CRITICAL NOTES.—
Proverbs 13:11. Vanity, rather “fraud.” By labour, literally “by the hand.” or “handful after handful.”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Proverbs 13:11
TWO WAYS OF GROWING RICH
I. Wealth can be gotten. Wealth may be acquired by those who have it not. The wealth of the sea is within the reach of the fisherman. If he put down his net, sooner or later he will probably be rewarded with some gain. There is wealth in the sea of human life. Although the experience of some may be “to toil all night and to take nothing,” yet the rule is that men who make an effort will succeed in bringing into their nets more or less of worldly gain. Some degree of skill and toil are needed to do this, but probably there was never a time when talent of any kind, or patient endeavour, was more certain to meet with a reward than in the present day. Aptitude for business will probably make a man a thriving tradesman if it does not make him a merchant prince. Intellectual power and artistic skill have a wide field in which to work, and are generally sure of liberal reward. Probably there never was an age when those who have nothing but the net of genius to spread upon the sea of life were so certain to land gold upon the shore.
II. But there are two ways of growing rich. There is the way of vanity. Some men come into a fortune by a single throw of the dice—by a fortunate speculation—a lucky hit. They may not be dishonest as men generally understand the word, although as a rule such transactions will not bear too much exposure to the sunlight, but it is not the best way to get money. Then there are others who for a lifetime have nibbled at the lawful gains of other men, and have thus become rich. And others have gotten their wealth by some one act of dishonesty, of which society is ignorant or is unable to punish. All these ways of making money are vain in comparison with that of patient, honest, daily toil. The reaper gathers in the golden grain in the sweat of his face, an armful at each stroke of the sickle; step by step, “hand by hand,” he makes himself master of the field and gathers the wheat into the garner. So patient daily toil is the Divinely-ordained way to grow rich. The daily practice of industrious habits and the exercise of patience, which are thus rendered necessary, are beneficial to a man’s moral nature.
III. The possession of wealth will be permanent or short-lived according to the way in which it has been acquired. l. Wealth gotten at a leap is generally “diminished” by the man who gained it. Such men are generally reckless in their expenditure, and squander a fortune in almost as short a time as they gained it. Such a sudden acquisition of wealth has been unfavourable to the formation of thrifty habits, and the man is not equal to his position. Many a gold-digger who has found in a day a nugget worth many thousands, has been a poor man again in a few months, and the experience of most men furnishes them with some similar illustration of the truth although not perhaps so striking.
2. Wealth gotten by dishonesty will be diminished by God. Time only is needed to make manifest the righteous judgment of God upon wealth gotten by such “vanity.” Like the prophet’s gourd, although it affords pleasant shelter to those who sit under it now, there is a worm at the root which will certainly bring it to nothing. Did we but know how some fortunes have been acquired, we should be less surprised at their possessors being suddenly reduced to beggary. It may be that those who are thus brought low are not the makers, but the possessors only, of wealth gotten by vanity, yet they have to pay the penalty. On the contrary, the man who has patiently and honestly gathered, little by little, a sufficiency, or even more, has gathered at the same time wisdom to use it, and has not forfeited the blessing of the Lord (chap. Proverbs 10:22).
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
“It is easier to make a fortune than to keep it.” So say the worldly. Specially forbidden is the keeping of the bread of heaven (Exodus 16:19). It was to be gathered every morning. A man who keeps gathering on the hand is the man to stay rich. But the saint who hoards up the past, and lives upon the fortune that he had, is the Israelite who kept the manna, and who found that it “bred worms and stank.” Even happiness is not promoted by over-guard. “Things won are done; joy’s soul lies in the doing.” … Continuing to work not only keeps wealth, but “increases it,” most particularly spiritual wealth.—Miller.
The words admit of three renderings
(1) That of the A.V. “Wealth gotten by vanity,” i.e., by a windfall, or sudden stroke of fortune, not by honest labour, is soon diminished; or
(2) wealth is diminished by vanity, by empty and hollow ostentation; or
(3) wealth is diminished quicker than a breath. Of these
(1) is believed to be the best. In any case the general meaning seems to be that the mere possession of riches is as nothing; they come and go; but the power to gain by skill of hand is everything. By labour, “or by the hand,” has three possible meanings
(1), as in the A.V.;
(2) in proportion to his strength;
(3) “in due measure.”—Plumptre.
Ill-gotten goods fly away without taking leave of the owner; leaving nothing but the print of talons to torment him (chap. Proverbs 23:5). “But he that gathereth by labour shall increase.” Howbeit, sometimes, it is otherwise. “Master, we have toiled all night, and taken nothing” (Luke 5:5).—Trapp.