A Good Name and a Common Maker

The first half of Proverbs 22 keeps returning to money and to the people money separates. It begins by saying a good name is more desirable than great riches, to be esteemed is better than silver or gold. Then, in verse 2, it makes an observation that levels the room: rich and poor have this in common, the LORD is the Maker of them all.

That sentence would have been as uncomfortable in Solomon's court as it is in ours. The rich and the poor did not sit together then any more than now. But the proverb insists they share something more basic than what divides them. Both were made. Both answer to the same Maker. Neither one's wealth or lack of it changes that.

The chapter goes on to say that the rich rule over the poor and the borrower is slave to the lender, which is not a moral judgment so much as a plain description. Then it says the generous will themselves be blessed, for they share their food with the poor. It warns that whoever oppresses the poor to increase wealth, or gives gifts to the rich, will come to poverty. The chapter sees clearly how money is used and misused, and it refuses to pretend otherwise.

What holds these sayings together is the fear of the LORD, which verse 4 says brings wealth and honor and life. The wise person handles money knowing that the Maker of rich and poor is watching how it is handled.

For a Wednesday in August, here is the turn toward life. Most of us interact every day with people who have more than we do and people who have less. Proverbs 22 asks us to remember, in both directions, the one thing we have in common. It asks us to want a good name more than a good bank balance, and to be the kind of people who share food. And in a month when families are buying school supplies and some are struggling to, it suggests that generosity is not an add-on to wisdom. It is one of wisdom's clearest signs.