Solomon and Money

Solomon found it easy to love - after all, he had 700 wives. He also had a lot to say about wealth.

The book of Proverbs is mainly the observations of Solomon. It is rich with insights about life, death, and everything in between. A proverb is not, as some suppose, a promise; proverbs are astute observations that all things being equal are likely to come to pass. This means a proverb isn’t an inevitability but a likelihood. Things can militate against the normal trajectory of proverbs - things the early church faced: ostracization, persecution, and being stripped of home and belongings. To these people being true to Jesus meant loss – not accumulation or gain.

“A generous person will be enriched … the one who gives water will get water … those who trust in their riches will wither.” (Proverbs 11.25, 28) Solomon realizes that generosity brings enrichment, but in equal measure trusting in wealth is fraught. (Proverbs 18.11)

“Wealth hastily gotten will dwindle, but those who gather little by little will increase it.” (Proverbs 13.11) It is well known that people who inherit at a young age squander their inheritance, and people who win lotteries rarely have anything left in a short space of time. Unlike the person who has saved and let gradual accumulation guide them, these people have no soul discipline to guide and moderate. Therefore, Solomon could say, “The good leave an inheritance to their children’s children.” (Proverbs 13.22) These grandparents haven’t dissipated the future.

Solomon has much more to say on this topic - he does address both sides of the coin - but it is always to be remembered that he was compromised by the religious affections of some of his wives – he backslid due to their idolatry so that his end was not as his beginning. He became an example of his sage warnings.

Solomon is also a salutatory reminder that accumulating wealth became part of his problem. The stark bleakness of the trajectory of his life chronicled in Ecclesiastes is a reminder enough of having everything is often having nothing. The vanity of his life led to despair. (Ecclesiastes 12.8)

His conclusion, “If you have found honey, eat only enough for you, or else, having too much, you will vomit,” maybe sums up what he wants us to hear. (Proverbs 25.16)