathered great weal so hard and even heard the reputation of our poor character, then our funeral would not be that beautiful. However, if we prioritize our good names, work hard and diligently, and gain wealth as we are gracious to other people, what would be our reputation from them? That is why King Solomon said, “Favor is better than silver and gold” (v. 1b). In other words, it means to choose favor more than gold and silver. To be more specific, we should choose to do our best to help or do good to our neighbors rather than gold and silver for ourselves. When God gives us wisdom to make these right choices and live our lives, we will be able to earn good name or honor on the day we die. In other words, the people's reputation for us will be good. Furthermore, because the glory of God is revealed through our death, the condolers will also see the beauty of God in our lives.
Let's keep in mind that our great wealth is practically useless to us without being honored. Rather, that great wealth will ruin our honor (Walvoord). Therefore, as the Bible says, let us choose good name or honor over great wealth. This is the right choice of the wise rich man.
Second, the wise rich man has right knowledge.
That right knowledge is the fact that God made them all, both the poor and the rich. Look at Proverbs 22:2 – “The rich and the poor have a common bond, The LORD is the maker of them all.” The foolish rich who choose great wealth than good name and favor don’t know that God is the make of both the poor and the rich. And in ignorance, they don’t show favor to the poor, but rather are proud before them. Those foolish rich people are busy showing their pride in ruling over the poor that God has made (v. 7). They boast of themselves (2 Chron. 25:19) and like to show off their glory. And they speak arrogantly to the poor with pride and contempt (Ps. 31:18). They even utterly deride them (119:51). And they hotly pursue the poor (10:2). These foolish rich people don’t love the poor and don’t help the poor and needy (Ezek. 16:49). Rather, they oppress them. This is what Proverbs 14:31 says: “He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God.”
The Bible says that the foolish rich man who oppresses the poor is a man who shows contempt for their Maker of the poor. However, the Bible says that he who is kind to the needy honors God. It is the wise rich man who honors the Lord. The reason is because, unlike the foolish rich man, the wise rich man knows that the Maker God made the poor as well as the rich. So he is particularly interested in the poor and is kind to them (Prov. 19:17) in loving his neighbor as Jesus commanded him and gives to the poor (28:27). I remember the words of James 1:27 – “Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of God is to visit orphans and widows in their distress. The very wise rich man knows this truth and obeys it. He cares for orphans and widows during their trouble. He also helps and rescues the poor and needy. The Bible Proverbs 22:12 says that God protects this wise rich man.
Third, the wise rich man has right attitude.
That right attitude can be thought of in two ways in today's text:
(1) The right attitude of the wise rich man is humility and fear of the Lord.
Look at Proverbs 22:4 – “The reward of humility and the fear of the LORD Are riches, honor and life.” The foolish rich man is arrogant (v. 10). So, strife and dishonor will not cease for him (v. 10). But the wise rich man is never arrogant (v. 10). Rather, he is humble and fears God (v. 4). But in Proverbs 22:7, the Bible says that the rich man rules over the poor. Even so, the wise rich man humbles himself over the poor. The reason is because he fears God (v. 4). The wise rich man knows that even though he rules over the poor the Lord is the Maker of both the poor and the rich (v. 2), and acknowledges that the Lord rules over both the wise himself and the poor. Thus the wise rich man humbly rules over the poor.
This is an important principle and ethics in the relationship between master and slave in the New Testament Books of Ephesians and of Colossians. Look at Ephesians 6:9 – “And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.” Look at Colossians 4:1 – “Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven.” The important principle is that the masters also have their Master in heaven. And the important ethic is that the masters, therefore, should not threaten their servants, but provide them with what is right and fair. The wise rich man glorifies God by obeying this important biblical principle and ethic. Do you know what God rewards this humble, God-fearing wise and rich man? The reward is “riches, honor and life” (Prov. 22:4). d
(2) The right attitude for a wise rich man is diligence.
Look at Proverbs 22:13 – “The sluggard says, ‘There is a lion outside; I will be killed in the streets!’” This is the wrong attitude of the foolish rich man. His wrong attitude is laziness. In other words, the foolish rich man is lazy. The lazy rich man doesn’t go out of the house to work as an excuse that he will be torn and killed when he goes out on the street because there is a lion outside (MacArthur). In other words, the lazy rich man doesn’t go out from his house to work, not because there is actually lion outside and he is afraid of it but because he doesn't want to go to work, so he makes a ridiculous excuse (MacDonald). As for how to guess this, we can find out a bit by looking at the similar words in Proverbs 26:13 – “The sluggard says, ‘There is a lion in the road, a fierce lion roaming the streets!’” What would a lion, king of the jungle, do in the middle of a city and wander on the road where people live? Perhaps the lazy man hears the cat outside the street and makes the ridiculous excuse of being a lion and not going out of the house to work. The lazy man is busy making excuses when he tries to do something and gets scared and makes excuses when he isn’t confident. Such a foolish rich man is lazy and doesn’t work with tricks by rolling his head hard rather than working hard with his hands. Ecclesiastes 4:5 says that such a fool man consumes his own flesh. It means that the foolish man is lazy and doesn’t get any income, but only leads to destruction (Park). On the contrary, the wise rich man is never lazy. Rather, he is diligent. Therefore, he doesn’t just not go to work, play and eat, making excuses like the foolish rich man. His work philosophy is “If a man will not work, he shall not eat” (2 Thess. 3:10). Therefore, the wise rich man works diligently. The heart of such a person will find abundance (Prov. 13:4).
Fourth, the wise rich man behaves right.
There are four things to think of to behave right here:
(1) The wise rich man sees the evil and hides himself.
Look at Proverbs 22:3 – “The prudent sees the evil and hides himself, But the naive go on, and are punished for it.” When we meet a dangerous thing, saying that we have faith, it is not the best way to meet the dangerous thing unconditionally. In other words, when we encounter dangerous things, we must escape if we have to. For example, when King Saul was jealous of David and wanted to kill him, David didn’t say he was courageous and went to fight against King Saul like he did with Goliath. Rather, he fled from King Saul and hided himself when Saul tried to kill him. Proverbs 22:3 says that the wise man sees the evil and hides himself. Here, ‘hiding himself’ means that ‘The believer behaves wisely in order not to sacrifice his life without purpose for the Lord during the tribulation or suffer meaningless suffering’ (Park). But for some reason, sometimes when I watch Christian news, I come across things that make me think that we Christians are acting recklessly. For example, if we say we are prepared to be martyred and go to a country where terrorism is frequent, and recklessly do missions, then we can get kill without doing the mission properly. Isn’t it possible to question whether this is behaving wisely. Dr. Yoon-sun Park said that Proverbs 22:3 tells us three things, one of which is that ‘for the Lord, we must not suffer dangerous things without wisdom until the right time comes (until the guidance of God).’ Another thing is that we should not cause the opponents of the Lord recklessly to persecute us for the sake of the gospel (Park). But now, among us who say that we love the Lord and work hard for Him, how recklessly are we doing things that cause the opposition from the anti-Christians?
We need to make a distinction between ‘brute courage’ and ‘courage’. We also need to distinguish between “blind obedience” and “obedience”. What is the reason? The reason is because blind obedience and brutal courage are by no means wise actions of the believers. The wise action of the believers is that we sometimes flee when we are in danger. But in the midst of such a situation, we don’t forget and give up the mission that the Lord has given us. That’s what the wise rich man does. They don’t forget the mission given by the Lord. And when they are in danger, they escape for a while. But they also preach the gospel of Jesus Christ in other places.
(2) The wise rich man is far from the perverse people and thus guards himself.
Look at Proverbs 22:5 – “Thorns and snares are in the way of the perverse; He who guards himself will be far from them.” Here, “the way of the perverse” refers to the path of the crooked person (Park). When his heart is crooked, it means that his way is also crooked. And the Bible says that there are thorns and snares in the way of such perverse people. Therefore, the Bible says that we must be far from them in order not to get stuck in the thorns and snares. For example, it is “a deep pit” of an adulteress that is mentioned in Proverbs 22:14. The wise rich man doesn’t fall into that trap of the adulteress. The reason is because he avoids the adulteress’ perverse way (v. 5). And the reason he wants to guard himself and keeps away from the way of the perverse people is because he loves the purity of heart (v. 11). But the foolish rich man walks toward her house near the adulteress’ perverse way. Look at Proverbs 7:7-8: “I saw among the simple, I noticed among the young men, a youth who lacked judgment. He was going down the street near her corner, walking along in the direction of her house.” God is commanding us, “Do not set foot on the path of the wicked or walk in the way of evil men. Avoid it, do not travel on it; turn from it and go on your way” (4:14-15). Since the wise man keeps this command of God in his heart and obeys it, he avoids the way of the wicked and doesn’t travel on it. However, the foolish man doesn’t listen to God's command in his heart. Rather he ignores it and walks in the way of the wicked.
One of the young men in Proverbs chapter 7 was such a fool. When he was going down the street near the corner of the adulteress’s corner (v. 8), he should have avoided it and not travel on it but turn from it and go on his way (4:15). But the foolish young man didn’t turn from the adulteress’ way, but rather walked closer to the street of her corner and headed toward the adulteress’ house. He did so at twilight, as the day was fading, as the dark of night set in (7:9). Why did the young man go to the adulteress’ house during the dark night, not in broad daylight? It was because he wanted no one to see him. In other words, the foolish young man went secretly to the adulteress’ house in the deep night to hide his action from others (Park).
(3) The wise rich man doesn’t oppress the poor to gain profit.
Look at Proverbs 22:16 – “He who oppresses the poor to make more for himself Or who gives to the rich, will only come to poverty.” The foolish rich man doesn’t hesitate to oppress the poor for his own benefit. In his covetousness, he even oppresses the poor and leads the poor to court for his own benefit (Jam. 2:6). And the foolish rich man even bribes an evil judge in court to judge the poor unfairly and deprives the poor of their rights (Isa. 10:2). Also, the foolish rich man gives gifts to the richer man than himself (Prov. 22:16). Those gifts are for bribe. The reason he gives these bribe gifts to the richer man than himself is because he wants to gain greater wealth. But there is something the foolish rich man doesn't know is that to covet his own interests until he oppresses the poor harms not only himself, but also his whole family. Look at Proverbs 15:27 – “A greedy man brings trouble to his family, but he who hates bribes will live.” And another truth that the foolish rich man does not know is Proverbs 28:8 – “He who increases his wealth by exorbitant interest amasses it for another, who will be kind to the poor.” After all, when the fool increases his wealth, he saves it for those who have pity on the poor. The Bible Proverbs 14:31 says, “He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker.” What is the result? Look at Proverbs 22:8 – “He who sows iniquity will reap vanity, And the rod of his fury will perish.” In the end, it is said that the foolish rich man sows evil and will reap vanity. Such foolish rich man seeks and covets his own interests and eventually suffers disaster. But the wise rich man never oppresses the poor in order to gain his own profit. Rather, he cares about justice for the poor (29:7), takes pity on him (Ps. 72:13), gives to the poor (Prov. 28:27), helps and cares for him. And he saves the poor and delivers him from the hand of the wicked (Ps. 82:4). Why does he do that? The reason is because he loves the poor with God's love. Therefore, he doesn’t seek his own interests, but that of the poor [love is not self-seeking (1 Cor. 13:5)].
(4) The wise rich man gives some of his food to the poor.
Look at Proverbs 22:9 – “He who is generous will be blessed, For he gives some of his food to the poor.” The wise rich man is a generous man. In the original Hebrew, it says “a man of a kind eye or of merciful eye’ (Gesenius). The reason why this man of a kind eye or of this merciful eye is blessed is because he gives his food to the poor (v. 9). In other words, the wise rich man sees the poor, powerless, and helpless with the merciful eyes of God, pities him, and shares his food with the poor. God said in Deuteronomy 15:10 – “Give generously to him and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to.” The wise rich man who obeys this word gives his own food to the poor without saving. 1 Timothy 6:18 is the very words that apply to the wise rich man: “Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.” We must not forget to do good and to share with others (Heb. 13:16).
Fifth, the wise rich man has the right lips.
Look at Proverbs 22:11 – “He who loves purity of heart And whose speech is gracious, the king is his friend.” Here, the right lips refers to virtuous lips. That is, there is virtue in the lips of he who loves the purity of the heart. Here, the ‘virtuous lips’ is just ‘gracious lips.’ In other words, it means that the words that come out of the lips of he who loves purity of heart is gracious. Then here, who is “He who loves purity of heart”? When King Solomon says “the king is his friend” (v. 11b), I think “He who loves purity of heart” is the king's faithful servant. In other words, a faithful servant is a person who longs for purity of heart and speaks virtuous words to the king with his lips. What does it mean to say that the faithful servant speaks virtuous words to the king whom he serves? In Psalm 15:2, the Bible says that he who walks with integrity and works righteousness “speaks truth in his heart.” Therefore, the faithful servant is the one who tells the truth to the king he is serving when the king is doing something wrong. He is the one who wants to awaken the wrongdoing of the king by telling his king what he should be honest with. So the Bible Ephesians 4:15 tells us that we must speak the truth in love. But what about a disloyal servant? He never tells the truth in his heart. He doesn’t speak honestly to his king who is wrong. Rather, he flatters to the king. The Bible Proverbs 22:12 says that he speaks “the words of the unfaithful”. In other words, he speaks treacherous word word, unlike what it looks like (Walvoord). This is not the word that edifies the king to be right. In other words, flattery is by no means a virtuous word.
The wise rich man speaks words that edify others. The words that come out of his mouth are gracious words that edify other people. Look at Ecclesiastes 10:12 – “Words from a wise man's mouth are gracious, but a fool is consumed by his own lips.” The Bible says that the words of the wise man's mouth are gracious. The words that come out of our mouths should be gracious. God commands us in Ephesians 4:29 – “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” May we all be able to obey this word of God.
Sixth and last, the wise rich man properly raises his children.
How does the wise rich man properly raise his children? Of course, he has the right choice, knowledge, attitude, behavior, and lips to raise children right. However, in Proverbs 22:6 and 15 we can find two right ways to raise our children properly. The two right ways to raise children are to train them up in the way they should go (v. 6) and to discipline them (v. 15).
(1) First, let’s think about the first way to raise our children. Look at Proverbs 22:6 – “Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it.”
When I reflect myself on this word, I can't help but ask the question whether I am teaching my three children the right way to go. First of all, in order to raise children properly, we must not forget that our children belong to God. And we must teach our children what they deserve to be taught according to the word of God. Until now, whenever I meditate on the words of Proverbs 22:6, I have exhorted myself and the parents of our church that we should teach our children three things. The three are Right Value, Clear Purpose, and Eternal View of Life. Most importantly, we must teach our children the word of God. We must teach them the gospel of Jesus Christ. We must teach them “the right way” they should walk (1 Kgs. 8:36; 2 Chron. 6:27). Meanwhile, as parents, we must help them to discover and to develop the talent God has given to each of our children. We should be a stepping stone to them, not a stumbling block. Just as there are times when flowers bloom, we must have faith and hope that God will use them in His time.
(2) Second, let’s think about the second way to raise our children. Look at Proverbs 22:15 – “Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; The rod of discipline will remove it far from him.”
In raising our children, we must bring them up as wise children of God. Look at Proverbs 17:2 – “A wise servant will rule over a disgraceful son, and will share the inheritance as one of the brothers.” Here, King Solomon's contrast between the wise servant and the master's disgraceful son. One has the status of “slave” and the other has the status of “son”. Nevertheless, King Solomon says that a person who has the status of “slave” obtains an inheritance from his master, just like a person holding the status of “son”. How is this possible? How can the slave obtain an inheritance like the son with his master? That's because the servant has wisdom. When we think of this wise servant we are compelled to think of Proverbs 16:20. The reason is because this word explains “wisdom”: “Whoever gives heed to instruction prospers, and blessed is he who trusts in the LORD.” What does it means? Wisdom means to pay attention to the word of God. In Proverbs 19:20, the Bible says: “Listen to advice and accept instruction, and in the end you will be wise.” When we pay attention to God's word and accept His advice and instruction, we can become wise people.
The Bible says that the wise man gets a good thing. The good thing is that he shares the inheritance just like the master's son (17:2). However, Proverbs 17:25 says that the disgraceful son of the master is grief to his father and bitterness to his mother: “A foolish son brings grief to his father and bitterness to the one who bore him.” And the Bible Proverbs 17:21 says that the parents who give birth to the foolish son brings grief to the parents and there is no joy for his parents. The foolish child is not only dull and dumb, he lives as he pleases and does shameful things because he lacks spiritual insight and sensitivity and thus cannot discern the will of God. Therefore, he is grief and bitterness to his parents.
The Bible Proverbs 10:22 says, “The blessing of the LORD brings wealth, and he adds no trouble to it.” We learned six things about how the wise rich man who was blessed by God and became rich, does. We have learned that the wise rich man make the right choices, have the right knowledge, have the right attitude, and do the right thing. And we have learned that the wise rich man has the right lips and that he also properly raises his children. I hope and pray that all of us maybe raised up as the wise rich Christians who are right in the sight of God.