Even in a day when Israel was under probation and the earthly government of Jehovah with present results for good or ill, there could not but be the working of great moral principles in those that feared His name, far beyond what the natural man covets.
“A name [is] rather to be chosen than great riches, loving favor rather than silver and gold.
Rich and poor meet together: Jehovah [is] the maker of them all.
A prudent one seeth the evil and hideth himself; but the simple pass on and are punished.
The reward of humility, the fear of Jehovah, [is] riches and honor, and life.
Thorns, snares, are in the way of a perverse one; he that guardeth his soul keepeth far from them.
Train up the child in accordance with his course; and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower [is] servant of the lender” (vers. 1-7).
It is usual to supply the word “good” in the version of the opening clause of this chapter. But this is so necessarily implied as to seem needless. For who could suppose that a false pretension is of any value? One's name in scripture is the manifestation of what one is: the object of the heart determines the character; and here it is supposed to be what is excellent in God's eyes as well as man's. Hence loving favor accompanies it; which is far from due to silver and gold, often the portion of the worthless.
In the essentials how little is the difference! Alike they come into the world, and alike they stand when the world passes away. “Rich and poor meet together; Jehovah is the maker of them all.” This the poor man is entitled to remember, and the rich man ought not to forget. Job had it distinctly before him: “If I despised the cause of my bondman or of my bondmaid, when they contended with me, what then should I do when God riseth up? and if he visited, what should I answer him? Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashion us in the womb?”
The value of prudence in a world like this is next urged. The circumspect sees the evil and seeks timely shelter; the heedless goes boldly forward and suffers the consequence.
Humility of a true sort, the fear of Jehovah, has its reward in riches and honor and life, which greater ability misses for the lack of it.
The crooked or perverse man finds painful experience on his way, thorns, snares; whereas he that guards his soul keeps aloof from all such trials.
Early training, whatever the exceptions, has its good result. Train up the lad according to his course; and when he is old, he will not depart from it. So it was with Isaac thus trained by his father. Solomon's course was a much more checkered one, though we may hope there was repentance.
It is a difficult thing for a man of money to avoid airs with him that has none, and particularly if the latter puts himself under obligations to him. But faith delivers from this snare, and still more when there is a real living Christ.