The Divine Appraisal Service: Text: Proverbs 22:1-2
Introduction: The War on Value
We live in an age that is profoundly confused about value. Our secularist high priests have thrown the divine scales of measurement into the sea and have tried to replace them with their own rigged set of weights. They tell us that a man's worth is determined by his net worth, or by his political clout, or by his victim status, or by his contribution to the gross domestic product. They are constantly re-evaluating, re-pricing, and re-branding everything, but because they have rejected the ultimate appraiser, they have no fixed standard. The result is a frantic and exhausting marketplace of competing values, where everything is for sale and nothing has ultimate worth.
Into this chaotic bazaar of relativism, the book of Proverbs speaks with the calm, quiet authority of a master jeweler. It does not haggle. It does not speculate. It simply states the fixed, eternal value of things as determined by the God who made them. And the first thing we must grasp is that God's appraisal service is at radical odds with the world's. The world looks at the outward appearance, the portfolio, the square footage. God looks at the heart, the character, the name.
These two verses from Proverbs 22 are a direct assault on the twin pillars of modern godlessness: materialism and egalitarianism. Materialism says that stuff is what matters most. Egalitarianism, particularly the Marxist-flavored sort, says that unequal piles of stuff are the ultimate injustice. Both are lies forged in the pit, and both are fueled by the sin of envy. The Bible here provides the divine corrective. It tells us what is truly valuable, and it tells us the one great fact that levels all mankind, a fact that has nothing to do with their bank accounts.
The Text
A good name is to be chosen over great wealth,
Favor is better than silver and gold.
The rich and the poor meet together in this,
Yahweh is the Maker of them all.
(Proverbs 22:1-2)
The Currency of Character (v. 1)
The first verse establishes a hierarchy of value that is entirely upside down from the world's perspective.
"A good name is to be chosen over great wealth, Favor is better than silver and gold." (Proverbs 22:1)
A "good name" here is not about brand management or public relations. In the Hebrew mindset, a name represents the reality of a thing. It is the sum total of your character, your integrity, your reputation earned over a lifetime of dealings. It is your covenant faithfulness made public. To have a good name is to be known as a man who keeps his word, who is honest in his dealings, who is faithful to his wife, who is a pillar in his community. It is a currency that cannot be printed by a central bank or inflated by government spending. It is earned, deposit by deposit, through righteous living.
And this, Solomon says, is "to be chosen over great wealth." This is a command, an ethical imperative. When you come to a fork in the road, and one path leads to a compromised dollar and the other to an intact reputation, you are to choose your name. This is because a good name has eternal weight, while great wealth is notoriously light. Wealth can be stolen overnight, it can be inflated away, it can be taxed into oblivion. As another proverb says, it can sprout wings and fly away (Proverbs 23:5). But a good name, a reputation for godliness, is laid up as treasure in heaven.
The second clause reinforces the first: "Favor is better than silver and gold." The word for favor here is that lovely Hebrew word, chen, which we often translate as grace. This is not just about being well-liked. It speaks of the good-will, the esteem, the gracious disposition that others have toward you because of your character. And ultimately, it points to the favor of God. To have the smile of God upon you is an asset that makes the gold reserves at Fort Knox look like a pile of bottle caps. What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, to have all the silver and gold, and to lose the favor of God? It is a fool's bargain.
This verse is a direct rebuke to the prosperity gospel charlatans who would tell you that wealth is the primary sign of God's favor. The Bible says the exact opposite. God's favor is the wealth. A good name is the riches. The world tells you to leverage your name to get wealth. God tells you to leverage your wealth, if you have it, to build a good name.
The Great Equalizer (v. 2)
Verse 2 moves from the personal valuation of character to the great foundational truth that governs all social and economic distinctions.
"The rich and the poor meet together in this, Yahweh is the Maker of them all." (Proverbs 22:2)
The rich and the poor "meet together." This means they have a common point of intersection, a shared reality that transcends their economic differences. Our modern world, steeped in the politics of envy, wants to see the meeting of the rich and poor only as a point of conflict, of class warfare. The Bible sees it as a point of commonality. They live in the same world, under the same sun, breathing the same air. They will both die and face the same judgment. And most fundamentally, they share the same origin.
And what is that common ground? It is this: "Yahweh is the Maker of them all." This is one of the most potent anti-Marxist statements in all of Scripture. The fundamental thing about a man is not his economic status. The fundamental thing is that he is a creature, and Yahweh is his Creator. This truth cuts both ways, like a sharp sword.
To the rich man, it is a warning against pride. You did not make yourself. Your wealth, your intelligence, your opportunities, all are gifts from the Maker. You are not a self-made man; you are a man made by God, and you are a steward of what He has given you. To despise the poor man is therefore to despise an image-bearer of your own Maker. "He who oppresses the poor taunts his Maker, but he who is gracious to the needy honors Him" (Proverbs 14:31).
To the poor man, it is a shield against both despair and envy. Your poverty does not define you in the ultimate sense. You are not cosmic refuse. You were fashioned by the same divine hands that fashioned the king in his palace. Your dignity is not derived from your wallet, but from your Creator. This truth should kill envy at the root. To envy the rich man is to question the wisdom of your own Maker. It is to say to God, "You have not done well by me. You have made a mistake in your providential orderings." But God makes no mistakes. He raises up one and brings down another, and He does all things well.
This verse establishes the Creator/creature distinction as the most important social reality. Our secular egalitarians want to level all distinctions by erasing God from the picture. They want to make man the measure of all things, and then they want to make all men the same, which is a fast track to tyranny. The Bible establishes true equality, not on the shifting sands of human circumstance, but on the bedrock of divine creation. All men are equal in this: they are all creatures, accountable to their Maker.
Conclusion: The Ultimate Name and the Ultimate Maker
Like all wisdom in Proverbs, these verses find their ultimate fulfillment and meaning in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one who perfectly embodied this truth. He had the greatest name of all, the name which is above every name, and yet He chose to become poor for our sakes, that we through His poverty might become rich (2 Cor. 8:9).
Jesus had the full favor of God, hearing the words, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased." Yet He willingly surrendered that favor on the cross, crying out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" He did this so that we, who deserved only God's wrath, might receive His everlasting favor, His grace, His chen.
And in Christ, the rich and poor truly meet together. The ground is level at the foot of the cross. We all come as bankrupt sinners, with nothing to offer. The rich man cannot buy his way into heaven, and the poor man cannot earn his way in through his lack of privilege. Both must come with empty hands to the Maker who became a man in order to remake them.
The gospel is the ultimate divine appraisal. It tells us that our own "good name" is nothing but filthy rags. But in Christ, we are given a new name, a name written in the Lamb's book of life. We are given the unshakeable favor of God. And we are brought into the family of the one who is not only our Maker, but also our Redeemer. In Him, we have a name that is better than wealth, and a favor that is better than gold, for it is a treasure that will last for all eternity.