Open-Handed Happiness

September 6, 2015

Annual Theme: By his wounds, we are healed (Isaiah 53:5)

Seasonal Theme: Wise Postures for New Life (Wisdom’s Way of Healing)

Weekly Theme: Open-Handed Happiness – Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23 (22:9)

Here is the preliminary result of my study of the Proverbs 22 reading for this Sunday at Whatcoat:

¹ A good name is more desirable than great riches;[a] to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.
² Rich and poor have this in common (h6298.pagash; a prim. root; to meet, encounter)[b]: The Lord is the Maker of them all.[c]

⁸ Whoever sows injustice reaps calamity,[d] and the rod they wield in fury will be broken.[e]
⁹ The generous ( טֽוֹב ־עַ֭יִן literally, “good eye/spring of water,” or “looks kindly”) will themselves be blessed,[f] for they share their food with the poor. (h1800b. לדַּ dal; from 1809; low, weak, poor, thin)[g]

²² Do not exploit the poor because they are poor and do not crush the needy in court,
²³ for the Lord will take up their case and will exact life for life.

Reciprocal nature of this meeting/encounter (thanks to God’s mutual creation)
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1. sowing and reaping (injustice); unjust rule and overthrow/defeat
2. generosity (food) and blessing
3. exploitation and retributive justice (life for life)

[a] Dad: “Sooner or later, you get to be known for who you are.” See Proverbs 3.3-4 (Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name (lit. “good discernment/reputation”) in the sight of God and man.)

[b] These encounters tend to be contentious ones. See Gen. 32.17 and 32.8 (Esau meets Jacob); Ex. 4:24 (the Lord meets Moses to put him to death); Prov. 17.12 (a man meets a mother bear – see also Hosea 13.8) and 29.13 (the Lord gives light to the eyes of the poor and the oppressor)

[c] Proverbs 14.31 connects this truth with the reciprocal nature of our life with others and with God – Whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God. See also Proverbs 19.17 below, in Note E.

[d] Hosea 8.7a For they sow the wind and they reap the whirlwind. But see Ecclesiastes 9.11 I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.

[e] See Isaiah 14:5-6 The LORD has broken the rod of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers,

6 which in anger struck down peoples with unceasing blows, and in fury subdued nations with relentless aggression.

[f] Proverbs 11.25 A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.

[g] This word used mostly in Proverbs (14/49) and Job (6/49) – Proverbs, Job, and Psalms account for half (26/49). Proverbs 19.17 (He who is generous to the poor makes a loan to the LORD; He will repay him his due. (TNK)) sounds like Matthew 25:31ff.