Sunday, August 14, 2016

Jesus and Proverbs 30:8-9

In Proverbs 30:8-9, we read:

"Remove far from me vanity and lies; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the bread of my daily need: lest I be full and deny [thee], and say, Who is Jehovah? or lest I be poor and steal, and outrage the name of my God" (Darby).

The words above are said to be the utterances of Agur the son of Jakeh (Prov 30:1-Darby). However, for our present purposes, who pinned the words is not as pertinent as the intended meaning of the individual, who spoke or wrote these utterances.

Agur exclaims that he desires neither poverty nor riches; he only wants "the bread of his daily need" or "the food that is [his] portion" (NASB). In other words, Agur believes that there is a "golden mean" between the pecuniary extremes of poverty and riches: he desires a proper monetary balance and only wants sustenance and covering for each day. In this way, he might avoid becoming either self-satisfied or (morbidly) autarchic (i.e., self sufficient) and forget his God or steal because of depleted funds and thereby assail the name of his God, YHWH.

Those of us who accept the full inspiration (= the theopneustic or God-breathed character) of the sacred writings believe that Almighty God Himself inspired the words of Prov 30:8-9. We think God is telling us that we should seek a balance when it comes to money or material possessions. This is why I find Paul's words in 2 Cor 8:9 of so much interest:

"For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich" (ESV).

There are many "gems" contained in this verse, but one point I would like to consider is the thought of God's Son becoming poor, so that we might become rich by means of his poverty.

Jesus was materially poor during the time of his earthly enfleshment. (This assertion does not imply that I believe Jesus is still enfleshed in the celestial heights.) He apparently did not experience that "golden mean" which Agur suggests in Prov 30:8-9 since Jesus did not even have a place to lay his head. Yet we are told that Christ set an example for us by the way he conducted himself on earth. Did he therefore show us a new and more exalted way than that espoused by Agur?

How do we harmonize Prov 30:8-9 with 2 Cor 8:9, if such a harmonization is even necessary? Is there anything we can learn from Paul's words about how we ought to view pecuniary matters as Christians? Thomas Aquinas would later write that the poverty of Christ was voluntarily undertaken for our sakes. Maybe his words ring true in this case.

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