These studies are designed for believers in Jesus Christ only. If you have exercised faith in Christ, then you are in the right place. If you have not, then you need to heed the words of our Lord, Who said, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten [or, uniquely-born] Son, so that every [one] believing [or, trusting] in Him shall not perish, but shall be have eternal life! For God did not send His Son into the world so that He should judge the world, but so that the world shall be saved through Him. The one believing [or, trusting] in Him is not judged, but the one not believing has already been judged, because he has not believed in the Name of the only-begotten [or, uniquely-born] Son of God.” (John 3:16–18). “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life! No one comes to the Father except through [or, by means of] Me!” (John 14:6).
Every study of the Word of God ought to be preceded by a naming of your sins to God. This restores you to fellowship with God (1John 1:8–10). If we acknowledge our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1John 1:9). If there are people around, you would name these sins silently. If there is no one around, then it does not matter if you name them silently or whether you speak aloud.
This doctrine was taken from Job 1 (HTML) (PDF) (WPD).
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Preface: Communism, when trying to get a foothold in South and Central America, had to figure out a way to beat the Bible, because Christians and Catholics were very resistant to communism. So, what they did was to distort the Bible’s teaching about material wealth. The idea behind socialism is, you get a significant group of people to think negatively about those who are wealthy—make them believe that they gained because you, a poorer person, lost or was cheated out of this or that wealth. This did not affect Christians or Catholics, until enough Scriptures were found to make it seem as if wealth was wrong, and that, by application, the state ought to do what it can to redistribute that wealth. Although that approach is not Biblical, there is enough distortion done to convince enough Christians and Catholics that socialism was doing a good thing. When people do not understand what the Bible says, then their beliefs can be prodded and shaped using Biblical texts out of context.
This is simply nothing evil or wrong with being wealthy. It is all about the individual’s focus on the Word of God. A very poor Christian can be much worse than a very rich Christian, if the former does not care at all about the truth of the Word of God. |
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Rich Men |
Text/Commentary |
Abraham |
And Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver and in gold (Gen. 13:2; LITV). “Yahweh has blessed my master greatly. He has become great. He has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, men-servants and maid-servants, and camels and donkeys.” (Gen. 24:35; WEB). Abraham was now old, getting on in years, and the LORD had blessed him in everything (Gen. 24:1; HCSB). |
Job |
Job he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred she-donkeys, and many servants besides. This man was the most prosperous of all time (Job 1:3). After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD restored his prosperity and doubled his previous possessions. All his brothers, sisters, and former acquaintances came to his house and dined with him in his house. They offered him sympathy and comfort concerning all the adversity the LORD had brought on him. Each one gave him a qesitah, and a gold earring. So the LORD blessed the latter part of Job's life more than the earlier. He owned 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys (Job 42:10–12). |
Abraham and Lot in their business together |
Now Lot, who was traveling with Abram, also had flocks, herds, and tents. But the land was unable to support them as long as they stayed together, for they had so many possessions that they could not stay together, and there was quarreling between the herdsmen of Abram's livestock and the herdsmen of Lot's livestock. At that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were living in the land. (Gen. 13:5–7). Lot’s blessing was through his association with Abraham. When he spilt from Abraham, his wealth dwindled down to nearly nothing. |
Isaac |
Isaac sowed seed in that land, and in that year he reaped a hundred times what was sown. The LORD blessed him, and the man became rich and kept getting richer until he was very wealthy. He had flocks of sheep, herds of cattle, and many slaves, and the Philistines were envious of him (Gen. 26:12–14; HCSB). |
Jacob |
And Esau took his wives, and his sons, and his daughters, and all the persons of his house, and his cattle, and all his beasts, and all his substance, which he had got in the land of Canaan; and went into the country from the face of his brother Jacob. For their riches were more than that they might dwell together; and the land wherein they were strangers could not bear them because of their cattle. (Genesis 36:6–7). |
Joseph |
Joseph was Prime Minister in Egypt, which would have made him one of the richest men in the world. Gen. 43–50 |
David |
And he died in a good old age, full of days, riches, and honour: and Solomon his son reigned in his stead (1 Chronicles 29:28). King David stated, I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread (Psalms 37:25). See also Psalm 37:18-19 Proverbs 10:3. |
Solomon |
And King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom (2Chronicles 9:22). |
Jehoshaphat |
Therefore the LORD established the kingdom in his hand; and all Judah brought to Jehoshaphat presents; and he had riches and honour in abundance (2Chronicles 17:5). |
Hezekiah |
Notwithstanding Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the LORD came not upon them in the days of Hezekiah. And Hezekiah had exceeding much riches and honour: and he made himself treasuries for silver, and for gold, and for precious stones, and for spices, and for shields, and for all manner of pleasant jewels; Storehouses also for the increase of corn, and wine, and oil; and stalls for all manner of beasts, and cotes for flocks. (2Chronicles 32:26-28). |
Joseph of Arimathaea, a disciple of Jesus |
When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus' disciple: He went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered. (Matthew 27:57–58). |
Philemon |
Philemon would have been, at the very least, a moderately wealthy man, since he had at least one slave. Philemon 1:10–12 |
Zacharias the tax collector and the centurion were both probably moderately wealthy. |
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There were at least 3 men of various degrees of wealth who are spoken of in the Bible as either giving some of their wealth away or being encouraged to do so. There were others who gave charitably but we really do not know if they are wealthy or not (Acts 9:36 10:1–2). |
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The rich young ruler |
This is one of the most distorted encounters in the Bible. An arrogant rich man came to Jesus, saying that he had kept all of the commandments. Jesus began to ask him about particular commandments in order leading up to commandment #10 “Do not covet.” Jesus would name a commandment, and the rich young ruler would, each time, say, “I have kept that commandment.” So, instead of saying the 10th commandment (as the rich young ruler did not have to covet anything that someone else he, since he could easily purchase it), Jesus asked him about honoring his mother and his father. The rich young ruler had not really done that, as there was a gimmick where, in that time period, you could declare your riches corban, which meant they were put aside for the Temple, and that way, a rich person would not be forced to spend money on his parents. “Cant’ do that; the money is corban. That’s the Law.” Then Jesus said, “There’s only one more thing that you need to do, then, is to sell everything you have and give it to the poor.” That, the rich young ruler would not do. Jesus was not teaching that rich people are saved by converitng their money into cash and giving it away. Jesus was showing this rich young ruler where he was imperfect, and, therefore, needed a Savior. |
Joseph (Barnabas) |
He sold some land and gave the proceeds to the church in Jerusalem. Acts 4:33–37 |
Ananias and Sapphira |
These two pretended to give a greater percentage to God than they really did, and they died the sin unto death for this. Acts 5:1–10 |
Nation Israel (at various times) |
“You may say to yourself, 'My power and my own ability have gained this wealth for me,' but remember that the LORD your God gives you the power to gain wealth, in order to confirm His covenant He swore to your fathers, as it is today. If you ever forget the LORD your God and go after other gods to worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will perish. Like the nations the LORD is about to destroy before you, you will perish if you do not obey the LORD your God.” (Deut. 8:17–20;HCSB). |
The LORD brings poverty and gives wealth; He humbles and He exalts. He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the garbage pile. He seats them with noblemen and gives them a throne of honor. For the foundations of the earth are the LORD's; He has set the world on them. (1Sam. 2:7–8). Hallelujah! Happy is the man who fears the LORD, taking great delight in His commandments. His descendants will be powerful in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed. Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness endures forever. (Psalm 112:1–3). See also Psalm 107:37–38 Prov. 3:9–10 10:22. |
Related to this study: God and the Poor (HTML) (PDF) (WPD). Jesus is not a liberal (HTML) (PDF) (WPD). |
A portion of this came from stronginfaith.org. |
This is taken from one of the better commentaries on Job. |
1) Wealth may be in the form of money, gold or silver, goods or land. Wealth is always relative to the values within a society. What is wealthy within a poor culture is poor within a more wealthy culture. What individuals feel is wealthy will differ from person to person; some will never feel they are wealthy enough. The believer is urged to be content with what he has received, in his position, from the Lord. 1Timothy 6:6-10, Philippians 4:11-13, Hebrews 13:5-6. 2) Money has a legitimate function, and wealth generally is, like money, a neutral thing; something to be used to facilitate daily life. Money and goods are used to pay taxes Matthew 22:17-22, Luke 20:20-26, buy goods needed for the family, and give towards the Lord's work in the church. Money is not evil. Genesis 29:3, Jeremiah 32:44. 3) It is not evil to have wealth or lots of money, it is the lust for money and goods that corrupts a man, as it did Baalam, Jude 11. 4) Money and wealth generally, are great slaves but terrible masters. Wealth is deceitful if a person believes it will buy him happiness, provide him with security, or give him immortality. Matthew 6:24-33, Luke 12:16–21 Proverbs 18:10-12, Proverbs 13:7. 5) Money and wealth will not buy respectability with God, nor will it purchase salvation. Mark 8:36,37, Acts 8:18-24, Mark 10:23-27. 6) Wealth may get in the way of the simple message of salvation, as the Rich Young Ruler found. Matthew 19:16, Luke 18:19,20, Mark 10:17-27. 7) Money may get in the way of spiritual growth, when we pay more attention to our wealth than we do to applying doctrine in our lives. Solomon in Ecclesiastes 5:10 6:2, Baalam in Jude 11, Ananias' and Saphira in Acts 5:1-10, All of us in James 5:1-6. 8) God is not impressed with money and pride filled shows of wealth. Luke 16:10-31, Proverbs 11:4,28. 9) Wealth can be a great blessing received by believers in maturity, and if it is it is to be used for the Lord's work, as well as for life style. Proverbs 13:8ff, Hebrews 13, Refer Doctrine Of Giving. |
From ebcwa.x10.mx/OTCommentaries/48-1_JOB_CH_1-14.DOC which is from The Problem of Pain by Dr John C McEwan accessed May 25, 2013; p. 16. It is certainly possible that some of this came from R. B. Thieme, Jr.’s work. |