“Wealth attracts many friends, but even the closest friend of the poor person deserts them.”
Can I just tell you that my first, middle and last reaction to this verse is “Oh, heck no!” I mean it really offended me to think anyone believed this about me. It also troubled me because I know this is not true about a lot of my good friends. I’ve actually witnessed what I believe was the opposite over the years. So what exactly is Solomon up to in this verse? We will look at how Jesus confronts this verse in a moment. My initial take was backwards. In the original language it renders the poor being separated as more of a decision of the recent poor, one who had resources and lost them, to separate themselves from former friends of means. Whether out of shame or humiliation for how they lost their resources or simply living adjusting to a different lifestyle the poor person of this chapter decides to move in a new direction. The wealthy person is continuing to grow in influence and therefore must continually discern who is appropriate to include in their sphere of influence. Again, this was an Old Testament reality pretty well demolished by the teachings of Jesus and the New Testament writers. The same OT practice can be observed by many of the lost or even Christians who are not living by God’s clear instructions for His children. Wealth is cautioned against and at times even seen as adversarial to the Kingdom life because of the challenge to battle its possessive nature on the believer. One of the great challenges of Jesus is that when we treat the poor, sick, young and hungry with love we are doing it to Him. Today consider the filter through which you view all others and reflect the heart of our savior. #BeTheEdge
““The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’” Jesus
