Thoughts on the topic of money from the book of wisdom

The book of Proverbs has much to say about the topic of money. Very much! So many verses that I have created categories that will help me focus on particular topics related to money, such as worth of money, value of money, effect of money, greed for money and money and the Lord.

Let’s dive into the wisdom of Proverbs for a few moments.

As we venture through the topic of money, we are going to find it compared to many other concepts. As Proverbs is a book of wisdom, we can be sure money and wisdom will be compared. But before wisdom, there are additional concepts that generally come before the attainment of wisdom. These will be considered below, in this order, but I would like to take a few moments to define our terms, or at least to remember how they relate to one another.

• Instruction
  • Instruction is related to correction, discipline and even chastisement. Although we generally think of instruction as the passing of facts from one fact container (the ol brain) to another fact container, instruction in the Proverbs speaks more of life learning, of correction, of life mistakes and error. It is primarily related to the moral arena of life and not merely the accumulation of data, such as the speed of light or the density of 3/4″ aggregate base material!
• Knowledge
  • Knowledge is the accumulation of facts to build a hopefully correct world view. It is a foundation for the person to build upon, to accumulate data and to store this data for use at later times and circumstances.
• Understanding
  • Remember when we considered knowledge, as the accumulation of facts, we spoke of data being retained for later use. There is a lot of data that can be accumulated, but with understanding, we will the ability to “winnow out” useless, or incorrect facts we have gathered. Understanding is also the ability to interpret correctly the facts we have gained through knowledge and instruction.
• Wisdom
  • Wisdom is the queen of all these concepts in my understanding, as I have gained knowledge over the years through life lessons (see instruction above!)

Now after such an extended introduction to some basic principles of the book of Proverbs, let’s take a moment and consider money in our first category.

Worth

One more clarification before we begin regarding my understanding of worth and value.

Worth is what I am willing to exchange in order to attain a certain commodity. But there is a bit more to it than that.

As an example, if I ever found an orange colored elephant with pink tusks, I would pay $150,949.99 (not a penny more!) to own it, not necessarily because it has any inherent worth, but because an outer influence, such as a culture or society would assign this dollar amount due to it’s rarity, or some other factor.

When I speak of worth in the context of our study in Proverbs, it will typically be related to a discussion on a transactional relationship, comparing two items or things. I would like to note that this is not the same, strictly speaking, as the topic of value.

Value

Value often speaks of the importance of a commodity, of an internal judgement, and can be related to personal attachment to an object. My father’s watch is more valuable (priceless) to me than to some stranger on the street. Value is somewhat abstract. Two strangers viewing my fathers watch may assign the same worth ($10?) whereas my judgement of it’s value may be priceless, much higher than the strangers judgement of value.

Now, after such a long introduction, let us consider the topic of money in the Book of Proverbs.

1 – Worth of Money

Worth Less than Instruction

Proverbs 8:10 Take my instruction instead of silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold

First off, we must consider what this teacher is asking of his student. He is speaking of instruction, of lessons to be learned that may be difficult, that may cause pain, chastisement, embarrassment and shame.

Instruction instead of silver? Can we not hear the teacher speaking of the deceptiveness of riches, even in this initial verse we are considering?

Instruction instead of silver? Not with silver, as if the two desires can exist at the same time. My assumption in this verse is that there is a choice here, and that the student has the freedom to prioritize in his life the acquisition of wealth or the acquisition of instruction.

Proverbs 23:23 Buy truth, and do not sell it; buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding.

The teacher is directing his student to buy truth and keep it. He defines truth as wisdom, instruction and understanding. To focus on instruction in this passage provides us further direction as to the worth of money. The teacher does not specifically refer to silver, gold or wealth in this verse, but he uses terms that would draw the “money” student into this verse.

To buy and sell is the bread and butter of the one intending to focus on wealth, and yet the teacher speaks of the intangibles, concepts that for many, seem to have little worth.

Our teacher corrects this thinking, and provides the student the ability to chose the best, that concept which is to be considered worth more than simple bucks and pennies!

Proverbs 13:18 Poverty and disgrace come to him who ignores instruction, but whoever heeds reproof is honored.

A final verse to consider, for though the teacher speaks of the positive benefits of gaining instruction, to reject this choice does provide the alternate outcome of poverty and disgrace.

But Carl, there are many in this world that have attained truckloads of gold, and yet rejected the choice of gaining instruction. Living lives of utter debasement, they continue on in their choice of gaining nickels and dimes, all the while rejecting any instruction for their lives, any correction or discipline.

Time will prove that “poverty and disgrace will come to him who ignores instruction”. For some, that time has not come.

Consider how you relate to instruction and wealth. When difficulties come, do you tend to ignore them, to pass them off to others, to paper them over with money, or do you consider them as times worth experiencing, learning from and gaining experience from?

Difficult thoughts for myself. May you be blessed in considering the trials of instruction.

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Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion.