Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 28:20
A faithful man shall abound with blessings: but he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent.
20. faithful ] i.e., as the second clause shews, one who puts fidelity above gain. Comp. Psa 15:4.
innocent ] Rather, unpunished, A.V. marg. and R.V. , LXX.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Not the possession of wealth, nor even the acquisition of it, is evil, but the eager haste of covetousness.
Shall not be innocent – Better, as in the margin, in contrast with the many blessings of the faithful.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Pro 28:20; Pro 28:22
He that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent.
Haste to be rich
Nowhere does the Bible denounce riches. It tells men very plainly what the dangers are. It denounces very strongly the conduct of rich men. But the motive to good conduct, in the Old Testament period, was the promise of secular prosperity–abundance. The Bible asserts that riches are a great blessing; and poverty a great misfortune. It is the method of Gods development and education of the race to bring men up to higher levels by those processes by which men develop larger means, various riches, and the comforts of life, and give to the household broader foundations, ampler powers. It goes against the educated religious feeling of men for one to say that the way of riches was meant to be the way of religion; yet it is true. All barbarous nations are poor. The Bible speaks the sentiment of universal mankind when it regards riches held in the hand of virtue as being an eminent blessing from God.
I. Riches may either be produced or collected. The foundation of all prosperity is production. He increases the riches of a society that applies his reason and skill to the raw material of the globe, or that brings it from inertness to positive service, and gives to matter the power of serving man. He produces wealth. Then comes the man who utilises it; creates it into garments, houses, utensils, etc. The foundation of all value is not what a thing costs in making it, but what is inherent in it of thought and skill. What part of man was used in producing it; and to what part of a man is such properly addressed? The man who produces wealth is the foundation man. It is the law of the production of wealth that a man should render an equivalent for every stage of value. Sudden wealth is not hasty wealth, necessarily.
II. The production of wealth connects itself with benevolence, with sympathy. The man who is developing property, as distinguished from money, is actually increasing the common wealth. It is a sad thing, but in the main true, that the producers of wealth are obliged to eat up the larger part of their product in order to have strength to work. But every man that is developing or producing riches is, at the same time, educating himself in morals, or should be. Patience is a moral quality; another name for self-control. The man who gets wealth legitimately is usually himself built up in inward riches fully as much as he builds up his estate in outward wealth.
III. Haste to be rich is a great danger to men, because it tempts them to employ illegitimate means. Sleights, crafts, disingenuous ways, greed, violations of honesty. Haste runs along the edge of so many dangers, that a mans head must be peculiarly well set on his shoulders, and his brain must be very solid and sober, if he does not topple over into them. A man that is making haste to be rich is tempted to ostentation. But ostentation is expensive, and men are easily tempted to devise schemes to maintain it. Men having sudden wealth are apt to become cruel through indifference to other mens rights. Haste is apt to change into idolatry. (H. W. Beecher.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 20. He that maketh haste to be rich] See Pr 13:11; Pr 20:21.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
A faithful man, Heb. a man of truth, or truths, who deals truly and justly in all his bargains and transactions with men.
That maketh haste; more than God alloweth him; that taketh the nearest and readiest way to riches, whether it be right or wrong; that is unfaithful and unjust in his dealings.
Shall not be innocent; shall not obtain the blessings which he seeks, but shall bring curses and miseries upon him instead of them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
20. maketh haste . . . richimplyingdeceit or fraud (Pr 20:21),and so opposed to “faithful” or reliable.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
A faithful man shall abound with blessings,…. Or, “a man of faithfulness” u. A very faithful man, that is truly so; that is so in a moral sense; true to his work, makes good his promises, fulfils his contracts, abides by the obligations he lays himself under; is faithful in every trust reposed in him, be it greater or lesser matters, in every station in which it is, and throughout the whole course of his life. Such a man abounds with the blessings and praises of men; all value him, and speak well of him: and with the blessings of divine Providence; he is “much [in] blessings” w, as it may be rendered; as in receiving blessings from God, so in giving them to men; such a man is usually charitable and beneficent. And it may be understood of one that is faithful, in a spiritual and evangelic sense; for of such characters are the followers of the Lamb, Re 17:14. It is in the original, “a man of truths” x; one that has the truth of grace in him; that knows the grace of God in truth; with whom the truth of the Gospel is; who has learnt it, known it, embraced it, values it, and abides by it; and who has a concern with Christ, who is the truth, who is formed, lives, and dwells in his heart; of whom he has made a good profession, and holds it fast, and whom he cleaves unto. The character of “faithful” belongs both to the true ministers of Christ, who preach the pure Gospel, and the whole of it; who seek not to please men, but God; and not themselves, and their own glory, but the things of Christ, and his glory; and continue to do so in the face of all opposition: and to private Christians, the faithful in Christ Jesus; who truly believe in him, stand by his truths, abide by his ordinances, and are faithful to one another, and continue so till death: these abound with the blessings of the covenant of grace, with all spiritual blessings in Christ, with the fulness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ; they have an abundance of grace in them, given them in conversion, faith, hope, love, humility, and many other graces, in the exercise of which they are made to abound; and they have an abundance of blessings of grace bestowed on them, pardon of sin, a justifying righteousness, adoption, meetness for and right unto eternal life; they have Christ, and all things along with him; so that they may be truly said to have all things, and abound;
but he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent; he that is over anxious, and immoderately desirous of being rich, and pursues every method of obtaining his desires, with all his might and main; that labours night and day for it; though he takes no criminal nor unlawful methods, properly so called, nor does he do anything injurious to others, yet he is not innocent; that too much anxiety in him is criminal; nor is he free from covetousness; see Pr 23:4; and if he uses any unjust and unlawful means to acquire wealth, and resolves to be rich, right or wrong, “per fas, per nefas”, he shall not be innocent, neither before God nor men: so the Targum renders it,
“he that runs into iniquity, that he may be rich;”
and indeed when a man hastily, or in a short time, becomes rich, though he cannot be directly charged with fraud and injustice, yet he is not innocent in the minds of men, or free from their suspicious and jealousies of him. A man that makes haste to be rich is opposed to him that is faithful and true to his word and contracts, and is the same that Juvenal y calls “avarus properans”; see 1Ti 6:9.
u “vir fidelitatum”, Vatablus, Merceras, Piscator, Gejerus, Michaelis. w “multus benedictionibus”, Montanus, Vatablus, Baynus, Michaeiis. x “Vir veritatum”, Montanus. y Satyr. 14. v. 178.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
To this proverb of the cultivation of the land as the sure source of support, the next following stands related, its contents being cognate:
20 A strong, upright man is enriched with blessings;
But he that hastens to become rich remains not unpunished.
, Pro 20:6, as well as ‘ , denotes a man bonae fidei ; but the former expression refers the description to a constancy and certainty in the relations of favour and of friendship, here to rectitude or integrity in walk and conduct; the plur. refers to the all-sidedness and the ceaselessness of the activity. is related, as at Pro 10:6: the idea comprehends blessings on the side of God and of man, thus benedictio rei and benedictio voti . On the contrary, he who, without being careful as to the means, is in haste to become rich, remains not only unblessed, but also is not guiltless, and thus not without punishment; also this ( e.g., Pro 6:29), frequently met in the Mishle, is, like , the union of two ideas, for generally the bibl. mode of conception and language comprehends in one, sin, guilt, and punishment.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
20 A faithful man shall abound with blessings: but he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent.
Here, 1. We are directed in the true way to be happy, and that is to be holy and honest. He that is faithful to God and man shall be blessed of the Lord, and he shall abound with blessings of the upper and nether springs. Men shall praise him, and pray for him, and be ready to do him any kindness. He shall abound in doing good, and shall himself be a blessing to the place where he lives. Usefulness shall be the reward of faithfulness, and it is a good reward. 2. We are cautioned against a false and deceitful way to happiness, and that is, right or wrong, raising an estate suddenly. Say not, This is the way to abound with blessings, for he that makes haste to be rich, more haste than good speed, shall not be innocent; and, if he be not, he shall not be blessed of God, but rather bring a curse upon what he has; nor, if he be not innocent, can he long be easy to himself; he shall not be accounted innocent by his neighbours, but shall have their ill will and ill word. He does not say that he cannot be innocent, but there is all the probability in the world that he will not prove so: He that hasteth with his feet sinneth, stumbleth, falleth. Sed qu reverentia legum, quis metus, aut pudor, est unquam properantis avari?—What reverence for law, what fear, what shame, was ever indicated by an avaricious man hasting to be rich?
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Faithfulness Vs Greed
Verse 20 repeats assurance that blessings attend the faithful man; but warns that he who makes haste to be rich shall not be innocent (unpunished) for his improper acts, Pro 10:6; Pro 13:11; Pro 20:21; Pro 21:6; Pro 28:22; 1Ti 6:9.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(20) A faithful man, who is true to God and man, shall abound with blessings from God and man. Comp. Jobs description of his own blameless life and the blessings attending it (Job 29).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
20. A faithful man Trusty. Literally, a man of fidelities.
But he that maketh haste to be rich Is unduly urgent, and hence open to temptation: cupidity oftentimes leads to fraud and occasionally to violence.
Not be innocent Not be held innocent, but be punished. Compare Pro 13:11; Pro 20:21; Pro 21:5; Pro 23:4; 1Ti 6:9.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
DISCOURSE: 818
THE PORTION OF THE FAITHFUL MAN
Pro 28:20. A faithful man shall abound with blessings.
ST. PAUL has told us, that the love of money is the root of all evil: and that many, whilst coveting after it, have pierced themselves through with many sorrows [Note: 1Ti 6:10.]. In truth, the effects of this principle on the persons in whom it dwells, and on all connected with them, are beyond all conception bitter and injurious. On the other hand, a superiority to the love of money greatly elevates and ennobles those in whom it is found; and conduces, in a very eminent degree, to their happiness both in this world and the next.
This appears to be the precise import of our text, as it stands connected with the words which follow it. But we need not so limit its use. It contains a general truth, which will afford us much profitable instruction. Taking it in this more enlarged sense, I will endeavour to shew,
I.
Who are they that answer the description here given us
Nehemiah, speaking of his brother Hanani, says, He was a faithful man, and feared God above many: and he assigns this as his reason for appointing him to superintend the repairs of the city of Jerusalem; since he might be fully depended on for a conscientious discharge of his high office [Note: Neh 7:2.]. From hence, then, we see who they are that are entitled to the character of faithful men. They are those who are,
1.
Faithful to their convictions in things relating to God
[There is in every man, under the Christian dispensation, a conviction that he is a sinner who stands in need of mercy; that God has revealed to us in his Gospel the way in which alone he will dispense mercy; and that, as responsible beings, who shall soon stand at the judgment-seat of Christ in order to be judged according to our works, it is our duty and our happiness to be seeking for mercy in Gods appointed way. Now, if a man be faithful to his convictions respecting these things, we may justly call him a faithful man; but, if he neglect God, and pour contempt upon the Lord Jesus, and disregard his eternal interests, and labour in every possible way to silence the remonstrances of his own conscience, is he faithful? No, indeed; he is a traitor to God and to his own soul. If he be truly upright before God, he will give to the concerns of his soul and of eternity the attention they demand ]
2.
Faithful to their engagements in things relating to man
[Without supposing any express compact voluntarily entered into between man and man, there is of necessity a mutual obligation lying upon every man to perform the duties of his place and station. As husbands or wives, parents or children, masters or servants, magistrates or subjects, all of us have some line of conduct prescribed to us; and, as members of one great body, are bound to perform our proper office for the benefit of the whole. Every person feels this in relation to others; and would account himself very injuriously treated, if any should violate towards him the duties of their station: and, consequently, every one must owe to others the treatment which he himself claims at their hands. Now, a faithful man considers this, and will labour to do unto others as he, in a change of circumstances, would think it right that they should do unto him. But if a man consult nothing but his own interests and inclinations, and make his own will the only rule of his conduct, can he be called faithful? Is he not as much bound to observe the commandments of the second table as those of the first? His obligation to both the one and the other of them is unalterable; nor can either the one or the other in any wise be dispensed with. Religion and morality must go hand in hand. Neither of them can supersede the other; nor can either of them exist without the other: and he who is faithful in one, must of necessity be faithful in both.]
For the encouragement of such characters, I will proceed to state,
II.
What are the peculiar blessings reserved for them
Truly the faithful man shall abound with blessings
[I might here enumerate thousands of blessings, if time would admit of it; but I will specify only three: the approbation of God; the testimony of a good conscience; and a blessed hope of immortality and glory But how shall I describe these blessings? In Gods favor is life; and his loving-kindness is better than life itself [Note: Psa 30:5; Psa 63:3.] As for the testimony of our own conscience, and the witness of Gods Spirit with ours, that we are upright before him, man can have no greater joy on earth than that [Note: 2Co 1:12, Rom 8:16.] And who can adequately declare the blessedness of a soul that apprehends God himself as his portion, and all the glory of heaven as his inheritance? ]
But it is the peculiarity and exclusiveness of this portion which we are chiefly called to notice
[To the faithful man these blessings are accorded; but to him also are they limited: for they are peculiar to him; and a stranger intermeddleth not with his joy [Note: Pro 14:10.], Let the man who is unfaithful to his convictions or to his engagements say what he knows of these blessings? If he speak the truth before God, he has no experience of them whatever in his own soul. Indeed, it is impossible that he should have any sense of them as already imparted to him; since, if God be true, no one of them belongs to him; he has no part or lot in any one of them: they belong to the faithful man, and to him alone ]
See, then,
1.
What is the proper scope and tendency of the Gospel
[It is doubtless intended to effect a change, yea, an exceeding great change, both in the characters and states of men. But what does it effect in their character? Does it make them hypocrites? No; but faithful both to God and man. And what does it effect in their states? Does it deprive them of comforts, and make them melancholy? No; but it makes them to abound with blessings, both in time and in eternity. O that you could be prevailed upon to view the Gospel in its true light, and to embrace it with your whole hearts!]
2.
What bitter self-condemnation awaits the impenitent and unbelieving soul
[You have now the blessings of time and sense. But what are they, in comparison of those that await the faithful man? Even here your portion is far inferior to his: but what will they be in the eternal world? Truly, you will all find, ere long, that to gain the whole world with the loss of your own souls was a sad exchange. May God make you wise in time, that you may not have to deplore your folly to all eternity!]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
Pro 28:20 A faithful man shall abound with blessings: but he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent.
Ver. 20. A faithful man shall abound in blessings. ] God will bless him, and all that bless him. Gen 12:3 See Trapp on “ Gen 12:3 “ Men also shall rise up and call him blessed, saying, as Deu 33:29 , “Happy art thou, O Israel; who is like unto thee, O peopIe, saved by the Lord, the shield of thy help,” &c. Stars, though we see them sometimes in a puddle, in the bottom of a well, nay, in a stinking ditch, though they reflect there, I say, yet they have their situation in heaven. So God’s faithfal servants, though in a low condition, yet are they fixed in the region of happiness. Lev 26:1-13 Deu 28:1-14
But he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
not be innocent = not go unpunished.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Pro 28:20
Pro 28:20
“A faithful man shall abound with blessings; But he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be unpunished.”
Paul admonished Christians in the strongest language against striving to be rich (1Ti 6:6-10). The lifestyle that is most compatible with the hope of receiving at last the crown of life that never fades away is one that stresses industry, contentment, kindness and a genuine concern for the welfare of others as well as that of one’s own family.
Pro 28:20. This is one of several verses dealing with getting-rich-quick: see Pro 28:22; Pro 28:25. Another double contrast: a faithful man vs. he that maketh haste to be rich and shall abound with blessings vs. shall not be unpunished. Notice in Deu 28:1-14 the promises that God made to Israel if they were faithful. Abound is related to abundant. God will punish-not bless-one who hastens to be rich, for he has the wrong goal in mind, and he will likely sin in pursuing his goal: They that are minded to be rich fall into a temptation and a snare and many foolish and hurtful lusts, such as drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil: which some reaching after have been led astray from the faith, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows (1Ti 6:9-10).
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
faithful: Pro 20:6, 1Sa 22:14, Neh 7:2, Psa 101:6, Psa 112:4-9, Luk 12:42, Luk 16:1, Luk 16:10-12, 1Co 4:2-5, Rev 2:10, Rev 2:13
but: Pro 28:22, Pro 13:11, Pro 20:21, Pro 23:4, 2Ki 5:20-27, 1Ti 6:9, 1Ti 6:10
innocent: or, unpunished, Pro 17:5, *marg.
Reciprocal: Gen 34:23 – General Jos 8:2 – only the spoil 2Ki 22:7 – they dealt faithfully 2Ch 34:12 – faithfully Pro 10:6 – Blessings Jer 17:11 – he that