What does it mean that the blessing of the Lord brings wealth (Proverbs 10:22)?

Naomi's relation's name, Boaz, signifies "a pillar," or "strength is in him." One of the two pillars or supports in the porch of Solomon's temple was called "Boaz" (1 Kings 7:21). Boaz, the strong man of Bethlehem, is described also as "a mighty man of wealth" (2:1). The same phrase is applied to Gideon and to Jephthah, but in these instances it is translated "a mighty man of valour" (Judges 6:12; Judges11:1), courage and leadership being necessary qualities in their service for God. Here, in reference to Boaz, "wealth" is used as it is in Deut. 8:17-18, where it signifies God-given personal possessions in the land, such as the goodly houses, herds and flocks, silver and gold, mentioned in vers. 12, 13. For the godly Israelite "wealth" was a mark of the blessing of Jehovah which "makes rich, and He adds no sorrow to it" (Prov. 10:22).

Perhaps one verse gives a good definition of blessing when it comes from the Lord, Proverbs 10:22, "The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it". That would be in contrast with what comes from other sources.

When the Lord gives His blessing, it makes one rich, above all spiritually. While there may be sorrow at the time, yet the Lord does not add sorrow to this; in fact, it may be the means of easing sorrow (v. 22). A fool often engages in doing evil just for the sport of it, and in fact, if it causes suffering to others, this does not bother him. How different the attitude of one who has wisdom, therefore always knowing how to restrain himself (v. 23). The wicked are seldom without fear of some repercussions from their folly, and the thing they fear will likely come upon them (v. 24). But the righteous have no reason to be fearful, rather having a desire too for what will honor God, and this will certainly be granted them.

There can also be no doubt about the practical and spiritual meaning of these blessings for ourselves. It is also true for us that it is the blessing of the Lord that makes rich (Proverbs 10:22). And our riches are of a spiritual nature in the first place, since we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ (Ephesians 1:3). As Israel received the Promised Land as their inheritance — the possession of which is actually the subject of Moses' blessing — so a vast territory of spiritual, eternal blessings has been granted to us to be taken possession of in faith. So the subject here is not, as in Genesis 49, the stages of spiritual growth, or the history of the failure and restoration of God's people as a whole. Here in Deuteronomy 33 the subject is the unhindered possession of God's blessings in the "land" that He has given us. Although these blessings are our individual portion, it is more the collective side of it which is shown here. They are enjoyed in the assemblies in which God places us and in which we live together (see also Psalm 133, where we read about the blessing that God commands where brothers dwell together in unity).

The Israelites were here called to remember that their God, Jehovah, the only unerring moral governor, is the blesser, and that His blessing makes rich. The day comes when Messiah shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall reign in judgment. In that day, as the role, false appearances shall not flourish. The vile person or fool shall be no more called liberal, nor the churl said to be bountiful. The work of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness quietness and confidence forever. The very wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad; and no wonder, when He reigns who made all very good, before the sin of man brought in confusion and every evil work. But then shall the wolf dwell with the lamb, and the leopard lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp (or adder), and the weaned child shall put his hand on the viper's den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain. In that day will it be seen by every eye that the blessing of Jehovah makes rich, and He adds no sorrow to it. But even in this day of man when sin still reigns in death, godliness with contentment is great gain, whatever be the outward circumstances.

But things were not ready for the king all at once; various previous courses must be accomplished, ere that top stone in the divine building could be brought forth. Israel at first had to be redeemed from bondage — then to be carried through the wilderness to learn the ways and secrets of God's love — then to get their promised inheritance delivered out of the hand of the usurper. Till these things were done, all was not in readiness for the king. Had these things been simply accomplished, the king without delay would have appeared to crown the whole work with the full beauty of the Lord. But each stage in this way of the Lord Israel had sadly interrupted and delayed. After redemption from Egypt they had given themselves, through disobedience, forty years' travel in the wilderness; after taking the inheritance, they had again, through disobedience, brought pricks into their sides and thorns in their eyes; and now they forestall God's king, and through disobedience and wilfulness again bring their own king, as another plague upon them. But this is the way of man, beloved, the way of us all by nature. Through unbelief and wilfulness we refuse to wait God's time, and we procure a Saul for ourselves. It was thus that Sarah brought Ishmael into her house, and Jacob his twenty-one years of exile and servitude upon himself. Our own crooked policy and unbelief must answer for these sorrows. God, if waited for, would bring the blessing that maketh rich and which addeth no sorrow with it; but our own way only teaches us that he that soweth to the flesh must of the flesh reap corruption. To this day Israel is learning this, and reaping the fruit of the tree they planted, learning the service of the nations whom, like Saul, they have set over themselves; and their only joy lies in this, that God's counsel of grace, in spite of all, is to stand, and His own king shall still sit on His holy hill of Zion.

The mind, thus active, has great need for self-judgement; for its error is not refusing or misapprehending the will of God, but in attempting to promote and secure it, by its own unaided efforts. Now, when this is the case, the Lord allows His servant to find, by sorrowful experience, the fruits of his own plans. And though the purposes of His love remain the same, they must be reached by the intelligently wilful, in circumstances which declare, that He who blesses, and addeth no sorrow to it, has not been the undisturbed agent in the scene. "The fear of the Lord is wisdom, and the knowledge of the holy, that is understanding." If I have not God before my eyes, I never can, with a natural mind and in a world of evil, walk wisely: for God is the fountain of wisdom. Therefore mere knowledge in itself is nothing; that is, it never leads a man to walk with God.

"Keep therefore the words of this [the Moab] covenant, and do them, that ye may prosper in all that ye do." Simple obedience to the word of God ever has been, is now, and ever shall be the deep and real secret of all true prosperity. To the Christian, of course, the prosperity is not in earthly or material things, but in heavenly and spiritual; and we must never forget that it is the very height of folly to think of prospering or making progress in the divine life if we are not yielding an implicit obedience to all the commandments of our blessed and adorable Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done to you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love." Here is true Christian prosperity. May we earnestly long after it, and diligently pursue the proper method of attaining it!

There is honourable mention made of one man for his piety. Jabez is named, not because he had possessions, but in that he prayed. "And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, O that Thou wouldst bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that Thine hand might be with me and that Thou wouldst keep me from evil that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested" (4:9, etc.) His prayer was in keeping with God.* promises and Israel's relationships. This is the character of acceptable prayer, and the action of true faith which rests and builds upon the revealed word of God. Earthly prosperity was the unerring mark of God's favour to an Israelite. So witnessed the Psalmist. "I have been young and now am old, yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread" (Ps. 37:25). It is not so now. The Lord Jesus Himself was here as a poor and dependent man. He had no possessions in this world. Certain women ministered to Him of their substance (Luke 8:2-3). And the word for us who now believe is, "having food and raiment, let us be content therewith" (1 Tim. 6:8). The Christian's thought, even when having possessions here, if true to his heavenly calling, is, that he is only a pilgrim, a sojourner here below, and looks not at earthly possessions great or small. There are earthly wants to be supplied, and our heavenly Father knoweth that we have need of these things (Matt. 6:22). The foundation of faith is the same now as then — the word of God. If the word promised every earthly good, contingent upon their obedience, the same word gives us the assurance of heavenly blessing through Him Who has secured them by His death. The pathway to glory may be through poverty, reproach, and much tribulation; but the heavenly inheritance, reserved in heaven for us, is beyond the reach of thieves, or the touch of moth and rust.

In present result, judged by any human or earthly standard, this statement would not seem to be verified. When we hear the psalmist himself exclaiming, "Thou hast made void the covenant of thy servant, broken down all his hedges, brought his strongholds to ruin, set up the right hand of his adversaries, made all his enemies to rejoice": when we hear him asking, "Wherefore hast thou made all men in vain?" (Psa. 89:39-47): and when we hear Christ Himself saying, "I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought and in vain" (Isa. 49:4; see also Matt. 23:37) it is evident that, "whatsoever he doeth shall prosper" is not to be taken as an absolute promise to be fulfilled in every sense, and in every case, and at all times. "What things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law" (Rom. 3:19). This follows on a number of quotations from the book of Psalms; so that this book would seem to be included in the term "the law." it was Israel to whom "the law" was given, whether in its narrower or wider sense; and we have seen that the name of covenant relation with Israel is the name here used. Now it was part of Jehovah's covenant with Israel, that obedience should be attended with prosperity. "Blessed shalt thou be in the city, in the field, the fruit of thy body, the fruit of thy ground, cattle, kine, and the flocks of thy sheep" (see Deut. 28:3-4). The first thirteen verses indeed may be read as an exposition of the words before us, "whatsoever he doeth shall prosper."