King Solomon On Money

It’s always fun to see the secular world suddenly discover the wisdom of the Bible, even more so when the subject is money.

That happened recently in an article posted on the popular finance website, The Humble Dollar. It rightly focused on several verses written by the one person described as both the wisest and the richest man in the Bible, if not in all of history, King Solomon.

First on the list is Proverbs 13:16, “Every prudent man acts with knowledge, but a fool flaunts his folly.”

This verse could be about many things … but it certainly applies to managing money wisely. It implies we should have financial reserves so we’re ready for whatever lies ahead. We can’t predict the future, but we can prepare for it.

This includes not only having an adequate emergency fund of 3 to 6 months living expenses in case of job loss or some other financial calamity, it also means we should invest long term for the day we can no longer work.

The next verse in the article was Proverbs 10:4, “A slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich.”

We might be tempted to think that one’s too obvious … but even the most diligent of us can get lazy once in a while, so it’s a good reminder of the importance of working hard at everything we do. In his sermon titled “The Use of Money,” 18th century evangelist John Wesley said it like this, “Earn all you can, save all you can, and give all you can.”

And while God never promises to reward us financially, diligence usually pays off.

Now, everyone should be able to see the truth in this next verse of Solomon’s, whether they believe in the Bible or not. It’s Proverbs 22:7, “The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is slave of the lender.”

When you borrow money from someone, you become their indentured servant. You will have to work a certain amount of time to earn the money to pay them back with interest. Essentially, you’re working to enrich someone else.

Still, some forms of debt may be worth it. For example, if it gets you an education and a higher paying job, or allows you to buy an appreciating asset, like a house, or to open a business that will provide an income stream.

But consumer debt, as in credit cards, is never worth the financial bondage it brings and the time it takes to pay it off. It’s like saying, “I’m going to eat, drink and be merry today and then I’ll spend the next month paying for it.” Not a very wise trade off. If you can’t learn to live on less than you earn, you’ll always be in financial bondage.

Solomon’s next verse quoted in the article puts an exclamation point on that idea. It’s Proverbs 21:20, “Precious treasure and oil are in a wise man's dwelling, but a foolish man devours it.”

That means the wise person saves. The only way to achieve financial freedom is to live on less than you earn and to do it for a very long time. Proverbs 21:5 wasn’t listed in the article, but it certainly applies, “Steady plodding brings prosperity; hasty speculation brings poverty.”

The next of Solomon’s verses is a favorite of Christian investors because it clearly points out the wisdom of diversifying your portfolio. Ecclesiastes 11:2 reads, “Give a portion to seven, or even to eight, for you know not what disaster may happen on earth.”

It’s amazing that such specific advice, given 3,000 years ago, could still be a lynchpin of prudent investing today. If you don’t diversify your holdings among stocks, bonds, commodities, cash, and perhaps real estate, your portfolio could suffer the full brunt of an economic downturn. But dividing it up among different asset classes will lighten that blow.

Proverbs 13:11 came next in the article, warning of the danger of a “get rich quick” mentality, “Wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it.”

If you need proof, just think about lottery winners. How often do they go through that money quickly, often ruining their lives in the process? If you haven’t accumulated wealth slowly and with discipline, you can’t appreciate it.

The last of Solomon’s verses quoted in the article was Proverbs 22:9, “The generous will themselves be blessed, for they share their food with the poor.”

It’s a great reminder that God owns everything and that He is our Provider. We must therefore be generous toward others in need. As Jesus said, “What you do for the least of these, you do for Me.”

It’s always delightful to see God’s Word quoted so freely in the secular press. We know that it always fulfills His purpose and never returns empty. JH

Listen to the related MoneyWise podcast on this topic.