A [good] name is rather to be chosen than great riches; loving favour rather than silver and gold.
A single line of proverb sets two things side by side and asks which you would take: a name, or great wealth. Most people spend their lives working for the second. So what is a name, why does it outrank silver and gold, and how is it lost?
Translators usually add the word "good" to the opening line. One commentator says the addition is not needed.
It is usual to add the word "good" to the opening clause of chapter 22. But it is so clearly implied that it seems needless. For who could think that a false pretence is worth anything? A person's name in Scripture shows what that person is. What the heart is set on shapes the character. And here the name is taken to be excellent in God's eyes as well as in man's. So loving favour goes with it — and loving favour is far from owed to silver and gold, which often belong to worthless people.
So the verse is not about image or public relations. The name it praises stands up in God's eyes as well as in man's.
Older translations render "favor" here as "loving favour." The verse's second half measures two men against each other.
Better than great riches, better than silver and gold is a name and loving favor. Suppose a person has riches, but a bad name, and no one thinks well of him. He is less honorable than the poor man who has a name and a good reputation. In Ecclesiastes, Solomon says: "A good name is better than precious ointment" (Eccles. 7:1).
The proverb states a fact, not a preference. Yet the fact runs against the whole current of ordinary human behaviour, and the damage done by ignoring it cannot be undone.
Proverbs 22 opens with a similar thought: "A name is rather to be chosen than great riches, favour is better than silver and gold." Men do not think so, and they act on it even less; but so it is, and the loss is beyond repair.
There is a painful edge to this verse when you remember who wrote it. Solomon had the riches; the commentators note that he did not keep the other half.
"A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, loving favor rather than silver and gold" (v. 8). Solomon possessed great riches, but as he became older he sadly neglected to preserve a good name. Who could do this who wanted 1000 wives and 300 concubines? We should think he would deeply miss the sweetness of God's loving favor!
The verse tells you to choose a good name — but the moment a name becomes the thing you are working for, it turns dangerous. Commentators warn that a reputation, even a religious one, can quietly replace Christ as the aim.
There is nothing more dangerous to a Christian than to have "a name." It is a real snare of the devil. Many a professing Christian has fallen through being occupied with a name. Many a useful servant has been destroyed by the effort to keep up a name. Suppose I have gained a reputation in some area of service — as an active evangelist, a gifted teacher, a clear and attractive writer, a man of prayer, a man of faith, a person of remarkable holiness or great devotion, a generous person. A name for anything, in short. Then I am in serious danger of making shipwreck. The enemy will lead me to make my reputation my object instead of Christ. I will be working to keep up a name instead of the glory of Christ, busy with the thoughts of men instead of doing all my work under God's eye.
Yet this is not indifference to what people think.
A true servant of Christ will avoid the praise of men rather than seek it. Even so, his conduct should always win the approval of fair-minded people. God is glorified when the light that is in believers shines out before men in good works. Having nothing evil to say about you seals the lips of those who hate God's truth and watch for God's people to stumble. The glaring inconsistencies of ordinary Christian walk, on the other hand, too often hand a welcome excuse to those who revile.
A bad reputation is not just embarrassing. Writing on the requirement that an overseer be well spoken of by outsiders, one commentator explains what is really at stake.
This of course has nothing to do with creature vanity or pride, occupied with its own position compared with that of others. It points to the danger of a bad reputation. Suppose a man is not kept in the presence of God — and how hard that is when he has much to do with others! What an advantage the awareness of that would give the enemy, both to slander him and to trap him.
- Name is character. A name in Scripture shows what a person is, so "good" hardly needs adding — a false reputation is worth nothing.
- Name outranks money. A rich man with a bad name stands lower than a poor man with a good one. Silver and gold cannot buy loving favour.
- Name is chosen, not chased. Let fair-minded people approve your conduct, but never hunt for their praise. A name kept up for its own sake replaces Christ as your object.
- Name can be lost. Solomon had the riches and let the name go. Commentators say such a loss cannot be repaired.
- Name is a shield. A clean report seals the lips of those who hate God's truth; a bad one gives the enemy an opening to slander and to trap.
The rich and poor meet together; Jehovah is the maker of them all.
The verse puts a rich man and a poor man side by side, then names what they share: one Maker. So what does the rich man owe the poor man, and what may the poor man remember about himself?
The gap between rich and poor looks huge. Then you ask where each man came from, and where each is going. One commentator says the difference is small at both ends of life. Job saw what that means for the way a master treats a servant:
In the essentials, how little is the difference! They come into the world alike, and they stand alike when the world passes away. "Rich and poor meet together; Jehovah is the maker of them all." The poor man has every right to remember this, and the rich man ought not to forget it. Job had it clearly before him: "If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or my maidservant, when they brought a complaint against me, what then shall I do when God rises up? When He makes inquiry, what shall I answer Him? Did not He who made me in the womb make him?"
Both men have the same Maker. But one of them is far more likely to keep that in mind:
The poor are more likely to remember this than the rich. And the rich tend to act toward the poor as though the poor are not as truly creatures of God as the rich are. But the Maker of them all is not partial.
How a man treats the poor is never just between the two of them. It reaches back to the One who made them:
Of the poor and the rich we read that the poor is hated; the rich has many friends (14:20). "Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker, but he who is generous to the needy honours Him" (14:31). To deal kindly with the poor and the lowly is God-like. The righteous will show his righteousness in a practical way by considering the poor.
One commentator asks what happens when a poor man and his oppressor stand face to face:
Whether to the poor, or to the oppressor, it is the Lord who gives light and understanding. So when they meet, can the oppressor's conscience be asleep, when the Lord has given light to his eyes? Does he think the poor man cannot see that he is oppressed? Oh no! The Lord gives them both light to see the situation. Let them look one another in the eye, and see whose conscience writhes.
If God is the Maker of both, then wealth gives no standing with Him — not now, and not at the end:
In eternity rich and poor will be alike, and money will be of no value. Even here all are on one common platform before God, and money is powerless to buy His favour. He does not judge by the size of our house or the style we keep up. Instead, He has respect to the man of a broken and contrite spirit. He gives pardon to the king on his throne and to the beggar in the workhouse alike. The one condition is that they come empty-handed and needy, and receive the forgiveness that is only to be had through Christ, who gave Himself a ransom for all.
The proverb speaks of what men share as creatures. One commentator marks the limit of that, and points to a closer meeting still:
Grace wipes out all lesser distinctions, because it brings out the one man's nothingness and God's fullness. In that presence all other distinctions disappear. There the richest is poor and the poorest is rich. It is not merely, "The rich and the poor meet together; the LORD is the Maker of them all" — which levels distinctions before the Creator. It is, "This man receives sinners and eats with them."
- One Maker. Rich and poor come into the world the same way, and stand the same way when it ends. Where it matters most, the difference is small.
- One memory. The poor man may hold this truth close. The rich man is the one who tends to forget it, and to treat the poor as less truly God's creatures.
- One insult. Since God made both, contempt for the poor insults his Maker. Kindness to him is God-like.
- One platform. Money buys no favour at God's door; pardon comes to king and beggar alike, and only to empty hands.
- One deeper meeting. Creation levels men before the Maker. Grace goes further: Christ receives sinners at His table, where the richest is poor and the poorest rich.
A prudent [man] seeth the evil, and hideth himself; but the simple pass on, and are punished.
The proverb sets two men on the same road: one sees trouble coming and steps out of its path, the other walks straight into it. So what does a person do with a warning, and where can he hide when the danger is real?
One commentator sums up both halves of the verse:
Next comes the value of prudence in a world like this. The careful man sees the danger coming and looks for shelter in time. The careless man walks straight on and suffers the result.
The order matters: sight first, then shelter. Sight alone saves nobody.
The word does not describe someone of low intelligence. One commentator explains why this ignorance brings guilt:
"The simple" here are those who are unaware because they are ignorant, and punishment is the result of that ignorance. For it is our fault if we neglect the Word of God, which would enlighten us. Ignorance is no excuse when God has given us His Word, and we have ignored it. Have we no heart to listen when our God and Father speaks? If so, we can only expect to reap the results of not listening.
The simple man is not blindfolded by fate. He has a lamp and leaves it unlit.
Something in us resists a bad report about ourselves, and that resistance is what keeps a man walking on. Two Bible figures show it:
Being unwilling to face an unpleasant truth about yourself is nothing new in man. The prophet Elisha drew a vivid picture of Hazael's future violence. "What is your servant, who is but a dog, that he should do this great thing?" said the astonished man. But, as one writer put it well, "The dog went and did it." … You can see the same attitude in the devoted Simon Peter. He was eager and brave, and he admired and loved his Master deeply. Yet he would not admit for a moment that what the Lord said about him was true… How much better if the self-confident man had heeded the gracious warning.
Both men were told the truth about themselves, and both refused it. Confidence in self is what walks a man past the warning.
One man in Scripture lived this out. Noah acted on a danger nobody could see:
Noah's faith had three results. By building the ark, he worked out his salvation and the safety of his house. Nothing he could see justified his fears, yet he made wise provision for the coming terror. He condemned the world by his obedience to the word of God. His testimony showed how mad the others were, as they carried on without a care, exactly as before. … He became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. By gladly accepting the conditions of escape, he confessed himself a sinner before God.
The prudent man does not see the danger with his eyes. He hears it in God's word and treats that word as fact.
Hiding assumes there is somewhere to hide. One writer names the shelters God gave, and the man who refused his warning:
Noah by faith recognised that wrath was coming, and he took shelter in the ark. The Israelites in faith sprinkled the blood of the lamb on their houses on that night of judgement in Egypt. Ahab, by contrast, ignored God's warning in defiance, and came to a wretched end at Ramoth-Gilead… Men are living in danger at this very hour. The day of judgement hurries on. Those who have fled to Christ for refuge are "prudent" in God's sight. Those who ignore Him and His great salvation are "simple", however wise they think they are — and that is a sad thing.
The proverb still applies after a person takes refuge. The road ahead still has traps on it:
The child of God should not be ignorant of the dangers of the Christian path: the traps of Satan, threats against personal faith and godliness, and cunning attacks on the truth of the Church of God. By knowing Scripture he should see the grave dangers that threaten him in advance, and take refuge in the truth God has provided.
Commentators differ in emphasis. Some read the verse as a call to sinners to escape judgment. Others read it as daily caution for believers. Both readings rest on one habit: act on God's warning before the trouble arrives.
- Warned. God warns before the danger arrives, so ignoring His word is not innocent ignorance but a fault we choose.
- Seen. Prudence is not cleverness; it is sight given by Scripture — Noah feared a flood with a clear sky above him.
- Refused. Self-confidence keeps the simple walking on. Hazael and Peter both brushed off a warning that came true.
- Hidden. Sight must turn into movement. The ark, the blood on the door, Christ Himself — God provides the shelter He warns you to run to.
- Reaped. The one who hides is safe; the one who walks on suffers, and the suffering is the harvest of not listening.
The reward of humility [and] the fear of Jehovah is riches, and honour, and life.
A low view of self and reverence toward God: the world prizes neither. Yet this verse ties both to three things the world chases — wealth, standing, and life. So what riches and honour does God promise here, and to whom?
First, notice what kind of book this promise sits in.
Remember that the Book of Proverbs deals with this world, and with God's government, under which a man reaps what he has sown. This is always true, whatever the sovereign grace that gives us things far beyond this world and high above it.
Those who feared God, though, were moved by more than the reward.
In those days Israel was on trial under the LORD's earthly government, and conduct brought results at once, for good or ill. Even then, great moral principles were bound to be at work in those who feared His name — far beyond anything the natural man craves.
Kelly treats the two qualities as one thing, not two.
Humility of a true sort, the fear of the LORD, has its reward in riches and honour and life — which greater ability misses for lack of it.
Rossier explains why the two never come apart.
The fear of God is always accompanied by humility: no one can attribute importance to himself when he stands in God's presence.
The word "fear" carries a particular sense here, and Proverbs keeps returning to it.
The word "fear" means a godly fear, reverence. Proverbs mentions this fear of the LORD fourteen times. This childlike reverence is the beginning of knowledge, and it is sadly lacking among the young of our day. There is no true knowledge apart from the fear of the LORD. It means to acknowledge the Lord, adore and worship Him. It means to bow in faith to His revelation and put it above everything else.
Under God's government the reward can be plain and material. Kelly says the Christian's portion takes another shape.
For those who are genuine, God has no empty prizes. Wisdom from Him secures riches and honour — not material riches for the Christian, but something far better: lasting wealth and righteousness. Its fruit is indeed superior to pure gold or choice silver. Wisdom walks in the way of righteousness... To reason, to common sense, that path may look foolish. It often involves loss, sacrifice and suffering. But "whoever does the will of God abides forever."
The verses around this one draw a contrast. One man watches for trouble; the other is too sure of himself to look.
One who lacks wisdom will fall into the snare of the enemy, because he is too self-confident. He will not qualify for the riches and honour and life that belong to those marked by "humility and fear of the LORD" (v. 4). Instead, he will find "thorns and snares" along his way, while the watchful believer will be guarded from such evils.
Jesus taught the same pattern, and He lived it.
There is another moral element of great importance here and everywhere else — not self-seeking, but a truly humble mind. As our Lord said, even if it is only a seat at a feast, go and take the last one. Then, when the host comes, he may say, Friend, go up higher... Let us not forget Him who lived what He said, and said it for our building up: "Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
- Fear — Not terror, but reverence. It means acknowledging God, worshipping Him, and putting His word first. Knowledge starts here.
- Humility — Not a second, separate virtue. The fear of God produces it. No one can think himself important while standing in God's presence.
- Riches — Real, but for the Christian not material. Wisdom secures lasting wealth and righteousness, worth more than gold or silver.
- Honour — It goes to the one who takes the low seat. Christ said this and lived it: the self-exalting come down, and the humble go up.
- Life — The reward the self-confident man forfeits. He walks into thorns and snares. The watchful man sees the danger and takes shelter.
Thorns [and] snares are in the way of the perverse he that keepeth his soul holdeth himself far from them.
Proverbs 22 sets two lives side by side. Verse 5 shows one road full of thorns and traps, and one person who stays clear of both. What makes the difference — the road, or the watchfulness of the traveller?
The thorns and snares are not an accident. They go with the path the crooked man chooses. The man who guards his soul is not there to meet them.
The crooked or perverse man meets painful experience on his way — thorns and snares. But the man who guards his soul keeps well away from all such trials.
Elsewhere Proverbs makes the same point about a twisted heart and a twisted tongue.
This is the just outcome for the man with a perverse heart: as he looks for evil, he finds no good. And the man whose tongue is twisted in the same way must fall into real evil. God is not mocked by bad thoughts or bad words. Whoever gives way to either will have to eat the bitter fruit of his own ways.
The choice of image is not random. Thorns are one of the results of the curse, and the Bible has many words for them.
The Bible uses about a dozen different words for "thorns" and "thistles," which shows how plentiful these results of the curse are in this sin-stained world. Thorns are often mentioned as growing up in places left desolate.
The verse does not describe a man who escapes by luck. It describes a man doing something: keeping watch over himself.
Because of this personal danger, the Scriptural advice to each of us is, "Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life"; "Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit." — Prov. 4:23; Psalm 34:13. To "keep," in the sense of these verses, calls for alertness, watchfulness and being wide awake on our part. To keep the heart, the tongue, the lips and every other part of us, we must "watch and pray," as the Lord told His disciples in the garden of Gethsemane.
A snare catches people who never planned to be caught. The safeguard is not a resolve to avoid evil but a mind already filled with something better.
It is not enough — and how often the Christian has found this! — to have no intention of doing evil, or even to intend to do right. We are in a world of snares and temptations. We have to watch and pray, so that we do not enter into temptation. The soul needs to be filled with the divine things of wisdom, and the thoughts of wisdom need to guide the mind and the path. Then the attractions of evil and Satan's schemes take no hold on us. The mind lives in another sphere. It is another nature that finds evil offensive. That nature spots evil inside the attraction itself, and treats it as evil, not as something appealing.
The proverb does not promise rescue after the trap springs. The wise man stays far from it. Two verses earlier the same man sees trouble coming and takes cover.
Verse 3 shows that a prudent man is watchful. He sees trouble coming and seeks shelter from it. But the man who lacks wisdom falls easily into the snare of the enemy, because he is too sure of himself. He will not share in the riches and honor and life that belong to those marked "by humility and the fear of the Lord" (v. 4). Instead he will find "thorns and snares" along his way, while the watchful believer is guarded from such evils.
Proverbs also pictures such traps as nets spread by other people.
The believer should not be ignorant of the fact that evil people are spreading their nets. If his eyes are open, he will discern it and avoid the net. In avoiding the net, he will also avoid the people who spread it.
- Path. The crooked man does not just stumble into trouble. He meets thorns and snares on his own road, and eats the bitter fruit of his own ways.
- Curse. Thorns are a result of the curse in a sin-stained world. The Bible has about a dozen words for them. The proverb pictures sin's road with sin's own plant.
- Guard. To keep a soul means alertness and watchfulness. It is the work of watching and praying, as the Lord told His disciples in Gethsemane.
- Fill. Good intentions are not enough in a world of snares. The safe mind is already filled with wisdom, and to that mind evil is offensive, not attractive.
- Distance. The watchful man sees trouble coming and takes cover. He avoids the net, and so avoids the people who spread it. That is what staying far from thorns means.
Train up the child according to the tenor of his way, and when he is old he will not depart from it.
Proverbs 22:6 covers a whole life in one sentence: what a child takes in early tends to hold when everything else has changed. Commentators read it as a plain rule of cause and effect and as a promise a parent can lean on, though they differ on what it means when a child from a godly home goes wrong.
The verse points to a stage of life when a parent can still shape a child. One writer draws that out with a picture from the garden.
A wise gardener starts while his fruit trees are young and tender. He trains the branches along the wall, where they can catch the warm rays of the sun. We should do the same. While our children are young and easy to shape, we should shape them for God. It would be foolish for the gardener to wait until the branches grow old and gnarled, and only then try to train them.
Every parent trains a child toward something. The question the verse forces is what that something is.
Yes, our children need training for some kind of work, so they can make their way through this world. But the main purpose of a parent's stewardship is to train them for the Lord. If parents honour the Lord in how they educate their children, His favour will rest on the children and on the parents.
A parent trains a child by more than words.
Here is the thing that tests us. Here, as everywhere else, we reap what we sow — above all in the mind of a child, which is so easy to shape. And it is not only our words that bear fruit. It is our words and our ways together.
The same law works the other way. Wrong training sticks too. That makes the proverb a warning as well as a comfort.
We can be sure that evil has its own law and order, just as good does. "Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it." Train him for the world, and can you be surprised when that work succeeds just as well?
Training includes correction. Love is what makes a parent willing to give it.
Such training needs firm discipline, and that includes physical pain. If we love our child, we will not shrink from it... We may not see the good results early in the child's life, but "even when he is old he will not depart from it."
Yet one writer refuses to give a set of rules to follow.
We do not try to set out any rules or regulations for the training. We do not believe in them. Dry rules cannot train children.
Some parents hold back from spiritual training until they see faith in the child. One writer calls that delay a mistake.
Many parents make the mistake of thinking they must wait for their children to be converted before they try to follow this instruction... The Spirit of God does not say, "Wait and pray for your children's conversion." He says, "Bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord." You are to take God at His word, and count on Him for the blessing the promise holds.
Commentators differ here. One reads the verse as leaving no room for blaming the child: if the children of godly parents do not follow them, "it is because they have not been trained up in the way they should go... There could not be failure on God's side." Another sees a different explanation.
People are often surprised to see young men and women become known for ungodly lives, even though they come from godly homes. Some suggest the reason must be serious sin in the parents, or at least a serious fault in their training... But the children have inherited from their parents the same fallen nature that came from Adam, and they will stay that way until grace reaches them too.
A third writer keeps the result in view rather than the cause.
Early training, whatever the exceptions, has its good result... That is what happened with Isaac, whom his father trained this way. Solomon's life was far less steady, though we may hope he repented.
- Early — shape the branch while it is young and tender. Wait until it is gnarled and the work is hopeless.
- Aim — parents train a child for work in this world, but their main stewardship is to train them for the Lord.
- Example — words alone do not train a child. A parent's words and ways work together. The same law also works in reverse.
- Discipline — firm correction belongs to training, and love keeps a parent from shrinking from it. But dry rules cannot do the work.
- Patience — the promise names old age, not youth. Commentators differ on why some children stray. The verse tells parents to train them now and count on God for the blessing.
The rich ruleth over the poor; and the borrower is servant to the lender.
Solomon states a fact of life, not a command: money gives one person power over another, and a loan hands that power to the lender. The proverb leaves open what a person who fears God does with that fact, on either side of the loan.
Wealth tends to make a man act superior, and a loan gives him a hold over the borrower:
It is a difficult thing for a man of money to avoid airs with someone who has none, and especially if the second man puts himself under obligation to him. But faith delivers from this snare, and still more when there is a real living Christ.
The second half shows how a free man becomes a servant without being sold. One commentator adds that the poor man's escape is not wealth but confidence in God:
You can easily see that "the rich rules over the poor" (v. 7), though if a poor man puts his confidence in the Lord, he does not need to be subservient to the rich. The Lord will sustain him. But if we borrow from others, we shall find ourselves subservient to the lender. How much better to "Owe no one anything except to love each other" (Rom. 13:8). Sometimes it is easy to borrow, but hard to repay. It is wise to be on the safe side by not borrowing at all.
Commentators differ on how far this goes. Some read Romans 13:8 as a rule about paying, not a ban on borrowing:
The words "Owe no one anything" do not mean that it is wrong to borrow money. The question is about paying. If a debt is due, pay it exactly on time. Borrowing money in a reckless way, with no prospect of paying it back, is sinful. It has often brought great dishonour on the name of our Lord.
Others take the command in its widest sense, and call unpaid debt plain wrong:
We take Romans 13:8 in its plain, broad sense. We believe it teaches us to owe no one anything. It is painful beyond words to see how little conscience professing Christians have about debt. We would solemnly call on all who are in the habit of going into debt to judge themselves in this matter and get out of a false position at once. It is better by far to sit down to a dry crust and wear a shabby coat than to live well and dress well at our neighbour's expense. We regard it as positive unrighteousness.
Staying free is less about a rule than about a daily habit with money:
"Owe no one anything." These few words are very comprehensive. Not merely to pay debts when due, but to seek to pay all demands as soon as they fall due. To do this, a Christian should always seek to live below his income and do his business within his means. This may take much diligence and self-denial, but what misery he will avoid.
Love is a debt never fully paid, for it is to love one another as He has loved us.
Lending raises its own questions. Scripture sets limits both ways:
How ready some people are to borrow! There are counter-truths to guide us in all these questions. The good man spoken of in Psalm 112 will not only "deal generously and lend," but will "conduct his affairs with justice." There is a guard for us.
The very word that says, "Do not refuse the one who would borrow from you," says also, "Owe no one anything." A Christian in a right state of soul would not be happy to owe anyone anything. Suppose someone goes bankrupt and gets a legal release from paying his debts in full. Is he not still morally responsible before the Lord, though the law has acquitted him?
Relieving a debt without changing the habit that produced it can leave the person worse off:
In helping God's people who have got into actual debt through their folly, I believe the way is not to help them without sincere repentance on their part, and a resolve to walk in the ways of the word.
Suppose I help a believer, and so encourage him to set up in business without the capital to carry it out. I am only encouraging him in a path of dishonour to the Lord, and the Lord can by no means go with me in that path.
- Observation. The verse reports how money works: wealth rules, and a loan turns the borrower into a servant.
- Snare. Money tempts a man to put on airs over someone who owes him. Faith delivers from that snare.
- Servitude. Borrowing is easy; repaying is hard. The borrower ends up serving the lender. The poor man's real security is trust that the Lord will sustain him.
- Dispute. Commentators differ. Some read Romans 13:8 as banning reckless borrowing that dishonours the Lord's name. Others rule out all debt as unrighteousness.
- Freedom. Live below your income. Pay each demand as soon as it falls due. Own your debts even when the law has cancelled them. Owe no one anything but love.