Commentary - Proverbs 23:4-5

Bird's-eye view

In this potent little couplet, Solomon addresses one of the central temptations known to man: the lust for riches. The book of Proverbs is intensely practical, and it does not shy away from the grubby business of money. Scripture teaches that wealth can be a blessing, a tool for dominion, and a sign of God's favor. But it also teaches, as it does here, that the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and that the pursuit of it as an end in itself is a fool's errand. This proverb serves as a crucial governor on the engine of our industry. It warns against the kind of labor that is fueled by anxious toil and covetousness, and it reminds us of the ephemeral nature of wealth. The wisdom here is not a command to be lazy, but rather a command to order our loves and our labors rightly, under God.

The passage breaks down into a command against exhausting oneself for wealth, an appeal to wise restraint, and a vivid illustration of why such restraint is necessary. The imagery of riches sprouting wings and flying away like an eagle is a powerful picture of their unreliability. This is a direct challenge to the man who trusts in his own strength and cleverness to secure his future. The gospel truth that undergirds this is that our only true security is in God, who gives and takes away. Our treasure is to be laid up in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where eagles cannot fly away with it.

Outline

Context In Proverbs

This passage sits within a larger collection of "the words of the wise" (Proverbs 22:17-24:34), which emphasize practical holiness in everyday life. These proverbs frequently deal with social ethics, including interactions with the rich and poor, diligence in work, and the dangers of excess. The immediate context warns against associating with a stingy man (vv. 6-8) and speaking in the hearing of a fool (v. 9). This section of Proverbs is deeply concerned with the state of the heart and how it manifests in one's dealings with the world. The warning in verses 4-5 is not against work, which Proverbs commends elsewhere (e.g., Prov. 6:6-11; 10:4), but against a particular kind of work, the kind that is driven by a covetous desire to be rich. It is a heart issue. The Bible commends diligence that flows from a desire to glorify God, provide for one's household, and have something to give to others. It condemns the frantic, self-reliant scrabbling that flows from a love for mammon.

Verse by Verse Commentary

Proverbs 23:4

"Do not weary yourself to gain wealth, Because of your understanding, cease!"

The first clause, "Do not weary yourself to gain wealth," is a direct command. The verb for "weary yourself" or "toil" implies exhausting, wearing labor. It's the kind of work that leaves you spent, not just physically, but spiritually and emotionally. This is not a prohibition against hard work. The Bible is full of exhortations to be diligent, like the ant. The sluggard is roundly condemned. The difference is the telos, the ultimate goal, of the labor. The labor condemned here is labor to gain wealth. The driving motivation is the acquisition of riches for their own sake. This is the man who is running the rat race, chasing the bigger barn, the fatter portfolio. He is laboring under the delusion that his life consists in the abundance of his possessions.

The second clause provides the antidote: "Because of your understanding, cease!" The King James says, "cease from thine own wisdom." The sense is that you should use your God-given sense to put a stop to this madness. Your own wisdom, your own clever schemes for getting rich, are a trap. True understanding, true wisdom, which begins with the fear of the Lord, tells you when to stop. It provides the crucial off-ramp from the highway of avarice. A wise man knows that enough is enough. He knows that his life is more than meat and his body more than raiment. He has the discernment to see that the endless pursuit of more is a spiritual dead end. This is a call to contentment, grounded in a right understanding of the world and God's provision. Cease from your striving, and know that He is God.

Proverbs 23:5

"Do you make your eyes fly up to see it? But it is not there! Because it certainly makes itself wings Like an eagle that flies toward the heavens."

This verse delivers the rationale for the command in verse 4, and it does so with brilliant poetic imagery. The question, "Do you make your eyes fly up to see it?" captures the fleeting glance we get of wealth. The Hebrew is vivid; it's as though your eyes dart toward it, you fixate on it for a moment, and then... "But it is not there!" It vanishes. It is an illusion, a vapor. The man who sets his heart on riches is setting his heart on a phantom. He is building his house on a mist that dissipates with the morning sun.

The reason for this vanishing act is then explained. Wealth "certainly makes itself wings Like an eagle that flies toward the heavens." This is not a tame little sparrow we are talking about. The eagle is majestic, powerful, and swift. And it is utterly beyond your control. Once it decides to fly, it is gone. You cannot call it back. Notice that the riches make themselves wings. This is not something that happens to them passively. There is an inherent instability and volatility to earthly treasure. Market crashes, inflation, theft, rust, lawsuits, foolish children, the avenues of departure are legion. The point is that wealth has a nature, and its nature is to be transitory. To trust in it is therefore the height of folly. The man who does so will find himself standing on the ground, staring at an empty sky, with nothing to show for all his wearying toil but the toil itself. The wise man, by contrast, has invested in durable riches, in righteousness and wisdom, a treasure in heaven that will never fail.

Application

The application for us is straightforward, though not easy. We live in a culture that is utterly devoted to the wearying pursuit of wealth. The entire advertising industry is designed to make us discontent with what we have and to spur us on to more labor for more stuff. We must consciously and deliberately "cease" from our own culture's wisdom.

First, this means we must examine our motives for work. Are we working diligently as unto the Lord, to provide for our families and to build His kingdom? Or are we driven by envy, by a desire to keep up with the Joneses, by a fear that we won't have enough? We must repent of the idolatry of mammon and ask God to purify our hearts.

Second, we must cultivate contentment. This is a spiritual discipline. It means thanking God for what we have, whether it is little or much. It means learning, with Paul, the secret of being content in any and every situation. This contentment is the great enemy of the wearying toil for wealth.

Finally, we must be radically generous. The man who sees his wealth as a tool for the kingdom, and who gives it away freely and cheerfully, is the man who has broken the power of mammon over his heart. He is the one who truly understands that you can't take it with you, but you can send it on ahead. By investing in the eternal, we are freed from the anxiety of watching our earthly riches prepare to take flight. Our treasure is in Christ, and He is not going anywhere.