Scripture Daily

Context No. 997 of 4322 · Proverbs

Context · Reflection

Proverbs 28:17-28: in context

17A man who is tormented by blood guilt will be a fugitive until death. No one will support him. 18Whoever walks blamelessly is kept safe; but one with perverse ways will fall suddenly. 19One who works his land will have an abundance of food; but one who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty. 20A faithful man is rich with blessings; but one who is eager to be rich will not go unpunished. 21To show partiality is not good, yet a man will do wrong for a piece of bread. 22A stingy man hurries after riches, and doesn’t know that poverty waits for him. 23One who rebukes a man will afterward find more favor than one who flatters with the tongue. 24Whoever robs his father or his mother and says, “It’s not wrong,” is a partner with a destroyer. 25One who is greedy stirs up strife; but one who trusts in the LORD will prosper. 26One who trusts in himself is a fool; but one who walks in wisdom is kept safe. 27One who gives to the poor has no lack; but one who closes his eyes will have many curses. 28When the wicked rise, men hide themselves; but when they perish, the righteous thrive.

This is a cluster of proverbs, one-line contrasts about money, honesty, and trust. A few run together: whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but one who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty. A faithful person abounds with blessings, but one greedy to get rich will not go unpunished. Better to rebuke someone than to flatter them. And near the center: one who trusts in himself is a fool, but one who walks in wisdom is kept safe.

Running through these scattered sayings is a steady contrast between two ways of living, one grasping and self-trusting, the other faithful and God-trusting, and the surprising claim that the grasping way does not even pay off on its own terms. The person in a hurry to be rich, who chases fantasies and shuts his eyes to the poor, is promised not wealth but poverty and curses; greed, the proverbs say, actually stirs up strife and outruns itself into ruin. Meanwhile the one who works steadily, gives to the poor, and trusts the LORD rather than himself is the one kept safe and blessed. The line at the heart of it, one who trusts in himself is a fool, exposes the root: self-reliance dressed up as competence is folly, because it leaves God out. And the small counterintuitive gems are here too, that an honest rebuke earns more real favor in the end than flattery, and that the one who gives to the poor lacks nothing. Wisdom, in Proverbs, keeps insisting that the generous, God-trusting life is also the genuinely secure one.

Am I trusting myself and hurrying after gain in a way Proverbs calls foolish, or living the steadier, more generous, God-trusting way it calls safe?

Sources