There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is right, but [it tendeth] only to want.
This proverb turns money upside down: give it away and you end up richer, grip it and you end up poor. So who controls the increase — the careful hand, or God?
The word sounds wasteful, like seed flung on the ground. One writer reads it as using what you have for people in need, and puts the outcome in God's hands.
How true it is also that one who scatters, that is, uses his goods to benefit those in need, will increase. It is God who orders this. We should realize that God has only put us in trust with the use of His own goods. Our possessions are not really our own, and God will reward faithfulness. On the other hand, one who stores up for himself holds back from the poor what he could have used for their good. He will very likely be reduced to poverty (v. 24) — if not on earth, then certainly in eternity.
Farming and trade both work for results no one can see yet. One writer sets that ordinary fact against the tight fist, which he traces to fear.
Even farming, trade, and business show faith in what cannot be seen yet, however far they stand from the sovereign grace that is the source of blessing in spiritual things. But the increase does not come without good judgment along the way. On the other hand, stinginess and fear cannot keep want away, nor do they deserve to. He alone is worthy of all trust, and He holds the reins even when everything looks confused. He has the right to shape and guide the heart, and He loves a cheerful giver.
The principle is not limited to cash. It reaches what a person has learnt of God.
We are all equal sharers in these things. The most advanced believer cannot claim a greater share in them than the youngest beginner. He may have seen more of how precious they are, and gone further into how vast they are. Still, what he has learnt is for everyone. If any Christian begins to hoard what he has learnt as though it were his own private treasure, he will lose the joy of it at once. Every other Christian has a God-given right to all these things.
The same proverb stands behind the Lord's own teaching about passing on what you receive.
The more zeal and energy they put into passing on to others what they had received, the more truth they would receive… Grace was giving a revised version of the law of exact repayment. The Lord was not saying to them, "Eye for eye, tooth for tooth." He was laying on them a newer and nobler command: "Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you" (Luke 6:38).
The increase does not have to arrive as money. One writer ties it to God's power to supply every kind of grace, so that giving can keep going.
The one who sows seed by scattering abroad what he has to give is dealing with a God "who is able to make all grace abound." Note the word ALL: grace of every kind, grace in spiritual things and grace in material things. As a result, the generous giver is "enriched in every way to all free-hearted liberality" (2 Cor. 9:11). He is enriched by God so that his giving may go on and expand. This enrichment may not take the form of material things. God may choose instead to enrich him in spiritual things, so that the man who began by giving a little money may end up handing out a rich store of spiritual blessing.
Taken as a command, the verse calls for a steady readiness to share — and the Lord attaches a promise to it.
Be always ready to share what you have with others, especially with those in need. Sharing like this does not always leave you with less than you had at first… As the Lord said, "There is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life" (Luke 18:29-30).
- Trust — giving is faith in what you cannot see, like a farmer burying seed. Holding back is fear, and fear cannot keep want away.
- Stewardship — what you hold was never yours. God trusts you with His own goods, and He rewards faithful use of them.
- Reach — this runs past money into truth. Hoard what you have learnt as private treasure and you lose the joy of it.
- Return — God can make every kind of grace abound. He may repay in spiritual riches rather than money, so that your giving keeps growing.
- Result — holding back aims at safety and ends in poverty. Whoever gives for the kingdom's sake receives many times more, now and in the age to come.
The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
He that withholdeth corn, the people curse him; but blessing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it.
The proverb sets two men side by side in the same hard season. One holds his grain back while people go hungry. The other brings it to market. Why would a whole town curse one man for a business decision, and call the other man blessed?
The setting is a food shortage, and a man who treats his neighbours' hunger as his chance to profit. One writer names his motive and points to the opposite example:
Next we hear the people cursing the man who withholds grain in a time of want and suffering, so that he may enrich himself. On the other side, blessing just as surely rests on the head of the man who sells it at a fair price. See it in the beautiful story of Joseph during Egypt's years of famine. Sadly, the sad story is far too common today, where the glad story should be heard instead.
The Hebrew verb behind "sells" is a grain-trading word. One writer traces it back to the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible:
In Proverbs 11:26 the verb shabar means "to sell grain." No book written before Proverbs uses it in that sense except the Pentateuch, where it appears often, in both Genesis and Deuteronomy. But here in Proverbs the words, "a blessing is on the head of him who sells it," contain a beautiful reference to the blessing of Joseph, that great seller of grain, Genesis 49:26.
Joseph stored up grain in Egypt and sold it to the hungry when the famine came.
The proverb does not condemn buying and selling. Writing about rich men who profited from a food shortage, one writer draws the line:
This was not a question of the ordinary business dealings of life. Here the rich used the needs and trials of the poor, which came from special circumstances such as a food shortage, to enrich themselves.
The same rule reaches modern business:
We are told to give generously. The generous soul will be enriched (Proverbs 11:25). We are forbidden to corner the market in goods, force prices up, and make a fortune out of other people's misfortunes. "The people curse him who holds back grain."
Greed rarely calls itself greed. One writer warns that it comes with reasons attached:
There is urgent need, dear friend, to watch out, in case the money-loving spirit of the day traps us. The devil is trying to blind the eyes of professing Christians in various ways. He supplies them with a thousand believable reasons why they should push and grasp and scrape together... Only think of a saint of God, an heir of glory, hoarding up this world's miserable riches! Think of it while so many of God's people are in want, and while the Lord's work at home and abroad has its claims! How can we suppose that the life of Christ or the love of God is in a soul that hoards his hundreds and sees his brother in need? Impossible. Oh, for a large heart!
One writer turns the proverb toward a different kind of famine:
Surely the need all around should be appeal enough to those who by grace share in an infinite treasure. It is a treasure we only enjoy more ourselves as we share it with others! Think of needing to be stirred up about this! And yet we do need it. And because we fall short here, does not evil come upon us too under the holy government of God? If "the people curse him who holds back grain," what is the responsibility of those who hold back the "word of life" from perishing souls — the good word that can gladden the saddest heart?
- Withholding. The sin named is not owning grain but keeping it back during a shortage to grow rich on other people's suffering.
- Selling. The Hebrew verb means to sell grain. It echoes Joseph, "that great seller of grain," and the blessing spoken over him.
- Trading. The proverb leaves ordinary business alone. It forbids cornering the market, forcing prices up, and profiting from other people's misfortunes.
- Hoarding. The money-loving spirit brings a thousand reasons. The test is simple: can a person hoard his hundreds and watch his brother go without?
- Sharing. The same rule reaches the treasure that feeds souls. Those who hold back the word of life come under God's government too.