Proverbs 11:22 As a JEWEL OF GOLD in a swine’s snout, so is a fair woman which is WITHOUT DISCRETION (sûr ṭaʿam).

A woman’s beauty is her riches – both internal and external. External beauty will be marred by time and life itself, but internal beauty will deepen as a woman grows in her relationship with the Lord. Solomon likens the woman’s beauty to a “JEWEL OF GOLD”. The woman should guard her beauty, to be careful to whom she gives it. To give her beauty “WITHOUT DISCRETION” (Hebrew sûr ṭaʿam, without careful judgment) through lewd behavior, sexual advances, or immodest dress is to defile that which God gave her for good. When women are indiscrete in dress or behavior with the opposite sex – or even their own gender – they are like a jewel in a pig’s snout.

Under the Law of God (Leviticus 11:7) the pig was not to be eaten because it had hooves but did not chew the cud. The Orthodox Jew considered pigs to be so unclean that they were not even called by their proper name, but were called “davar acher, meaning “another thing”. Jews were not even allowed to raise pigs. Pigs were abhorrent because:

• It carried diseases. The Talmud (Kiddushin 49b) states “Ten measures of plagues descended to the world; pigs took nine of them”. The indiscrete woman, like the pig, spreads sexually transmitted diseases throughout the population.
• It carries filth. The indiscrete woman enables doing the things which God has decreed are “abominations”. Leviticus 20:10 specified adultery as punishable by death, as did Deuteronomy 22:22-24. To be in a forbidden sexual union was to make yourself unclean (Leviticus 18:10). Both the male and the female were placed under capital punishment for adultery.
• The pig symbolized hypocrisy. The outward hooves made it appear clean, but since it did not chew the cud, inwardly it was unclean. A woman who is sexually indiscrete may look outwardly clean, but inwardly she is defiled and a defiler before God.

The Lord tells the woman:

1 Peter 3:3-4 (ESV) Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.

The godly woman prioritizes her relationship with Jesus Christ above that of any other man. As she grows spiritually, God will increase her inner beauty, and one day she will find the man that is her God chosen mate.

The Benefits Of Righteousness And Generosity Over Stinginess And Trust in Riches

Proverbs 11:23 The desire of the RIGHTEOUS is only good: BUT the expectation of the wicked is WRATH.

The person who is “RIGHTEOUS”, that is, the one who has called on the name of Jesus and has been saved, this person does good. Why? Because this person was “born again” of God’s Holy Spirit because of the shed blood of Christ on Calvary. A person is not “RIGHTEOUS” because they are moral creatures. We are “RIGHTEOUS” because God has imputed the righteousness of Christ to our lives. We are – because of Jesus –

1 Peter 1:23 (KJV) Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

Unless a person is born again into the family of God, that person cannot see the Kingdom of God (John 3:3, 7). The Apostle Paul said:

Philippians 3:8-9 NKJV – Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ [9] and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which [is] from the law, but that which [is] through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;

The “RIGHTEOUS” are not Nominal Christians, but Born Again Christians, people who were once dead in trespasses and sins but are now alive through God’s Spirit. The “RIGHTEOUS” seek to do GOOD, not evil. The “RIGHTEOUS” seek to build, not to tear down. Matthew Henry’s Commentary notes:

“The righteous would have good, only good; all they desire is that it may go well with all about them; they wish no hurt to any, but happiness to all; as to themselves, their desire is not to gratify any evil lust, but to obtain the favor of a good God and to preserve the peace of a good conscience; and good they shall have, that good which they desire, Psalm 37:4. … The wicked would have wrath; they desire the woeful day, that God’s judgments may gratify their passion and revenge, may remove those that stand in their way, and that they may make an advantage to themselves by fishing in troubled waters; and wrath they shall have, so shall their doom be. They expect and desire mischief to others, but it shall return upon themselves; as they loved cursing, they shall have enough of it.”

Proverbs 11:24 There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty.

Those who withhold in giving do so because they think “to scatter my funds or myself is to use up my resources”. But God gives us life to share, not to hoard. When you hoard resources then you have made an idol out of those resources. God has said:

Isaiah 42:8 (NKJV) I am the Lord, that is My name; And My glory I will not give to another, Nor My praise to carved images.

When you hoard that which God has given you, making an idol of His gifts and blessings, God sees what you do. Just as the farmer can only raise a great crop when he gives away the seed, you cannot have blessings in this life if you don’t share what you have with others. The Bible says:

2 Corinthians 9:7-8 (NKJV) [So let] each one [give] as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. [8] And God [is] able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all [things], may have an abundance for every good work.

If “God LOVES a CHEERFUL GIVER”, what does God think of the stingy and begrudging?

As we giver, God causes “ALL GRACE ABOUND TO US”. There will always be plenty when we worship God and generously give of our lives and fortunes. Conversely, when we worship our lives and fortunes, God will take away what we have and give it to another.

Proverbs 11:25 The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.

When you graciously share what God has given you, God will replenish whatever you have given away. Life itself is a gift from God – how are you spending it? Are you hoarding your life? If you sit around all day, selfishly watching the television and not giving of yourself – but demanding of God and others – you bring misery on your own life. I was reading a V.A. email today warning about blood clots in your legs. These clots form when we stay inactive for a long period of time, because when we move our legs it causes blood to flow through our veins. Stay idol or slothful, sitting in your recliner for hours upon hours, and your blood pools and thickens into clots. These clots cause swelling in the legs, and can break loose and move toward the lungs.

Then you can die!

God gives us life to use it for good, especially if you are a born again Christian. You need to get up and GO, and DO that which Christ has commanded. Hoard your life, and you may lose your life. Jesus illustrates this in a parable found in:

Matthew 25:14-30 (NKJV) For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. 15 And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey. 16 Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. 17 And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. 18 But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord’s money. 19 After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them.

20 “So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, ‘Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.’ 21 His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ 22 He also who had received two talents came and said, ‘Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them.’ 23 His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’

24 “Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’

26 “But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. 27 So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents.

29 ‘For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

What a wonderful parable! The Master has given each of us “TALENTS”, lives that we have neither earned nor deserved. Some have beauty. Some have talent. Some have riches. Everybody has something that God has given us. If we invest what we have been given for the glory of the Master, we will receive blessings from it. But if we hoard what we have been given – if we are “UNPROFITABLE SERVANTS” – we will LOSE OUR TALENT and be cast off into a place of misery, of darkness, of weeping and gnashing of teeth. I do not believe that this place is hell. I think it is HELL ON EARTH, the place of misery that we make when we are stingy with our lives.

Proverbs 11:26 He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him: but blessing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it.

The person who is stingy – who hoards the blessings that God has given him – has few friends and many enemies. Word gets around as to how bad Ebenezer Scrooge or the Grinch is. When God gave Israel the Promised Land of Canaan, He told them:

Leviticus 23:22 (NKJV) When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field when you reap, nor shall you gather any gleaning from your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the stranger: I am the LORD your God.

God repeated this command again and again:

Leviticus 19:9-10 (NIV) When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. 10 Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the Lord…

When God told Israel to leave grapes on the vine or corn in the field, He always ended the command with “I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD”. God is saying, “I gave the good harvest to you. Let others enjoy some of the harvest. I gave your good health to you. Let others enjoy some of your life. Volunteer. Be a part of your Church. Quit being a bloodthirsty tick or leech who is always wanting. Give. Give of yourself, of your goods, of your time. I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD.”

Proverbs 11:27-28 He that diligently seeketh good procureth favor: but he that seeketh mischief, it shall come unto him. 28 He that trusteth in his riches shall fall; but the righteous shall flourish as a branch.

Those who “DILIGENTLY SEEK GOOD”, who reach out and try to uplift and bless others with their lives, they will receive favor from God. But those who try and tear down, who seek the destruction of others – they themselves will fail in the end. If you worship your money like an idol – “TRUSTING IN YOUR RICHES” – you shall fall. Money is a pitiful god. The Scripture says:

1 Timothy 6:17-19 (NIV) Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18 Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 19 In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

God is the Source of our blessings – not our money. If you trust in money, if money is your god, then in time you will fall. But if you trust in God, “YOU SHALL FLOURISH LIKE A BRANCH”. Jesus said:

John 15:5 (ESV) I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.

Bound to Jesus, doing as He commands, we give. We give of ourselves. We give of our time, our tithe, and our talent. When we do so, God blesses. But lay around all day watching television. Stingily hoard what God has given you, instead of giving it away. And watch your life become smaller and smaller, until you have no life left.

Our Greatest Riches Is That We Belong To Christ’s Kingdom

Proverbs 11:29-31 He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind: and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart. 30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and HE THAT WINNETH SOULS IS WISE. 31 Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth: much more the wicked and the sinner.

Those who are born again Christians are of the House of Christ, the Kingdom of God. We are told in:

Hebrews 3:6 (KJV) Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.

By giving of ourselves we contribute to the building of the House of Christ. When we are stingy with ourselves and our resources, we trouble our own house – and WE WILL INHERIT THE WIND. That’s a fancy way of saying you’ll get NOTHING for your stinginess. The righteous want to give. We want to share Christ with others. “HE THAT WINNETH SOULS IS WISE”. By living for Jesus, and giving as Jesus commands, others see Christ in us and are led to come into the House of Christ by faith in Him. God promises “THE RIGHTEOUS SHALL BE RECOMPENCED IN THE EARTH”. When you honor the Lord NOW with what He has given you in stewardship, you will be blessed NOW because of it. Conversely, if you do NOT honor the Lord with what He has entrusted to you, what you have, you will lose.

We who are born again Christians belong to Christ’s Kingdom. Let others see Him through how we live our lives. To God be the glory, both now, and into eternity.

Amen. Come quickly, Lord Jesus!