True Riches Are Found Through Responding To God's Wisdom, Whilst Those Who Ignore That Wisdom Are The Truly Poor (Proverbs 13:7-11).
In this subsection genuine ‘riches' are contrasted with transient and deceptive riches. A man may be poor and yet enjoy true riches, for true riches consist in knowing that one is right with God and in walking in the way of God's wisdom. They will bring rejoicing to the heart and will be long lasting. In contrast a man may be rich and yet lacking in true wealth. If he does not listen to God's reproof through those who are wise, he will not become right with God and he will not enjoy true wisdom. Anything that he does have will be temporary and transient.
The subsection is presented chiastically:
A There is who makes himself rich, yet has nothing. There is who makes himself poor, yet has great wealth (Proverbs 13:7).
B The ransom of a man's life is his riches, but the poor hears no rebuke (threatening) (Proverbs 13:8).
C The light of the righteous rejoices (Proverbs 13:9 a)
C But the lamp of the wicked will be put out (Proverbs 13:9 b).
B Only by pride comes contention, but with the well-counselled is wisdom (Proverbs 13:10).
A Wealth obtained by unsatisfactory methods will be diminished, but he who gathers by hard work will have increase (grow great) (Proverbs 13:11).
Note that in A deceptive wealth is contrasted with true wealth, and in the parallel the same occurs. Furthermore there is a parallel between ‘great (rab) wealth', and wealth that ‘grows great' (rabah). In B a man's true riches lie in his being ransomed by God as a consequence of his response to God's wisdom, whilst the poor in heart refuse to listen to reproof, and in the parallel, those who listen to counsel are truly wise, whilst those who are proud resist God. Centrally in C is the contrast between the light of the righteous and the lamp of the wicked.
‘There is who makes himself rich, yet has nothing,
There is who makes himself poor, yet has great wealth.'
It will be noted that this verse connects with Proverbs 13:8 in the use of ‘rich' and ‘poor', and with Proverbs 13:11 in the use of ‘riches' and ‘great/increase' (rab, rabah). In Proverbs 13:11 great riches come to those who work hard, whilst both this verse and Proverbs 13:11 deal with deceptive wealth which in the end fails, in contrast with genuine wealth which is satisfying. It is interesting that here it is the man who considers himself to be rich who ‘has nothing', whilst in Proverbs 13:4 it is the desiring sluggard who ‘has nothing'. The rich man would not want to be compared with the sluggard, but because of his failure to see beyond his riches he comes to the same end.
The proverb is ambiguous because of the ambiguity of the verb. It could mean;
1) ‘Falsely makes himself out to be, pretends'. In this case the person in the first clause is putting on a show of being rich in order to gain respect and status, whilst the person in the second clause is making himself out to be poor, even though he is very wealthy, because he wants to avoid tithes, and/or his responsibility to the poor. Both are thus misleading their communities. Both are hypocrites. In our view, while possible, this interpretation is unlikely as it removes the contrast which is suggested by ‘has nothing' and ‘has great wealth'.
2) ‘Considers himself to be, honestly puts himself forward as'. In the first clause he is someone who considers himself to be rich, but is actually spiritually impoverished, and even physically impoverished in other ways (e.g. his children may be a heartache to him, or he may be in very poor health). In the second clause he is someone who considers himself to be poor but spiritually has great wealth in that he is humble and fears YHWH (Proverbs 22:4), and may also have physical ‘riches' in that his children are loving and responsive and he is of vibrant health. Compare Proverbs 11:28, ‘he who trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like the green leaf', and Proverbs 22:4, ‘the reward of humility and the fear of YHWH is riches, and honour, and life'. We consider this to be the most likely.
3) ‘Literally makes himself'. In the first clause he struggles hard and attains riches, but in doing so becomes spiritually poor and loses his old friends and all that is worthwhile, and in the second clause he makes himself poor deliberately by his acts of charity and self-sacrifice, or because of his tenacious faith and obedience to God, and in doing so gains riches beyond telling (compare Matthew 6:33; Matthew 19:29). Whilst very apposite in view of the teaching of Jesus, and undoubtedly true, we think it unlikely that Solomon had this in mind.
4) There may be a deliberate play on the possible distinctions in the verb so that it means ‘there are those who think themselves rich but have nothing, there are those who for God's sake have made themselves poor and thus have great riches'. We can consider here the example of the Laodicean church in Revelation 3:18, ‘you say you are rich, and have obtained riches and have need of nothing, and do not know that you are the wretched on, miserable, poor, blind and naked', and Jesus' words to the disciples in Mark 10:29. But this is probably to anticipate New Testament teaching.
In our view the most probable meaning, in line with 2), is that a man can be physically rich, and yet poor in other ways, especially spiritually, and that a man can be physically poor, and yet rich in other ways, especially spiritually. In the Psalms the upright are often seen as the humble and needy (even the king).
‘The ransom of a man's life is his riches,
But the poor hears no rebuke (threatening).'
This proverb is again ambiguous. Some see this as saying that a rich man is always in danger of losing his riches by being kidnapped/captured and held to ransom, (as Satan said in Job 2:4, ‘all that a man has he will give for his life'), but that a poor man has no such fear. He and his family are unlikely to receive threatening demands. This would in fact be a good argument for being poor, but such an argument tends to go against what Solomon has said elsewhere. In the Prologue riches were a result of following the way of wisdom, and poverty was a consequence of laziness. Furthermore in Proverbs 10:4 he confirms that this continues to be his view when he says, ‘he becomes poor who deals with a slack hand, but the hand of the hard worker makes rich'. Whilst the word for the poor used here in Proverbs 13:8 does not in its later uses have the necessary connotation of laziness (it does in Proverbs 10:4), it is even then never suggested to be a desirable state. This interpretation also takes the word for ‘rebuke' in an unusual sense. Elsewhere it always means ‘rebuke'. See especially Proverbs 13:1 where we find the same phrase. Thus we must ideally look for some other interpretation.
An alternative is to see the first clause as meaning that the rich man has the advantage that he can buy himself out of trouble, but that idea does not make a good parallel with the second clause.
A further alternative, however, which balances the two clauses, and ties in with Proverbs 13:7, is that this could mean that a man's true riches are found in his being ‘ransomed' (because he has listened to God's wisdom), whilst those who are poor are so (both physically and spiritually) because they do not listen to rebuke. In other words a man's true riches lie in his having an assurance that he is acceptable to God and is not subject to death, and this because all that is necessary for his acceptance has been accomplished. These are the great riches which can be enjoyed even by the poor (Proverbs 13:7). In Solomonic terms that would be through heeding God's wisdom and responding to God (Proverbs 3:5-6).
The idea of ‘a ransom' links with the idea of redemption. In Psalms 49:7-8 the two are equated, ‘none can by any means redeem his brother or give a ransom for him', although it is then made clear that a redemption is possible even though that redemption is costly. The impression given is that it could only be by God. Such a ransom was conceived of in Exodus 30:12 where whenever the men were numbered a ransom had to be paid for each one, although it was not a costly one (although the poorer among them might not have felt that). But it did indicate that men had to be continually ransomed before God, otherwise they would die. The idea was expanded in the idea that every firstborn male in Israel had to be ‘redeemed' by the offering of a substitute, a lamb or goat (Exodus 13:12 ff.; Numbers 18:15). Thus the prospective head of each family had to be redeemed by means of an offering or sacrifice.
This suggests that some, if not all, offerings and sacrifices were seen as ‘ransoms' and had a redemptive purpose. They made atonement before God. And this was something confirmed in the Gospels where Jesus speaks of giving Himself as ‘a ransom for many' (Mark 10:45) in a context where the guilt offering of the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53:10 is in mind, and in Hebrews where the redemptive purpose of His sacrifice is made clear (Proverbs 9:12; Proverbs 9:15). Israel were indeed looked on as God's redeemed people, redeemed by the exertion of His mighty power (Exodus 6:6; Exodus 15:13; Psalms 74:2; Psalms 77:15; Psalms 78:35; Isaiah 43:3). But that was as a nation. And they continued to be so in the offering of offerings and sacrifices, both national and personal. The individuals participated in that redemption by personal response to the covenant and by personal sacrifices. This is constantly brought out in the prophets. That the idea of ransom applied to individuals comes out especially in Job 33:24; Job 36:18; Psalms 49:7-8, whilst the Psalmists continually refer to being redeemed (Psalms 19:14; Psalms 26:11; Psalms 31:5; Psalms 34:22; etc.), where it is clear that some are not. Those who did not genuinely enter into the covenant were cut off from Israel (something which it took the prophets, and a series of catastrophes, a long time to convince the people of).
Thus the recognising by a man that he had been ransomed as a result of his responsiveness to God's covenant and God's wisdom, may well have been seen as bestowing on him riches beyond telling.
And this in contrast with the wayward ‘poor' who ‘hear no rebuke'. Whatever God's wisdom says to them they continue on in their sluggardly ways (Proverbs 10:4; Proverbs 6:9-11). One advantage of this interpretation is that it gives ‘rebuke' its common meaning in Proverbs. This would then tie in with Proverbs 13:10, ‘by pride comes only contention', the poor in their pride having refused God's rebuke are in contention with Him. And it continues with, ‘but with the well advised is wisdom', they have responded to God and His wisdom, have been accepted by Him, and they thus enjoy the true riches.
‘The light of the righteous rejoices,
But the lamp of the wicked will be snuffed out.'
There is a similar combination of light and lamp in Proverbs 6:23 where ‘the commandment is a lamp and the Torah is a light' which serves to demonstrate that light and lamp are to be seen as synonymous. The idea here could then be that the light of wisdom of the righteous makes him glad, whilst the false wisdom of the wicked will be snuffed out and vanish. On the other hand in Proverbs 4:18 we read that, ‘the path of the righteous is as the shining light, which shines more and more unto the perfect day'. Taking it in the light of this, ‘light' indicates ‘a shining life', a life lived in the light of God's wisdom.
The idea of ‘the lamp of the wicked being snuffed out' is found also in Proverbs 20:20; Proverbs 24:20, and may either signify dying, which would equate ‘lamp' with life, or his losing quality of life. Taking the verses as a whole the former appears to be more likely.
The general idea, however, is clear. The life of the righteous is like a continually shining light, and is one of continual rejoicing. But whatever quality of life the unrighteous have will be snuffed out, probably by death. This would tie in with ‘the ransom of a man's life' being ‘his riches' of the previous verse signifying that the true riches of a man's life is to enjoy the fact that his life has been ransomed by God.
‘Only by pride comes contention,
But with the well-counselled is wisdom.'
In the parallel clause ‘pride' parallels ‘well-counselled'. This suggests that in mind is the pride which refuses to listen to counsel. They rather contend with it. So the idea here is that it is only pride, (which is an abomination to God - Proverbs 6:17), which causes men to contend with wisdom and therefore not listen to rebuke, whilst the truly wise (and humble) heed counsel, which is why they are wise. This parallels the ideas of ‘the poor hearing no rebuke' (Proverbs 13:8), and a man's true riches lying in the fact that he has responded to wisdom and has therefore been ransomed by God, in Proverbs 13:8.
‘Riches obtained by unsatisfactory means will be diminished,
But he who gathers by hard work (literally ‘by hand') will have increase.'
In the subsection we learned in Proverbs 13:7 of the ‘great riches' which even a poor man might have, and in Proverbs 13:8 that those riches include the fact that his life has been ransomed by God. In Proverbs 13:9 such riches were a light to the righteous man which caused him to rejoice, and in Proverbs 13:10 resulted from the fact that he had responded to wise counsel. Now this is related to physical wealth by indicating that it is only wealth obtained in the right way which will endure and increase. And there may be the added thought that the same is true of spiritual wealth, for in Proverbs physical wealth and spiritual wealth go hand in hand, see Proverbs 3:13-18; Proverbs 8:11; Proverbs 8:18.
The word translated ‘unsatisfactory means' has lying behind it the thought of a ‘puff of air', and therefore something which is insubstantial and temporary. What is gathered in that way will itself be insubstantial and temporary. Some of it will quickly disappear. Such a person will tend not to be thrifty. It is a warning against the desire to ‘get-rich-quick' either physically or spiritually. Quick fixes tend not to last long. Examples of such are obtaining money by violence (Proverbs 1:11 ff.), robbery or false pretences, by extortion or deceit, or even by gambling which, if successful, (and the gambler always hopes to be successful), involves loss to others..
In contrast is the one who ‘gathers by hand', in other words by hard effort (contrast ‘the slack hand' of Proverbs 10:4). His riches will be ‘caused to increase' (hiphil, which is causative). For such a person values what he has obtained precisely because it has entailed hard work, and he therefore has a healthy regard for it and reinvests it so that it will increase. The same is true in the spiritual realm. The more effort we put into understanding truth from God's word, the more benefit and greater certainty we will obtain from it.