give me neither poverty nor riches;
feed me with the food that is needful for me,
lest I be full and deny you
and say, “Who is the LORD?”
or lest I be poor and steal
and profane the name of my God.
Do not slander a servant to his master,
lest he curse you, and you be held guilty.
There are those who curse their fathers
and do not bless their mothers.
There are those who are clean in their own eyes
but are not washed of their filth.
There are those—how lofty are their eyes,
how high their eyelids lift!
There are those whose teeth are swords,
whose fangs are knives,
to devour the poor from off the earth,
the needy from among mankind. (Proverbs 30:8-14, ESV)
In the last post, we saw the wisdom of the sage who humbly prayed “give me neither poverty… lest I be poor and steal…” The prayer (one of the only prayers in the book) is surely close to the heart of Jesus since it echoes the way he taught us to pray: “Give us today our daily bread…and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” (Mt 6:9-13). The author knew that temptation for the poor is uniquely complicated and severe, and he knew the depravity of his own heart; thus, he concluded that if he were poor, he himself would likely be a criminal.
If we are wise--if we are biblical--we will conclude the same thing: the reason you and I are not sitting in jail right now has more to do with our economic status than our character and love for Jesus.
In case we miss this point, in case we actually think there is something superior about ourselves that keeps us from toting guns (or using our bodies, etc.) to make a living illegally, the rest of this passage should sober us, if not embarrass us.
This post will focus on the flipside of the wise man’s prayer: “Give me not riches.” Before we can understand what we need to learn from this passage, we must understand that as modern day Americans, the middle ground, which the author requests, is not likely. The prayer is for “daily bread” (NIV) as an alternative to poverty and wealth, so that if we have enough food for today and tomorrow, then by biblical standards (not American consumer standards which makes us all feel like we don’t have enough), we are rich. And if we are rich, this means that while we may not all struggle with stealing, we will struggle with something that’s ultimately (as we will see) more pathetic.
The basic sins attached to the wealthy are over-consumption and overconfidence. “Give me not riches… lest I be full and deny you and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’” Of course those of us who have more than our daily bread aren't robbing people--we don’t need to rob. We don’t even need the Lord! Or at least this is what our lives usually imply. We may not flat out reject Jesus literally through our words, but we do so practically when we live for more money under the pretense of living for God. Based on the structure of this passage, we must see that to the degree that the poor are prone to steal, we are as likely to become addicted to the things money gives us, making wealth ultimate instead of God.
So how well are we fighting the good fight? A good indicator of whether we've fallen into our demographics’ unique temptation is to think back to the last time we prayed this prayer: “Give me not riches, lest I get too comfortable and reject the Lord.” If it hurts to pray this prayer, we are guilty of idolatry.
Ouch… I don’t know that I’ve ever prayed against obtaining more money. While I'm being honest, I should also confess that gluttony and skepticism (a form of denying of God), the two sins the author immediately attaches to the wealthy, are two of my biggest ongoing sin struggles. While my poor neighbors are more likely to be caught up in theft, I'm taking pills to combat my high blood pressure and cholesterol because I love food and drink more than honoring Jesus' name.
Now, here’s what’s truly pathetic about those of us who have more than our daily bread. The problem isn't that we tend to struggle with gluttony and/or materialism and self-reliance. These things are bad, but our
real problem is that we think our sins are not as bad compared to theft and other kinds of poverty-driven sins. The author places the sins of the rich on par with the sins of the poor, but with our tendency toward self-righteousness, we actually fool ourselves into thinking our problems aren't as bad.
If we were being truly honest, we would have to admit that we often think there’s something about us--or perhaps something about them--that makes us better. “Well sure, we’re all sinful,” we say, “but these people really need help.” And if we are really blind, we might even go as far as saying “these people need my help.”
Ever think this? I have, and that’s why the rest of this passage is so humiliating. Read verse 12 carefully: “There are those who are clean in their own eyes but are not washed of their filth.” Unfortunately, modern translations are produced by members of middle and upper class society and offensive passages like this one are tamed for our polite, cultural preferences. “Filth” is accurate, but it’s not literal. The Hebrew word צֹאָה either means excrement or vaginal discharge with a focus on the foulness or odor of the organic matter.* Since even I’m uncomfortable talking about the latter of these two options, I’ll gladly accept this translation: “Wicked progeny judges itself righteous, but did not wash off its anus” (A New English Translation of the Septuagint). This is what the bible says we are like when we think we are superior to others.
Verse 12 is extremely ironic, especially reading it in its context of wealth and poverty. Those of us who are economically self-sufficient struggle with sin just like everyone else. Our depraved hearts may manifest in different ways depending on complex sociological factors; however, in the final analysis, these differences are only superficial--our hearts are all the same. We all need Jesus. If we think differently, if we hold on to the belief that we are somehow different or better, we are like someone who after scrubbing and examining himself, and pridefully thinking he’s done a meticulous job, walks away judging the appearance of others but not realizing his backside is covered with smears.
Along these lines, Jesus criticized the Church of Laodicea: You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked” (Revelation 3:17). We think we are better, but as it turns out, we are the ones who really need help.
* Swanson, J. (1997).
Dictionary
of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains: Hebrew (Old Testament)
(electronic ed.). Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
Andrew Vincent
andrew@advancememphis.org
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