At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Ps. 16: 11)

“The crown of the wise is their riches: But the foolishness of fools is folly”

Proverbs 14:24

We are all aware of the warnings that Scripture gives, in multiple places, about the dangers of mammon. Rich men and the eye of the needle. The Pharisees loved their money. Solomon was led astray by his great blessings. Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. Those who want to get rich are frequently drowned in “destruction and perdition.” If we don’t have the practical side of this down yet, we are certainly aware of the teaching. We remember the warnings.  

We are less aware of the many places in Scripture where we are taught about the goodness of affluence. It is a sin to forget God, who gives us so many rich gifts, but the sin is in forgetting, not in the getting. “Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy” (1 Timothy 6:17).

In this proverb we are flat out told that wealth is one of the contrasting points between the wise man and the fool. The crown of the wise man would be found in his riches. When a wise man is wealthy, as Abraham was, it is not unbecoming. It is a complete incongruity when a fool comes into riches. His proper crown would be his foolishness and folly. It is striking that in this parallel, Solomon has foolishness in place of the crown. The crown of the wise, the foolishness of the fool. The crown of the wise is made up of wealth, and the “crown” of the fool is made up of tin foil. It is his folly. 

The practical application is that the wealthy should certainly remember the warnings. This is why we would call a wise man wise . . . he remembers the warnings. And, having remembered them, he can sit comfortably with the blessings given to him by God.

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At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Ps. 16: 11)

“He that rebuketh a man afterwards shall find more favour than he that flattereth with the tongue.”

Proverbs 28:23

There is an advantage that straight talk has over fawning and flattering talk, but it is a slow-growth advantage. There is a great temptation we face in conversation, which is the idea that immediate offense is to be avoided at all costs. We have made “politeness” the be-all and end-all of all conversation.

But when this tendency has become enshrined in a culture’s verbal habits and customs, the downside should be obvious. All the conversations are pleasant enough, but nobody knows whether or not anything is sincerely said. Everybody is nice, but are they really? The chatter at the party was great, in that no fights broke out, because why did everything seem so superficial? It seemed superficial because it was superficial.

This proverb tells us that a straightforward rebuke can be the way to a man’s heart. He knows that this person at least is saying what he believes to be true. This is particularly true of people of great influence—the kind of people that attract flatterers. I am talking about politicians, celebrities, millionaires, and so forth. Can you imagine how tedious it would be to have everyone in your life telling you lies all day?

The point is obviously not to go out of your way to say something thoughtless and rude. Rather the point is that we should not glibly assume that to bring a rebuke to someone will automatically cost us that relationship. Obviously, there are some people who won’t accept a rebuke from anybody, but there are others who are hungry for an honest word. 

This is another way of saying that honesty is the best policy, and that flattery is a strategy that undermines its own stated purposes.

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At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Ps. 16: 11)

“Scornful men bring a city into a snare: But wise men turn away wrath.”

Proverbs 29:8

This proverb provides us with a good example of how parallelism can really flesh out the meaning of a proverb. In this one, the two halves of the proverb contrast with each other, and each side sheds light on its opposing half.

Scornful men bring a city into a snare, on the one hand, and on the other wise men turn away wrath. This is a contrast, and so we are learning that wise men are not scorners, and that scorners are not wise men. That is the first thing. The second is that when a city is ensnared, that is described as wrath, and the turning away of wrath is the city avoiding a snare. 

Scripture takes a dim view of what it calls mockers, or scoffers, or scorners. This does not mean that the wise man never mocks anything, because it is necessary to mock folly and every form of spiritual stupidity. We see multiple examples of this in Scripture, but one should suffice. The Lord Jesus goes on an epic takedown of pharisaical hypocrisy through the entire 23rd chapter of Matthew, and He doesn’t really stint. 

Those who do not like this kind of insightful analysis will frequently tell the godly to lay off, because nobody should ever, ever “sit in the seat of the scornful” (Ps. 1:1). But here is the thing. If we refuse to mock folly, we are not stepping into a world where there isn’t any mockery. What we are actually doing is stepping into a world where absolutely anything can be mocked and scorned—except for the sin that is currently in the ascendancy.

The city fills up with cynics and late night comedians, where everyone knows the price of everything and the value of nothing, and the city falls into a snare. And when the city falls into this sort of a snare, they are headed for the wrath of God. God may try to spare them, sending them wise men, but they are all told to shush.   

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At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Ps. 16: 11)

“He that hasteth to be rich hath an evil eye, and considereth not that poverty shall come upon him.”

Proverbs 28:22

There is a snare in wanting to get rich quickly. Wanting to accumulate wealth over the course of forty or fifty years is a normal, healthy, and well-adjusted desire. The person in that position is wanting to do things God’s way, and is cultivating the virtue of patience. Someone who is a short term thinker is someone who is trying to make it all happen now. 

The proverb here says that the person who is hasty about getting rich has “an evil eye.” This is a Hebrew idiom for a covetous, envious, or greedy person. It is an eye that is always glancing sideways at what the other fellow has. 

Because he is so busy looking at what others have, and which he wants to acquire quickly, he does not look ahead. Because he does not look ahead, he does not see what is coming for him. Poverty is coming for him. 

The haste creates more opportunities for mistakes. The haste creates an incentive for the person to cut corners, which in turn causes his partners in business to back away, or to avoid him entirely. In short, the short term gain comes with a long term loss. Penny wise, pound foolish. 

The thing he is so hasty to get away from is the very thing that he is causing to hasten toward him. He is hasty to get out of poverty, and is hastening the time when poverty will land on him. To refer to another proverb, that poverty will come on him like an armed thug. Not what he wanted, but when people tried to tell him, tried to warn him, he was too hasty to listen. 

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At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Ps. 16: 11)

“A poor man that oppresseth the poor is like a sweeping rain which leaveth no food.”

Proverbs 28:3

Oppressing the poor is always wrong, always sinful, but there are certain occasions when it is also suicidal. When a rich man takes advantage of the poor, he is seeking to make God his enemy, as the Word declares in many places. James gives us just one example: “Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you . . . Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter” (James 5:1, 4–5).

But rich people are not the only sinners in the world. When poor people oppress poor people, this proverb say, it is simply desolation. And desolation is desolation for everybody. 

This sin is sinful, certainly, but there is no real logic to it. It is sinful, and it is also lunacy. Say that a police officer shoots a black man in the inner city, and the subsequent riots burn out any number of black-owned businesses. This is simply rage, and the rage of man never did anything sensible or worthwhile. The neighborhood where all the police officers live carries on peacefully. 

Another example is when poor people police their own, not allowing anyone to be seen as getting ahead. Like crabs in a bucket, if one starts to make an escape, the others pull him back. This happens because one of the chains that keeps many poor people poor is the the chain of envy. If someone starts to make it, they have to hide the fact that they are making it—or they have to disappear quickly. 

In many poor regions of the world, there is plenty of wealth above ground, but it cannot afford to be seen in public. But if it can’t be seen in public, then it cannot be put to use in the task of blessing everyone. 

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