TRUNEWS with Rick Wiles - Date: September 7, 2026. Lesson 176-2026. Title: When Telling the Truth Costs You

Episode Date: September 7, 2026

In today’s Morning Manna, Rick Wiles and Doc Burkhart examine Proverbs 28:21–23 and three dangers that quietly corrupt judgment: partiality, the grasping pursuit of wealth, and flattery. Solomon warns that integrity is often sold for far less than we imagine, that the person consumed with getting rich can become blind to the poverty approaching him, and that honest correction will ultimately earn more favor than empty praise. This lesson challenges believers to judge without favoritism, examine what truly drives their financial ambitions, and value the friend willing to tell the truth rather than the flatterer who merely tells us what we want to hear. Lesson 176-2026 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 new ritual north. Your teachers, Rick Wiles and Dr. Burkla. Get your Bible and notebook and get ready to here before. Good morning. I'm Rick Wiles. Do you desire to better understand the Holy Bible and to discover God's principles for successful living? I hope so, because if the answer is yes, you've come to the right place. This is Morning Manna.

We are a weekday Bible study group that meets online and on television around the world. My teaching partner is Dr. Raymond Burckhardt, and together we can make this promise to you. If you watch Morning Manna every weekday for one month and apply the principles of wisdom that you will hear in this Bible study, the Word of God will begin to change the way that you think and speak and act and will change your relationships and will change your finances because the principles of wisdom will start getting inside of you, quietly, working in you and changing the way you see life and the way you interact with.

the world. Now, we have been methodically working our way through the book of Proverbs for one year, and we are currently in the 28th chapter. Today's lesson will be verses 21 through 23. The lesson is archived at manna nation.com and also the Rick Wiles Today channel on YouTube. Manana Nation.com is also where you can partner with us and help us keep this Bible teaching ministry going worldwide. And you can do that by being a faithful monthly contributor to Morning Mano. We would deeply appreciate it. We're eager to begin our lesson. The lesson number is 176-2026.

Again, it's archived at manonation.com. And our lesson today is Proverbs 28. verse is 21, 22, 23. Let's pray, invite the Holy Spirit, and Dr. Raymond Burkhart will introduce today's lesson. Heavenly Father, our Father in Heaven, you are our Father, the Father of the entire Church, and we share you as our Father.

Father, we come to you as your sons and daughters, and we are hungry and we are thirsty, and you are a good father who feeds your children. And we desire to feast on Christ, who is the word. So, Father, we invite the Holy Spirit to take charge, to lead this Bible study, and bring forth wisdom and knowledge and revelation and truth that all of us, the teachers and the students,

all of us would be blessed by participating in this Bible study today. We praise you, we worship you, we thank you, we glorify you in the name of our King Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. Welcome Morning Manna, everyone. We're so glad to have you here with us as we start lesson number 176-2026 here on Morning Manna. And it's been quite a journey so far. It's hard to believe.

28 chapters in Proverbs. taken quite a while to get to this point. Today we find ourselves in Proverbs chapter 28 versus 21 through 23. So we're going to be focusing on three verses today. And as we always do, we read from the King James and also the Septuagint. And what we found is as we do that, it gives us a very balanced approach toward a perspective on passages in Proverbs. Occasionally we're bringing in other translations, but we found that between the King James, which was based on the Masoretic text, and the Septuagint, which was based on the Greek text, together provide a full scope of understanding for passages that we examine it. So that's our, that's our kind of our mindset here.

It's worked well for us as we've gone through Proverbs this time. Rick and I have taught Proverbs previously. But I have to say this time, doing the side-by-side comparison between the King James and the Septuagin has really been enlightening. And I hope it is for you today as well. Proverbs chapter 28, verse 21

through 23, King James reads, To have respected persons is not good. For a piece of bread that man will transgress. He that hasteth to be rich, has an even lie, and considereth not that poverty shall come upon it.

He that rebuketh the man After it shall find more favor than he That flattereth with the tongue So that's the King James text And now the Septuagint He that reverences not the persons of the just Is not good Such a one will sell a man

For a morsel of bread An envious man makes haste to be rich And knows not that the merciful man Will have the mastery over him He that reproves a man's way Shall have more favor than he that flatters with the tongue. So our passage today,

Proverbs chapter 28, verses 21 through 23, what we're doing today is we're gathering three verses, and these three verses together, they talk about the corruptions produced by quick and easy or cheap gain, and close with the promise

that makes honest speech worth its cost. We start out in verse 21, and it addresses partiality, showing favor to persons, It's not a good thing. And the price at which a man will transgress turns out to be Rick shockingly low, a bite of bread, a morsel of bread. Verse 22 considers the haste to be rich theme from verse 20

that we talked about previously and identifies the disposition underneath it. What is the disposition beneath the get-rich-quick schemes and evil eyes? and evil eye. The man in a hurry for wealth does not perceive the poverty is already approaching, really, chasing him. And then, verse 23 supplies the unit's resolution

and one of the most encouraging promises throughout all of chapter 28, the man who rebukes well afterward, afterward, it says, find more fader than flatterer. we're going to talk about that today. Verse 23 also completes a thread. This series begins in the previous chapter.

I recall back in Proverbs chapter 27, verses 5 and 6, it talked about an open rebuke. Establish that an open rebuke is better than secret love and that the wounds of a friend are faithful. Now we fast forward here to verse 23 today, and it now supplies what those verses. did not, the vindication, the reasoning behind it.

And so the faithful wounder is eventually preferred, Rick, to the flatterer, and the preference is stated here in verse 23 of the promise. So today's lesson here on Morning Man is to show our audience how cheaply integrity is commonly sold. And what disposition drives that bargain, what drives itself, and why honest speech, costly in the moment, is the better long-term investment. Brick starts our study today with his examination of verse 21. Hey, I'm glad you pointed out that verse 23 is the ending of an entire body of Proverbs that started back in chapter 27, verses 5 and 6.

Often when we read the Bible, we forget that the original text did not have chapters in verses. And when Solomon wrote to Proverbs, he didn't say, okay, I'm now writing chapter 5, verse 1. Right. There were no chapters in verses. It was all one long, continuous text. That's right. So what we're concluding today, verse 23, actually is part of a body of thought that Solomon was teaching that started for us in chapter 27, verse of 5 and 6. I'm glad you pointed that out.

So verse 21, to have respect of persons is not good. For a piece of bread, that man will transgress. What does this mean? It's not good to have respect of people, and a man will sell out for a slice of bread. What was Solomon thinking? What did he know? What had he observed in his lifetime?

So this phrase, the English phrase we have, to have respect to persons is not good. the ancient Hebrew would be to recognize faces is not good. Now, that doesn't make sense to us because in our modern world, we desire to recognize faces so that we have memory of who we're talking to. What is this talking about? What is this idiom? What is this ancient Jewish idiom?

To recognize faces is not good. It's describing judgment rendered according to a person, according to who a person is, rather than what the facts require. In other words, you're treating one person better than somebody else because of their status, their wealth, their power. for some reason, you are treating, this is Solomon's sake, it's not good to be a respecter of persons. Solomon was a king. He was also the chief justice. He was the supreme judge of Israel. So he had various roles.

And he learned in those roles, do not make your decisions. based on sight, don't think lowly of this person, and hobby this person. And so that's what we're learning here. The Frides' respect of persons translates an expression, it's a Hebrew expression about lifting the face,

showing favor based on identity, status, wealth, family relationships, kinship, parents, how they're dressed, how they carry themselves. It describes a judge who decides before hearing the case because he already knows who is standing in front of you. And Solomon said, that is wrong. You should not do that. You should not be biased because of who you're looking at. who you're dealing with everybody should be treated equally he says it's it's not good okay that's an understatement the the Hebrew word is a Litov it's it's a wisdom's

characteristic restraint and it's not mild it is breeding partiality as a serious violation of God's character. God is himself is not a respecter of persons. God does not treat me better than Doc Workhart, and God does not treat Dock-Workhart better than you. He is not a respecter of persons. He is fair. And Solomon is saying, this is the way we must be.

Now, this next line, for a piece of bread, that man will transgress. It's not even an entire slice. It's a morsel of bread, a bite of bread. That man, which man? The man that will show partiality will transgress. What is transgress? Sin, violate, commit a violation.

The second clause for a piece of bread, that man will transgress. This is the Proverbs hinge, and it's a shocking hinge. Solomon has named partiality, and then he names, he identifies the price. And the price is a piece of bread, not a fortune, not a stack of money, not gold coins, a piece of bread. What does that represent? It's saying that a person who is prone to show favoritism will sell out for the smallest amount. He won't even hold out for a life-changing sum.

Rick, he won't even hold out for the whole sandwich. That's what I mean. He's not even asking for the whole local bread. He just, hey, just give me a piece of that bread. The point is not that men and women. sell their integrity for trivial amounts. The point is that a man or woman whose integrity is for sale at all has already established that price is merely a matter of negotiation.

If you're willing to sell out for a minimal amount, you've already made the decision before the amount was offered that you're up for sale. you've already made that decision. The negotiation sells far lower than anyone would have predicted. The other parties walk away going, can you believe?

Can you believe? He caved. He came. He completely caved. He folded. And he didn't even ask for a fortune. That happens a lot every day. In business and politics,

all over the world. This is the mechanism most compromises follow. Very few people are offered a fortune to betray their principles. Most are offered something small, a favor, preserved relationship, a social advantage, the avoidance of an awkward situation. and the small offer is accepted precisely because it seems too small to constitute a real betrayal. Doc, this is something I've noticed over many years as I've read news articles about people arrested for treason, for spying, for betraying their country's national secrets. And when you read how much they sold national, you know, let's say national security documents, top secret plans, and you read the article, you go, are you serious? They sold those documents for that small amount of money?

This happens all the time, Doc. And it's because the payment is so small that in their mind they can't believe that they're treasonous. They're selling out because they're telling themselves, oh, if I sold out, I'd get a lot. They're not offering me a lot. So this isn't treason. This isn't betrayal. This is just a small favor. There's a Hebrew word here that is used, a phton.

That's the word for transgress. It describes rebellion, a breach of covenant, breach of trust, a revolt. It's the proverb assigns the language of rebellion to a man or woman who bent his or her judgment for a snack, for a candy bar. Matthew Henry said that the man or woman who will transgress for a piece of bread has redealed the true value he places on his own integrity.

and that the smallness of the bribe is more damning disclosure than a large one would have been. Right. You know, Rick, you got some great insight there that compromise always begins with one bite. One bite. So the theological framework here that we're looking at beneath verse 21 is that impartiality is part of God's own character. That makes impartiality not merely a social failing, but a misrepresentation of the God whose image judges are meant to reflect. So, if we look back in the Mosaic law in Deuteronomy, chapter 10, verse 17,

we see this principle in God himself. It reads, The Lord your God, regardeth not persons, nor takeeth reward. The same face regarding idiom is used here, and it's absolutely denied by God. God doesn't favor people based on their status, on their favor, how good-looking they are, how wealthy they are, how socially acceptable they are. It goes on to say in Deuteronomy 1619 about Israel's judges. So listen carefully here, thou shall not respect persons, tell them this to judges. it should be to judges today.

Thou shall not respect a person, neither take a gift, for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise. Now, take note here that the acknowledgement that gifts blind even the wise, gifts blind even the wise. No one is exempt by virtue of discernment here. So you can be wise,

and still fall to, the temptation of a bride. So it's scary, Rick. Now, the New Testament extends this principle from courts to congregation. So it applies it to the local church. James chapter 2, verse 1 through 4, rebukes churches that seat the well-dressed desider prominently while directing the poor to the floor.

And James chapter 2, verse 9, renders this verdict. It says, If you have respect to persons, ye commit sin. Pretty clear there. Pretty blunt. Acts 10, verse 34, Rick records Rick's

Peter's realization at Cornelius's house. You recall Cornelius was a centurion. Came to know the Lord. He says, of a truth, I perceive that God is no respecter of persons.

If you would have asked Peter yesterday about a Roman centurion coming to Jesus. He would have said, are you out of your mind? But the Gentile mission rest on this attribute alone, which means partiality in the church denies the very ground on which most of the church stands. And so we have a very searching question here in verse 21, and it asks about Christ rather than principled.

nearly every believer would deny that his judgment is for sale. I don't think any believer would admit to that. But the proverb asked the question in a different way here. What small consideration has actually shaped a judgment that you made recently? Think about this. And would you have called it a bribe if someone else had accepted? if someone else had done this, would you have called it a bribe? Or do you call it, oh, social acceptance?

Do you call it something like that? Do you give her a different label? Rick, this is a great question for us today because really the Western Church over the past 30 years, we've asked the question, how can we be more acceptable to society? We were rested on marketing and surveys and polls and and everything else except the Word of God. And so really I see this as a, you know, as a direct, it's a magnifying glass on the Western church today, Rick, because really in many ways, we have, we have compromised the gospel to make it more acceptable. we have we've accepted a bribe we've accepted a bribe here and it's uh it's very telling word this this verse 21 i mean you could go pretty deep on it uh but you've got some more from the septuagint it don't you

yes but that's a very good observation law i'll put the modern western church that satan has offered the modern church peace of breath and said, if you will sell your birthright to me for this piece of bread, more people in your community will like you. Yes. And many churches have watered down the gospel. They've eliminated,

I've seen churches remove awes from rebuilding, take the name of Jesus out of their name. They've created Sunday morning, Las Vegas entertainment shows. It's not worship. It's not praise. It's dancing. It's smoke machines.

It's entertainment. Why? To make people like them. And so Satan said, here, I'll make people like you. I'll give you a piece of bread. You give me your integrity. You give me the gospel and let me water it down. And that has happened.

because the gospel offends people. A cross is offensive to some people. Doc, I lived at a community, oh, this is many, many decades ago. But this anti-Christ spirit was rising up on. A school near my home, brand new school was built, and the design and the bricks,

if you looked at it, there seemed to be a cross. many crosses in the bricks, where the bricks came together. And some atheists filed a complaint and said, I see Christian crosses in that school. And Doc, would you, I was the only person in the community that went to the school board and said, this is ridiculous. And I quoted to the school board that the cross is offensive.

to some people. And this school board voted to sandblast a brand new brick school building. That was stupid. Some dumb. Yes, because

a Christ-hating atheist in the neighborhood was offended by the cross. And it wasn't even, they weren't crosses. It just looked like crosses. But that's how convicted some people are.

So people are offended and some Christians are too quick to cater to them. So be careful that you don't sell out. Be careful that you don't compromise. Doc, one piece of bread that Satan will offer people, as not necessarily just Christians, is that he'll say, if you will give me that information, if you will let me see those documents,

if you will give me this proprietary information, if you'll tell me the secret sauce in your company's success, you will be introduced as a member of an inner circle, of influential people. We will let you in, which is a lie. But the person will betray someone not for money,

but for acceptance. The thought I'm going to be admitted into an inner circle, very influential people. And, of course, they never do it. They never allow them. And they just get the information and they travel. Okay, let's take a look at verse 21 from the Septuagint. The King James says, To have respect to persons is not good for a piece of bread.

That man will transgress. The Greek Septuagint translation in English says, He that references not the persons of the just is not good. Such a one will settle man for a morsel of bread. So the Septuagin's first half, first clause, takes an unexpected turn, where the King James condemns showing, respect for persons, the Septuagint condemns failing to reverence the persons of the just.

Rather than treating this as a contradiction, we should see that the two readings, the King James and Septuagint, addressed opposite failures within the same domain of judgment. the King James forbids people the King James forbids favoring people for irrelevant reasons their wealth, their status, their relationships, their position in life. The Septuagint forbids failing to honor people

for one relevant reason, their righteousness. Yes. Both are errors, both are mistakes, both distort judgment. The man or woman who honors the wealthy because they are wealthy, and the man or woman who dishonors the rightest because they are not wealthy, have each allowed something other than truth to govern their assessment of people.

Yes. Yeah. And so when we look at the Septuagin a little further here, Rick, that second clause really is much more severe than the Hebrew in the King James. So where the King James has a man transgressing for a piece of bread, the Septuagin has him selling a man for a morsel. So think about this. One is, all right, I've sinned. the other is I have sold a man. I have actually sold someone into slavery or a bite of bread.

And so this names the actual transaction with really brutal clarity here. The compromised judgment is not some sort of abstract failure. It's just, oh, it's just a simple mistake or just a flaw in character. It's selling a human being. It's selling somebody. Someone has handed over. Someone loses what was rightfully his. And the price received was not just a loaf of bread, but a bite of bread, just a morsel.

I mean, it's really scary, Rick. So the echo, when you think about it in the Gospels, you think about Judas. So the echo of Judas is unmistakable and worth drawing out here. 30 pieces of silver was a low price for the Son of God. It was the price of a slave. And Genesis 25 records Esau selling his birthright. If you recall the story here, selling his birthright for a bowl of stew. A bowl of stew.

Scripture repeatedly records enormous things, Rick, sold for very little, and the smallness of the price is always part of the indictment. Rick. And the worst transaction was Eunice's betrayal of Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. And even today, over 2,000 years later, that phrase 30 pieces of silver. When you say it, everyone knows what it means, that you've sold out someone of great value for a small amount of money. Let's look at 22. The King James says, He that hasteth to be rich

hath an evil eye, and considereth not that poverty shall come upon him. The first thing I see, Doc, is that Solomon, who happened to be the richest person who's ever lived, continues to hold that record today.

There's not one rich person on the earth today that has more money than Solomon had in his day. He holds the record, the richest man. And he said, if you haste to be rich, you've got an evil eye. He didn't say, if you desire to be rich, you have an evil eye. He didn't say, if you are rich, you have an evil eye. Because he was rich. He's not condemning himself. He said, if you haste it, if you're in a hurry to be, you're in a hurry to be, rich, you have an evil eye. So this verse 22 comes directly from verse 20, which condemns the haste to be rich. What's different about verse 22 from verse 20? He's already said it in verse 20. Don't be in a hurry to be rich. What's the difference now? In verse 22, he says that this hurryness, this

This hastiness proceeds from an evil eye. He identifies the source of the hastiness to get well. What is an evil eye? It is an ancient Hebrew idiom that describes envy, breathe, stinginess, covestness, and it's the opposite of a bountiful eye. You don't have somebody, one eye is evil and one eye is bountiful. That's not possible. An evil eye is somebody that is after money and will not share it with anyone.

Bountiful eye is somebody who's after God, and God blesses them, and they share what they have with others. A bountiful eye describes a generous person. So the eye in this idiom, the evil eye, is the organ of desire. It's a lust for money. It's a lust for possessions. That's what it is. Lust. It's no different than lust for sex.

It is lust for money. Lust for possessions. And an evil eye is one that looks at what others have. with resentment. They're envious. They are envious. Doc, I'm not going to go into the story. You know very well what it is.

Years ago, I lived next to a man who had an honorary doctor degree in Bible theology, dog. And he was the greediest man I've ever met. He was the most envious coveting person I ever met. He was eaten. with lust to have what somebody else had. I could tell you a lot of stories about that man. And he was, I never understood why I lived next to him. And I really think, Doc, the Lord put me as his neighbor to confront his sin.

Probably did. And I didn't confront it by pointing fingers at it. I lovingly told him he was greedy. I lovingly told him that he was full greed. But there are people like that sitting in churches. In the new covenant, Matthew 20, verse 15, the vineyard owner is asking, is thine eye evil because I am good? This is an address to the workers resenting the generosity shown to others. The vineyard owner is saying, is my eye evil because I'm not?

good. And in Matthew 6, verses 22, 23, it contrasts the single eye that fills the body with light against the evil eye that fills it with darkness. That passage is explicitly about money. Jesus identified it as an evil eye. We say, you know, a person gave me the evil eye. You know, they gave me a mean look. That's not what that is. An evil eye is an eye that looks at things with an evil heart. Hasteful wealth is not primarily an issue about ambition. It's a seeing, a seeing problem, what you see, what you desire.

The man or woman in a hurry, for wealth has an eye that looks at the world with resentment, with envy. And his or her hurry to get wealth is the eye's natural expression. They envy what other people have. And they're eaten up with that envy and lust. And so they're in a hurry to gain wealth. And then Solomon says, and considereth not that poverty shall come upon him. This person does not know that want shall come upon them. The very thing they don't desire, the opposite of what they desire. They desire wealth.

And Solomon says, you're going to end up with poverty. You're going to end up with want. I try very difficult, I try very diligently every day not to use the word one. You'll catch me. If you listen as I talk, I'll say, I want to go do something. And I'll stop and I desire to go do something. One is part of our modern vocabulary, but it should not be because the word want, W-A-N-T means lack.

Every time you say I want something, you say I lack something. Yes. And the Bible says, the Lord is my shepherd and I shall not want. Therefore, I'm not going to say want because that's contradicting the word of God. I shall not want. I am sufficient in all things. Doesn't mean I'm wealthy. I'm sufficient in all things.

I don't want. I don't lack. But this person with an evil eye is not satisfied. with being sufficient. That person with an EVEI, love for what you have, your sufficiency. Yes.

I'm going to take it away from them. They don't need it. Doc, I've actually heard people justify taking land and houses and possessions from others saying they don't know what to do with it. They're just wasting it. Right. I've seen this used in imminent domain, seizing land and property for development.

Well, those bunch of poor people, they're living on valuable land. They don't even know how valuable that land is. Let's just take it and put up some buildings. Who are you to say that they don't know what to do with their land? Is that not what's going on in Gaza? We've got to get rid of all these Palestinians so we can build casinos and hotels. And it's really the truth. Just get rid of those poor Palestinians. They're living on beachfront property. We could have casinos and hotels and restaurants and condominiums. Those Palestinians are too dumb and too poor to know what to do with beachfront property.

Let's just kill them. Yeah, the world thinks that. The world thinks that way. So the man or woman is looking so intently at wealth that he or she cannot see the poverty that's coming toward them. Their eyes are fixed on acquisition, but their eyes have been rendered blind to the outcome of their acquisition strategies. And so this goes back to verse five of this very chapter that we're studying, chapter 28. Evil men understand not judgment. So the envying evil eye,

is one instance of the blindness that moral disorder produces in a person. They're so hungry to get money. I would say, look, we're all capable. All of us are capable of committing sins, sins that we never thought we would commit. Don't ever think that you are of everybody else. would never connoisse or don't ever think away. But I have seen confessing Christians do some really ugly stuff to get money.

Really ugly stuff against other people to get money. I've seen some ugly stuff. Really ugly stuff. And that person would say, but these other sons, I would never do those sons. Yes, but you're eating up with lust for money. And that lust for money stinks just as. as much as that other person's sense. But they're blind.

They're blind. They can't see it. They can see the speck in the other person's eye, but they can't see the log in their own eye. And because they got a log in their eyes, they don't see the poverty train coming towards them. The log in the eye prohibits you from seeing what's coming towards you.

Charles Bridges said that envy and coveting is self-defeating among all the vices, because the appetite it serves grows faster than any acquisition can satisfy. And that leaves the possessor potentially poor regardless of what he or she holds. You can't ever satisfy the lust for money. You can't. And so, Rick, we've got a theological framework here beneath verse 22, and it concerns the relationship between what a person desires and what he's able to perceive.

And so we have the conviction that the eyes orientation determines the whole body's condition. And Jesus brought this out in Matthew chapter 6, starting in verse 22, he said, the light of the body is the eye. If therefore thine eye be single, Thy whole body should be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body should be full of darkness. And so Christ places this between his instruction.

Think about where he puts this, right? He puts it between his instructions in heaven and a statement that no man can serve two masters. Right? And so the context is, the whole thing is financial. Now, if we look in 1 Timothy chapter 6 verse 10, it supplies the apostolic statement here. But love of money is the root of all evil, which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. Now, note the self-inflicted image here.

They pierced themselves. And that matches what we're talking about here in verse. that picture of a man walking into a poverty he cannot see. So this blindness deserves emphasis because it's the mechanism by which the whole trap operates. If the man could see the poverty coming, well, he would presumably adjust, right, if he could see it. The problem is that the grasping eye, that eye that seeks to get rich quick path, is precisely the organ that would have to perceive the danger. And it's been trained on something else.

If we look in Luke chapter 12, starting at verse 15, we talk about the rich fool. We don't read the whole passage here today, but it's the illustration that Jesus gives. and what it says is it's a man whose attention was fixed on building barns while the summons he could not see approached. This night, thy soul should be required at thee. And so the remedy that scripture prescribes is not merely restraint, but reorientation of the eye itself. Generosity is not simply an obligation imposed on someone who's covetous,

but the therapy that heals the grasping eye itself. Always tell if you want to break greed, give something away, right? Which is why First Timothy 618 follows the warning about wealth with the instruction to be ready to distribute and willing to communicate. So, Rick, there's a lot to be learned here in verse 22, and the Septuagint gives us even more insight into this, doesn't it? It does. and it changes a few words here.

We'll review the King James. He that hasteeth to be rich, an evil eye, and considereth not that poverty shall come upon him. How does the Septuagin say it? An envious man makes haste to be rich and knows not that the merciful man will have mastery over him.

So the subtuagent changes, the King James has evil eye and now in the Septuagint it's an envious person the Greek word is Vaskanos and it makes it very clear what they're talking about that the Greek Septuagin describes one who looks with malicious envy

at another person's possession they are envious. The second half of the Septuagint diverges significantly from the King James. Where the King James says the hazy man does not know that poverty

will come upon him, the Septuagin says that the hasty man or woman does not know that the merciful man or woman will have massed three over. So this substitutes a rival for a

condition. The envious man's future is not merely material material want, but subordination. In the King James, the hasty man's future is black one, poverty.

In the subterogen, the hasty man's future is subordination. And who's ruling over him or her, a merciful man. The very kind of person that the hasty man envies and despises us, God flips it around and says, I'm going to put that person in charge of you. Yes.

It's amazing, Doc. So this reading here connects directly, if you recall back earlier in the chapter here to Proverbs 288. and that's the man who increases his substance by use ratio, he shall gather it for him that will pity the four. And so when we look at the Septuagint here, verse 22 states that same reversal in terms of authority rather than wealth, and you see this pattern throughout the Septuagint.

Not only will the exploiters of the money transfer to the merciful, but the merciful will hold the mastery in the end. Now, there's a Greek word here that we can look at the Alley I. Monet, meaning merciful. It's the same word appearing in the beatitudes in Matthew 5, 7 where it says, Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. And it's no accident there, I don't think. And the same route, the Septuagint used back in 288 for the recipient of the redirected well. So what can we learn from this?

The consistency of the vocabulary there across the chapter and then tie it back to the Gospels, the Greek tradition repeatedly identifies that the merciful man as the one to whom God directs what the grasping man loses. It's a pattern the New Testament

is going to develop into the promise that the meek will inherit the earth, Rick. All right, Doc. We got one more verse today's lesson. Verse 23. he that rebuketh a man afterwards shall find more favor than he that flattereth with the tongue. So you got to stop and ponder. What was Solomon thinking when he wrote this one?

The operative word is afterward. Everything hinges on understanding afterward. The proverb is conceding the immediate reality in the moment. In the moment, the rebuquer is not liked, is not preferred. The flatterer is the one who is liked and preferred. Everyone would like to be told that he or she is doing well. Nobody wants to be told. Nobody desires to be told that you're making.

mistakes, it's not going into right direction, you should reconsider. We don't like that. Even when it's presented to us in the kindest, most loving way, we whistle at. We may not show it on our face, but we bristle. What the pro what the proverb promises here is a reversal over time. The favor comes afterward. When the flattery has worn off, when the flattery has worn off, when the The lattery has been exposed as empty, meaningless, superficial. And when the rebuke has proven to be accurate, when the person addressed has lived long enough to see which voice was actually looking out best of it. At the time, we don't desire to honor the one that is even gently rebuking us.

us. In the immediate we desire to listen to the one who's flattering us. But as time goes by, the flattery wears off. The flattery is exposed, and the wisdom

of the rebuke is evident. Afterward, we now recognize that the one who rebuked us actually cared about us. So this goes back to Proverbs 27, where open review was declared better than secret love, and that the wounds of a friend were called faithful.

Remember those lessons? Yes. Those verses established the principle. In verse 23 and chapter 28 is supplying the outcome. There's a Hebrew. word here, Yaqqa, to reprove, to correct, to argue a case. It describes a reason correction, not criticism, not condemnation, not nitpicking. It's describing someone who with reason, with wisdom, with understanding, seeks to correct you in a kind, polite way.

It represents somebody making a case, not delivering an insult. Sometimes people are right in their criticism, but they don't know how to deliver it. They don't know how to express it. And so the person who was intended to receive it shuts his or her ears because the way that the person is talking is offensive. First of all, that comes from pride. not pride in the person who shuts his ears, but pride in the person who's delivering criticism with arrogance. The discomfort you are experiencing now is not a final verdict on your relationship. The person who resents you honestly today may be the person who seeks your counsel and advice five years from now.

precisely because you were the one who told him or heard the truth when it caused you something. Does that ever happen to you, Doc? Somebody has come to you and said, you tried to tell me and I didn't listen. I think all of us had those experiences. Adam Clark, he observed that flattery purchases,

immediate affection at the cost of future credibility. Oh, Doc, that's a keeper. That's a keeper. Flattery buys affection now at the cost of future credibility. You can't have both. And Clark said that honest reproof spends immediate affection to purchase trust later. and that most people discover the exchange rate only after they have needed someone whose word that they could rely on.

Yeah, I've been both the giver and receiving from that, Rick. Yes, haven't we all? But it comes over time. Flattery is immediate. Wisdom is over time. Well, Rick, you know, as we look at the theological framework here beneath the verse 23, it's the conviction that, truth-telling and love really is an act of genuine care and that its vindication as part of God's ordinary governance of relationships. If we look in the New Testament in Galatian chapter 4

verse 16, Paul records a very honest question, am I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth? And so the question acknowledges the immediate cost that verse 23 assumes. And the Apostle Paul's continued ministry demonstrates his confidence in the eventual favor, that truth wins out in the end. You have to deliver it in love, but truth wins out at the end. Second Corinthians 7, verses 8 and 9 records the reverse actually occur. So, though I made you sorry with a letter, Paul's writing this, though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent.

I don't apologize for it. Though I made you feel bad, I don't apologize for it. For you were made sorry after a godly manner. In other words, I did this the right way. So the Apostle Paul wrote a rebuke, that Corinthians were grieved by it, and the grief produced repentance and the relationship deepened after that. He spoke the truth in love.

And so the New Testament pairs this promise with careful instruction on how the rebuke is delivered. So in Galatian 6-1, it requires that we have that spirit of meekness. Ephesians 5-15, excuse me, 4-15, requires speaking the truth in love. And then over in 2 Timothy, 4-2 places all long-suffering directly alongside reproof. It's almost as if this was a pattern in Paul's life, Rick, three different times here. So the promised favor attaches to genuine correction, not to harshness bar in its language.

It's almost as if Paul purposely restrained himself, you know, that maybe in the past he was quicker with his words and with love. So now this verse also supplies a diagnostic for evaluating ones on counselors too. So think about this. A believer surrounded entirely by people who affirm him, who just puff him up,

who don't question him and everything and just go along with everything he says, has surrounded himself with flatterers. Whatever their intentions and has forfeited the afterward that this verse talks about.

And so the encouragement should close direction Anyone who is told a difficult truth and is living with the resentment it produced stands exactly where verse 23 places the faithful reprover in the before, waiting for that afterward here. And so the Proverge promises that the waiting, the waiting does have an end. The waiting does have an end. Truth wins out in the end, Rick.

Yes. All right, we're going to wrap up today's lesson. Look at the Septuagint. Not a lot of difference between the King James and the Septuagint. So this will be very brief as we close today's lesson. The King James says, He that rebuketh a man afterwards shall find more favor than he that flattereth with the tongue. How does the Septuagin say it?

He that reproves a man's ways shall have more favor. than he that flatters with the tongue. They track closely just minor differences. The reprover corrects a man's ways rather than the man himself. That's the Septuagin says, He that reproves a man's ways. The King James says,

He that rebukes a man afterwards. This is a, on the surface, it seems like a minor difference, but there is a useful distinction for anyone delivering correction. The reproof addresses conduct, direction, and pattern. In other words, what the man and woman is doing rather than pronouncing a judgment on his or her identity. Right. In other words, one person could say, the path that you're on is leading somewhere you don't desire to go. Another person would say, you're the kind of person that would choose that path.

There's a difference. Doc, is anything else you see any other differences between the Septuagin and King James? Well, the only difference really here that you would need to point out is probably the possibility of repentance here. So a man's ways can be changed, not by him, but by an outside force, that being God. A verdict on his character offers him nothing to do with the information. Correction aimed at conduct invites a response. Correction aimed at identity invites only defense.

So that's something to consider in the conversation here. So the Septuagin also omits the King Jameses and the Maseratic, Texas after. And it presents the reprover's greater favor as simply the case rather than at the delayed outcome. So both framings here, if we consider it together, serve the audience. The King James' afterward supplies patience to the reprover currently bearing resentment, while the Septuagint's unqualified statement supplies confidence that the assessment is true right now. We're not waiting for the assessment. It's happening right now, whether or not it's still yet visible.

All right. That's it for today. Good lesson. I enjoyed studying and teaching this lesson. I hope you have enjoyed listening to us teach this lesson. I'm fascinated by Proverbs. I can't get enough of it. And I'm not looking for getting to the end of Chapter 31.

It's going to be like, oh, does this have to stop? Please, Lord, give us more. But you know what, Doc, maybe a year or two from now, if I'm still around, maybe we'll teach Proverbs again, and he'll give us new understanding that we didn't have on this one. And I'm sure he will, because we'll have new experiences and new, you know, new reflections on the word that will bring to the book of Proverbs. That's the great thing about Proverbs, Rick. Every time you come back to it, you bring the experiences that you've accumulated from the last time you studied it.

And it seems like whatever. you study in the word gives you greater understanding in another book that you study. And that's the way it should work. Yeah. It's like it's layered. Like, because you study

these chapters and these books, then you move on to another book and now you have even better understanding because you studied these other books in chapter. I love it. I can't get enough of it. And if you're here every day five days week, obviously,

you can't get enough either. And I'm so glad you keep us going. And as long as you show up, we're going to be here teaching the Word of God. I'll do this until the Lord takes my breath away or the Lord himself comes and takes us away. I'd like it to be the second one. I'd like to, Doc, I'd like to be teaching morning man

when the Lord comes. That would be exciting to go up in the air in mid-sentence teaching the word of God. And the Lord saying, I called you, you were teaching my word. I came back and I caught you in the act. You were being faithful. You were doing what I put you on earth to do. That's what each of us should do.

Each of us has a calling and purpose. So be busy. Doc says, at least look busy. So when the Lord looks busy, Jesus is coming. That's right. Be busy doing what he's called you to do. Why, he puts you on this earth.

There is a reason. Take care. We'll see you. God bless you. 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. Visit Manor Nation.com and kindly send a gift of appreciation and encouragement

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