The Book of Proverbs is one of three books of “wisdom” in the Bible, the other two being Job and Ecclesiastes.  Those other two books have their own special appeal as well.  Ecclesiastes, chapter three, for instance – you know,  for everything there is a s season, and a time for every matter under heaven – reeks with the dispensation of wisdom.  I’m always amazed when young people, especially, discover at a memorial service that the ‘60s song “Turn, Turn, Turn” is based on a passage from the Bible.  Scripture gets an approving nod at such a time.

So, by way of introduction, let me say just a few things about the Book of Proverbs.  Scholars believe that the book dates back to the time of the Babylonian exile in the sixth century before Christ but was not put into final form until much later, hundreds of years later.  It also belongs to a broad cultural background, sharing with literature of other Near Eastern peoples, neighbors of the ancient Israelites, a tradition of wisdom as a philosophical-theological-literary movement.  As we know, and it may have flourished then, wisdom in the Old Testament is often associated with King Solomon.  His challenge to the two competing mothers to cut the baby in half stands to this day as a clever – a very wise – way to settle that nasty dispute over legitimate parenthood.

And, in fact, a distinct “parental” tone often characterizes the teachings of Proverbs.  Frequent uses of the address “my child” urge the reader to listen to and obey the teaching of one’s father and mother.  Maybe that’s one reason why our youth are drawn to it: at the very time they are trying to move away from their parents, the advice of their parents continues to draw them closer.  Left alone with their own thoughts – especially their doubts and fears – they often return to the advice and wisdom of their elders.

And so it is with rebellious adults as well.  When we begin to feel as if we can go it alone, something cautionary draws us back and we go to the well of gathered wisdom, especially the wisdom of God which the Book of Proverbs, among other biblical literature, holds together for us.

And there is something else quite appealing about the Book of Proverbs to human beings of nearly every age.  When so much about life suggests chaos and lack of certitude, this part of the Bible presents life as essentially fair.  Life is better for those who are wise, righteous, and diligent than for those who are foolish, wicked, and lazy.  The book is directed toward the molding of character, suggesting that we will benefit from adopting all the characteristics the speaker deems positive.  And there’s no arguing against such advice.  There is great wisdom in prudent living, as long as we recognize that there are sixty-five other books in Scripture that help round out the total picture.  We need to be careful to think that a two-line aphorism – no matter its apparent truth – holds all of life’s wisdom.

And perhaps the greatest thing to remember is the truth the very first lines of Proverbs hold: The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.  All human wisdom begins with a submission to the inscrutable wisdom of God.  We cannot know it all, but we can seek through faithful adherence to the wisdom of God a life richer and deeper in meaning and purpose than we can if left to the devices and desires of our own hearts.  For such devices are often wayward and self-serving.  God calls us to a higher purpose than those we define for ourselves.

And so it is that we approach today’s teachings from Proverbs about the rich and poor.  What do we learn?

Today’s reading consists of three pairs of verses, the overall theme centering on the nature and relationship of wealth and poverty.  The first pair (vs. 1-2) directs our attention to the nature of wealth indirectly by underscoring the greater importance of a good reputation.  Using the device of comparison, which is widespread in Proverbs, this verse gives a good name greater importance than something already assumed to be a good: wealth.  What the verse challenges is the notion that wealth is of ultimate value.  Here one does not meet the admonition found elsewhere that the desire for wealth is the root of all evil.  Being wealthy is not, however, the be-all and end-all.  Honor and integrity are of greater value than any fortune we might accumulate.  Better than silver and gold is the image other people hold of us. 

Ah, the folly of the insatiable appetite for greed!  So vain.  So foolish.  As the poet Thomas Gray indelibly observed nearly three hundred years ago:

            The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power,

               And all that beauty, all that wealth e’er gave,

            Awaits alike the inevitable hour.

               The paths of glory lead but to the grave.

The poor, as verse 2 attests, are held as are all people in God’s providential care.  Rich people may appear to be different from the poor, but such difference is merely an illusion.  God has made all women and men, both rich and poor, and all are equally under God’s care and rule.  The hymn we sang last Sunday would have been just as appropriate this Sunday:  All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small,/All things wise and wonderful: The Lord God made them all.

Such a vision of the common status of all human beings as creatures of God is one of the important elements within the Bible that laid strong foundations for the later development of democracy, not all of whose roots go back to ancient Greece.  While a number of our nation’s founders were not as actively religious as we might ascribe them to have been, they were yet familiar with the biblical literature and its wise and good precepts:  All men are created equal, they assented, even in their particularized and incomplete way.  Like other human beings, they only pointed to the truth; they didn’t hold it all back then either, even in their amazingly revolutionary thoughts and ways.

Verses 8-9, the second pair of verses, contrasts the conduct of those who treat the poor unjustly with that of those who deal with them justly, suggesting that there are natural consequences to the practice of injustice.  The “rod of anger” will fail, the proverb says.  “Rod” is used in the Bible to mean, among other things, a ruler’s scepter, a weapon, and a tool for disciplining children.  The shepherd’s rod in Psalm 23 – thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me – suggests that God’s way of disciplining is constructive and calming.  We need the steady hand of God to guide and keep us safe.

But the human oppressor’s hand is another thing altogether.  Proverbs 8 and 9 suggest that we must choose between two paths for life, the one of the righteous or wise that is blessed by God, and the one of the wicked or the fool that leads to ruin.  You will remember that the Book of Psalms begins with a word to the wise:

            Happy are those

               who do not follow the advice of the wicked,

            or take the path that sinners tread,

               or sit in the seat of scoffers;

            but their delight is in the law of the LORD,

               and on his law they meditate day and night.

Which is then followed by this lovely and comforting image, a further word to the wise:

            They are like trees

               planted by streams of water,

            which yield their fruit in its season,

               and their leaves do not wither.

            In all that they do, they prosper.

The final pair of verses in today’s reading (vs. 22-23) contains the strongest and most direct admonition of the three: Do not rob the poor because they are poor, or crush the afflicted at the gate.  The writer reminds us that poor people often make easy targets for predators because their very weakness invites injustice.  And while the first line of the verse seems to refer to any kind of theft inflicted on the poor, the balance of the verse has to do with “legal robbery,” the kind we can find in courtrooms where the poor are often defenselessly victimized. 

In biblical times the city gate – as in at the gate in the proverb – was the courtroom, so to speak.  Legal disputes were settled at the city gate.  It was there that the poor and marginalized were easily targeted for unjust treatment.  Jesus had a lot to say about such people, especially God’s care for them.  His own legacy of faith certainly contained the wisdom of the proverb that reminds us: for the LORD pleads their cause – that is, the cause of the weak, the marginalized, the poor – and despoils of life those who despoil them.

Of such, then, is the teaching from Proverbs for this morning.  It will be well with us if we heed these teachings from of old even in these moments in which we live, for God’s truth transcends time and space and finds a place to lodge wherever people make a home.  We often think that issues of justice were trumpeted only by the prophets – and, indeed, they formed the core of most prophets’ thoughts.  But it was wise of those who gave us our reading this morning to remind us through the coolly rational cadences of Proverbs how near to the heart of our God always lie the issues of justice and compassion.