Bird's-eye view
This proverb is a foundational statement on the nature of true prosperity. It sets up a sharp contrast, not between wealth and poverty, but between two kinds of wealth: that which comes as a pure blessing from God, and that which is scrambled for, worried over, and ultimately comes with a host of sorrows attached. The central assertion is that Yahweh is the ultimate source of enriching blessing. Any wealth obtained outside of His blessing, through frantic toil, corner-cutting, or anxious striving, is a counterfeit that brings a hidden cost. The proverb teaches a fundamental principle of godly economics and contentment: seek the Blesser first, not just the blessing, because only He can give the gift without the grief.
This is not a promise that every faithful believer will be a millionaire, but rather that the prosperity God grants, whether it be ten dollars or ten million, will be a clean prosperity. It will not be accompanied by the spiritual leanness, the anxiety, the guilt, or the relational strife that so often accompanies riches sought apart from God. It is a call to diligent work, but a condemnation of anxious, godless toil. The key is the source. Wealth from the hand of God enriches the whole man; wealth grasped by the hand of man often impoverishes his soul.
Outline
- 1. The Divine Source of True Riches (Prov 10:22a)
- a. The Agent: The Blessing of Yahweh
- b. The Action: It Makes Rich
- 2. The Divine Quality of True Riches (Prov 10:22b)
- a. The Exclusion: He Adds No Pain
- b. The Implication: A Clean Conscience and a Contented Heart
Context In Proverbs
Proverbs 10 marks a shift in the book. The first nine chapters consist of longer, thematic discourses from a father to a son, personifying wisdom and folly. Chapter 10 begins a large collection of short, pithy, two-part proverbial statements, mostly drawing contrasts. This verse, 10:22, sits amidst a series of couplets that contrast the righteous and the wicked, the wise and the foolish, the diligent and the lazy. For example, verse 4 says, "He who has a slack hand becomes poor, But the hand of the diligent makes rich." Verse 22 does not contradict this but qualifies it. Diligence is the ordinary means God uses, but the ultimate cause of the enrichment is His blessing. This proverb functions as a crucial theological governor on the practical wisdom surrounding it. It prevents the reader from concluding that diligence alone is the key, and reminds him that the favor of God is the dispositive factor in all true prosperity.
Key Issues
- The Sovereignty of God in Prosperity
- The Distinction Between Godly Diligence and Anxious Toil
- The Nature of True Wealth
- The Relationship Between Blessing and Contentment
- Counterfeits of the Divine Blessing
The Blesser Before the Blessing
Our central temptation as fallen creatures is to want God's gifts without God. We want the benefits of His world without having to deal with Him. The devil understands this perfectly. When he took the Lord Jesus up to a high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, he was offering Him immense wealth and power. Jesus did not refuse the offer because He was an ascetic who did not want those kingdoms. Of course He wanted them; they were promised to Him by the Father. He refused them because of the giver. He would not take the world from the hand of the devil. He was resolved to receive it as a blessing from His Father, in His Father's way and on His Father's timetable, which involved the cross.
This is the principle at the heart of our proverb. It is not wrong to desire to be rich, provided we desire it on one condition only: that the riches come as a blessing from the hand of a blessing God. Those who simply want the wealth, full stop, will find that something else comes bundled with it. As the Psalmist says of Israel, "And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul" (Psalm 106:15). God may give you what you sinfully crave, but it will come with a hidden cost, a spiritual affliction. The blessing of Yahweh, by contrast, is an unadulterated good. It enriches, and it does so cleanly.
Verse by Verse Commentary
22 It is the blessing of Yahweh that makes rich,
The proverb begins by identifying the ultimate agent of prosperity. It is not market forces, not personal ingenuity, not a seven-step plan for success, and not even raw diligence, though God certainly uses diligence. The ultimate cause is the blessing of Yahweh. This is a foundational statement of God's sovereignty over every area of life, including the economic. A man might work his fingers to the bone, but if the Lord does not bless, it comes to nothing. Another man might work faithfully and see his efforts multiplied beyond all expectation. The deciding factor is the favor of God. This is why we are taught to honor the Lord with our substance first (Prov. 3:9-10), because it acknowledges the source before we ever see the increase. To "make rich" here is not necessarily to make one a billionaire. It means to provide abundance, to grant prosperity, to cause to flourish. It is a comprehensive enrichment that is first of all covenantal. The relationship with God is the true wealth, and material prosperity is one of the possible fruits of that relationship.
And He adds no pain with it.
This second clause is the crucial qualifier, and it reveals the unique quality of God-given wealth. The Hebrew word for "pain" or "sorrow" (etseb) can refer to toil, grief, or hardship. The point is that God's blessing is a clean one. It does not come with the baggage that accompanies ill-gotten or idolized gain. What kind of pain is excluded? The pain of a guilty conscience from cutting corners. The pain of anxiety and sleepless nights spent worrying about investments. The pain of broken relationships sacrificed on the altar of ambition. The pain of the spiritual emptiness that comes from having everything and realizing it is not enough. When God gives wealth, He also gives the grace to enjoy it, to be generous with it, and to hold it with an open hand. The world's way of getting rich is through frantic, anxious toil. But that is the very curse of Adam in Genesis 3: "in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life." The blessing of Yahweh is the reversal of that curse. It is a foretaste of glorified work, where our labor is fruitful and joyful, not sorrowful and frustrating.
Application
This proverb forces us to examine not just our bank accounts, but the state of our hearts toward our possessions. It is possible to have ten dollars in your pocket under the blessing of God, and have no sorrow added. It is also possible to have ten dollars in your pocket with a great deal of sorrow added to it. The same is true for ten million dollars. The amount is not the issue; the blessing is the issue.
So, we must ask ourselves: Are we seeking the blessing or just the stuff? Do we work diligently, as unto the Lord, and then trust Him with the results? Or are we driven by a frantic, grasping anxiety that reveals our trust is ultimately in our own efforts? Do we think we can get on quite well with or without God's blessing? To think that way is to deceive ourselves profoundly. He that trusts in his riches will fall (Prov. 11:28).
The practical application is to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. It is to conduct our business with integrity, to be generous with what we have, to honor God with the firstfruits, and to cultivate a heart of gratitude and contentment. When we receive everything as from His hand, in faith, we can then consider what we have, whatever the amount, to be under His blessing. And when we live under that blessing, we are truly rich, regardless of the number on our net worth statement. The sorrow is gone because the striving is gone, replaced by a restful trust in our generous Father.