CRITICAL NOTES.—
Proverbs 22:1. A good name. Literally “a name.” Loving favour, or “grace,” “goodwill.”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Proverbs 22:1
BETTER THAN GOLD
The second clause of the proverb explains the meaning of the name in the first clause—it is evidently a good reputation that is gained by uprightness and unselfiishness—that loving esteem of others which is the fruit of “looking not only upon our own things, but also upon the things of others” (Philippians 2:4). Such a name is better than wealth.
I. Because the one may come by inheritance, and the other must be the result of, personal character. The man who is born to wealth deserves no credit for being rich—he may be destitute of all personal excellence—he may, indeed, be a morally bad man, and may neither possess nor deserve the goodwill of his fellow creatures. But if a man does possess the confidence and love of others it is because there is that belonging to him that wins men to trust in him and to love him—if he has a “good name” and deserves it he is in some respects a good man.
II. Wealth is often a transitory possession, but “loving favour” often outlives the present life. Many mere temporal gifts belong more truly to a man than his riches—his good looks or his handsome figure may long outlive his wealth, for they are more truly his. The uncertainty of riches is the subject of many a proverb, and therefore any possession which is more certain to last is better than they. A “good name”—the well-deserved reputation which is the result of loving our neighbour as ourself—is quite independent of the changes and chances of mortal life—it goes with a man to his grave, and embalms his memory long after he has passed away.
III. A good name belongs to a higher region of life than wealth. Even when wealth has been honestly earned, and is the reward of moral excellence, and even if its possession could be assured to its owner, a good name is a more precious gift. Much skill and industry are required to build up a fortune, but skill and industry are not qualities of so high an order as those which are needed to acquire the loving favour of our fellow-creatures. He who possesses the latter must be a more excellent man than the merely honest and skilful seeker after riches, and the possession is itself of a far more precious nature. The gold and the silver are of the earth, earthy, but love and trustful confidence are good things which belong to the soul, and which are in consequence far more truly satisfying to man’s higher nature. When one man possesses both these good things he is able to compare their power to bless, and none who has experimental knowledge of the worth of both would sacrifice his good name to retain his riches. They may bring him much outward deference, but he knows full well that this would cease if he became a poor man—that there are many who love not the man but only his money. But if he is so blest as to have won men’s hearts he is fully assured that adversity will not deprive him of this good gift. To possess a “good name” is to be rich with the riches which constitute the most precious wealth of God. He is rich in material riches, for “all the beasts of the forest are his and the cattle upon a thousand hills,” yea, “the world and the fulness thereof” (Psalms 50:10; Psalms 50:12). But this wealth is inferior to the mental power which produced it. God is great in intellectual wealth. “With whom took He counsel, and who instructed Him and taught Him in the path of judgment, and taught Him knowledge, and showed to Him the way of understanding?” (Isaiah 40:14). But His real wealth is His name—that name which He proclaimed to Moses—“The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth” (Exodus 34:5-6), which makes Him the object of the reverential love of all the good in the universe. And so is it with His creatures—in proportion as they have those spiritual characteristics which are possessed in perfection only by God Himself, their reputation for mercy, and goodness, and truth becomes their most precious and prized possession.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
We are not good judges of value in the public markets of life. We make grievous mistakes, both in choosing and refusing. We often throw away the pearl and carefully keep the shell. Besides the great disparity in value between the things of heaven and earth, some even of these earthly things are of greater worth than others. The valuables in both ends of the balance belong to time, and yet there is room for choice between them. There is the greater and the less where neither is the greatest. A trader at his counter has a certain set of weights which he uses everyday and all day, and for all sorts of commodities. Whatever may be in the one scale, the same invariable leaden weight is always in the other. This lump of metal is his standard, and all things are tried by it. Riches practically serve nearly the same purpose in the markets of human life.… This is a mistake. Many things are better than gold, and one of these is a good name. A good conscience indeed is better than both, and must be kept at all hazards; but in cases where matters from a higher region do not come into competition, reputation should rank higher than riches in the practical estimation of men.… The shadows are not the picture, but the picture is a naked ungainly thing without them. Thus the atmosphere of a good name imparts to real worth additional body and breadth. As a substitute for a good conscience a good name is a secret torment at the time, and in the end a cheat, but as a graceful outer garment with which a good conscience is clothed it should be highly valued and carefully preserved by the children of the kingdom.—Arnot.
One is more valuable than the other as a means of usefulness. Riches, in themselves, can only enable a man to promote the temporal comfort and wellbeing of those around him. But character gives him weight of influence in matters of higher moment,—in all descriptions of salutary advice and direction,—in kindly instruction and consolation,—in counsel for eternity. It not only fits its possessor for such employments, but it imparts energy and effect to whatever he says and does. His character carries a recommendation with it,—gives authority and force to every lesson and every admonition; and affords, by the confidence it inspires, many opportunities and means of doing good, which, without it, could not be enjoyed. Riches, again, bring with them many temptations to sinful and worldly indulgences, such as are injurious to the possessor himself and to his family—both temporally and spiritually. Character, on the contrary, acts as a salutary restraint,—keeping a man back from many improprieties and follies, and even outward sins, by which it would be impaired and forfeited. And this restraint is felt, and properly felt, not for his own sake merely, but for the sake of all those objects with which his name stands associated; and especially from a regard to usefulness in connection with the truth, and cause, and church of Christ.—Wardlaw.