THE WEALTH OF A WISE SON

Proverbs 10:1-5 (KJV)

The proverbs of Solomon. A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother.

Treasures of wickedness profit nothing: but righteousness delivereth from death.

The LORD will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish: but he casteth away the substance of the wicked.

He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich.

He that gathereth in summer is a wise son: but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame.

Verse 1 ties verse 5 with the text of verses 2-4 and gives us some of the qualities of a “wise son.”

I. HE SEEKS RIGHTEOUSNESS BEFORE TREASURE

Proverbs 10:2-3 (KJV)

Treasures of wickedness profit nothing: but righteousness delivereth from death.

The LORD will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish: but he casteth away the substance of the wicked.

A. I take it then that it is foolish to seek wealth before we seek character.

To be a person of: 

• •Honesty
• •Integrity
• •Virtue
• •Sincerity
• •Morality and
• •Faithfulness

These things are much more valuable than any amount of financial riches or personal property.

I think just now of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams.

The two men are bound together as founders of our country. Early on, during the earliest days of the Revolution, they were very closely associated.

Adams proposed that a declaration of Independence be drafted and then urged that Jefferson be its author.

But once the Revolution was won and the work of forging a country was underway, the two found themselves on opposite ends of what they thought should be our country’s future.

Jefferson appeared to the the more polished, refined and wealthy.

He was the more popular of the men in his lifetime, partly because Adams was given to being vocally honest about his ideas whereas Jefferson was the quieter of the two.

Adams was forthright. 

You always knew what he was thinking.

Jefferson was not. 

He won the presidency from Adams by quietly sowing untruths about Adams while all the while pretending to support him.

• Adams was ardently opposed to slavery
• Jefferson had slaves

• Adams’ love relationship with his wife is the most well established of any of the founders.
• Jefferson’s wife had died but he was scandalously believed to have had lifelong relations with one of his slaves, Sally Henning.

• Jefferson has a monument in Washington DC
• Adams’ family has unsuccessfully lobbied for one for decades1

• Adams had considered training for the pastorate
• Jefferson was a lifelong skeptic

Adams and Jefferson died the same day, on the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

• Adams’ son went on to be president
• Jefferson died as nearly bankrupt as he could have been and still kept his estate.

In my mind John Adams is by far the greater of the two men. 

He always sought principle above possession.

B. But Biblical righteousness means so much more than good character.

2 Corinthians 5:21 (KJV)

For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

I think we have to be constantly reminded that Christianity begins with the righteousness of God in us because of Christ.

• We start with justification through the new birth
• We grow in sanctification through daily obedience to the Word

The wise son seeks righteousness before treasure.

Second,

II. HE IS DILIGENT IN HIS WORK

Proverbs 10:4 (KJV)

He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich.

The word hand refers to work - labor.

Proverbs 31:19 (KJV)

She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff.

Two words to note:

A. Slack

Slack means lazy or idle.

Laziness is a sure way to poverty

B. Diligent

Interestingly, the definition of this Hebrew word in both Strong’s Concordance and in my Brown, Driver and Briggs Lexicon is, “Something sharp and decisive that digs a trench and discovers gold.”2

Diligence could be defined simply as, “Keep digging until you strike gold.”

The wise son 

Seeks righteousness before treasure.

Keeps working until he strikes gold 

And

III. HE WORKS WHEN THERE IS OPPORTUNITY

Proverbs 10:5 (KJV)

He that gathereth in summer is a wise son: but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame.

The old farmers say, “Make hat while the sun shines.”

I think we might apply it like this - you get a job and go to work.

A. You take any job you can get and

B. You work that job until a better opportunity presents itself.

(Keeping in mind that we should always seek righteousness before treasure. A better opportunity will only be one that improves our spiritual treasures as well as our temporal ones.)

 1. He was, after all, the first president to reside in the Whitehouse.

 2. (Brown-Driver-Briggs)

1) sharp-pointed, sharp, diligent (adjective)

2) strict decision, decision (noun masculine)

3) trench, moat, ditch (noun masculine)

4) gold (poetical) (noun masculine)

(Strong)

properly incised or (active) incisive; hence (as noun masculine or feminine) a trench (as dug), gold (as mined), a threshing sledge (having sharp teeth); (figuratively) determination; also eager: - decision, diligent, (fine) gold, pointed things, sharp, threshing instrument, wall.