Proverbs 11:24–26
GENEROSITY IN GIVING
[2 Kings 4:1–7]
Proverbs offers practical instructions on the use of money, although sometimes it's advice we would rather not hear. It is more comfortable to continue in our habits than to learn how to use money more wisely. Money is essential for living but our use of our resources and the consequent accountability for their use under God was part of God's teaching to Israel. The relevance to our affluent times is obvious.
People who believe that the whole earth and every thing in it belongs to their Lord (Ps. 24:1) readily recognize that the resources of their own lives, which, no matter how hard they toiled and how judiciously they spent, were utterly dependent on God's grace. God's gracious blessings were given not to be hoarded but to be shared. For when shared they become like the inexhaustible supply of oil lavished on the widow in Elisha's day (2 Kg. 4:1–7).
Neighborliness is reason enough to help, since these people lived close to each other for mutual provision and protection. But even more important was the blessing of God promised to those who generously gave to God's work and God's people. These instructions on generosity sprinkled throughout Proverbs will show us the ways and the people we are to help with their needs (CIM).
Proverbs 11:24-26 encourage generosity. The resupply of generosity demonstrates the principle of reward that God has woven into the fabric of creation. They also show how different His ways may be from ours. Proverb 11:24 brings to light an apparent paradox or oxymoron. "There is one who scatters, yet increases more; And there is one who withholds more than is right, but it leads to poverty."
By giving freely a person has plenty, a seeming paradox (2 Cor. 9:6). Conversely a person who is miserly, failing to help others in obvious need, will himself always be in need (28:22).
The one who gives gains; the one who withholds loses. A penny hoarded could be a penny lost. The strong verb "scatters" indicates distributing widely, generously, perhaps brashly, even paying little attention to where the generosity goes. Yet the wealth of the generous "increases" more than the amount given away. Like a seed which seems lost for a time til it springs up again bringing even more seed with it.
The selfish person has the opposite experience. He tenaciously hangs on to ("withholds," maintains very tight control) his goods, considering his responsibilities and his neighbors' needs. When he finally opens his clenched fist, his increase has disappeared. What he deemed prudence "leads to poverty." He who wanted to make sure he had more than he needed ended in complete lack [as "poverty" means literally in Hebrew (14:23; 21:5; 22:16). The selfish person who sought to help himself only has pitiful results. Give and get or hoard and lose.
Proverb 11:25 teaches that a reward for generosity is the enrichment of the soul. "The generous soul will be made rich, and he who waters will also be watered himself." ["The generous man will be prosperous, and he who waters will himself be watered" (NASB).]
By being generous a person prospers and will be benefitted (v.17). A generous man is literally a soul of blessing (Prov 3:9, 10; 2 Cor 9:6, 7). ["Rich" literally means "fat" or one who was thought prosperous and healthy (13:4; 15:30).] Such a state comes as the result of blessing others by sharing blessing with them. The resultant prosperity describes an artesian well, pumping water into the gardens of others while continually having more than enough for its own. Jesus gives us a spiritual application of this in His sermon at Tabernacles in John 7:37–39. The picture of water in more than abundant supply is especially striking when we remember that water was Palestine's most valued agricultural commodity.
This is the same idea Jesus had in mind when He said, "Give and it will be given to you" (Lk. 6:38). This is certainly true when giving to the Lord and His work. It doesn't make complete sense, except for the fact that God supernaturally blesses generosity.
How are we enriched or blessed? Not by hoarding, but by giving; not by keeping but by sharing.
Proverb 11:26 denounces hoarding to drive up the market price. "The people will curse him who withholds grain, But blessing will be on the head of him who sells it." ["He who withholds grain, the people will curse him, but blessing will be on the head of him who sells it" (NASB).]
Grain in a farming society was a major medium of exchange. Some held it till its price was at its highest point, then they sold it. Mass hoarding could drastically drive up prices. Here, the Lord says if you do this, people will resent you and curse you for it. But blessing will be upon you if you consider your neighbors, not just your own pocket. A person who sold his grain in the marketplace at fair value instead of hoarding it was a blessing to others.
Food was life or death. No rebuke was too strong for those who hoarded it; no blessing too rich for those who distributed it. Here the question is not so much the poverty of the consumers but the greed of the suppliers. Normal business practices were being suspended for some devious purpose of the seller.
If you're involved in business, this is an important principle. If you are determined to serve people and give wholeheartedly, it will come back to you. But if you're always trying to manipulate the situation, to extract every penny you can, your business suffers. Sell the corn. Bless the people. [Courson, Jon: Jon Courson's Application Commentary: Volume Two. Nashville, TN. Thomas Nelson, 2006, S. 210.]
Proverb 14:21 teaches that our poor neighbors are to be recipients of our generosity. "He who despises his neighbor sins; But he who has mercy on the poor, happy is he."
The recipients of generosity are to be our neighbors, the persons who live near enough to have special claim on us and have a commitment to us. Residing together in the same village as their benefactors they would be in daily touch with each other. Their needs, therefore, would be well known. They were not the drifters, panhandlers, and street people who knock at the door of city churches and tell us tragic and often false stories of urgent need. Nothing in this list of proverbs suggests that we are to help con men.
The needy are neighbors and they are "poor," destitute of the basics of life—especially food and clothing. Remember Jesus' summary of basic needs in Mt. 6:25? [The word anâym (14:21; 16:19), a term for lowliness and humility, most common in the Psalms (9:12, 18; 10:12, 17; 25:9; 34:2; 37:11) connotes direct dependence on God in the absence of all material props.[ The Hebrew word rsh pictures want and especially their hunger, the single surest sign of poverty (Prov. 10:4; 13:7, 8, 23; 14:20; 17:5; 18:23; 19:1, 7, 22; 22:2, 7; 28:3, 27; 29:13; 6:11; 10:15; 13:18; 24:34; 28:19; 30:8; 31:7).] [Hubbard, David A. The Preacher's Commentary Series, Volume 15: Proverbs. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc, 1989. S. 164]
"Despises" and "has mercy" are the opposite poles of attitude when need is prevalent. It is better to err on the side of "mercy" than suspicion, because God has been merciful to us. The promise "happy is he" makes a beatitude of this verse and reminds us of our Lord's beatitude, "Blessed ["happy"] are the merciful" (Mt. 5:7).
A climatic teaching on unselfishness comes when a reason for generosity is stated in Proverb 14:31. "He who oppresses the poor reproaches his Maker, but he who honors Him has mercy on the needy."
The Lord is a participant in cruel or kind human transactions. Life is triangular in shape, as the Bible sees it. Our person-to-person relationships are like the horizontal base. The Lord, who made and cares for both parties, is the cental figure. The person who "oppresses ["crushes"; 22:16; 28:3] the poor ["weak," "needy," "disadvantaged"]" scorns, or reproaches (17:5) the poor person's "Maker" (Creator). So seriously does biblical faith take the doctrine of God's image in man as a gift of divine creation that acts done to a believer are as weighty as though done to God. Scarcely any idea has more power than this to change life radically. The second line states the positive side of the proposition. Treat the "needy" (those who have no means to meet their basic needs; 30:14; 31:9, 20) with "mercy" (compassion) by helping to meet their needs demonstrates an appreciation for God's worth and glory ("honors"). [Ibid. 164]
[Proverb 19:6 informs us that friendship is another result of giving, though it may be a mixed blessing. "Many entreat the favor of the nobility, And every man is a friend to one who gives gifts."
The noble, influential, even "princely" person (see 17:7, 26) has a special obligation to generosity both because of divine blessing in his life and because he receives income from the people through taxation. Yet he is subject to special blandishments ("entreat the favor" means "stroke the face" or "butter up") that are themselves a nuisance; even more he may not know who his true "friend" is, so courted is he by fair-weather friends who long for his "gifts." None of this lessens his obligation to be generous, but it should remind those of us who may be on the receiving end that no need of ours absolves us from the integrity and sincerity we owe others, especially others whose favor we may court. Gift getting and gift giving were and are constant practices in Oriental protocol. We Westerners are tempted often to emulate the manipulative or ambitious aspects of this practice without understanding the graciousness and affirmation that are also elements in it.]
The repayment found in Proverb 19:17 is a most striking reward of generosity. "He who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord, and He will pay back what he has given."
Here a wholly different slant is placed on generosity. It is given resemble to a loan. The person who shows mercy to the poor "lends to the Lord," who, in turn will "pay back" or recompense (3:30; 11:17; 12:14; 31:12). Jesus made this thought unforgettable in Matthew 25:40. "Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me."
Proverb 21:13 is like a law of reciprocity. "Whoever shuts his ears to the cry of the poor will also cry himself and not be heard."
A shut ear is utterly indifferent to the passionate, distressed, "cry" of the needy. The boomerang of neglect will return to smite him. Others will turn deaf in his hour of need. In ancient Israel the edges of the field were to be left for the poor to glean as we see practiced in the Book of Ruth.
An opposite case is cited in Proverb 22:9. "He who has a generous eye will be blessed, for he gives of his bread to the poor."
God's offer to "blessed" is extended to the person with a "generous eye." He sees the need of the hungry and opens his hand to give them "bread." "Good eye" in baseball is the skill to see the ball, judge whether it is over the plate, and lay the bat on it. "Good eye" in Proverbs is the knack of spotting a neighbor's need and laying "bread" on his or her table.
Generosity is again spotlighted in Proverb 21:26. "He covets greedily all day long, but the righteous gives and does not spare."
Verse 26 complements 21:25 which pictures sloth as suicide. The sluggard dies by his own hand, refusing to lift it to do any work! Instead of engaging in productive labor "all day long," "he covets greedily" (the Hebrew structure emphasizes the covetousness) and, thereby, breaks the law (Ex. 20:17; Deut. 5:21), despises his hardworking neighbor, and rots his own soul with bitterness.
The "righteous" person, in contrast, escapes the sin of covetousness, not grieving over what he does not have but by rejoicing in what he "gives" and gives unsparingly. One great gain of generosity is that it protects us from the soul-destructive preoccupation with greed.
IN CONCLUSION
Observation is a key to unlocking divine truth. Watch how life works. Look at the long-term impact of selfishness and generosity and draw your conclusions from what you see.
How are we enriched or blessed? Not by hoarding, but by giving; not by keeping but by sharing. We are to be diligent in work, but not greedily protective of the rewards it brings us. Compassionate, caring, inclusive capitalism is what the Bible calls for and what our affluent society finds so difficult to practice.
The proverbs dealing with generosity are personal. We are reminded of how God has behaved in generosity toward us. The laws of cause and effect are not suspended in the behavioral and spiritual world. Good sowing does mean good reaping, bad sowing, bad reaping. Yet this creation law is not the whole story. A personal God is at work, not only granting just rewards and fair punishments, but using our acts of generosity to bring His justice and His compassion into the lives of others. That some people will have more than others is assumed. That the talented young people being schooled to serve as leaders will have more than others is especially assumed. With that privilege comes the obligation to bring surprises of grace into the lives of the needy with the same caring touch with which God has blessed us.
Our very affluence is not only God's gift to us but God's means of helping others through us. A wealthy and influential person should understand that his position means obligation not privilege, service not leisure, philanthropy not greed. [Hubbard, S. 164]
