5 Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle.
5 Wilt thou set
5 When your eyes light on it, it is gone, for suddenly it sprouts wings, flying like an eagle toward heaven.
5 Riches disappear in the blink of an eye; wealth sprouts wings and flies off into the wild blue yonder.
5 Will you set your eyes on that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings; They fly away like an eagle toward heaven.
5 In the blink of an eye wealth disappears, for it will sprout wings and fly away like an eagle.
20 "But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'
20 But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy
20 But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?'
20 "Just then God showed up and said, 'Fool! Tonight you die. And your barnful of goods - who gets it?'
20 But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?'
20 "But God said to him, 'You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for?'
(Read Luke 12:13-21)
Christ's kingdom is spiritual, and not of this world. Christianity does not meddle with politics; it obliges all to do justly, but wordly dominion is not founded in grace. It does not encourage expectations of worldly advantages by religion. The rewards of Christ's disciples are of another nature. Covetousness is a sin we need constantly to be warned against; for happiness and comfort do not depend on the wealth of this world. The things of the world will not satisfy the desires of a soul. Here is a parable, which shows the folly of carnal worldling while they live, and their misery when they die. The character drawn is exactly that of a prudent, worldly man, who has no grateful regard to the providence of God, nor any right thought of the uncertainty of human affairs, the worth of his soul, or the importance of eternity. How many, even among professed Christians, point out similar characters as models for imitation, and proper persons to form connexions with! We mistake if we think that thoughts are hid, and thoughts are free. When he saw a great crop upon his ground, instead of thanking God for it, or rejoicing to be able to do more good, he afflicts himself. What shall I do now? The poorest beggar in the country could not have said a more anxious word. The more men have, the more perplexity they have with it. It was folly for him to think of making no other use of his plenty, than to indulge the flesh and gratify the sensual appetites, without any thought of doing good to others. Carnal worldlings are fools; and the day is coming when God will call them by their own name, and they will call themselves so. The death of such persons is miserable in itself, and terrible to them. Thy soul shall be required. He is loth to part with it; but God shall require it, shall require an account of it, require it as a guilty soul to be punished without delay. It is the folly of most men, to mind and pursue that which is for the body and for time only, more than that for the soul and eternity.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Proverbs 23:5
Commentary on Proverbs 23:4-5
(Read Proverbs 23:4-5)
Be not of those that will be rich. The things of this world are not happiness and a portion for a soul; those that hold them ever so fast, cannot hold them always, cannot hold them long.