I took some great lessons from Chapter 19!
Verse 4, Wealth maketh many friends: but the poor is separated from his neighbour. I would like to tell you my interpretation and thoughts on this verse. I don’t feel like this verse is saying that the wealthy are popular and the poor are losers, but rather that “Wealth”, whether that be a wealth of knowledge or financial wealth, OPENS DOORS. It provides opportunities. We are able to look outside of ourselves and concentrate on others. Scott and I commented in some of our very first posts on this blog how difficult it was for us to think about anyone other than ourselves when we were just drowning in bills without much income coming in. I couldn’t think any further than what I could do to take care of my children and hopeful Scott and myself. So where it says “Wealth maketh many friends” I thought to myself, “Wealth opens many doors”.
Verses 5 & 9 were interesting to me because they were exactly identical except for the last couple of words. They both begin with A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies then the last few words of verse 5 are shall not escape and the last two words of verse 9 are shall perish. Anytime something is repeated, it tells me that it’s imporant! The latter of the two was a little more direct and to the point I feel than the first.
Verse 17 reads, He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord: and that which he hath given will he pay him again. This is probably one of the most important verses that I have commented on so far. It is about a concept called the “finite pie” theory. I actually just found a great quote on another blog that illustrates the incorrect thought process that I’m talking about.
“peasants in all societies share a common ‘cognitive orientation,’ which he calls the image of limited good. Since nothing can be done to increase the resources that peasants divide among themselves, one person’s gain is inevitably another’s loss. …[This] accounts for a great deal of otherwise puzzling peasant behavior. For example, people who believe that good is limited will understandably be secretive about their own successes and envious of others’; they will avoid cooperative work situations for fear of being cheated; and they will resist innovations that, in their view, cannot increase the available good. …this ‘image’ often persists into an era in which cooperation and acceptance of modern techniques could lead to a better life for all. Peasant communities have strong sanctions against innovation: ‘The villager who feels the need for Achievement and who does something about it, is violating the basic, unverbalized rules of the society of which he is a member’…”
-(Rethinking Psychological Anthropology, Bock p. 144)
Many people believe this very thing. They see money, resources, and success as a pie, with X number of pieces. If someone takes a piece…that leaves one less piece for everyone else right? WRONG! What they don’t realize is that when someone steps up to the “table of success” they are contributing their own talents and resources to the pie; MAKING THE PIE ITSELF BIGGER! BIGGER PIE, MORE PIECES! You can either see this world and life as one full of lack or one full of ABUNDANCE. If you think about all of the things that we enjoy today; the modern technologies, all of the resources to create all of these things have ALWAYS existed upon this earth, they just needed to be “organized” and “assembled”. I believe very strongly in abundance. I know that if I need something, I can create it. There is a piece of pie for everyone. Along these same lines, we have been promised that if we give of our substance, we will receive what we gave back, and more!
-Camber
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