There are dozens of proverbs to be found in chapter 11, but I'd like to focus on two verses that stood out to me: "Some give freely, yet grow all the richer; others withhold what is due, and only suffer want. A generous person will be enriched, and the one who gives water will get water" (vs. 24-25).
Most of Solomon's proverbs could be classified under the heading of "common sense." (This is not to mean that it is so common these days!) Sounding like something out of Ben Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanac, these pithy statements are wry observations about life. They make the point that justice is ultimately served and that you will get what is coming to you.
However, verses 24 and 25 differ in that they speak of something that appears more counter-intuitive. We would expect that one who gives freely will soon be broke, and that those who hoard up their riches will save them. A penny saved, after all, is a penny earned.
Yet Solomon makes the claim that those who give generously will reap back what they have sown. And living as a stingy miser is not the path to wealth but to want. How can this be? What "common sense" principle is at work that would account for such a thing?
The answer seems to be that, in the design of God's universe, what is given out often returns in like measure to the person who dispenses it. Thus Jesus is able to say "with the measure you use, it will be measured to you" (Matthew 7:2). Solomon doesn't want his audience to miss this little secret - wealth and prosperity doesn't come by clenched fists but through open hands. Act generously with your neighbors, be a blessing to them - and you will be blessed in return. That's God's economy at work!
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