Archive for February, 2009

UIWU has no part or agreement with the prosperity preachers of our time and most of us have come to detest all the pleading and begging for money that we see on TV and elsewhere in the name of God, Christ, and Religion. The whole Name It & Claim It, Pray and Pay, Give and you will Get, philosophy not only very grating on the nerves, but positively unbiblical.

It seems to be the case that our current financial crises, with all the graft, greed, and subterfuge in our evil economic system, is largly contrary to Torah principles of helping the poor and weak, not charging interest, sabbatical and Jubilee years, and the ties to land, gold & silver, and so forth. In contrast, there is a large body of “financial” teaching and advice in the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible), not only in the Torah, where the basic principles of economics are laid down, but in the book of Proverbs or Mishlei.

There one finds literally dozens of sage and pithy statements about saving, spending, giving, as well as the attitudes one should have toward wealth, money, and property. One that is often overlooked is the following:

The blessing of YHVH makes rich,
and he adds no sorrow with it (Proverbs 10:22)

The implications here are twofold. First, that wealth for YHVH’s followers can come through the Good Hand of YHVH, for those who honor him in all their ways. Second, that the kind of wealth that YHVH brings can come without “sorrow.” The Hebrew word, etzev  means “pain” or “trouble.” The implications are that wealth gotten other than through the blessings of YHVH, for keeping his commandments, brings sorrow, pain, and trouble.

In the book of Genesis we are told that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and finally Joseph, who had each left home and security to follow the voice of YHVH in a new land, were “made rich” by YHVH’s hand:

Here are a few key passages:

Gen. 13:2: Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold.

Gen. 14:19-23: And he blessed him and said,
“Blessed be Abram by God Most High,
Possessor of heaven and earth;
and blessed be God Most High,
who has delivered your enemies into your hand!”
And Abram gave him a tenth of everything. And the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the persons, but take the goods for yourself.”
But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have lifted my hand to the LORD, God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth,
that I would not take a thread or a sandal strap or anything that is yours, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’

Gen. 24:1: Now Abraham was old, well advanced in years. And the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things.

Gen. 26:12-13: And Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. YHVH blessed him, and the man became rich, and gained more and more until he became very wealthy.

Gen. 28:20-22: Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the YHVH shall be my God, and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you.”

Gen. 30:27-28, 43: But Laban said to him, “If I have found favor in your sight, I have learned by divination that the YHVH has blessed me because of you.
Name your wages, and I will give it”. . . Thus the man yincreased greatly and had large flocks, female servants and male servants, and camels and donkeys.

Gen. 39:2-3 YHVH was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, and he was in the house of his Egyptian master. His master saw that YHVH was with him and that YHVH caused all that he did to succeed in his hands.

And even when Joseph was stripped of all this and cast into prison with nothing, at age 17, we read:

Gen. 39:23 The keeper of the prison paid no attention to anything that was in Joseph’s charge, because the YHVH was with him. And whatever he did, YHVH made it succeed.

There are principles here that run deep and surely can help us all in the times we live in. First and foremost, trusting YHVH and looking to YHVH for guidance to do his will and carry out our individual missions, honoring YHVH with the “firstfruits” of our increase. In each of these cases the resulting “wealth” seems to come from a combination of hard work, honest endeavors, and clean and fair transactions, but the key seems to be to align such efforts with a “vow” toward YHVH to look to Him first in terms of setting things in order. Like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, we find ourselves surrounded with cultures that are operating by the principles of greed and oppression, but it was within those contexts that our fathers and mothers here showed integrity. May we be inspired to walk in their footsteps. They were surely not perfect, not even heroic in many ways, but full of frailties and faults. It was the “walking according to my Ways” that seemed to set them apart–see Gen 26:5.