Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 10:2
Treasures of wickedness profit nothing: but righteousness delivereth from death.
2. Treasures of wickedness righteousness ] The contrast would seem to be between “wickedness” in its highest prosperity and success, when it has amassed “treasures,” when it has “found all precious substance and filled the house with spoil” (Pro 1:13), and “righteousness,” in itself considered, independently of the consequences which may attach to it. Comp. Pro 11:4.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Righteousness – Including, perhaps, the idea of benevolence. Compare the use of dikaiosune, in Mat 6:1 (the older reading), and 2Co 9:9-10.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Pro 10:2
Treasures of wickedness profit nothing, but righteousness delivereth from death
The profits of wickedness and of righteousness
In nothing is our common proneness to self-deception more conspicuously manifested than in the erroneous estimate which we form respecting this world and the next.
Of the one we think as though it could never have an end; of the other as though it could never have a beginning.
I. The treasures of wickedness profit nothing. Treasures of wickedness should mean wealth which has been acquired by dubious or unjustifiable methods, or which is applied to unhallowed or forbidden purposes. But it may be used to signify all wealth bearing no relation to the command and will of the Almighty; all wealth in the acquisition and expenditure of which religion has no influence. But take the present life only, and appearances are against the statement of this text. What will not riches do and obtain for men! Some things they will not. They cannot give health to the languid, ease to the tormented, nor life to the dead. Therefore, with all their fair appearances, they profit nothing. They bring with them no solid, substantial happiness; no joy upon which the soul can confidently repose itself; no strength to endure trials in adversity. If they could, we have still to keep in mind that man is destined for an eternal existence, and for him the hour is coming in which all must confess that riches are useless–nothing in the sight of immortal man, much less in the sight of an eternal God.
II. What is meant by righteousness, and in what sense it delivereth from death. The righteousness which delivereth from death is not our own righteousness properly so-called, but the righteousness of Christ. This righteousness, however, involves a righteousness of our own, which is, in its nature, a necessary fruit, and without which it cannot really exist. The righteousness adverted to by Solomon, in the case of the Jews, was first a ceremonial and then a meritorious righteousness. For us there is first an imputation of the perfect righteousness of Christ, and secondly, an actual righteousness of our own; the first being the cause of our justification, and the second its natural and necessary consequence. The righteous man is he who has accepted the salvation of Christ, is in the leading of the Holy Spirit, and has the testimony of his conscience that, in simplicity and godly sincerity, he daily labours to combine a holy life with a humble and contrite heart. Such a righteousness delivers, not from bodily death, but from all those evils that are represented by, and consummated in, death. To disappointment religion opposes hope; to suffering, patience; to the loss of earthly friends, the friendship of One who sticketh closer than a brother. In the hour of calamity, disease, and death itself, righteousness is proved to be the only lasting, sustaining remedy. (Thomas Dale, M.A.)
Treasures of wickedness
may mean either treasures wickedly got or treasures wickedly spent, or both. Such treasures profit nothing unto the bestowment of true happiness. (R. Wardlaw.)
Wealth
No moral system is complete which does not treat with clearness and force the subject of wealth. The material possessions of an individual or of a nation are, in a certain sense, the prerequisites of all moral life. The production of wealth, it not, strictly speaking, a moral question itself, presses closely upon all other moral questions. Wisdom will be called upon to direct the energies which produce wealth, and to determine the feelings with which we are to regard the wealth which is produced. Moral problems mightier still begin to emerge when the question of distribution presents itself. If production is in a sense the presupposition of all moral and spiritual life, no less certainly correct moral conceptions–may we not even say, true spiritual conditions?–are the indispensable means of determining distribution. In our own day this question of the distribution of wealth stands in the front rank of practical questions. Religious teachers must face it. Socialists are grappling with this question not altogether in a religious spirit. But all socialism is not revolutionary. In the teaching of the Book of Proverbs on this subject note–
I. Its frank and full recognition that wealth has its advantages and poverty its disadvantages. There is no Quixotic attempt to overlook, as many moral and spiritual systems do, the perfectly obvious facts of life. The extravagance and exaggeration which led St. Francis to choose poverty as his bride find no more sanction in this ancient wisdom than in the sound teaching of our Lord and His apostles. As poverty is a legitimate subject of dread, there are urgent exhortations to diligence and thrift, quite in accordance with the excellent apostolic maxim, that if a man will not work he shall not eat; while there are forcible statements of the things which tend to poverty and of the courses which result in comfort and wealth.
II. But, making all allowance for the advantages of wealth, we have to notice some of its serious drawbacks. To begin with, it is always insecure. If wealth has been obtained in any other way than by honest labour it is useless, at any rate for the owner, and indeed worse than useless for him. There is wealth of another kind, wealth consisting in moral and spiritual qualities, compared with which wealth, as it is usually understood, is quite paltry and unsatisfying. A little wisdom, a little sound understanding, or a little wholesome knowledge, is more precious than wealth.
III. Positive counsels about money and its acquisition. We are cautioned against the fever of money-getting; we are counselled to exercise a generous liberality in the disposal of such things as are ours. Happy would that society be in which all men were aiming, not at riches, but merely at a modest competency, dreading the one extreme as much as the other. (R. F. Horton, D.D.)
The worthlessness of a wicked mans wealth, the value of a righteous mans character
I. The worthlessness of a wicked mans wealth. It will profit nothing. The wicked man gets treasures here, and often, indeed, the more wicked a man is the more he succeeds. The fool of the gospel became rich. But of what real profit is wealth to the wicked? It feeds and clothes him well as an animal. It may give him gorgeous surroundings.
1. It profits him nothing in the way of making him truly happy. It cannot harmonise those elements of his nature which sin has brought into conflict; it cannot remove the sense of fault from his conscience; it cannot fill him with a bright hope for the future.
2. It profits him nothing in the way of obtaining the true love of his fellow-men. Men take off their hats to the wealthy, but there is no genuine reverence and love where there is not the recognition of goodness.
3. It profits him nothing in the dying hour or in the future world. He leaves it all behind. Money was the curse of Judas.
II. The value of a righteous mans character. The righteous shall be delivered from death, from that which is the very essence in the evil of physical death–the sting of sin; and entirely from spiritual death. The soul of the righteous shall never famish. On the contrary, it shall increase in vigour for ever. There is no want to them that fear Him. (Homilist.)
What money cannot do
A millionaire who had been born a poor boy, and whose money had become his idol, was showing his house and grounds to a Quaker. The genial Friend praised them and said it was all wonderfully beautiful. The almighty dollar has done it all, said the millionaire. What cannot money do? The Quaker looked sadly at him. He said, Thy question reminds me of the people in the desert. They bowed clown to the golden calf and said it was that which brought them out of Egypt. As it turned out it hindered them and kept them out of the promised land. It would be an awful thing if thy gold kept thee out of heaven. You say, What cannot money do? It cannot deliver thy soul.
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 2. Treasures of wickedness] Property gained by wicked means.
Delivered from death] Treasures gained by robbery often bring their possessors to an untimely death; but those gained by righteous dealing bring with them no such consequences.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Treasures of wickedness: either,
1. All worldly treasures and riches, which are called the mammon of unrighteousness, Luk 16:9, of which see the reasons there; to which righteousness or holiness, which are spiritual and heavenly riches, may be fitly opposed. Or,
2. Such treasures as are got by any sort of unjust or wicked practices.
Profit nothing; they do the possessor no good, but, which is implied from the opposite member, much hurt; they do not only not deliver him from death, but oft expose him to it; either from men, who take away his life that they may enjoy his wealth; or from God, who shortens his days, and makes his death more terrible, as being attended with guilt, and with the second death.
Righteousness: either,
1. True holiness of heart and life. Or,
2. Justice and equity in the getting of riches, or an estate honestly obtained, which may be fitly opposed to treasures of wickedness. Or,
3. A liberal and charitable use of riches, which is oft called righteousness, as Psa 112:9; Dan 4:27; 2Co 9:10, &c., and is indeed but an act of justice, of which see on Pro 3:27, which also is conveniently opposed to an unjust getting of riches; and so this contains a great paradox, yet a certain truth, that the charitable laying out of money is more profitable to men than an unjust and covetous laying it up.
From death; ofttimes from temporal death, because men generally love, and honour, and will assist such persons in cases of danger, and God gives them the blessing of a long life; and always from eternal death, when such charity proceeds from a sincere and honest mind, and a good conscience.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
2. Treasures . . . nothingthatis, Ill-gotten gains give no true happiness (compare Pro 4:17;Mat 6:19).
righteousnessespeciallybeneficence (Ps 112:9).
deaththe greatest ofall evils.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Treasures of wickedness profit nothing,…. By which are meant either a large abundance of riches in general, which for the most part are enjoyed by wicked men, and abused to wicked purposes, Pr 11:4; or an affluence of them, obtained in a wicked way, by fraud, oppression, and the like; see Mic 6:10; Or are either not used at all, or put to wicked uses: what are not used profit not the possessors of them, for they are “kept to the hurt of the owners” of them; and those which are got by ill means, or put to an ill use, “perish by evil travel”, Ec 5:13. Nor can anyone by his riches either redeem himself or his brother from destruction, or give to God a ransom for him; nor can he by them save himself from a corporeal death one year, one month, one day, one hour, one moment; nor will they be of any service to him in the day of judgment, when wrath comes forth against him;
but righteousness delivereth from death; either that which is righteously got, though it be ever so little, is a means of preserving life, and keeps their souls from famishing, Pr 10:3; or else what is liberally dispensed, for alms are called “righteousness”, Ps 112:9 Da 4:27. These are oftentimes the means of saving the lives of persons ready to perish, on whom they are bestowed, and who will venture their lives to save their benefactors; and such liberal persons are oftentimes blessed with long life, and are kept alive when threatened with death, Ps 41:1; and though their good deeds are not meritorious of eternal life, yet they are rewarded with it in a way of grace, Mt 25:34. Moreover, righteousness may be considered as legal and evangelical; a legal righteousness, or the righteousness of men in obedience to the law, cannot deliver from the sentence of death the law has passed; it is not properly a righteousness; it is imperfect, cannot justify, save, or bring to heaven, or entitle to life; notwithstanding this a man must die: but there is an evangelical righteousness; and this is either imparted and implanted in men, is the new man, which is created in righteousness and holiness; and this delivers from a moral or spiritual death, a death in trespasses and sins men are in; for by it they are quickened, live a life of faith on Christ, and have communion with God; have his image stamped on them, and live to him, and to Christ, and to righteousness, being freed from the servitude and dominion of sin; living in which is no other than death: or this righteousness is imputed, which is the righteousness of Christ; wrought out for them, reckoned to them, received by them, and by which they are justified; this delivers them, though not from a corporeal death, yet from the sting and curse of it, and from it as a penal evil, or as a punishment for sin: and it delivers from a legal death, or from the sentence and condemnation of the law, and from the second and eternal death, and entities them to life everlasting.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
There follows now a series of proverbs which place possessions and goods under a moral-religious point of view:
Treasures of wickedness bring no profit;
But righteousness delivers from death.
The lxx and Aquila translate ( ). (to profit) with the accus. is possible, Isa 57:12, but one does not use by itself; it requires a genitive designating it more closely. But also of the Targ., of Symmachus, fails; for the question still remains, to whom? Rightly Syr., Jerome, Theodotion, and the Quinta: , cf. Pro 4:17; Mic 4:10; Luk 16:9, . Treasures to which wickedness cleaves profit not, viz., him who has collected them through wickedness. On the contrary, righteousness saves from death (2b = Pro 11:4, where the parallelism makes it clear that death as a judgment is meant). In Deu 24:13 it had been already said that compassionate love is “righteousness before the Lord,” the cardinal virtue of the righteousness of life. Faith (Hab 2:4) is its soul, and love its life. Therefore and are interchangeable ideas; and it ought not to be an objection against the Apocrypha that it repeats the above proverb, , Tob. 4:10; 12:9, Sir. 3:30; 29:12, for Dan 4:24 also says the very same thing, and the thought is biblical, in so far as the giving of alms is understood to be not a dead work, but (Psa 112:9) the life-activity of one who fears God, and of a mind believing in Him and resting in His word.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
2 Treasures of wickedness profit nothing: but righteousness delivereth from death. 3 The LORD will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish: but he casteth away the substance of the wicked.
These two verses speak to the same purport, and the latter may be the reason of the former. 1. That wealth which men get unjustly will do them no good, because God will blast it: Treasures of wickedness profit nothing, v. 2. The treasures of wicked people, much more the treasure which they have made themselves masters of by any wicked people, by oppression of fraud, though it be ever so much, as a treasure, and laid up ever so safely, though it be hidden treasure, yet it profits nothing; when profit and loss come to be balanced the profit gained by the treasures will by no means countervail the loss sustained by the wickedness, Matt. xvi. 26. They do not profit the soul; they will not purchase any true comfort or happiness. They will stand a man in no stead at death, or in the judgment of the great day; and the reason is because God casts away the substance of the wicked (v. 3); he takes that from them which they have unjustly gotten; he rejects the consideration of it, not regarding the rich more than the poor. We often see that scattered by the justice of God which has been gathered together by the injustice of men. How can the treasures of wickedness profit, when, though it be counted substance, God casts it away and it vanishes as a shadow? 2. That which is honestly got will turn to a good account, for God will bless it. Righteousness delivers from death, that is, wealth gained, and kept, and used, in a right manner (righteousness signifies both honesty and charity); it answers the end of wealth, which is to keep us alive and be a defence to us. It will deliver from those judgments which men bring upon themselves by their wickedness. It will profit to such a degree as to deliver, though not from the stroke of death, yet from the sting of it, and consequently from the terror of it. For the Lord will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish (v. 3), and so their righteousness delivers from death, purely by the favour of God to them, which is their life and livelihood, and which will keep them alive in famine. The soul of the righteous shall be kept alive by the word of God, and faith in his promise, when young lions shall lack and suffer hunger.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Righteousness Vs Wickedness
(Pro 10:2-3)
Verses 2-3 affirm that treasures obtained by wickedness will eventually be unprofitable, 2Ki 5:20-27; Psa 49:6-8; Pro 11:4; Pro 11:28; Luk 12:20; Ecc 5:10; 1Ti 6:9; Mat 6:19-21; Mat 16:26. However, righteousness, right standing with God, provides security in life and delivers from death. Whatever may be their material possessions, the righteous are rich in the things that count in this life, and in the life beyond, Vs. 20-22; Pro 11:4; Pro 13:21; Pro 14:32: Rom 6:23. (See also comment on Pro 11:19.)
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro. 10:2
THE COMPARATIVE VALUE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS AND RICHES
I. Wealth when lawfully gotten is profitless for many very important things. Death is mentioned in the text, it has no power over that in any form.
1. Wealth will not deliver from the daily dying, which is the lot of all men. It has been said that as soon as we are born we begin to die, and we know that it is certain that as soon as men have attained their prime, their outward man perisheth day by day (2Co. 4:16). The richest man cannot purchase exemption from this law with all his wealth.
2. Neither can wealth prevent the death which we call premature. Men of vast fortunes are often brought down to an early grave; the seeds of disease within them hasten the operation of the law of death which has passed upon the whole human race. A galloping consumption cannot be held in check even with golden reins.
3. Treasures of wealth will not insure a man against sudden death. The morning finds the rich man looking over his vast acres, or counting up his dividends, and saying, I have much good laid up for many years; and before the sun sets another has entered into possession of all his riches.
4. Lawfully-gotten wealth will not only not deliver from premature death, but may sometimes bring it on. Wealth is very apt to produce very mistaken views in a mans mind. When he has amassed a large portion of this worlds goods, and is in a condition of moral bankruptcy, he is very prone to imagine that he is secure in the enjoyment of all that he has acquired, and that nothing can come between his riches and himself. Then God may read him a lesson by saying. Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee (Luk. 12:20). Had the man in the parable been a poor man he would not have died so soon; his wealth not only could not deliver him from death, but it hastened his end. And many men walking in his footsteps have been brought to their graves in a similar manner and for a similar reason even when the wealth has been honestly gained. We have no reason to think that the rich fool amassed his riches dishonestly; his sin consisted, not in his having riches, but in his trusting in them.
II. If treasure gotten by honest toil is profitless to deliver from death and other evils, how much less will the treasures of wickedness, i.e., ill-gotten wealth, be profitable to work such a deliverance. The means used to obtain it were opposed to the law of righteousness, which does rule in the universe notwithstanding all the apparent exceptions, and it is as foolish for a man to expect to derive real profit from it as it would be for a man to expect to construct a pyramid which would stand upon its apex. The latter would not be more contrary to natural law than the former is to spiritual law. And treasures of wickedness are not simply profitless, they bring the man who has them under the curse of the Righteous Ruler of the world. They not only bring no profit but they bring great loss. No man can make an unlawful bargain or commit any other dishonest act to gain money without bringing a blight upon his spiritual nature, without entailing upon himself moral death. And if the acquirement of the treasures of wickedness must subject a man to this greatest calamity, how impossible it is that they can be profitable to deliver from any lesser evil.
III. Righteousness, on the other hand
1. Has often delivered from bodily death. All the extraordinary deliverances from death recorded in the Bible took place in connection with righteousness, thereby showing us that righteousness is stronger than death. Enoch did not see death because he was a righteous man. Noah and his family were exempted from the premature death which overtook the rest of the world for the same reason. All the resurrections from the dead were wrought either through the instrumentality of righteous men or by the immediate action of the righteous Son of God.
2. Does deliver always from the curse of bodily death. Death is the penalty of sin; it is therefore a curse. We read that The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law (1Co. 15:56). But Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us (Gal. 3:13). We are justified by His righteousness if we appropriate it by faith (Rom. 3:21-26), and thus obtain the victory over death through our Lord Jesus Christ (1Co. 15:57). Here a relative righteousness delivers from the condemnation of death. But this is the foundation of a personal and actual righteousness of character which delivers from spiritual death now, and will one day deliver the body from the grave. If Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the spirit of Him that raised up Christ from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His spirit that dwelleth in you (Rom. 8:10-11). Here Paul argues from the greater spiritual deliverance to the lesser bodily one, and shows how, in all senses, righteousness delivers from death.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
The proverb means the treasures of an unsaved man. The highest opulence of the dead sinner is of no possible profit: but the righteousness of the saved sinner, even without any opulence at all, is a fortune; for, like the charm of the lamp, it makes for him everlasting blessedness.Miller.
A man may seem to profit by them, and to come up wonderfully for a time. But what was the profit of Naboths vineyard to Ahab, when in his ivory palace he was withering under the curse of God? (1Ki. 21:4-24 with 1Ki. 22:39). What was the profit of the thirty pieces of silver to Judas? Instead of delivering from death, their intolerable sting plunged him into death eternal (Mat. 27:5).Bridges.
Righteousness delivereth from death, to wit, in the time of vengeance; for uprightness is that mark of election and life which the Lord, spying in any when He plagueth the wicked for their transgressions, spareth them, and preserveth them from destruction. Thus, although the righteousness of the just person deserveth nothing at Gods hands, neither is any cause of mans preservation or salvation, yet it serveth as a sovereign treacle to preserve the evil-doer from that deadly plague, which is sent from the Lord to destroy the disobedient, and as a letter of passport to safe-conduct the faithful person in perilous times, and to protect him from all dangers.Muffet.
Observe
I. The excellency of these comforts in themselves. They are treasuresthat is, heaps of outward good things. The word includeth a multitude, for one or two will not make a treasure; and a multitude of precious things, for a heap of sand, or coals, or dust, is not a treasure: but of silver or gold, or some excellent earthly things. It is here in the plural, treasures, noting the greatest confluence of worldly comforts.
II. The impiety of the owners. They are treasures of wickedness. The purchaser got them by sinful practices. They were brought into his house slily at some back door. He was both the receiver and the thief. Treasures of wickedness, because gotten by wicked ways, and employed to wicked ends. There is an English proverb which too many Englishmen have made good, That which is got over the devils back is usually spent under the devils belly. When sin is the parent that begets riches it many times hath this recompense, that they are wholly at its service and command.
III. The vanity of those treasures: they profit nothing. They are unable to cheer the mind, to cure the diseases of the body, much less to heal the wounds of the soul, or to bribe the flames of hell. Alas! they are so far from profiting, that they are infinitely prejudicial. Such powder-masters are blown up with their own ware. These loads sink the bearer into the unquenchable lake. Aristotle tells us of the sea-mew, or sea-eagle, that she will often seize on her prey, though it be more than she can bear, and falleth down headlong with it into the deep, and so perisheth. This fowl is a fit emblem of the unrighteous person, for he graspeth those heavy possessions which press him down into the pit of perdition. They that will be rich (that resolve on it, whether God will or no, and by any means, whether right or wrong), fall into temptations, and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition (1Ti. 6:9). Men that scrape an estate together unjustly are frequently said in the Word of God to get it in haste, because such will not stay Gods time, nor wait in His way till He send them wealth, but must have it presently, and care not though it be unrighteously. Fair and softly goes far. None thrive so well as those that stay Gods leisure, and expect wealth in His way.
1. Be righteous in thy works or actions. Deal with men as one that in all hath to do with God. If thou art a Christian, thou art a law to thyself; thou hast not only a law without thee (the Word of God), but a law within thee, and so darest not transgress. Thy double hedge may well prevent thy wandering. Be righteous in buying. Take heed lest thou layest out thy money to purchase endless misery. Some have bought places to bury their bodies in, but more have bought those commodities which have swallowed up their souls. Injustice in buying is a canker which will eat up and waste the most durable wares. In buying, do not work either upon the ignorance or the poverty of the seller. Be righteous in selling. Be careful, while thou sellest thy wares to men, that thou dost not sell thy soul to Satan. Be righteous in the substance of what thou sellest, and that in regard of its quality and quantity. God can see the rottenness of thy stuffs, and heart too, under thy false glosses, and for all thy false lights. Be righteous in regard to the quantity. They wrong themselves most who wrong others of their right. The jealous God is very punctual in this particular (Lev. 19:35-36).
2. Be righteous in thy words and expressions, as well as in thy works. The Christians tongue should be his hearts interpreter, and reveal its mind and meaning; and the Christians hand should justify his tongue, by turning his words into deeds. The burgess of the new Jerusalem is known by this livery: He walketh uprightly, worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart; he sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not (Psa. 15:2; Psa. 15:4). His speech is the natural and genuine offspring of his heart; there is a great resemblance between the child and the parent. There is a symmetry between his hand and his tongue; he is slow to promise, not hasty to enter into bonds, but being once engaged, he will be sure to perform.Swinnock.
Wickedness is in itself a treasure laid up against the day of wrath; and as that profiteth nothing, so neither do the treasures of wickedness. For as he that setteth himself to any employment, perhaps may lose one way and get another, but if, in the general upshot and confusion, he finds his estate to be bettered, then is his employment said to be profitable; so in the treasures of wickedness, there may be gain of wealth, honour, pleasure, and loss of credit, quiet, comfort, but in the conclusion the loss will be most grievous, and therefore profitable they cannot be.Jermin.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(2) Treasures of wickednessi.e., gained by wrong-doing.
Righteousness delivereth from death.The Hebrew word translated righteousness has a much wider meaning than its English equivalent, which generally bears the sense only of deciding fairly, being especially applied to judges. But a righteous man in Hebrew is one who renders to all their due, whether to God, as Noah, who was just and perfect before Him (Gen. 6:9; Gen. 7:1; comp. Ecc. 7:20), or to man. To his fellow-men his justice will show itself in liberality (Psa. 37:21), mercy (Pro. 12:10), carefulness of speech (Pro. 15:28), truthfulness (Pro. 13:5), and wisdom (Pro. 9:9). He is considerate to animals also (Pro. 12:10). So in the sermon on the Mount our Lord (Mat. 6:1) says, Take heed that ye do not your righteousness [so the best MSS. read] before men; and then specifies it under the heads of almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. In this passage it forms a contrast to riches gained by wrong, and therefore would seem particularly to signify almsgiving, as its Greek equivalent does in 2Co. 9:10. It is often: rendered so by the LXX., and it is the most usual sense of the word in late Hebrew. It is so interpreted also in Tob. 4:10; Tob. 12:9, where this passage is quoted. (Comp. Sir. 3:30; Sir. 29:12, and our Lords advice, Luk. 16:9.) It delivers from death, as being a sign of the divine life within, which is hid with Christ in God (Col. 3:3).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
2. Treasures of wickedness Gotten by unjust and fraudulent means; “ill got, ill gone.” The Septuagint renders this clause, “Treasures shall not profit the lawless.”
Righteousness delivereth from death That is, from the “death” which is the punishment of crime; while treasures obtained by fraud and robbery often bring after them an untimely death. Comp. Pro 10:25; Pro 10:27, also Pro 11:4. On first clause comp. Rom 2:5. etc.; 1Ki 21:19 ; 2Ki 5:26-27; Isa 10:2, etc.; Luk 19:21: on second clause compare Jer 33:6; Dan 4:19; Dan 9:24. This righteousness includes liberality to others, (Pro 10:4,) and brings the Lord’s mercy with it. Comp. Psa 41:1-2; Psa 112:9; Dan 4:27 ; 2Co 9:9.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Finances Pro 10:2-3 deal with material possessions. A young man’s initial instinct as he journeys from home is to provide for himself. He is determined to survive, and to no longer depend upon his parents for support. Therefore, he quickly sees the wealth of the sinner as he struggles to make it on his own (Pro 10:2). However,, he must remember that God will provide for His children (Pro 10:3).
Illustration – I will never forget the summer of 1975. My father left my mother and us children in July 1975. I had just graduated from high school and just been accepted to the University of Florida. When Dad left, fear gripped my heart as I wondered how our remaining family was going to make it financially. However, mother was strong in faith. I went on to college with some small summer savings, enough to take me through a few weeks of college. By a miracle, I received one-hundred percent financial aid before my money ran out. Mother worked hard with a minimum wage job, and later found a good job in a local bank. She would spend the next twenty-five years on this job. God was faithful, and we did not famish.
Pro 10:2 Treasures of wickedness profit nothing: but righteousness delivereth from death.
Pro 10:2
But here is one of his earliest tests of wisdom. He must now learn how to obtain possessions in this life. He now has a choice. He can choose to seek after earthly treasures, or he can choose to pursue righteousness. If he chooses to seek earthly treasures the way the wicked seek them, he will find a great loss, for he will leave the path of wisdom. If he chooses to pursue righteousness, he will remain on the path of wisdom.
He has heard this warning from his father before in Pro 1:10-19. He knows that the wicked will entice him with the pursuit of great possessions.
Pro 1:13-14, “We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil: Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse:”
He has been told that their end is destruction.
Pro 1:19, “So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.”
Thus, this proverb explains that wicked treasures profit nothing, but rather, they lead to death. The ability to make the right choice here largely depends upon the training that the young man received in his parent’s home.
My pastor says that sin will take you further than you planned to go and it will cost you more than you planned to pay.
In the times of Noah, even rich men perished. Only Noah and His family lived, and this was because of the righteousness of Noah. Note a similar verse:
Pro 11:4, “Riches profit not in the day of wrath: but righteousness delivereth from death.”
Pro 10:3 The LORD will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish: but he casteth away the substance of the wicked.
Pro 10:3
Psa 37:25, “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.”
In contrast, the wealth of the wicked will be short lived. It will be quickly taken away.
Pro 13:11, “Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished: but he that gathereth by labour shall increase.”
Pro 10:3 reveals the divine intervention of God in both the provision of the righteous and in the lack of the wicked.
Pro 10:3 Scripture References – Note similar verses:
Pro 10:24, “The fear of the wicked, it shall come upon him: but the desire of the righteous shall be granted.”
Pro 10:28, “The hope of the righteous shall be gladness: but the expectation of the wicked shall perish.”
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
v. 2. Treasures of wickedness,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Pro 10:2. Righteousness delivereth from death The meaning seems to be, that justice, holiness, and virtue, constitute the true riches of a man; which, whosoever is wise enough to lay up, procures to himself an impregnable asylum. See chap. Pro 11:4 and Schultens. Le Clerc thinks that righteousness means innocence; which being once proved, the person falsely accused will be cleared. The reader will observe, that in this, as in the other poetical books of Scripture, the hemistichs correspond each to the other; and an attention to this will serve greatly to elucidate a variety of passages.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Treasures of wickedness profit nothing: but righteousness delivereth from death.
There is a righteousness indeed, which delivereth from death, even the righteousness of Jesus, and which God hath set forth for this purpose. Rom 3:21-22 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Pro 10:2 Treasures of wickedness profit nothing: but righteousness delivereth from death.
Ver. 2. Treasures of wickedness. ] Our Saviour calls it “Mammon of iniquity,” Luk 16:9 that next odious name to the devil. Most men’s care is how to grasp and get wealth for their children – rem rem, quocunque modo rem. Virtus post nummos, &c. But what saith a grave author? a “Better leave thy child a wallet to beg from door to door, than a cursed hoard of evil gotten goods.” There is for the most part lucrura in arca, damnum in conscientia, b – gain in the purse, but loss in the conscience.
But righteousness delivereth from death.
a Mr Bolton.
b Augustine.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
wickedness = lawlessness. Hebrew. rasha’. App-44.
profit nothing. Illustrations: Rehoboam (2Ch 12:1-4, 2Ch 12:9); Gehazi (2Ki 5:20-27. 2Ki 21:6); Nebuchadnezzar (Dan 4:31, Dan 4:33; Belshazzar (Daniel 5); the Rich FoolLuk 12:20, Luk 12:21. Compare Luk 16:23, Luk 16:24). Compare Pro 11:28.
righteousness delivereth, &c. Illustrations: Daniel (Pro 6:22-30. Compare Pro 13:6); Noah (Gen 7:1. Heb 11:7).
death. Put by Figure of speech Metonymy (of Effect), for the things which lead to death.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Pro 10:2
Pro 10:2
“Treasures of wickedness profit nothing; But righteousness delivereth from death.”
“Wealth you get by dishonesty will do you no good, but honesty can save your life.
Pro 10:2. Treasures of wickedness are riches gotten by wrong means. A Christian must follow only acceptable vocations: Eph 4:28; marginal note on Tit 3:8. Better is a little, with righteousness, Than great revenues with injustice (Pro 16:8). Other similar references: Pro 11:4; Psa 34:10; Psa 37:25; Dan 4:27. And yet communities and families are usually more proud of their rich than they are of their righteous!
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Treasures: Pro 11:4, Psa 49:6-10, Isa 10:2, Isa 10:3, Zep 1:18, Luk 12:15-21, Luk 16:22, Luk 16:23, Rom 2:5, Jam 5:1-3
but: Pro 12:28, Dan 4:27, Rom 5:21, Phi 3:9
Reciprocal: Job 36:19 – Will Psa 49:9 – That he Pro 13:11 – Wealth Pro 21:6 – getting Mic 6:10 – the treasures Zec 9:4 – the Lord Jam 5:20 – from death
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Pro 10:2. Treasures of wickedness Such as are got by any sort of unjust or wicked practices; or worldly riches in general, termed by our Lord, the mammon of unrighteousness, Luk 16:9, because they are often used in an unrighteous manner, and made instruments of unrighteousness, and for other reasons there explained; profit nothing Do the possessor no good at the time here intended, but, as is implied in the opposite member of the sentence, much hurt. They not only do not deliver him from death, but often expose him to it, either from men, who would take away his life that they may enjoy his wealth, or from God, who shortens his days, as a punishment of those luxuries and other sins into which his wealth led him: whence death becomes more terrible, as being attended with guilt and a dread of the second death. But righteousness True holiness of heart and life; or he may mean justice and equity in the getting of riches, and a liberal and charitable use of them, which is often called righteousness in Scripture, and is indeed but an act of justice; (of which see on Pro 3:27;) delivereth from death Frequently from temporal death, because men generally love and honour, and will assist such persons in cases of danger, and God often gives them the blessing of a long life; and always from eternal death, when such justice and charity proceed from true piety and a good conscience.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
10:2 Treasures of {a} wickedness profit nothing: but righteousness delivereth from death.
(a) That is, wickedly gotten.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
At face value both statements in this verse may seem untrue. The solution to this puzzling proverb, as well as the solution to many that follow, lies in remembering that Solomon had the whole course of a life in view, not just the immediate consequences of an act or condition. The righteous escape death in that they have greater true riches (as God’s beneficiaries) than the wicked, simply because they are righteous, regardless of their financial condition.