How do you deal wisely with money and possessions? To find the answer we open up the books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, for these contain treasures of wisdom about this matter.

How Do You Get It?⤒🔗

How does a person gain personal possessions? For many it will surely hold true: “House and wealth are inherited from fathers” (Prov. 19:14), but for the majority of the world population it means that you have to work hard at it. The wise composers of the proverbs therefore repeatedly commend diligence and zeal, and denounce laziness: “A slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich” (Prov. 10:4). Sleeping at harvest time? A shame! (Prov. 10:5). “The slothful will be put to forced labour” (Prov. 12:24). Therefore: “Love not sleep, lest you come to poverty; open your eyes, and you will have plenty of bread” (Prov. 20:13). But “slumber will clothe them [drunkards and gluttons] with rags” (Prov. 23:21). For “a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man” (Prov. 24:33-34; see 6:6-10). Also “mere talk tends only to poverty” , but “in all toil there is profit” (Prov. 14:23). In short, “the hand of the diligent makes rich” (Prov. 10:4), yes, “the hand of the diligent will rule” (Prov. 12:24).

And many such diligent hands bring an entire nation to economical supremacy, as was evident also in the “Wirtschaftwunder” (the economic miracle) in post-war hardworking Germany. And look at the position of power that Japan achieved in the world market through its diligence!

The Preacher in Ecclesiastes also encourages us to prudent enterprise. Although he probed profoundly the futility of all human toil, he did not advise to sit back and give up, but in spite of this vanity to roll up one’s sleeves and not to be afraid to take some risks. Take hold of the opportunities that present themselves (Eccl. 11:1-6) and “whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might” (Eccl. 9:10).

It All Depends On God to Bless←⤒🔗

And yet, Israel’s wise men did not expect everything from zealous work. They knew that without God’s blessing you would not get ahead with rising early and staying up late (Ps. 127:2). Therefore they also taught, “Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established” (Prov. 16:3). They even dared to put it quite boldly: “The blessing of the Lord makes rich and toil adds nothing to it” (Prov. 10:22 alt; see Ps. 127:2).

“By the blessing of the upright a city is exalted” (Prov. 11:11). The wise men had learned this from Moses. If Israel would fear the Lord uprightly, he promised to richly bless his people in material regards. He would ensure the situation in the world in such a way that Israel would enjoy peace and that it had so much prosperity that it would be able to act as the World Bank of Loans, see Leviticus 26:1-13 and Deuteronomy 28:1-14.

And is the rise of the free Dutch state, particularly in the time of its Golden Age, not also a prime example of divine blessing upon the descendants of the 16^th century martyrs who had honoured him as upright people?

Time and Chance Happen To Them All←⤒🔗

Now be careful not to read all the texts quoted earlier as ironclad rules that are applicable under any and all circumstances. Israel’s wise men were also well aware that diligence does not pay in all circumstances. What you end up achieving in your life does not always match up with what you did to get there. The Preacher writes, “Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favour to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all” (Eccl. 9:11; see 10:6).

The best slice of bread is not always earned by the most diligent or smart people. Our ancestors living around 1900 did not drive around in cars; they did not go on any holiday vacations and did not as yet enjoy the many tools that take so much work off our hands. They did not know the luxurious way of living that many enjoy these days. Does this mean therefore that we do our work with more zeal and diligence than they did? No, God allows us to live in a different time, “by chance”.

Being Human and Owing Possessions Is Not a Matter of Fire and Water←⤒🔗

From what has been written above it will become clear that a person does not need to feel ashamed when he possesses some money and material goods. The Bible tells us that men loved by God, such as Abraham, Job, Boaz, David, Solomon, Hezekiah and Joseph of Arimathea were blessed with great wealth. Job confessed that the Lord had given him such wealth, for his own pleasure (Job 1:21). In and of itself, having possessions is not suspect.

The wise men regarded the filling of people’s treasuries as a blessing (Prov. 8:21). Yes, also as a reward: “The reward for humility and fear of the Lord is riches and honour and life” (Prov. 22:4), even though they added, “How much better [it is] to get wisdom than gold! To get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver” (Prov. 16:16; see  3:13f; 8:19). When we look at it through this lens, a poor yet pious person is richer than a billionaire who is an atheist.

All of this does not take away the fact that the wise men knew very well that money and possessions would make life easier. For as wisdom “protects” someone against much evil, so money does the same — to a certain extent (Eccl. 7:12). “A rich man's wealth is his strong city” (Prov. 10:15). Even though this only offers him a relative safety, for a bit later these wise proverbs add a significant factor: “A rich man's wealth is his strong city, and like a high wall — in his imagination” (Prov. 18:11)! However it will be clear that they definitely do not condemn ownership of some money and possessions.

Enjoying the Good in All Your Toil Is a Gift from God←⤒🔗

It is especially the Preacher who repeatedly exhorts his readers to fully and consciously enjoy the good things that God is giving you. Although he has probed more profoundly than anyone else the futility, the transience and the pointlessness of all our toil, this does not lead him to a melancholic kind of contempt of money and possessions, but instead to the cheerful advice to enjoy it as much as possible. “So I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his work, for that is his lot. Who can bring him to see what will be after him” (Eccl. 3:22)? “Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot” (Eccl. 5:18).

Clearly the Preacher considered this enjoyment of our possessions so important that he repeated this inducement a few times. “Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do. Let your garments be always white. Let not oil be lacking on your head. Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain [=fleeting] life that he has given you under the sun” (Eccl. 9:7f; see 8:15; 11:7-10). Such small every-day enjoyments he calls “our part” with all our toiling. We cannot expect any more in this short life.

But it did not escape the Preacher’s attention that many a rich person hardly gets around to the enjoyment of the smaller and larger delights. He may well be endowed with much money and goods, yet he hardly relaxes and enjoys any of it. On the contrary, the man experiences “much grief, suffering and annoyance” on account of all his money and stuff. That is because God has withheld from him the gift of enjoyment.

For according to the Preacher this is a gift from God! “There is nothing better for a person [Lit. in Hebrew: Man does not have it in his power] than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment” (Eccl. 2:24-25)? In short, “everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil — this is God's gift to man” (Eccl. 3:13; see 5:17f).

In other words: even if you own money and possessions, this does not guarantee in itself that you will also be able to enjoy it! There may be all sorts of factors that prevent this, such as poor health or a melancholic nature. No, when God gives you some goods and in addition enables you to enjoy it from time to time, and to appreciate what your toil and sweat have provided you, than you are a gifted person all right.

Do Not Toil To Get Rich←⤒🔗

Yes, money and possessions can make life pleasant; the wise men do not deny it. Yet at the same time they do not recommend that we should aim to be rich, because many possessions often mean greater grief. The Preacher has made some telling remarks in particular in Ecclesiastes 5:9-16, about the futility of being rich.

To begin with, anyone who aims at being rich will get no rest. For “he who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income” (Eccl. 5:10). Gold fever cannot be satisfied. To top it off, the richer you become, the more people will profit from you. Your money managers become money consumers. You can just look at it with your eyes — from the sidelines (see Eccl. 5:10).

In addition, great possessions can cause you sleepless nights. “How can I invest my money in the safest way such that it provides the maximum return?” A labourer may not own any shares, but neither does he lay awake about the stock reports (Eccl. 5:11-12).

Wealth can also be a source of all types of misery, because of its uncertainty. OK — after years of toil you may have accumulated a nice sum of money. But one unfortunate day you make a wrong decision, or an economic crisis erupts. In a rather short time you can go from being very wealthy to being wretchedly poor. History can show all kinds of examples. In the end, you are buried as naked as when you were born, without the ability to leave anything for your son (see Eccl. 5:13-17).

In Proverbs we meet the same warning: “Do not toil to acquire wealth; be discerning enough to desist. When your eyes light on it, it is gone, for suddenly it sprouts wings, flying like an eagle toward heaven” (Prov. 23:4-5).

Soon You Have To Leave It All To Others←⤒🔗

Israel’s wise men impress upon us in all seriousness: money and possessions constitute only our temporary property. However much we may own, when our last hour has come we have to let go of everything for “in a shroud there are no pockets”. Especially the Preacher was deeply impressed by this fact.

I am assuming for now that behind the pseudonym of “Preacher” we find the uniquely wise king Solomon. All the things he sums up in this book, the royal wealth of buildings, parks, personnel, cattle, gold and silver and treasures, named in Ecclesiastes 2:4-10, appear to fit closely with his person. But he realized that soon he would not be able to take along any of it. “I must leave it to the man who will come after me, and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity” (Eccl. 2:18-19).

This too belongs to the tragedy of all ownership of money and possessions in this dispensation. “A person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it” (Eccl. 2:21). When we transcribe this to our days it may sound like this: with much pain and trouble you managed to establish a thriving business, but later you have to leave it behind for someone who did not lift a finger for any of it. A human being, with all his sweat and toil, is not left with something permanent (see Eccl. 2:22).

Give Me Neither Poverty Nor Riches←⤒🔗

Much money therefore is often accompanied by much sorrow. That is why the wise Agur prayed, “Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, “Who is the Lord?” or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God” (Prov. 30:8-9).

Agur regarded poverty as a catastrophe. To have no money to be able to buy your primary needs in life! He was afraid that in such a case he might abuse the Name of God and perhaps would lapse into thievery, for need does not always teach us to pray. Only God knows how many present-day atheists are descendants of great-grandparents who in the previous century had become estranged from the church and faith. This happened while God despised such extremes so deeply among his people, as appears from the Thora of Moses.

However, Agur was equally afraid of wealth. It could mean that he as owner might be owned by his own possessions instead. For it is not easy when you can buy anything your heart desires, to still feel and know yourself dependent upon God! How many will not have turned their backs to God and to his service because they were “satisfied” with money and goods?

Therefore Agur prayed literally for “the food that is needful for me”. It is what the Lord Jesus later identified as “our daily bread”, or even the middle road between wealth and poverty: a fair sustenance according to the standards of the time and the place where God allows us to live. With this, Agur taught us something extremely important in regard to money and possessions; it is called “contentment”.

The apostle Paul would write, many centuries later, “I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content” (Phil. 4:11), or “If we have food and clothing, with these we will be content” (1 Tim. 6:8). Also the author of Hebrews advises well: “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he [God] has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you’” (Heb. 13:5).

Lending Money To The Lord←⤒🔗

Ultimately, we receive money and goods always toward a specific goal, as the apostle wrote. “God... provides us with everything to enjoy...to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share” (1 Tim. 6:17-18). This could also be found earlier already in Solomon’s Proverbs.

The ability and eagerness to help and to share are blessings among God’s people to which the giver is obligated, and to which the recipient can claim a certain “right”. In Israel, mutual solidarity was a covenantal duty. This appears from Proverbs 3:27, “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due [a literal translation would be ‘to whom it belongs’], when it is in your power to do it.” It is very striking that the one needing the help is here called “the owner” of a certain part of what his brother possesses. In a covenantal way of speaking, to a certain extent he can make a rightful claim to it.

The more affluent Israelites were not permitted to linger in extending help to such a destitute brother. “Do not say then to your neighbour, ‘Go, and come again, tomorrow I will give it’ — when you have it (=his necessity) with you” (Prov. 3:28).

Proverbs also contains beautiful promises for those who lovingly give their money and possessions to the poor. In fact, they are lending their money to the Lord God! “He who is generous to the needy honours him” (Prov. 14:31; see 17:5). In even stronger terms: “Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed” (Prov. 19:17). For “whoever gives to the poor will not want” (Prov. 28:27). That is a law of the kingdom of God: “Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered” (Prov. 11:25).

The people curse grain merchants who, in times of scarcity, might keep some of their grain in reserve until the prices had risen ever higher. “But a blessing is on the head of him who sells it” says Proverbs 11:26, who will forgo higher margins and who makes his grin available on the market.

In Conclusion←⤒🔗

As we review all of this once more we may conclude that Israel’s teachers of wisdom certainly did not despise money and goods. God can bless your diligence with it. Enjoy it in gratitude. And do not forget the poor in this regard, and be aware that at some time you have to leave it all to others. Therefore, do not focus exclusively on earthly wealth, but especially lay up for yourself treasures in heaven, and set your heart on these.