Proverbs 22:4 (NLT)
True humility and fear of the Lord lead to riches, honor, and long
life.
A great truth expressed and
great promises given as long as two important conditions and attitudes are
fulfilled. Let’s take a deeper look at
each of the five components of this oft-quoted verse
True humility—The
Hebrew word for “humility” occurs only 5 times in the Old Testament, (II Sam
22:36, Proverbs 15:33, 18:12, and this verse, and Zephaniah 2:3). In the Samuel verse it is translated as
gentleness and in the Zephaniah verse it is translated as meekness. The character of humility is somewhat hard to
define. Supreme Court Justice Potter
Stewart may be most famous for his quote about pornography---“I cannot define
it but I know it when I see it”---and this quote could be applied to humility. Humility is much better seen than
defined. We see humility in action when
a person submits to God’s authority. We
see humility when someone recognizes your talent and praises you without
bringing any attention to him/herself.
Humility is also seen when someone recognizes his/her own limits in
talent, ability, or authority and does not strive for anything further. Often we witness false humility where a
person denigrates his/her talents and accomplishments but you can tell that the
person is really seeking praise. In my
experience in the business world, most high level executives exhibit false
humility in this way. True humility is
exemplified by Jesus, described in Phil 2:1-17.
Fear of the Lord—The
Hebrew word for “fear” occurs 45 times in the Old Testament, all in reference
to reverencing the Lord. To fear the
Lord simply means to respect Him not only with your thoughts and words, but
also with your actions. Your life
demonstrates your faith in and obedience to Him. You allow Him through Jesus Christ to be the
Lord of your life. You obtain a greater
perspective of what it means to fear the Lord when you read the book of
Ecclesiastes where the author tried everything life had to offer and nothing
had lasting satisfaction except in what he writes as a conclusion to the entire
book in Eccles 12:13-14. The only fear
you should ever have in your life is to fear God. Never fear anyone or anything apart from
God.
Riches—The Hebrew word
for “riches” occurs 36 times in the Old Testament, all referring to
monetary/possession wealth. In II Chron
1:11-12, God blessed Solomon because Solomon asked for wisdom rather than
riches and He gave Solomon both wisdom and riches. The Bible promises, somehow, that humility
and fearing God will bring wealth to you, wealth both spiritually and physically. This sounds like prosperity gospel teaching
that is frowned upon by many, but there is no other way to interpret this
promise resulting from a life of humility and fearing God. A person of true humility, by definition, is
not someone whose primary motives are wealth.
If you are thinking that you can gain wealth by being humble, your
motives are wrong. Wealth resulting from
humility and fearing the Lord is a natural consequence that such honorable
people never think about. Yet, such
honorable people are so much in the minority in this world full of pride and
greed.
Honor—The Hebrew word
for “honor” occurs 200 times in the Old Testament, 166 times referring to
“glory”. Whenever the phrase “glory of
the Lord” is seen in the Old Testament, the word for glory is this same word
translated in Prov 22:4 as honor. By
definition, humble and God-fearing people are honored in ways that we cannot
see. This kind of biblical honor is not
the same as people honored in human ways such as being honored for accomplishments,
honored because of one’s office, rank or position in government/military/
business, or honored in other respectful ways.
The honor bestowed upon a person of true humility and fearing the Lord
is not bestowed by other humans, but bestowed by God Himself. The best form of honor is someday to hear God
tell you, “well done, good and faithful servant”.
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