“Yahweh [The Lord] does not let the righteous go hungry, but he thwarts the craving of the wicked.” ~King Solomon

Tags

Hunger, Jesus, Profit, Proverbs 10, Righteous, Wickedness

Why this is important: God wants us to be honest in our core. He will give us wisdom. He will take care of us.

• We do not have to be frustrated like others.
• God’s goal for is to have an honest soul. That isn’t just say honest things but goes deeper.
• God wants us “to be” honest in our core.
• God wants us to be in right standing with his Son Jesus, the Messiah.

King Solomon understood this. All he really wanted was wisdom. God gave it to him in droves.

The challenge is to not live the frustrated life out of sync with God. Line up with what He wants. Live honestly with Him. The promise is we will not starve in our soul. Our food is not of this world, but it is the Word of God.

Here are the key ideas:

• Being in sync with God causes us to have an honest soul.
• God’s goal is for us to think, speak and act in an honest way.
• God gets to decide what is important.
• God is good and will give us wisdom.

Treasures gained by wickedness do not profit, but righteousness delivers from death. Yahweh [The Lord] does not let the righteous go hungry, but he thwarts the craving of the wicked.

English Standard Version. (2016). (Proverbs 10:2–3). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

This contrast is between the “treasures of wickedness” that are no profit when compared with “righteousness that delivers from death.” “Death,” the last word in the saying, determines its meaning. For anyone who takes moral shortcuts in acquiring wealth, those riches will not offer security or long life, the opposite of death in Proverbs. “Righteousness” implies the presence of Yahweh, who is named in the next verse.

The truth can be attributed to the general order of the world, but in the final analysis it is Yahweh who sees to the care of the righteous. Here is no promise that righteousness will shield its bearer from all troubles and cares.

• Rather, the righteous will not suffer the hunger that comes from thwarted craving, the trouble that comes to those who get caught in their ways.
• The contrast lies between the life or desire of the righteous (“life,” nepeš, can also mean “throat”) and the desire or craving of the wicked.
• Thus, desire brings life or death, depending on the intention that guides it.

These verses form a couplet, each beginning with the Hebrew negative lo (“not”), so they should be compared. The first and second lines of each match up well: Treasures of wickedness do not profit (v. 2a), but Yahweh does not allow the righteous to go hungry (v. 3a). That stress on Yahweh’s care for the righteous explains why righteousness delivers from death (v. 2b). So we also see that the terms for righteousness and wickedness correspond, with wickedness going first and last, righteousness going in between.