TRUNEWS with Rick Wiles - Date: August 27, 2026. Lesson 169-2026. Title: What Money Can Never Measure

Episode Date: August 27, 2026

In today’s Morning Manna, Rick Wiles and Doc Burkhart examine Proverbs 28:6–8 and Scripture’s radically different measure of a successful life. Solomon declares that integrity with poverty is better than wealth gained through crookedness, warns that our companions help shape who we become, and exposes the futility of profiting from another person’s desperation. This lesson examines why prosperity is not evidence of God’s approval, why character is worth more than possessions, and how God’s providence ultimately governs wealth acquired through exploitation. The world measures a person by what he possesses; Scripture measures him by what he is. Lesson 169-2026 Teachers: Rick Wiles and Doc Burkhart You can partner with us by visiting MannaNation.com, calling 1-888-519-4935, or by mail at PO Box 399 Vero Beach, FL 32961 MEGA FIRE reveals the ancient recurring cycles of war and economic collapse that have shaped history for 600 years. These patterns predict America is now entering its most dangerous period since World War II. Get your copy today! www.megafire.world Get high-quality emergency preparedness food today from American Reserves! www.AmericanReserves.com It’s the Final Day! The day Jesus Christ bursts into our dimension of time, space, and matter. Now available in eBook and audio formats! Order Final Day from Amazon today! www.Amazon.com/Final-Day Apple users, you can download the audio version on Apple Books! www.books.apple.com/final-day Purchase the 4-part DVD set or start streaming Sacrificing Liberty today. www.Sacrificingliberty.com

Welcome to Morning, My North. Welcome to Morning, My Miratural North. Your teachers, Rick Wiles and Dr. Burkla. Get your Bible and notebook and get ready to here before. What does the Bible say about people who charge interest on loans and mortgages? I'm going to talk about that today on Morning Manor. Hello, I'm Rick Wiles. And I want to welcome you to Morning Manna.

We are a weekday Bible teaching ministry. And my co-teacher in this ministry is Dr. Raymond Burckhardt. Together we do our best to teach old doctrine in new ways. And our lessons are archived at manna nation.com. Also on my channel on YouTube, Rick Walsh today. So it's manna nation.com and Rick Wals today. Our lesson number is 169-2026. So if you're looking for it later today or tomorrow,

you want to look for 169-2026. Dr. Burckhart will introduce today's lesson after we pray and invite the Holy Spirit without him. There's no point in doing anything that's invited. Almighty God, our Father in heaven, we love you, Father, with all our heart, mind, and soul. And we humbly request the presence of your precious Holy Spirit to preside over the teaching of this Bible study, Father. I pray for your inspiration anointing to be upon Dr. Workheart and me to bring forth your word. And that your anointing and inspiration would be upon your people to receive it.

and apply it so that their lives would be richer, fuller, more meaningful. We ask this in the name of your wonderful son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. And welcome everyone to this Thursday edition of Morning Man, and we're so privileged to have you here with us. And it says a lot that you've taken time out of your very busy day, and we don't diminish that at all, that you've set aside some time to study the Word of God together with us, with believers from all over the world. Today's lesson number is 16 to 9-2026, and we're continuing in our continued journey through Proverbs chapter 28.

It's been a fascinating journey so far, and today is going to be no exception as we look at verses 6 through 8 today. So if you've got your Bibles, let's open them up. I'm going to read from the King James. the King James Version, then we're going to look at the Septuagint version as well and compare them. And what we found as we study these two side by side

is that there's a lot of complement between the two of them and a lot of insight that we can glean from studying them side by side. And the reason why we do both of them is because the King James has been the standard for English language study for really about 400 years now. But the Septuagint has been around since before the time of Christ. It's the scriptures that Jesus quoted and the apostles quoted. And so that's why we studied them side by side to give us a fuller understanding of the scriptures as they've been perceived through time.

So get your Bibles. Proverbs chapter 28, verse 6 to 8, beginning at verse 6. I'm going to read the King James first. Better is the poor that walketh in his uprisingness than he that is perverse in his way, as though he be rich. Verse seven, whosoeth the laws of wisestim, but he that is a companion of rightest men, shaman, father. And then verse eight, he that by usury and unjust gain increases his substance.

He shall gather it for him that will pity the, poor. Okay, so we've got the King James. Now let's look at what the Septuagint has to say about this. A poor man walking in truth is better than a rich liar. I like the simplicity of that. A wise son keeps the law, but he that keeps up debauchery, dishonors his father. And then verse 8, he that increases his wealth by usury and unjust gain gathers it for him. That pities it for. Okay. Now, you may have read these scriptures. years before and they have just gone over your head.

But today we're going to look at them deeply here. In Proverbs chapter 28, verse 6 to 8, they form a tightly connected unit on the relationship between wealth and integrity. Three verses examining what money can

and cannot establish about a person's actual work. In verse 6, we opened them with one of the scripture is comparison. You see this all throughout Proverbs, which are always evaluative rather than merely descriptive. You'll see patterns like this. Better the poor man walking uprightness than the rich man who is perverse and all this way. You see that contrast there. So the proverb assigns superior value to integrity over prosperity and does so without any

qualification. Then as we get into verse 7, it examines the same theme to that lands of companionship and its consequences. So the idea here is that the son who keeps the law is wise, while the son who runs with right as men brings shame on his father. What a young man chooses to be near, determines what he becomes. Something to think about there. And then verse 8. closes this triplet with one of the most striking ironies in the book. The man who builds as well to usury and unjust gain is unknowingly accumulating it for someone else. Now, you wouldn't think about that, but we're going to dive into that, because specifically it's for a person who will use it to show mercy to the poor he exploited.

Now, these three verses, Rick, share a common conviction that runs, throughout this chapter that you see throughout chapter 28. Money is a genuinely poor measure of life. It does not establish true words. It does not indicate God's approval. And as verse 8 that we're going to be looking at later today, makes plain. It does not even guarantee that the one who gathered it will be the one who actually keeps it, Rick.

And so today, If we're going to sum this up, where we're going to be heading here in our lesson today. The lessons aim is to teach our morning manna audience to evaluate our lives, including our own life by the standard that scripture actually applies, rather than by the standard that our surrounding culture are those that we associate with, assume. And so we're going to start our study today with a look at verse six and Rick will get us started with that today. Rick? Yes, sir. Let's start with verse six. Better is the poor that walketh in his uprightness than he that is perverse in his ways though he be rich.

The Hebrew word here, spelled T-O-M, tome, whom, means in, in, integrity, completeness, wholeness. It describes a life that is all of a piece. The same. In other words, the person you see in public is the same that you see in private. They're not two different personalities. They're the same in prosperity. They're the same in scarcity.

They are the same when they are alone. They're the same when they are observing. That's what this word means. a brightness in this context. It is not being in a state of sinlessness, but consistency, the absence of a hidden second self. The word walketh is significant.

The Hebrew word is ha-huck-lock. It describes a ongoing manner of life. rather than isolated acts. In other words, this is the way that this person walks through life. Integrity in this proverb is not a decision made once, but it's a way of proceeding sustained over time. It's the way that this person lives. It says, then he that is perverse in his ways, though he be rich.

We've studied the word perverse many times. in our study of Proverbs over the past year. Perverse means something that is twisted, crooked, bent, away, bent out of shape. People think that perverse means perverted. It's not what it means. It means it to be twisted and crooked, to be bent away. Bent away from what? Bent away from truth.

Been away from righteousness. been away from holiness. So it says that this person is perverse in his ways. Notice it doesn't say perverse in his way. In his ways. Plural. Plural. Okay.

It's, but for the other person, it's singular, the upright person in, His uprightness, it's singular. For the wicked person, they are perverse in their ways, because they have many ways of perverseness. But there's only one way of uprightness. There's not a variety of uprightness.

But Satan does offer, you know, 57 varieties of perverseness. You can choose. God has one way of uprightness. So the man or woman of integrity walks one way. The crooked man or woman has multiple ways. See, Satan makes it easy for you to be perverse. Amen. Just pick one.

That's Satan's idea. Just pick one. Which one do you like? Go for it. God says, no, there's one way to be upright. So that's precisely the problem. He or she is one person here and another person there. And the multiplication of paths is itself the corruption.

The comparison's force depends on the world's ordinary scale being inverted. By every visible measure, the rich man is better off. He eats better. he sleeps more securely. He commands more respect. He faces fewer of life's daily problems and humiliations that poverty imposes on people. So Solomon does not deny any of this.

Solomon declares that the measure is long. The Bible's better is, right? You know, there's a number of problems. Proverbs that have better is, okay. They consistently perform a corrected function. Proverbs 15 or 16, better is little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble therewith. Proverbs 171, better is a dry morsel

and quietness therewith, then a house full of sacrifices with strike. he better is. So Matthew Henry observed that the poor man's integrity is a possession the rich man's wealth cannot purchase. And that if the two could be traded, every honest man would find himself unwilling to make the exchange once he understood what he was giving up. Well, at least we would hope he would, Rick.

And so, and the weight of verse 6 here, rest on the biblical insistence that our superiority is not evidence of divine approval. So we've got to be clear about that. And poverty is not necessarily evidence of divine displeasure. I know that's something that a lot of people in the church struggle with today. It's a correction that structure turns to repeatedly because the assumption is so persistent. So if we look in Psalm 73, it records Asaph's extended struggle with exactly the same confusion. He says, I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

Think about that just a moment. So here's Asaf, he's writing the song, and he's like, okay, why do the wicked prosper? Why is that? Why does that happen? So his resolution comes only when he enters the sanctuary of God and understands what their end is. And that's later on in Psalm 73 in verse 17, which reframes the entire comparison.

I did a study at Job here a few months ago. Job's friends operated on the opposite error, the other extreme, reasoning backward from his suffering to his supposed guilt. They said, well, you're suffering because you did something wrong. So the book of Job, in its entire argument, establishes that outward condition is not necessarily a reliable index of standing before God. Over in the New Testament, we look at James chapter 2, verse 5,

and it says, hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom. And then James chapter 2, verse of 1 through 4, rebuse churches that seat the well-dressed visitor prominently while directing the poor to the floor. And we should learn a lesson from Christ's own poverty because Christ's own poverty is really the definitive statement here. the son of man hath not where to lay his head.

You can read that in Matthew chapter 8, verse 20. The most valuable life to ever live was by every economic measure among the least valuable. So, now, we have to be careful here that this proverb is not romanticizing poverty as some try to make poverty, okay? Scripture treats a genuine hardship worth relieving, and it doesn't condemn wealth as such.

Abraham was wealthy. Job was wealthy. Joseph of the Arab and Phaer were all wealthy. And by the way, the Bible commended them. It evaluates the combination. And we're talking about the integrity with poverty exceeds corruption with wealth, Rick. This is it all, Doc.

Integrity with poverty far exceeds corruption with wealth. If you have to choose one or the other, you want to go with integrity with poverty. Now, the best combination is integrity with wealth. And the Bible does not ever say you can't have it. You can't have wealth. and integrity together. What Solomon is saying here is that if you have two people side by side

and one has integrity but they're poor and the other one is wealthy but they're corrupt. The better person here is the poor person with integrity. However, the remember Solomon was the wealthiest man who ever lived in. He wrote these proverbs. Let's take a look at the subtergent translation of verse 6

The King James says Better is the poor that walketh in his uprightness Than he that is perverse in his ways Though he be rich The Septuagint much shorter A poor man walking in truth Is better than a rich liar I like it

I like the subtuogen It's directed to the point The subtuagent You know It just sharpens the statement The poor man walks in truth. The rich man is not just perverse in his ways. He's a liar.

And he just cuts right to it. He's a liar. Yes. So the way I see it, Doc, is the Septuagint is narrowing in on a specific thing that is deception. So the Septuagint's rich man is characterized by falsehood, a man whose wealth exist alongside, and possibly because of his willingness to

misrepresent his life and everything else. So the contrast is between truth and liar. And so this connects verse 6 to integrity more than the King James's broader vocabulary is. So the man or woman of truth speaks the same thing to every person who hears them speaking. But the liar has a multiplication of stories. And that's where you get the ways, perverse in all his ways. He has a lot of stories. And so together, you know, there's the two verses actually are in harmony. So I prefer the situagint over it.

I think it's very direct. Man, walking in truth is better than a rich liar. That sounds like something I would say. It would just be blunt to the point and just make a statement. Let's go to verse 7. Who so keepeth the law is a wise son, but he that is a companion, a riotous men, His father.

One guarding the law, one guarding the commandments of God, is a discerning son. The verb that's used here, the Hebrew verb, Nasar, means to guard over, to watch, to keep, protect. It's the same word used for a watchman of a city. So keeping the law of God in this problem. is not a passive compliance. Like, okay, I'm okay with it. I accept it. I agree with it.

No, it is active protection of the word. It means active protection of the commandments of God. The son who treats God's commandments as something valuable to guard. Not just something to agree with and say, yeah, I agree with the commandments. So this son is actively protected. the commandments of God. But he that is a companion of riotous men, shamedeth his father.

Who are riotous men and women? Gluttons, you know, drumpers, partiers, people that live a wild lifestyle. They bring shame on the parents. The word that's used here, the Hebrew word, is a Zollel, and that literally means a glutton. A person who's driven by their appetite,

they are wasteful with their resources, they're undisciplined in their consumption of not just food, but it's of their drinks, of everything in their lifestyle. They have no discipline in their lifestyle. The proverb does not say that the son becomes a glutton. It says that he is a companion of them. him. Right. In other words, Doc, he's he's comfortable with him. He's not offended by them. He's okay with it. All right. So the implication here is the danger is formation by association that what a person is regularly near eventually becomes a person. You know, in other words, it's going to rub off on you. If you go to a nightclub, a bar, a pub

every night, eventually you're going to become one of the people that's drinking and getting drunk and having a riotous time. It's going to rub on you. It stated the same principle is in Proverbs

1320. He that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed. And then Paul Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 33, spoke about evil communications, corrupt good manners. Right. The consequence is very blunt.

The father is shamed. Choices made in youth are experienced by the young man as personal and private, affecting only himself. but the proverb insists that they are not private. The son would say, look, these are my choices. They only affect me. This is my business. But what Solomon is saying is the son's conduct, and this includes the daughter,

the son of the daughter's conduct, will influence the entire household. And the parents' standing in the community will be genuinely affected by what their children. do. Every parent knows those. Look, if you're, if the police come to your door with your son in handcuffed and says, do you know this boy? All right. The whole neighborhood's going to hear about it, right? Right. Because there's a cop car sitting in your driveway with flashing lights. And the neighbors are going to see it. See, the son or daughter brings shame upon the parents.

Adam Clark, a Methodist theologian, he observed that few young men choose their friends with any awareness that they are simultaneously choosing what they will become and that the choice of company is among the most consequential decision

made at an age when consequences are least appreciate it I'll talk think about when you were 18 were you thinking about the people

you were hanging out with absolutely not I can tell you with all confidence I was not I was only thinking about boy I've got my friends

here and I was glad to have friends that was the only thing I was concerned about but you were not thinking about what harm your friends

could possibly bring to your parents Yeah, that's absolutely true. And so really, Rick, when you think about the framework beneath verse 7 here, concerns a relationship between the individual and the household which produced him. So the biblical conviction here that persons are not isolated moral agents, but they're members of families, they're members of larger communities whose conduct affects and represents one another. And I think especially in Western culture, we neglect this a lot. We really do. We have an individualist spirit here with some Western mindset.

That we pull ourselves up by our own bootstrap. We stand our own, right? We don't think of family and community and things like that. So when you really think about it, Rick, this reflects back to our study back in Proverbs chapter 27, verse 11. And it said, My son, be wise and make my heart glad that I may answer him that approach it to me. So imagine this.

King Solomon says, all right, son, be smart about things. And make me happy. That when people come to me, I can answer them, right? And so that same father's son dynamic. operates here in both of these Proverbs here. Now, the seriousness that Scripture attaches to this connection appears in the qualifications for church leadership. So if we look over in the New Testament, 1 Timothy chapter 3,

verses 4 and 5, it requires that an or seer be one that ruleth well his own house. Ruleth well his own house. Ruleth well his own house. And there's a reason why I say that three times. We really don't rule our house as well. For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how should he take care of the Church of God? And so the doctrine requires careful handling,

really in two directions here. It does not mean that every wayward child necessarily indicts a parent's faithfulness, okay? We know that children can go off on their own tangents and everything. Scripture records godly parents with rebellious children. I'll take it, for example, Samson.

Samson's a perfect example. His parents were Goddleton, and yet Samson went often in a different direction. Adult children bear their own responsibility before God. Nor does it permit parents to teach children primarily

as assets for their reputation as well. Okay. Ephesians chapter 6 for 4 establishes that the father's obligation toward the child rather than the reverse. So the battle is reading here, using Wilson, holds both. Parents bear genuine or responsibility to teach, model, and guard the companionship their children keep. I don't think anyone would argue with that, Rick. While children, though, they're genuine responsibility for their own choices.

The proverb addresses the son directly, which indicates where its primary weight falls. In other words, the child needs to make the proper choices based upon his experience. And so if I'm sitting here as a pastor, and I'm teaching this to parents, My application for parents is very practical. Guarding a children's companions is not overprotection,

but it's the direct application in this proverb. Now, you may feel like that while you're being way over protected, Pastor Doc, no, I'm not at all. The friendship's a young person formed among his most formative, influences on who that person becomes. I think about in my own life, Rick. I think about the friendships I had in junior high, high school, and my first few years of college and how they impacted me,

how they changed me. And some of them were positive. But I had to admit, Rick, some of them were negative. And some of them weren't among Christian friends. I mean, to be honest with you, but maybe not Christian friends who were well-discipled. And there are things, even to this day, Rick, that I'm still unlearning.

I say I'm learning. As a result of those friendships I had back in high school and early Bible college and in early years of ministry, that I have to unlearn based upon the Word of God. And so these early formative relationships, that we have in our lives, Rick, are so vitally important.

And I don't think we take them very seriously at time, Rick. As parents, we don't think about the impact that these relationships in our affirmative years really have upon our children. What are your thoughts on that? I'm totally agreeing with you, Doc. And if you're a parent and you have teenagers, you need to be praying over,

who they befriend. And when you see your son or daughter starting to befriend somebody, you think this is not a good sign, you just need to pray to the Lord, remove that person. Remove, separate them, right? God will honor your prayers of a righteous mother,

father on behalf of their children. And then the reverses, pray in the good people. Pray that your son and daughter, becomes friends with other strong Christian youth. God will honor your prayers when you're praying that way. And let's take a look at verse 7 from the viewpoint of the Greek Septuagint. The King James says, who so keepeth the law is a wise son,

but he that is a companion, a riotous men, shamed his father. The Greek Septuagin says, A wise son keeps the law, but he that keeps up debauchery dishonor his father. So that Septuagin's most notable difference is its handling of the second half of this proper, where the King James describes a son who is a companion of riotous men. The Septuagint describes one who keeps up debauchery. So the verb in here to choose, Oemine, The Greek means to shepherd, to tend to, to pasture.

So the son and the Septuagint is not merely associating with bad company. He is shepherding debauchery. He's actively feeding it, tending it, maintaining it like a shepherd tends to a flock. Never thought about that before. Wow. Much more serious, Doc. So it intensifies the indictment that association implies drift. Shepherding implies cultivation.

So the son in the situagin has moved from being influenced by riotous company to actively curating a life of excess and debauchery, giving it his sustained attention like a shepherd. gives attention to a flock of sheep. Now, as we examine the scripture here in the Septuagint, Rick, and we look at that noun, Asotia, it's the same word that Luke 1513 uses for the prodigal son's rites living. And then over in Ephesians chapter 5, verse 18,

that uses in, be not drunk with wine, which is in excess. So the Septuagin is connecting this proverb directly to Christ's most famous parable about a son who dishonored his father through exactly his conduct. Now, this connection is worth throwing out fully because the parable supplies what the proverb does not, and that's what the ending implies.

The prodigal son came to himself, right? If you recall that, he returned, and he was received. which means the dishonored father at verse 7 it's not necessarily the final word on any household praise God for that amen the proverb states the patent the parable holds the door open that's the grace that we have in Christ all right let's move on to verse 8

king James he that by usury an unjust gain increases his substance he shall gather it for him that will pity the poor. This may make some people uncomfortable, especially if you work in the banking industry. Amen. Or the credit card industry. And I'm just telling you what the Bible says.

Okay. If you increase your wealth by interest, that's what is condemning. People who increase their wealth by. charging interest to other people. And the mosaic law clearly prohibited. Exodus 22, 25, Leviticus 25 versus 36, 37. Deuteronomy 23 versus 1920.

Prohibit charging interests to a fellow Israelite in need. think about it yes so the bible prohibits it now at the risk of getting de-platformed or kicked off television everything um look it's it's a it's a known fact i much of the western financial industry is heavily influenced by jewish people well how do they reconcile the Bible saying you can't charge interest, I would say they would come back and say, well, that says that we can't charge interest to Jews, but we sure can charge it to Gentos.

I'll let you decide if that's legitimate, okay? I take this as a general condemnation of interest, and that tells me that the entire Western financial system is unbiblical. It's built on interest And isn't it Doc, I mean, obviously I'm not a Muslim But you know the uproar at times about

They're going to bring Sharia banking into our country Well, wait a minute, Sharia banking says you can't have interest Zero interest That's actually biblical I know I'm getting a lot A lot of people right now your minds are spinning

I don't know what you're saying. I'm just saying the Bible says you can't charge interest. It's wrong. It's wrong for you to get to become wealthy by charging interest to other people. And if you don't like it, then talk to God about it. But the Western financial system is built on debt. And eventually we're going to have a massive implosion of our economies in the West because there's so much debt, it can't be sustained.

Right. That's the bottom line. Okay. But here's what's interesting, Doc. The person who becomes wealthy by charging interest to other people gathers the wealth for the person who pities the poor. The exploiter labors, schemes, calculates, extracts without knowing that he or she is gathering up all this money and wealth for another person.

And that other person is the one who pities the poor. Now, you may say, well, I haven't seen any of that wealth come over to me. Well, I'll ask you the question. Do you pity the poor? The wealth goes to the one who pities the poor. Oh, really? Yes. The wealth is laid up for the one who pities the poor.

You might want to become busy pitying the poor. And the Lord will move wealth from the people who accumulate wealth by charging interest. The Lord himself will accumulate that will, I mean, will move, transport that wealth over to you. Remember, proverb, wealth gets wings and flies away? Okay, so the person, the person who becomes wealthy with interest, one day their wealth will sprout wings and fly away. Where does that wealth bird land at the home of a man or woman who pities the poor? That's the message here.

I know a lot of people will just say, I don't know if I believe this. I don't know if it's wrong to charge interest, and I don't know if I believe that God takes that wealth and gives it to someone who's pitting poor people. Do you believe the word or not? Exactly, do you believe the Bible or not? You're calling God a liar? I'm not going to call him. I'm going to believe it.

And you know what? Even if it's for my own self-interest, I'll pity the poor because I know what the word says. Right. You want to get busy out there pitying the poor. So the recipient is exactly the opposite of the one who charges interest. This is that pities the poor, the one who shows mercy.

to the very people whose exploitation built the fortune. I don't have, we don't have the time, and I don't have the intellect to explain it. But God does it, the Bible doesn't say that the wealth of a person who charges the interest is given to the person who pays the interest. Right. It doesn't say it's given to the poor. It says God takes that wealth and gives it to the man or woman who pities the poor.

Think about that. So why, Doc? And the only thing that I can come up with is that the person who pities the poor has the kind of heart God desires to reward. Yes. The poor may not have that heart. They may not have the kind of heart that God is looking for. But the person who pities the poor has the kind of heart that God is pleased. with and he blesses them so the proverb closes a circuit wealth extracted from the poor is redirected

and in god's providence it's redirected back toward the poor through the hands of a merciful man or woman i mean if god blesses the person who has pity on the poor guess what that person is going to do use that wealth to bless the poor. So the exploiter, the bankers, labor, the money changer, their work, their labor accomplishes precisely the opposite of their intention. Charles Bridges,

Bridges was an Anglican bishop. And he said this proverb teaches the futility of unjust accumulation more effectively than any threat could, because it demonstrates that the exploiters' central project fails on its own terms. He does not get to keep what he send to accumulate. Yes, absolutely. And so that framework beneath verse 8 is the do. Doctrine of Providence governing outcomes, no human party intends or controls, Rick. God's redirection of what was gathered wrongly toward purposes the gathering never contemplated.

I think it's amazing myself. Ecclesiastes 226 says from Solomon's own pen, it states his same principle. It says to the center, he gives us travail, to gather, and to heap up and that he may give to him that is good before God. Think about that just a minute. Job 27, 16, 17 gives that same observance, that he may prepare it, but the just shall put it on.

So are you saying that God will reserve that for the just? Absolutely. Absolutely. That's what the scripture teaches. Now, this should not be flattened into a mechanical guarantee that that every unjust fortune visibly transfers within a predictable time frame. So don't get caught in that trap. Scripture's wisdom and knowledge is that the wicked frequently prosper,

sometimes across a lifetime, Rick. And Psalm 73's honest wrestling must be held alongside here with what, verse 8 says. And so the Proverbs claim that God concerns governance of ultimate outcomes at the end of the day, at the final reckoning. Its function is to correct the assumption that unjust gain is at least effective, okay, that the exploiter has successfully secured something. What verse 8 does is it denies even that. So, if you recall Christ's parable the rich fool in Luke chapter 12,

he says, and he presses the point to its terminal conclude, and he asks this question at the end. Then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? Great question. Every accumulation eventually transfers right. And the accumulator does not choose the recipient.

Wow. To anyone that's tempted toward exploitation for gain, the enterprise will fail on its own term. Eventually, they'll be in accounting. To anyone who's been exploited, maybe you've been the victim. And maybe you've watched the exploiter prosper. you have this guarantee, my friend. God's governance extends over outcomes,

even though it's not visible, and the accounting is not yet finished, but there will be an accounting someday. Amen. Let's take a look at the Greek Septuagint for this verse. King James, he that by usury and unjust gain increases his substance,

he shall gather it for him that will pity the poor. Septuagin says, he that increases his wealth by usuries and unjust gains, gathers it for him that pities the poor. It's almost identical. Both translations preserve the mechanisms of the offense and the ironic redirection of its proceeds. So this one thing I would draw your attention to is the Greek word for the merciful recipient. The Greek is eleiomte. And it means one who shows mercy.

And it comes from the same Greek, a verb family, that gives the New Testament its vocabulary for divine mercy. and it appears in the beatitudes, blessed are the merciful, where they shall obtain mercy. Now, this is why God does it too. It just doesn't take the wealth from the one who gains it with usury and just give it to anybody.

He gives it to those who have this one particular attribute. Mercy. Mercy. because it's mercy that's causing this person to pity the poor. Yeah, and so blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy, like you've been teaching in the beatitudes and our many matters right. So the recipient of the redirected fortuness is described with the same word Christ uses for those who receive mercy for God.

It implies that the transfer described here in verse 8, that we're looking at today is not merely economic reshuffling, okay, but one instance of a larger pattern in which God directs resources toward those characterized by the mercy he himself shows. And so here in the Septuagint, its stability across the verse also carries quiet witness worth noting for the morning man. an audience today. The practices condemned here.

Predatory lending, which we see prevalent today, extraction from the vulnerable, which we see prevalent today. Profit taken from another's desperation, which we see prevalent today, were recognized across Hebrew and Greek cultures

alike, that no interpretive adjustment was required. Everyone knew what was going on, They knew what was happening monetarily. So this temptation, Rick, is not some sort of modern take on things. But neither is it the verdict as well. It's not the final word on it, is it, Rick? No, it isn't. But this is the final word on this lesson

because we're at the end of our time right now. And we're grateful that you stayed with us to this lesson. Hope it's been thought-provoking. And as always, we hope you share this morning, a morning lesson with people in your life and just speak highly of this ministry and help us grow and reach more people with the word of God. And be blessed.

We will be back here tomorrow, Faith Friday. So that means Holy Communion, and we'll be talking about faith. And then we'll pick up with chapter 28 on next Monday. God bless you. See you tomorrow. God bless you. See you then. Thank you for watching Morning Manor. We hope your soul has been nourished today. We welcome and appreciate your prayers and financial support for our international Bible teaching ministry.

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