Proverbs 3:9 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Honour the Lord with thy substance— According to the manners of the east, a subject was to pay his homage and shew his attachment to his lord and sovereign by presents. To make presents to a king, is to acknowledge him, to pay him homage. God would not have his people present themselves before him with empty hands. Exodus 23:15. The LXX render this verse, Honour the Lord from all thy righteous labours, and pay him the first-fruits of thy righteousness. They make use of the words righteous, and righteousness, to shew the detestation which God has of offerings which are made to him from possessions wickedly acquired. "Whatever is offered to God from the hands of wickedness (says one of the ancients) irritates the wrath of the Almighty." The promises in the next verse, and so, throughout this book, all those of a temporal kind, refer to the carnal Israelites: the spiritual Israelites desire to lay up treasures in heaven. See Calmet.