Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 13:7
There is that maketh himself rich, yet [hath] nothing: [there is] that maketh himself poor, yet [hath] great riches.
7. maketh ] This rendering, which is retained in R.V. text, has its highest illustration in Christ Himself (Php 2:5-11; 2Co 8:9), and accords with the constant teaching of the N.T. ( Php 3:7-9 ; 2Co 6:10; Luk 12:21; Rev 3:17). Some however, with R.V. marg., would render feigneth himself, in both clauses, makes himself out to be what he is not.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Compare Pro 11:24. There is a seeming wealth behind which there lies a deep spiritual poverty and wretchedness. There is a poverty which makes a person rich for the kingdom of God.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Pro 13:7
There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing.
The poor rich and the rich poor
Two singularly-contrasted characters are set in opposition here. One, that of a man who lives like a millionaire and is a pauper; another, that of a man who lives like a pauper and is rich. Now, I do not suppose that the author of this proverb attached any kind of moral to it, in his own mind. It is simply a jotting of an observation drawn from a wide experience; and if he meant to teach any lesson by it, I suppose it was nothing more than that in regard to money, as to other things, we should avoid extremes, and should try to show what we are, and to be what we seem. This finds its highest application in regard to Christianity, and our relation to Jesus Christ.
I. Our universal poverty. However a man may estimate himself and conceit himself, there stand out two salient facts.
1. The fact of universal dependence. Whatever else may be dark and difficult about the co-existence of these two, the infinite God and the finite universe, this at least is sun-clear, that the creature depends absolutely for everything on that infinite Creator. People talk sometimes, and we are all too apt to think, as if God had made the world and left it. And we are all apt to think that, however we may owe the origination of our own personal existence to a Divine act, the act was done when we began to be, and the life was given as a gift that could be separated from the Bestower. If it were possible to cut a sunbeam in two, so that the further half of it should be separated from its vital union with the great central fire from which it rushed long, long ago, that further half would pale into darkness. And if you cut the connection between God and the creature, the creature shrivels into nothing. So at the very foundation of our being there lies absolute dependence. In like manner, all that we call faculties, capacities, and the like, are, in a far deeper sense than the conventional use of the word gift implies, bestowments from Him. As well, then, might the pitcher boast itself of the sparkling water that it only holds, as well might the earthen jar plume itself on the treasure that has been deposited in it, as we make ourselves rich because of the riches that we have received. Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his strength. Let not the rich man glory in his riches; but he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.
2. Then, turn to the second of the facts on which this universal poverty depends, and that is, the fact of universal sinfulness. Ah, there is one thing that is our own–If any power we have, it is to will. Conscience tells us, and we all know it, that we are the causes of our own actions, though from Him come the powers by which we do them. The electricity comes from the central power-station, but it depends on us what sort of wheels we make it drive, and what kind of work we set it to do. So, then, there are these two things, universal dependence and universal sinfulness, and on them is built the declaration of universal poverty. Duty is debt. What we ought is what we owe. We all owe an obedience which none of us has rendered. We are all paupers.
II. The poor rich man. There is that maketh himself rich, and yet hath nothing. That describes accurately the type of man who ignores dependence, and is not conscious of sin, and so struts about in self-complacent satisfaction with himself, and knows nothing of his true condition. There is nothing more tragic than that a man, laden, as we each of us are, with burden of evil that we cannot get rid of, should yet conceit himself to possess merits, virtues, graces, that ought to secure for him the admiration of his fellows and the approbation of God. The deceitfulness of sin is one of its mightiest powers. You condemn in other people the very things you do yourself. Many of you have never ventured upon a careful examination and appraisement of your own moral and religious character. You durst not, for you are afraid that it would turn out badly. Then you have far too low a standard, and one of the main reasons why you have so low a standard is just because the sins that you do have dulled your consciences. Aye, and more than that. The making of yourself rich is the sure way to prevent yourself from ever being so. We see that in all other regions of life. If a student says to himself, Oh! I know all that subject, the chances are that he will not get it up any more. And in any department, when a man says, Lo! I have attained, then he ceases to advance. If you fancy yourselves to be quite well, though a mortal disease has gripped you, you will take no medicine, nor have recourse to any physician. If you think that you have enough good to show for mans judgment and for Gods, and have not been convinced of your dependence and your sinfulness, then Jesus Christ will be very little to you. I believe that this generation needs few things more than it needs a deepened consciousness of the reality of sin and of the depth and damnable nature of it.
III. The rich poor man. There is that maketh himself poor, and yet–or, as varied, the expression is, therefore hath great riches. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Consciousness of poverty is the only fitting attitude for any of us to take up in view of the fact of our dependence and the fact of our sinfulness. Then let me remind you that this wholesome recognition of facts about ourselves as they are is the sure way to possess the wealth. If you see your poverty, let self-distrust be the nadir, the lowest point, and let faith be the complementary high point, the zenith. The rebound from self-distrust to trust in Christ is that which makes the consciousness of poverty the condition of receiving wealth. And what wealth it is!–the wealth of a peaceful conscience, of a quiet heart, of lofty aims, of a pure mind, of strength according to our need, of an immortal hope, of a treasure in the heavens that faileth not. Do you estimate yourself as you are? Have you taken stock of yourself? Have you got away from the hallucination of possessing wealth? Have you taken the wealth which He freely gives to all who sue in forma pauperis? He does not ask you to bring anything but debts and sins, emptiness and weakness, and penitent faith. And then you will be of those blessed poor ones who are rich through faith, and heirs of the kingdom. (A. Maclaren, D.D.)
The policy that degrades and the policy that ennobles
This proverb denotes either a mean, social fact, or a grand moral contrast. Here is the man who makes himself out to be rich, either to gratify his vanity or to impose on and defraud others. And here is the man who makes himself out to be poor, that he may escape the reproach of neglecting his own kith and kin. Both are essentially and execrably hypocritical. In the first is the hypocrisy of vanity; in the second of greed. Both are dishonest and demoralising. A corrupt state of society alone suggests such expedients, and only a depraved man resorts to them. The Old and New Testaments distinguish between the outer and the inner man. We may make the outer either nurture or kill the inner man. The two conditions, poverty and wealth, betoken no moral difference; they do betoken great social difference. Spiritually the extremes of each may be utterly reversed. The rich may spiritually have nothing, and the poor have great riches. But poverty is not necessarily the concomitant of piety. (W. Wheeler.)
The danger of mistaking our spiritual state
I. There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing.
I. Such are they who are unacquainted with their real character. Among these may be reckoned all who are ignorant even of fundamental truths, or pervert them.
2. Such are they who, notwithstanding, entertain a high opinion of their spiritual condition. To beast of what we have not is the greatest folly; to glory of what we have is the most intolerable vanity.
3. Such are they who are indifferent to the means of obtaining relief, and the supply of their spiritual wants.
II. There is that maketh himself poor, yet hath great riches.
1. Persons of this sort commonly complain much of themselves and their condition.
2. The temper and conduct of such persons serves to discover the mistaken judgment which they have formed of their spiritual condition. From whatever cause this error in opinion may proceed, there is always something in the temper and conduct of people of this sort that shows the high value which they put upon the true riches, and the humbling sense they entertain of their apprehended spiritual poverty. This distinguishes them from those who only pretend to the character of which I am speaking.
3. Notwithstanding they think themselves poor, they have great riches. The Lord, whose loving-kindness is better than life, is their God, the strength of their hearts, and their portion for ever. (W. McCulloch.)
The truly rich man
Amongst great numbers of men accounted rich, but few really are so. I take him to be the only rich man that lives upon what he has, owes nothing, and is contented. For there is no determinate sum of money, nor quantity of estate, that can denote a man rich; since no man is truly rich that has not so much as perfectly satiates his desire of having more. For the desire of more is want, and want is poverty. (J. Howe.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 7. There is that maketh himself rich] That labours hard to acquire money, yet hath nothing; his excessive covetousness not being satisfied with what he possesses, nor permitting him to enjoy with comfort what he has acquired. The fable of the dog in the manger will illustrate this.
There is that maketh himself poor, yet hath great riches.] “As poor,” said St. Paul, “yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing all things.” The former is the rich poor man; the latter is the poor rich man.
As the words are here in the hithpael conjugation, which implies reflex action, or the action performed on one’s self, and often signifies feigning or pretending to be what one is not, or not to be what one is; the words may be understood of persons who feign or pretend to be either richer or poorer than they really are, to accomplish some particular purpose. “There is that feigneth himself to be rich, yet hath nothing; there is that feigneth himself to be poor, yet hath great riches.” Both these characters frequently occur in life.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Some men who have little or nothing pretend to have great riches, and carry themselves accordingly; either out of pride and vanity, or with a design to gain reputation with others whom they intend to defraud. Some rich men seem and profess themselves to be very poor, that they may preserve and increase their estates, by concealing them from those who would either desire a share in them, or take them away by deceit or violence.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
7. In opposite ways men acthypocritically for gain of honor or wealth.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
There is that maketh himself rich, yet [hath] nothing,…. Some persons make a great show of riches, and would be thought to be rich; put on fine clothes, live at a high rate, and appear in great pomp, and yet not worth a farthing; which they do to gratify their pride and ambition, and to draw in others to trust them with their substance. So in spirituals; some persons, as hypocrites, would be thought to be rich in grace, and to be possessed of all the graces of the Spirit, faith, hope, and love; and yet have nothing of true grace, only what is counterfeit; the root of the matter is not in them; no principle of life and grace, only a name to live; nothing of the power, only the form, of godliness; no oil of grace in the vessels of their hearts, only the lamp of an outward profession: some, as the Pharisees, would be thought to be rich in good works, when they have no good thing in them, and do nothing that is spiritually good; either what they do is not done according to the revealed will of God, as many things done by the Pharisees formerly, and by the Papists now, or they do not flow from love; nor i are they done in faith, nor in the name and strength of Christ, nor to the glory of God by him: some, as the same persons, would be thought to be rich in righteousness, when they have no true righteousness at all; not the righteousness of the law, which requires perfection of obedience; not the righteousness of faith, which is the righteousness of another; the righteousness of God is imputed, and is without the works of men; they have no righteousness that can justify them, or save them, or bring them to heaven: some, as the Arminians, would be thought to be rich in spiritual strength, and in the power of their free will, when they have neither will nor power to do anything spiritually good; neither to regenerate and convert themselves, nor to come to Christ, nor to do any good work: some, as the Perfectionists, would be thought to be so rich as to be free from sin, and perfect in grace, when they have none at all, as says the apostle, 1Jo 1:8; their picture is drawn in Ephraim, and their language spoke by him, Ho 12:8. The apostate church of Rome would be thought rich with the merits of saints, and works of supererogation, when she has no merit at all; nor is it possible for a creature to, merit anything at the hands of God; compare with all this Re 3:17;
[there is] that maketh himself poor, yet [hath] great riches; there are some, on the other hand, who greatly degrade themselves; live in a very mean way, as though they were very poor; either through covetousness, or because they would not draw upon them the envy of their neighbours, or encourage their friends to borrow of them, or invite thieves to steal from them, or for some low end or another: the pope of Rome sometimes affects to seem poor, though at other times, and in other respects, he would be thought rich; at the Lateran procession the newly elected pope scatters pieces of brass money among the people, saying, as Peter, whose successor he pretends to be, did, “Silver and gold have I none”, Ac 3:6; yet comes into great riches. These words may be applied spiritually, in a good sense; there are some who are sensible of their spiritual poverty, and own it; they ingenuously express the sense they have of their own nothingness and unworthiness; they declare they have nothing, and can do nothing; they renounce all their own works in the business of salvation, and ascribe it wholly to the grace of God; they have very mean thoughts, and speak very meanly of themselves, as less than the least of saints, and the chief of sinners: yea, some carry the matter too far in the expressions of their poverty; will not be persuaded that they have the true riches of grace, at least will not own it; but give way to their doubts and fears about it, when they are possessed of much; to whom some think these words are applicable. However, they are to such who are “poor in spirit”, Mt 5:3, as before described; who have, notwithstanding, “great riches”, the riches of justifying grace, the riches of Christ’s righteousness: the riches of pardoning grace, a large share thereof, much being forgiven them; the riches of sanctifying grace, faith, more precious than that of gold that perisheth, with all other graces; the riches of spiritual knowledge, preferable to gold and silver: they have Christ, and all things along with him; they have God to be their portion, and exceeding great reward; they have a large estate, an incorruptible inheritance, in heaven; they have a better and a more enduring substance there; “theirs is the kingdom of heaven”, Mt 5:3; it is prepared for them, and given to them; compare with this 2Co 6:10.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Two proverbs of riches and poverty: –
There is one who maketh himself rich and hath nothing;
There is another who representeth himself poor amid great riches.
A sentence which includes in itself the judgment which Pro 12:9 expresses. To the Hithpa. (to make oneself of importance) there are associated here two others, in the meaning to make oneself something, without anything after it, thus to place oneself so or so, Ewald, 124a. To the clauses with there is supplied a self-intelligible .
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
7 There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing: there is that maketh himself poor, yet hath great riches.
This observation is applicable,
I. To men’s worldly estate. The world is a great cheat, not only the things of the world, but the men of the world. All men are liars. Here is an instance in two sore evils under the sun:– 1. Some that are really poor would be thought to be rich and are thought to be so; they trade and spend as if they were rich, make a great bustle and a great show as if they had hidden treasures, when perhaps, if all their debts were paid, they are not worth a groat. This is sin, and will be shame; many a one hereby ruins his family and brings reproach upon his profession of religion. Those that thus live above what they have choose to be subject to their own pride rather than to God’s providence, and it will end accordingly. 2. Some that are really rich would be thought to be poor, and are thought to be so, because they sordidly and meanly live below what God has given them, and choose rather to bury it than to use it, Ecc 6:1; Ecc 6:2. In this there is an ingratitude to God, injustice to the family and neighbourhood, and uncharitableness to the poor.
II. To their spiritual state. Grace is the riches of the soul; it is true riches; but men commonly misrepresent themselves, either designedly or through mistake and ignorance of themselves. 1. There are many presuming hypocrites, that are really poor and empty of grace and yet either think themselves rich, and will not be convinced of their poverty, or pretend themselves rich, and will not own their poverty. 2. There are many timorous trembling Christians, that are spiritually rich, and full of grace, and yet think themselves poor, and will not be persuaded that they are rich, or, at least, will not own it; by their doubts and fears, their complaints and griefs, they make themselves poor. The former mistake is destroying at last; this is disquieting in the mean time.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Riches and Poverty
Verse 7 suggests that there is material wealth which in reality is the greatest of poverty (Luk 12:16-21); and there is a material poverty co-existing with the possessing of all things spiritual (2Co 6:10).
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.
Pro. 13:7. Maketh, or showeth.
Pro. 13:8. The latter clause of this is very obscure, but rebuke is generally translated threatening, and is understood to mean that no threatening can gain anything from the poor as they have nothing to lose. Stuart understands it that notwithstanding the obvious advantage of wealth, yet the poor man will not listen to those who rebuke him for sloth and wastefulness which have made him poor. The supposition on this ground is that the man is poor by his own fault.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro. 13:7-8
THE LAW OF COMPENSATION
I. There may be pretensions to wealth where there is comparative poverty. Many men endeavour to make other people believe that they are richer than they areindeed, it seems to be the common vice of modern society. It is to be deprecated for several reasons.
1. It is an injury to the man himself. It very often happens that his foolish artifices fail to blind others; he is like the ostrich who, when he puts his head into the sand, thinks he has hidden himself entirely from observation; he only makes himself an object of ridicule to those whom he thinks he has deceived. If, for a time, he that hath nothing succeeds in making people believe he is rich, the truth comes out in time, the bubble bursts, and the pretender comes to such shame as would never have been his portion if he had been content to pass for what he really wasa poor man.
2. Such pretenders are a curse to others. One such man makes many others. His costly furniture and brilliant entertainments, and all the adjuncts which are necessary to keep up the reputation of being a millionaire, lead his neighbours and associates to keep up appearances of the same kind, and so the mischief grows. Then such men rob honest men by leading them to trust them with their goods or money, and when the end comes many are brought to ruin. Examples of this truth are not far to seek, they are, alas, far too common in the present day.
3. Such pretension is base hypocrisy. A sin against which a righteous God levels His sternest threatenings (see on chap. Pro. 11:9).
II. He who is really wealthy and yet does not use his wealth to the glory of God hath nothing.
1. He is poor in relation to his fellow-creatures. The greatest beggar cannot do less for the world than he does, and he is poor in the love and gratitude of those from whom he might win a rich reward by the exercise of benevolence.
2. He is poor in spiritual riches. A miserly, niggardly man must be poor towards God (Luk. 12:21)must be destitute of all that God counts worth possessing. The rich Church of Laodicea was so increased with goods that she said, I have need of nothing, but in the sight of the Son of God she was poor (Rev. 3:17).
III. In a spiritual sense this text is true. Possibly the rebuke to the Laodician Church may refer to that satisfaction in spiritual things which maketh itself rich yet hath nothing, because its possessor is destitute of any real knowledge of his own spiritual needs and, consequently, of his spiritual poverty.
IV. There are men who are in every respect the opposite of those with whom we have been dealing.
1. There is the miser who maketh himself poor, yet hath great riches. It is difficult to know what motive can prompt a man to do this except covetousnessa fear that he will be expected to part with some of his wealth for the good of others. What, therefore, was said under the second head will apply to him.
2. There are those who make no show of wealth, yet having enough to sustain their position in life are really rich. The man who is content to be known for what he really is, and has enough to live honestly, is rich, for riches and poverty are merely comparative terms, and the riches of one man would be poverty to another.
For he that needs five thousand pounds to live,
Is full as poor as he that needs but five.
Therefore, a man that maketh (or sheweth) himself poor in this sense, has great riches. He has a sufficiency for all his wants, he retains his self-respect and the respect of his fellow-men.
3. The really poor man is rich when he spends his little with regard to the glory of God. Who of all those who cast their gifts into the treasury was so rich as the poor widow who cast in all her living? She was rich in the commendation of her Lord (Mar. 12:43), and all such as she will have the same recognition and will be rich in the gratitude and love of their fellow-creatures. Such an one shows that he is in possession of the true riches (Luk. 16:11) which alone can preserve from moral bankruptcy. To them belongs the commendation I know thy poverty, but thou art rich (Rev. 2:9). Such poor of this world are rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom (Jas. 2:5).
4. Those who are thus really, because spiritually, rich have always a sense of spiritual poverty. They esteem themselves less than the least of all saints (Eph. 3:8), their watchword is not as though I had already attained (Php. 3:12), therefore, to them belongs the rich possession of the friendship of the High and Lofty One, that inhabiteth eternity (Isa. 57:15). Thus making themselves poor, they yet have great riches.
V. There are advantages and disadvantages connected both with material wealth and with poverty. The ransom of a mans life are his riches. This was more literally true in Solomons days than in ours, and is more so now in Oriental countries than among the western nations. There, even now, a mans riches often excite the greed of some despotic ruler, or one of his irresponsible officials, and he is accused of some crime in order that his accuser may pocket a large ransom. In times of war, too, the rich are exposed to losses and vexations from their conquerors, which the poor escape. Wealth is the magnet which draws the plunderers upon them; although, at the same time, it enables them to ransom their lives. This is one of the penalties of riches. The spirit, although not the letter of the proverb, may be applied to modern European life. It is the hall of the nobleman that is exposed to the visits of the burglar. It is the great capitalist that loses when banks fail, and when there is a commercial panic. But none of these things touch a poor man. The despots pass him over, because he has no riches wherewith to ransom his life; in the time of war he is unmolested, as when Judea was invaded, the captain of the guard left of the poor of the land to be vine-dressers and husbandmen (2Ki. 25:12). No thief plans a midnight surprise upon his humble abode; he cannot lose his money, he has none to lose. Vultures are not attracted to a skeleton, they gather round a carcase covered with flesh. So it is with those who make it their business to live upon the wealth of others. They leave the poor man free. He hears not rebuke or threatening, he is left undisturbed. He that is down need fear no fall, says Bunyan. He that hath empty pockets may whistle in the face of a highwayman, says Juvenal. Therefore it is mans wisdom, whether poor or rich, to be content with such things as he has (Heb. 13:5); to appear only what he really is, and to dedicate his earnings, or his savings, or his inheritance, to the glory of God; to follow George Herberts advice
Be thrifty; but not covetous: therefore give
Thy need, thine honour, and thy friend his due.
Never was scraper brave man. Get to live;
Then live, and use it; else, it is not true
That thou hast gotten. Surely use alone
Makes money not a contemptible stone.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
The teaching of chap. Pro. 11:24 finds its echo here. There is a seeming wealth behind which there lies a deep spiritual poverty and wretchedness. There is a poverty which makes a man rich for the kingdom of God.Plumptre.
This is a world of making show, the substance of truth is gone out of it, and ever since man ceased to be what he should be, he striveth to seem to be what he is not. Every sin masking in its own vizard: the vainglorious and the covetous both seeking by their seeming to gain some real advantage to themselves.Jermin.
These opposite faults originate in the same cause, an excessive esteem of worldly riches. It is this that makes poor men pretend to have them, and rich men conceal them for the purpose of preserving them more safely. But although money is sometimes a defence, the want of it is sometimes a shadow under which poor men live unnoticed by the plunderers.Lawson.
Surely it is just that riches should be the ransom of a mans life, for it is by them that a mans life is brought into danger.Jermin.
The seventh verse is terse beyond all expression. Such are all these proverbs. Making oneself rich may be itself the poverty, and making oneself poor may be itself the wealth; inasmuch as these acts may have been sins or graces of the soul, which enter by the providence of Heaven into the very condition of the spirit. The meaning is that outward circumstances are nothing in the question. A saint is poor or rich as is most useful for him. The treasure is himself. There is that maketh himself rich and is all nothing; because himself, not the wealth, is the important matter. On the other hand, There is that makes himself poor, and not only hath great riches, which is the imperfect translation of our Bibles, but is a great treasure. He himself bereft of wealth, is all the greater for what God may have assigned. Solomon expounds more specially in the eighth verse: Ransom, coveringi.e., the covering of his guilt. Property is a mere incident. A mans true opulence is his eternal redemption. He is not poor who is pinched by want; but he who has not listened to rebuke.Miller.
It is not poverty so much as pretence that harasses a ruined manthe struggle between a proud mind and an empty pursethe keeping up a hollow show, that must soon come to an end. Have the courage to appear poor, and you disarm poverty of its sharpest sting.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(7) There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing.Comp. Luk. 12:21, and the advice given in Rev. 3:17.
There is that maketh himself poor.Comp. Luk. 12:33.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
7. Maketh rich poor That which lies on the surface of this verse is, simulated wealth on the one hand, and pretended poverty on the other. But this is one of the proverbs in which we probably have two meanings; one on the surface, the other to be sought beneath. There is a seeming wealth beneath which lies spiritual poverty; there is a poverty which makes a man rich toward God. “As poor,” says Paul, “yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.” Compare Pro 11:22; 2Co 6:10; Rev 2:9; Luk 12:21; 1Ti 6:18; Jas 2:5. As to the first sense given above, which is taken as the full meaning by some, there are cases as when a man is among marauders and freebooters, or under a rapacious despotism, so common in the East where he may be excusable for concealing his wealth.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
True Riches Are Found Through Responding To God’s Wisdom, Whilst Those Who Ignore That Wisdom Are The Truly Poor ( Pro 13:7-11 ).
In this subsection genuine ‘riches’ are contrasted with transient and deceptive riches. A man may be poor and yet enjoy true riches, for true riches consist in knowing that one is right with God and in walking in the way of God’s wisdom. They will bring rejoicing to the heart and will be long lasting. In contrast a man may be rich and yet lacking in true wealth. If he does not listen to God’s reproof through those who are wise, he will not become right with God and he will not enjoy true wisdom. Anything that he does have will be temporary and transient.
The subsection is presented chiastically:
A There is who makes himself rich, yet has nothing. There is who makes himself poor, yet has great wealth (Pro 13:7).
B The ransom of a man’s life is his riches, but the poor hears no rebuke (threatening) (Pro 13:8).
C The light of the righteous rejoices (Pro 13:9 a)
C But the lamp of the wicked will be put out (Pro 13:9 b).
B Only by pride comes contention, but with the well-counselled is wisdom (Pro 13:10).
A Wealth obtained by unsatisfactory methods will be diminished, but he who gathers by hard work will have increase (grow great) (Pro 13:11).
Note that in A deceptive wealth is contrasted with true wealth, and in the parallel the same occurs. Furthermore there is a parallel between ‘great (rab) wealth’, and wealth that ‘grows great’ (rabah). In B a man’s true riches lie in his being ransomed by God as a consequence of his response to God’s wisdom, whilst the poor in heart refuse to listen to reproof, and in the parallel, those who listen to counsel are truly wise, whilst those who are proud resist God. Centrally in C is the contrast between the light of the righteous and the lamp of the wicked.
Pro 13:7
‘There is who makes himself rich, yet has nothing,
There is who makes himself poor, yet has great wealth.’
It will be noted that this verse connects with Pro 13:8 in the use of ‘rich’ and ‘poor’, and with Pro 13:11 in the use of ‘riches’ and ‘great/increase’ (rab, rabah). In Pro 13:11 great riches come to those who work hard, whilst both this verse and Pro 13:11 deal with deceptive wealth which in the end fails, in contrast with genuine wealth which is satisfying. It is interesting that here it is the man who considers himself to be rich who ‘has nothing’, whilst in Pro 13:4 it is the desiring sluggard who ‘has nothing’. The rich man would not want to be compared with the sluggard, but because of his failure to see beyond his riches he comes to the same end.
The proverb is ambiguous because of the ambiguity of the verb. It could mean;
1) ‘Falsely makes himself out to be, pretends’. In this case the person in the first clause is putting on a show of being rich in order to gain respect and status, whilst the person in the second clause is making himself out to be poor, even though he is very wealthy, because he wants to avoid tithes, and/or his responsibility to the poor. Both are thus misleading their communities. Both are hypocrites. In our view, while possible, this interpretation is unlikely as it removes the contrast which is suggested by ‘has nothing’ and ‘has great wealth’.
2) ‘Considers himself to be, honestly puts himself forward as’. In the first clause he is someone who considers himself to be rich, but is actually spiritually impoverished, and even physically impoverished in other ways (e.g. his children may be a heartache to him, or he may be in very poor health). In the second clause he is someone who considers himself to be poor but spiritually has great wealth in that he is humble and fears YHWH (Pro 22:4), and may also have physical ‘riches’ in that his children are loving and responsive and he is of vibrant health. Compare Pro 11:28, ‘he who trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like the green leaf’, and Pro 22:4, ‘the reward of humility and the fear of YHWH is riches, and honour, and life’. We consider this to be the most likely.
3) ‘Literally makes himself’. In the first clause he struggles hard and attains riches, but in doing so becomes spiritually poor and loses his old friends and all that is worthwhile, and in the second clause he makes himself poor deliberately by his acts of charity and self-sacrifice, or because of his tenacious faith and obedience to God, and in doing so gains riches beyond telling (compareMat 6:33; Mat 19:29). Whilst very apposite in view of the teaching of Jesus, and undoubtedly true, we think it unlikely that Solomon had this in mind.
4) There may be a deliberate play on the possible distinctions in the verb so that it means ‘there are those who think themselves rich but have nothing, there are those who for God’s sake have made themselves poor and thus have great riches’. We can consider here the example of the Laodicean church in Rev 3:18, ‘you say you are rich, and have obtained riches and have need of nothing, and do not know that you are the wretched on, miserable, poor, blind and naked’, and Jesus’ words to the disciples in Mar 10:29. But this is probably to anticipate New Testament teaching.
In our view the most probable meaning, in line with 2), is that a man can be physically rich, and yet poor in other ways, especially spiritually, and that a man can be physically poor, and yet rich in other ways, especially spiritually. In the Psalms the upright are often seen as the humble and needy (even the king).
Pro 13:8
‘The ransom of a man’s life is his riches,
But the poor hears no rebuke (threatening).’
This proverb is again ambiguous. Some see this as saying that a rich man is always in danger of losing his riches by being kidnapped/captured and held to ransom, (as Satan said in Job 2:4, ‘all that a man has he will give for his life’), but that a poor man has no such fear. He and his family are unlikely to receive threatening demands. This would in fact be a good argument for being poor, but such an argument tends to go against what Solomon has said elsewhere. In the Prologue riches were a result of following the way of wisdom, and poverty was a consequence of laziness. Furthermore in Pro 10:4 he confirms that this continues to be his view when he says, ‘he becomes poor who deals with a slack hand, but the hand of the hard worker makes rich’. Whilst the word for the poor used here in Pro 13:8 does not in its later uses have the necessary connotation of laziness (it does in Pro 10:4), it is even then never suggested to be a desirable state. This interpretation also takes the word for ‘rebuke’ in an unusual sense. Elsewhere it always means ‘rebuke’. See especially Pro 13:1 where we find the same phrase. Thus we must ideally look for some other interpretation.
An alternative is to see the first clause as meaning that the rich man has the advantage that he can buy himself out of trouble, but that idea does not make a good parallel with the second clause.
A further alternative, however, which balances the two clauses, and ties in with Pro 13:7, is that this could mean that a man’s true riches are found in his being ‘ransomed’ (because he has listened to God’s wisdom), whilst those who are poor are so (both physically and spiritually) because they do not listen to rebuke. In other words a man’s true riches lie in his having an assurance that he is acceptable to God and is not subject to death, and this because all that is necessary for his acceptance has been accomplished. These are the great riches which can be enjoyed even by the poor (Pro 13:7). In Solomonic terms that would be through heeding God’s wisdom and responding to God (Pro 3:5-6).
The idea of ‘a ransom’ links with the idea of redemption. In Psa 49:7-8 the two are equated, ‘none can by any means redeem his brother or give a ransom for him’, although it is then made clear that a redemption is possible even though that redemption is costly. The impression given is that it could only be by God. Such a ransom was conceived of in Exo 30:12 where whenever the men were numbered a ransom had to be paid for each one, although it was not a costly one (although the poorer among them might not have felt that). But it did indicate that men had to be continually ransomed before God, otherwise they would die. The idea was expanded in the idea that every firstborn male in Israel had to be ‘redeemed’ by the offering of a substitute, a lamb or goat (Exo 13:12 ff.; Num 18:15). Thus the prospective head of each family had to be redeemed by means of an offering or sacrifice.
This suggests that some, if not all, offerings and sacrifices were seen as ‘ransoms’ and had a redemptive purpose. They made atonement before God. And this was something confirmed in the Gospels where Jesus speaks of giving Himself as ‘a ransom for many’ (Mar 10:45) in a context where the guilt offering of the Suffering Servant of Isa 53:10 is in mind, and in Hebrews where the redemptive purpose of His sacrifice is made clear (Pro 9:12; Pro 9:15). Israel were indeed looked on as God’s redeemed people, redeemed by the exertion of His mighty power (Exo 6:6; Exo 15:13; Psa 74:2; Psa 77:15; Psa 78:35; Isa 43:3). But that was as a nation. And they continued to be so in the offering of offerings and sacrifices, both national and personal. The individuals participated in that redemption by personal response to the covenant and by personal sacrifices. This is constantly brought out in the prophets. That the idea of ransom applied to individuals comes out especially in Job 33:24; Job 36:18; Psa 49:7-8, whilst the Psalmists continually refer to being redeemed (Psa 19:14; Psa 26:11; Psa 31:5; Psa 34:22; etc.), where it is clear that some are not. Those who did not genuinely enter into the covenant were cut off from Israel (something which it took the prophets, and a series of catastrophes, a long time to convince the people of).
Thus the recognising by a man that he had been ransomed as a result of his responsiveness to God’s covenant and God’s wisdom, may well have been seen as bestowing on him riches beyond telling.
And this in contrast with the wayward ‘poor’ who ‘hear no rebuke’. Whatever God’s wisdom says to them they continue on in their sluggardly ways (Pro 10:4; Pro 6:9-11). One advantage of this interpretation is that it gives ‘rebuke’ its common meaning in Proverbs. This would then tie in with Pro 13:10, ‘by pride comes only contention’, the poor in their pride having refused God’s rebuke are in contention with Him. And it continues with, ‘but with the well advised is wisdom’, they have responded to God and His wisdom, have been accepted by Him, and they thus enjoy the true riches.
Pro 13:9
‘The light of the righteous rejoices,
But the lamp of the wicked will be snuffed out.’
There is a similar combination of light and lamp in Pro 6:23 where ‘the commandment is a lamp and the Torah is a light’ which serves to demonstrate that light and lamp are to be seen as synonymous. The idea here could then be that the light of wisdom of the righteous makes him glad, whilst the false wisdom of the wicked will be snuffed out and vanish. On the other hand in Pro 4:18 we read that, ‘the path of the righteous is as the shining light, which shines more and more unto the perfect day’. Taking it in the light of this, ‘light’ indicates ‘a shining life’, a life lived in the light of God’s wisdom.
The idea of ‘the lamp of the wicked being snuffed out’ is found also in Pro 20:20; Pro 24:20, and may either signify dying, which would equate ‘lamp’ with life, or his losing quality of life. Taking the verses as a whole the former appears to be more likely.
The general idea, however, is clear. The life of the righteous is like a continually shining light, and is one of continual rejoicing. But whatever quality of life the unrighteous have will be snuffed out, probably by death. This would tie in with ‘the ransom of a man’s life’ being ‘his riches’ of the previous verse signifying that the true riches of a man’s life is to enjoy the fact that his life has been ransomed by God.
Pro 13:10
‘Only by pride comes contention,
But with the well-counselled is wisdom.’
In the parallel clause ‘pride’ parallels ‘well-counselled’. This suggests that in mind is the pride which refuses to listen to counsel. They rather contend with it. So the idea here is that it is only pride, (which is an abomination to God – Pro 6:17), which causes men to contend with wisdom and therefore not listen to rebuke, whilst the truly wise (and humble) heed counsel, which is why they are wise. This parallels the ideas of ‘the poor hearing no rebuke’ (Pro 13:8), and a man’s true riches lying in the fact that he has responded to wisdom and has therefore been ransomed by God, in Pro 13:8.
Pro 13:11
‘Riches obtained by unsatisfactory means will be diminished,
But he who gathers by hard work (literally ‘by hand’) will have increase.’
In the subsection we learned in Pro 13:7 of the ‘great riches’ which even a poor man might have, and in Pro 13:8 that those riches include the fact that his life has been ransomed by God. In Pro 13:9 such riches were a light to the righteous man which caused him to rejoice, and in Pro 13:10 resulted from the fact that he had responded to wise counsel. Now this is related to physical wealth by indicating that it is only wealth obtained in the right way which will endure and increase. And there may be the added thought that the same is true of spiritual wealth, for in Proverbs physical wealth and spiritual wealth go hand in hand, see Pro 3:13-18; Pro 8:11; Pro 8:18.
The word translated ‘unsatisfactory means’ has lying behind it the thought of a ‘puff of air’, and therefore something which is insubstantial and temporary. What is gathered in that way will itself be insubstantial and temporary. Some of it will quickly disappear. Such a person will tend not to be thrifty. It is a warning against the desire to ‘get-rich-quick’ either physically or spiritually. Quick fixes tend not to last long. Examples of such are obtaining money by violence (Pro 1:11 ff.), robbery or false pretences, by extortion or deceit, or even by gambling which, if successful, (and the gambler always hopes to be successful), involves loss to others..
In contrast is the one who ‘gathers by hand’, in other words by hard effort (contrast ‘the slack hand’ of Pro 10:4). His riches will be ‘caused to increase’ (hiphil, which is causative ). For such a person values what he has obtained precisely because it has entailed hard work, and he therefore has a healthy regard for it and reinvests it so that it will increase. The same is true in the spiritual realm. The more effort we put into understanding truth from God’s word, the more benefit and greater certainty we will obtain from it.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
v. 7. There is that maketh himself rich,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Pro 13:7. There is that maketh himself rich See 2Co 6:10 where St. Paul says, We are as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing all things. The literal sense of this verse seems to be, “There are those who are rich in their poverty, because they are content; desire nothing more, and use generously and charitably what they have; and there are others, who, in the midst of their riches, are really poor and in necessity, because of their insatiable covetousness or profusion.” Some suppose the meaning to be, that there are those, who have the vanity to desire to appear rich, though they are poor; and others who make themselves poor, and would pass for such, though they have abundance. The Latins say well, Semper avarus eget. “The covetous man is always in want.” See Calmet.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Pro 13:7 There is that maketh himself rich, yet [hath] nothing: [there is] that maketh himself poor, yet [hath] great riches.
Ver. 7. There is that maketh himself rich. ] Such (as the witty Greek calls them) there are not few, that stretch their wing beyond their nest, that bear a port beyond their estate, that trick up themselves with other men’s plumes, laying it on above measure in clothes, fair building, &c., when not worth a groat, but die in prison, or make a fraudulent composition. This is no better before God than rapine and robbery.
There is that makes himself poor, &c.
a Bishop Hall’s Serm .
b Spec. Europ.
c Bishop Hall’s Epist., 5 D. c. 1.
d Godwin’s Catalog.
Proverbs
THE POOR RICH AND THE RICH POOR
Pro 13:7 Two singularly-contrasted characters are set in opposition here. One, that of a man who lives like a millionaire and is a pauper; another, that of a man who lives like a pauper and is rich. The latter character, that of a man who hides and hoards his wealth, was, perhaps, more common in the days when this collection of Proverbs was put together, because in all ill-governed countries, to show wealth is a short way to get rid of it. But they have their modern representatives. We who live in a commercial community have seen many a blown-out bubble soaring and glittering, and then collapsing into a drop of soapsuds, and on the other hand, we are always hearing of notes and bank-books being found stowed away in some wretched hovel where a miser has died.
Now, I do not suppose that the author of this proverb attached any kind of moral to it in his own mind. It is simply a jotting of an observation drawn from a wide experience; and if he meant to teach any lesson by it, I suppose it was nothing more than that in regard to money, as to other things, we should avoid extremes, and should try to show what we are, and to be what we seem. But whilst thus I do not take it that there is any kind of moral or religious lesson in the writer’s mind, I may venture, perhaps, to take this saying as being a picturesque illustration, putting in vivid fashion certain great truths which apply in all regions of life, and which find their highest application in regard to Christianity, and our relation to Jesus Christ. There, too, ‘there is that maketh himself rich, and yet hath nothing; and there is that maketh himself poor, and yet’-or one might, perhaps, say therefore -’hath great riches.’ It is from that point of view that I wish to look at the words at this time. I must begin with recalling to your mind, I. Our universal poverty.
Whatever a man may think about himself, however he may estimate himself and conceit himself, there stand out two salient facts, the fact of universal dependence, and the fact of universal sinfulness, which ought to bear into every heart the consciousness of this poverty. A word or two about each of these two facts.
First , the fact of universal dependence. Now, wise men and deep thinkers have found a very hard problem in the question of how it is possible that there should be an infinite God and a finite universe standing, as it were, over against Him. I am not going to trouble you with the all-but-just-succeeding answers to that great problem which the various systems of thinking have given. These lie apart from my present purpose. But what I would point out is that, whatever else may be dark and difficult about the co-existence of these two, the infinite God and the finite universe, this at least is sun-clear, that the creature depends absolutely for everything on that infinite Creator. People talk sometimes, and we are all too apt to think, as if God had made the world and left it. And we are all too apt to think that, however we may owe the origination of our own personal existence to a divine act, the act was done when we began to be, and the life was given as a gift that could be separated from the Bestower. But that is not the state of the case at all. The real fact is that life is only continued because of the continued operation on every living thing, just as being is only continued by reason of the continued operation on every existing thing, of the Divine Power. ‘In Him we live,’ and the life is the result of the perpetual impartation from Himself ‘in whom all things consist,’ according to the profound word of the Apostle. Their being depends on their union with Him. If it were possible to cut a sunbeam in two, so that the further half of it should be separated from its vital union with the great central fire from which it rushed long, long ago, that further half would pale into darkness. And if you cut the connection between God and the creature, the creature shrivels into nothing. By Him the spring buds around us unfold themselves; by Him all things are. So, at the very foundation of our being there lies absolute dependence.
In like manner, all that we call faculties, capacities, and the like, are, in a far deeper sense than the conventional use of the word ‘gift’ implies, bestowments from Him. The Old Testament goes to the root of the matter when, speaking of the artistic and aesthetic skill of the workers in the fine arts in the Tabernacle, it says, ‘the Spirit of the Lord’ taught Bezaleel; and when, even in regard to the brute strength of Samson-surely the strangest hero of faith that ever existed-it says that when ‘the Spirit of the Lord came upon him,’ into his giant hands there was infused the strength by which he tore the lion’s jaws asunder. In like manner, all the faculties that men possess they have simply because He has given them. ‘What hast thou that thou hast not received? If thou hast received, why dost thou boast thyself?’ So there is a great psalm that gathers everything that makes up human life, and traces it all to God, when it says, ‘They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of Thy house,’ for from God comes all that sustains us; ‘Thou shalt make them drink of the river of Thy pleasures,’ for from God comes all that gladdens us; ‘with Thee is the fountain of life,’ for from Him flow all the tiny streams that make the life of all that live; ‘in Thy light shall we see light,’ for every power of perceiving, and all grace and lustre of purity, owe their source to Him. As well, then, might the pitcher boast itself of the sparkling water that it only holds, as well might the earthen jar plume itself on the treasure that has been deposited in it, as we make ourselves rich because of the riches that we have received. ‘Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his strength. Let not the rich man glory in his riches; but he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.’
Then, turn for a moment to the second of the facts on which this universal poverty depends, and that is the fact of universal sinfulness. Ah! there is one thing that is our own-
‘If any power we have, it is to will.’
We have that strange faculty, which nobody has ever thoroughly explained yet, but which we all know to exist, of wrenching ourselves so far away from God, ‘in whom we live and move and have our being,’ that we can make our thoughts and ways, not merely lower than, but contradictory of, and antagonistic to, His thoughts, and His ways. Conscience tells us, and we all know it, that we are the causes of our own actions, though from Him come the powers by which we do them. The electricity comes from the central powerstation, but it depends on us what sort of wheels we make it drive, and what kind of work we set it to do. Make all allowances you like for circumstances-what they call nowadays ‘environment,’ by which formidable word some people seem to think that they have explained away a great many difficulties-make all allowances you like for inheritance-what they now call ‘heredity,’ by which other magic word people seem to think that they may largely obliterate the sense of responsibility and sin-allow as much as you like, in reason, for these, and there remains the indestructible consciousness in every man, ‘I did it, and it was my fault that I did it; and the moral guilt remains.’
So, then, there are these two things, universal dependence and universal sinfulness, and on them is built the declaration of universal poverty. Duty is debt. Everybody knows that the two words come from the same root. What we ought is what we owe. We all owe an obedience which none of us has rendered. Ten thousand talents is the debt and-’they had nothing to pay.’ We are like bankrupts that begin business with a borrowed capital, by reason of our absolute dependence; and so manage their concerns as to find themselves inextricably entangled in a labyrinth of obligations which they cannot discharge. We are all paupers. And so I come to the second point, and that is-
II. The poor rich man.
Ay! and more than that. The making of yourself rich is the sure way to prevent yourself from ever being so. We see that in all other regions of life. If a student says to himself, ‘Oh! I know all that subject,’ the chances are that he will not get it up any more; and the further chance is that he will be ‘ploughed’ when the examination-day comes. If the artist stands before the picture, and says to himself, ‘Well done, that is the realisation of my ideal!’ he will paint no more anything worth looking at. And in any department, when a man says ‘Lo! I have attained,’ then he ceases to advance.
Now, bring all that to bear upon religion, upon Christ and His salvation, upon our own spiritual and religious and moral condition. The sense of imperfection is the salt of approximation to perfection. And the man that says ‘I am rich’ is condemning himself to poverty and pauperism. If you do not know your need, you will not go to look for the supply of it. If you fancy yourselves to be quite well, though a mortal disease has gripped you, you will take no medicine, nor have recourse to any physician. If you think that you have enough good to show for man’s judgment and for God’ s, and have not been convinced of your dependence and your sinfulness, then Jesus Christ will be very little to you, and His great work as the Redeemer and Saviour of His people from their sins will be nothing to you. And so you will condemn yourselves to have nothing unto the very end.
I believe that this generation needs few things more than it needs a deepened consciousness of the reality of sin and of the depth and damnable nature of it. It is because people feel so little of the burden of their transgression that they care so little for that gentle Hand that lifts away their burden. It is because from much of popular religion-and, alas! that I should have to say it, from much of popular preaching-there has vanished the deep wholesome sense of poverty, that, from so much of popular religion, and preaching too, there has faded away the central light of the Gospel, the proclamation of the Cross by which is taken away the sin of the whole world.
So, lastly, my text brings before us-
III. The rich poor man.
Then let me remind you that this wholesome recognition of facts about ourselves as they are is the sure way to possess the wealth. Of course, it is possible for a man by some mighty influence or other brought to bear upon him, to see himself as God sees him, and then, if there is nothing more than that, he is tortured with ‘the sorrow that worketh death.’ Judas ‘went out and hanged himself’; Peter ‘went out and wept bitterly.’ The one was sent ‘to his own place,’ wherever that was; the other was sent foremost of the Twelve. If you see your poverty, let self-distrust be the nadir, the lowest point, and let faith be the complementary high point, the zenith. The rebound from self-distrust to trust in Christ is that which makes the consciousness of poverty the condition of receiving wealth.
And what wealth it is!-the wealth of a peaceful conscience, of a quiet heart, of lofty aims, of a pure mind, of strength according to our need, of an immortal hope, of a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, ‘where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt; where thieves do not break through nor steal.’ Blessed be God! the more we have the riches of glory in Christ Jesus, the more shall we feel that we have nothing, and that all is His, and none of it ours. And so, as the rivers run in the valleys, and the high mountain-tops are dry and barren, the grace which makes us rich will run in the low ground of our conscious humiliation and nothingness.
Dear brother! do you estimate yourself as you are? Have you taken stock of yourself? Have you got away from the hallucination of possessing wealth? Has your sense of need led you to cease from trust in yourself, and to put all your trust in Jesus Christ? Have you taken the wealth which He freely gives to all who sue in forma pauperis ? He does not ask you to bring anything but debts and sins, emptiness and weakness, and penitent faith. He will strengthen the weakness, fill the emptiness, forgive the sins, cancel the debts, and make you ‘rich toward God.’ I beseech you to listen to Him, speaking from heaven, and taking up the strain of this text: ‘Because thou sayest I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked, I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich.’ And then you will be of those blessed poor ones who are ‘rich through faith, and heirs of the Kingdom.’
maketh himself rich: i.e. or pretendeth to be rich. Hebrew. ‘ashar. The Hithpael occurs only here.
poor = needy. Hebrew. rush. See note on Pro 6:11.
Pro 13:7
Pro 13:7
“There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing: There is that maketh himself poor, yet hath great wealth.”
“The KJV, ASV, and the the English Revised Version (1881) miss the point here. What we have is two equally obnoxious social shams. Translate: “There are poor people who pretend to be rich, and there are rich people who feign they are poor. The reasons why such pretending is done both by the rich and the poor was explained by McGee.
“Some people drive a Cadillac automobile to impress the neighbors, when they can’t really afford it, but there are also very wealthy people who complain of their financial hardships to avoid appeals for contributions. A member of a church where I preached was very wealthy; but he gave less than most of the others and was always talking about how hard times were.
Pro 13:7. Some take the Hebrew for maketh himself to mean feign. If that translation is correct, the verse would be speaking of some who were poor but feigned themselves to be rich while others with great wealth would feign themselves poor. The above are both sometimes done. Another meaning commonly taken on the verse: some who would be rich and who do everything they can to become rich end in poverty while others are always giving away and giving away and yet end up rich. The latter view may be referring to the nothing that the wicked rich people will have in eternity (Luk 12:20-21) and to the great wealth that the righteous will have who have laid up treasures in heaven (Mat 6:20). Translations and commentaries seem to favor the first position.
is that maketh himself rich: Pro 13:11, Pro 12:9, Luk 18:11-14, 1Co 4:8, 2Pe 2:19, Rev 3:17
that maketh himself poor: Ecc 11:1, Ecc 11:2, 1Co 4:10, 1Co 4:11, 2Co 4:7, Rev 2:9
Reciprocal: 1Ti 6:4 – He
Pro 13:7. There is that maketh himself rich, &c. Some men, who have little or nothing, pretend to have great riches, and carry themselves accordingly; either out of pride and vanity, or with a design to gain reputation with others, whom they intend to defraud. There is that maketh himself poor, &c. Some rich men seem and profess themselves to be very poor, that they may preserve and increase their estates, by concealing them from those who would either desire a share in them, or take them away by deceit and violence. Some, however, think the sense of the verse is, There are those who are rich in their poverty, because they are content, desire nothing more, and use generously and charitably what they have: and there are others who, in the midst of their riches, are really poor and in necessity, because of their insatiable covetousness or profusion.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments