Proverbs 10:15 Commentary and Bible Study

Now come three proverbs which do not obviously fit the current theme – ‘Words and the use of the tongue’, nevertheless, since Scripture tells us that Solomon arranged the proverbs in order, and since verse before and after these three are clearly on the subject of words, we must try to understand these three in context and see the connection. The previous proverb spoke of laying up knowledge, introducing the idea of stored up treasure and it also spoke of destruction; both of these ideas are present in verse 15. We start with the illustration, but we are not under obligation to accept it as the main moral truth contained in the verse; we are not being asked to agree that a rich man is right to look at his wealth in this way. Obviously, this trust of wealth is at odds with trust in God, and some make this the chief lesson of the verse. The rich man wrongly and foolishly gets all his satisfaction, and his lift in life from the fact that he presides over a fortified wealthy city, but that is so foolish, because that city could be so easily undermined, and a great force could be passing through the neighbourhood and besiege it and take it. Some say that the proverb means that if you trust in riches and earthly security, they will let you down. However we can also relate it to words, and remember that Scripture draws lessons for believers even from things that are not good in themselves (Luke 16:1-9). Without condoning the rich man, who may trust in his wealth, it uses him as an illustration. A fortified city is regarded as a place of refuge and security by those who are threatened by hostile forces, and the way a wealthy man thinks about his riches is similar. When trouble comes he expects his money to protect him and therefore he turns to it for help. This illustrates the attitude of the wise to the very different wealth that they lay up within them – the wealth of knowledge – for the wise legitimately look to their knowledge as a treasure in good times and bad. But the man who lacks wisdom and therefore has nothing to say worth hearing, is like a poor man who has little and who is finally pushed over the edge by hard circumstances against which he has no reserves. When those who face the troubles of life comes to us for help, will we have something substantial to give them from our own stores of knowledge, or will we be exposed as those whose storehouse is empty?