The Wise Hoard and the Foolish Firehose Text: Proverbs 21:20
Introduction: Two Ways to Live
The book of Proverbs is intensely practical. It does not float in the ethereal realms of abstract theology; it comes down into your kitchen, your workshop, and your bank account. It is concerned with how you live your life Monday through Saturday because it knows that how you live those days is a direct reflection of who you worship on Sunday. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and that wisdom must manifest itself in tangible, concrete ways. One of the most revealing places it shows up is in how we handle the material blessings God gives us.
Our culture is schizophrenic on the subject of wealth. On the one hand, it is a culture of rampant consumerism, driven by an insatiable lust for more. Advertisements are our daily liturgy, training us to desire and acquire, to live for the now, to satisfy every impulse. On the other hand, there is a deep-seated suspicion of wealth, a kind of sour-grapes piety that pretends saving, investing, and building for the future are inherently greedy or unspiritual. So you are either a mindless consumer or a self-righteous ascetic. Both are fools.
Into this confusion, Solomon speaks with crisp, clarifying wisdom. He presents us with two men, living in two different houses, with two entirely different outcomes. One house is a storehouse of blessing, a place of abundance and stability. The other is a scene of wreckage, a testament to short-sighted folly. This proverb is a diagnostic tool. It invites us to look at our own lives, our own habits, and ask which house we are building. Are we building an abode for wisdom, or a pipeline for foolishness?
This is not simply about financial planning. This is about character. It is about foresight versus impulse. It is about stewardship versus consumption. It is about building a legacy versus blowing it all. The wise man and the foolish man are not distinguished by their income, but by their outlook. One sees the world as a garden to be cultivated for future generations; the other sees it as a vending machine for his immediate gratification.
The Text
There is desirable treasure and oil in the abode of the wise,
But a foolish man swallows it up.
(Proverbs 21:20 LSB)
The Storehouse of Wisdom (v. 20a)
The first clause paints a picture of settled, stable prosperity.
"There is desirable treasure and oil in the abode of the wise,"
Notice first that the blessing is located in the "abode" of the wise. This speaks of a home, a dwelling place, a settled existence. The wise man is not a transient; he is building something. He has a multi-generational vision. He is thinking about his children and his children's children. This is the essence of covenantal thinking. The blessings of God are not just for us to enjoy and then dissipate; they are for us to manage, grow, and pass on.
And what is in this home? "Desirable treasure and oil." Treasure refers to stored wealth, precious things, gold, silver, heirlooms. This is not a pile of cash for a weekend bender in Vegas. This is capital. It is wealth that has been accumulated over time through diligence, discipline, and the blessing of God. The wise man works hard, and he doesn't eat all his seed corn. He saves. He invests. He builds.
The mention of "oil" is particularly significant. In the ancient world, olive oil was a staple of life. It was used for cooking, for light, for medicine, and in religious ceremonies. Having a store of oil meant you were prepared for the future. You could eat, you could see in the dark, and you could anoint a guest. It was a sign of abundance, preparation, and hospitality. The wise virgins in Jesus's parable were the ones who had extra oil for their lamps (Matt. 25:4). They were prepared for the bridegroom's delay. The foolish were not. Wisdom, therefore, is inextricably linked to foresight and preparation.
This is a direct affront to the kind of "radical" Christianity that equates poverty with piety. Godliness is not demonstrated by a refusal to plan or save. That is not faith; it is presumption. The ant, which has no ruler, still prepares its food in the summer for the winter (Proverbs 6:6-8). The wise man understands that God provides for us through secondary means, the primary one being diligent labor and prudent stewardship. To reject these means is to tempt God. The blessing of the Lord makes rich, and He adds no sorrow with it (Proverbs 10:22). The "sorrow" comes when fools get their hands on riches.
The Gluttony of Folly (v. 20b)
The contrast could not be more stark. We move from the wise man's storehouse to the foolish man's gullet.
"But a foolish man swallows it up."
The verb here is visceral. He "swallows it up." He devours, gulps, consumes. It brings to mind an animalistic, unthinking consumption. The fool gets his hands on treasure and oil, and his only thought is how quickly he can pour it down his throat. There is no thought for tomorrow, no thought for his children, no thought for the poor, no thought for the kingdom. There is only the immediate gratification of his appetites.
This is the man who lives paycheck to paycheck, not because his income is low, but because his appetites are high. This is the man who wins the lottery and is bankrupt in five years. This is the government that receives a tax surplus and immediately invents a dozen new programs to spend it, and then some. The fool operates like a firehose, not a reservoir. Whatever comes in one end immediately blasts out the other.
The folly here is not in enjoying God's blessings. God gives us all things richly to enjoy (1 Timothy 6:17). The wise man has oil and treasure; he is not an ascetic. The sin of the fool is that consumption is all he does. He has no category for stewardship. He is a black hole of consumption. He turns treasure into trash and oil into smoke. He is a bad steward, and therefore, he is an unfaithful servant of God, because God owns it all.
This swallowing is the defining characteristic of the prodigal son. He took his inheritance, which represented years of his father's labor and wisdom, and he "squandered it in wild living" (Luke 15:13). He swallowed it up. He converted a productive farm into a series of hangovers. That is the essence of folly. It takes capital, which is future-oriented, and turns it into consumption, which is past-oriented the moment it is done.
Application for a Consumerist Age
So how does this proverb land on us, here and now? We live in the most affluent society in human history, which means we have more opportunities for wisdom and more temptations to folly than any generation before us.
First, we must see that debt-fueled consumerism is institutionalized folly. The credit card is the fool's scepter. It allows you to swallow tomorrow's treasure today. It is a system built on the sin of presumption. The wise man lives within his means, saves for the future, and builds his house on the solid rock of diligence. The foolish man builds his house on the shifting sands of credit, and when the rains of economic hardship come, great will be the fall of it.
Second, we must cultivate the virtue of thrift. Thrift is not being cheap. Thrift is wise stewardship. It is valuing things properly. It is repairing something instead of replacing it. It is distinguishing between needs and wants. It is understanding that every dollar is a seed that can either be eaten now or planted to produce a harvest later. A man who cannot control his spending is a man who cannot control himself, and a man who cannot control himself is a slave to his passions.
Third, our saving and building must have a kingdom purpose. The wise man stores up treasure and oil not so he can retire and play golf for thirty years. He stores it up so he can be a pillar in his family, a source of stability in his community, and a generous benefactor to the work of the Church. Wealth is a tool for dominion. The wise man wants his abode to be a launching pad for the gospel, a place of hospitality, a source of help for those in need. His wealth is not a dead hoard; it is an active arsenal for the kingdom of God. The fool swallows it for himself. The wise man stewards it for his God, his family, and his people.
Conclusion: The Ultimate Treasure
Ultimately, this proverb points us beyond our bank accounts to our hearts. The greatest treasure is wisdom itself, which is to say, the fear of the Lord. Jesus tells us not to lay up for ourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but to lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven (Matthew 6:19-20).
Is this a contradiction of our proverb? Not at all. It is the foundation of it. The man who is laying up treasure in heaven is the only man who can be trusted with treasure on earth. Why? Because his heart is secure. He is not owned by his possessions. He is free to steward them wisely, to save without hoarding, and to give without fear. He knows that his true inheritance is Christ. He knows that the oil of the Holy Spirit is the only provision that will last for eternity.
The foolish man swallows his earthly treasure because it is the only treasure he has. It is his god, and so he must consume it. But the wise man, whose treasure is in heaven, is set free to use his earthly treasure as it was intended: as a tool, a blessing, and a testimony to the goodness of the God who provides it. He builds a storehouse on earth precisely because his true home is in heaven. He plants trees on earth because he is looking forward to the Tree of Life in the New Jerusalem. And in his wise and faithful stewardship, he shows the world what it looks like to live in the fear of the Lord.