Pro 23:4-5 | KingComments | STEP | Wealth has the same attraction as the food on a ruler’s table in the previous verses. Also, wealth is just as deceptive as the food on the ruler’s table. Therefore, wealth must also be handled very carefully. The warning is not to weary oneself to gain wealth ( ). He who does weary himself for this purpose is absorbed and caught up in it. It is about wanting to become rich. He who wants to become rich runs great spiritual risks ( ). We can imagine that the son is young and ambitious. He has many abilities and sees many challenges. But the father keeps telling him not to use his “consideration” to list all kinds of benefits that make wealth worth putting effort in to it, to toil for it. Let him stop looking for good reasons for doing something that is bad. The reality is that just as his eyes ‘fly’ over the wealth, the wealth also “flies”, according to the literal translation of : “Will your eyes fly upon it and it is not?” Solomon uses a pun here with the word fly. The eyes fly and the wealth flies. Just as quickly as the eyes fly, wealth make itself wings and flies away quickly. Wealth evaporates with the speed of “an eagle that flies [toward] the heavens”. You lose out, with no way to retrieve the wealth. One wrong speculation, a bank that fails, a thief who breaks in, and you have lost your entire capital at once. The warning Solomon gives his son and us is not a warning against diligence and zeal, but against greed for money, against materialism with its dangers, the thirst for more wealth. It is better to use all our strength to gather treasures in heaven ( ). It is also better, in imitation of Paul, to give all our strength to the work for the Lord. In setting our priorities, we show what we use our “consideration” for.

‏ Proverbs 23:4-5

Wealth Has Wings

Wealth has the same attraction as the food on a ruler’s table in the previous verses. Also, wealth is just as deceptive as the food on the ruler’s table. Therefore, wealth must also be handled very carefully. The warning is not to weary oneself to gain wealth (Pro 23:4). He who does weary himself for this purpose is absorbed and caught up in it. It is about wanting to become rich. He who wants to become rich runs great spiritual risks (1Tim 6:9-10).

We can imagine that the son is young and ambitious. He has many abilities and sees many challenges. But the father keeps telling him not to use his “consideration” to list all kinds of benefits that make wealth worth putting effort in to it, to toil for it. Let him stop looking for good reasons for doing something that is bad.

The reality is that just as his eyes ‘fly’ over the wealth, the wealth also “flies”, according to the literal translation of Pro 23:5: “Will your eyes fly upon it and it is not?” Solomon uses a pun here with the word fly. The eyes fly and the wealth flies. Just as quickly as the eyes fly, wealth make itself wings and flies away quickly. Wealth evaporates with the speed of “an eagle that flies [toward] the heavens”. You lose out, with no way to retrieve the wealth. One wrong speculation, a bank that fails, a thief who breaks in, and you have lost your entire capital at once.

The warning Solomon gives his son and us is not a warning against diligence and zeal, but against greed for money, against materialism with its dangers, the thirst for more wealth. It is better to use all our strength to gather treasures in heaven (Mt 6:19-20). It is also better, in imitation of Paul, to give all our strength to the work for the Lord. In setting our priorities, we show what we use our “consideration” for.