Proverbs 3:9

Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: HONOUR THE LORD WITH THY SUBSTANCE, AND WITH THE FIRST-FRUITS OF ALL THINE INCREASE - by offering freely gifts for His service (; Malachi 3:7). This is another part of the worship of God, besides those just enumerated (; ; ). David would not 'offer burnt offerings unto the Lord his God of that which cost him nothing', (). Yahweh complains of Israel's niggardliness toward Him as a proof of want of love ...

7-12 There is not a greater enemy to the fear of the Lord in the heart, than self-conceit of our own wisdom. The prudence and sobriety which religion teaches, tend not only to the health of the soul, but to the health of the body. Worldly wealth is but poor substance, yet, such as it is, we must honour God with it; and those that do good with what they have, shall have more to do more good with. Should the Lord visit us with trials and sickness, let us not forget that the exhortation speaks to us as to children, for our good. We must not faint under an affliction, be it ever so heavy and long, not be driven to despair, or use wrong means for relief. The father corrects the son whom he loves, because he loves him, and desires that he may be wise and good. Afflictions are so far from doing God's children any hurt, that, by the grace of God, they promote their holiness....

Verse Proverbs 3:9. _HONOUR THE LORD WITH THY SUBSTANCE_] The מנחה MINCHAH or gratitude-offering to God, commanded under the _law_, is of endless obligation. It would be well to give a portion of the _produce of_ _every article_ by which we get our support to _God_, or to the _poor_, the representatives of Christ. This might be done either in _kind_, or by the _worth_ in _money_. Whatever God sends us in the way of secular prosperity, there is a _portion of it_ always for the poor, and for God's cause. When that _portion_ is thus disposed of, the rest is _sanctified_; when it is _withheld_, God's curse is upon the whole. Give to the _poor_, and God will give to _thee_....

“Substance” points to capital, “increase” to revenue. The Septuagint as if to guard against ill-gotten gains being offered as an atonement for the ill-getting, inserts the quaifying words, “honor the Lord from thy righteous labors.”...

EXPOSITION PROVERBS 3:1 4. _Fourth admonitory discourse. _The third chapter introduces us to a group of admonitions, and the first of these (Proverbs 3:1) forms the fourth admonitory discourse of the teacher. To all intents and purposes this is a continuation of the discourse in the preceding chapter, for inasmuch as that described the benefits, spiritual and moral, which follow from the pursuit of Wisdom, in promoting godliness and providing safety from evil companions, so this in like manner depicts the gain flowing from Wisdom, the happiness of the man who finds Wisdom, and the favour which he meets with both with God and man. The discourse embraces exhortations to obedience ...

HONOUR THE LORD WITH THY SUBSTANCE,.... Or, "out of thy substance" n; for as it should be a man's own that he gives, and not another's, and therefore called "thy substance"; or, as the Septuagint version, "out of thy just labours", what is righteously and lawfully gotten, and not by fraud and oppression; so it is only a part of it, and not all, that is required; what in proportion to his substance can be prudently spared, and is sufficient and suitable to the call in Providence. A man's "substance" are his wealth and riches; his "mammon", as the Targum; which, in comparison of heavenly things, indeed have no substance in them: yet these are worldly substance, and of account; and as with these God has honoured men, they should honour him with them again, by giving to the poor, especially his poor saints; for as an oppressing of them is a reproaching of him, so having mercy on them is hono...

CHAPTER 3 _ 1. The call and promise of wisdom (Proverbs 3:1)_ 2. Happy is the man that findeth wisdom (Proverbs 3:11) 3. Promise and instruction (Proverbs 3:21) Proverbs 3:1. The call to obedience is followed by promise. The promise is like all the promises to an earthly people “for length of days and long life”. Here are some blessed exhortations loved and cherished by all His people (Proverbs 3:5). How happier, and more fruitful the children of God would be if they obeyed constantly this instruction: “in all thy

FOURTH Discourse. The sage exhorts the young man to heed his oral instruction (_torah),_ and to trust in Yahweh, fear Him, and honour Him in the prescribed manner of firstfruits. It is interesting to find _torah_ used in its earlier prophetic sense of oral instruction, without reference to its later sense of the whole body of legislation represented by the Pentateuch. The torah of the wise man represents not his own individual authority, but the accumulated wisdom of experience. The torah of the prophet, although delivered in the name of Yahweh, represents ultimately the accumulated moral consciousness of the nation; while the torah of the priest in its later form at least represents the traditional and inherited ritual, the prescribed method of the cultus. Hence the primary idea of torah is the same in all three forms. (See pp. 121, 620, Deuteronomy 1:5 *, and for a fuller disc

HONOUR... SUBSTANCE. This proverb has led to. universal custom. Compare 1Ti 5:3, 1 Timothy 5:17; Acts 5:2 ("price". honour); Proverbs 19:19. Illustrations: Abraham (Genesis 14:20; Hebrews 7:2); Jacob (Genesis 28:22); David (1 Chronicles 29:1; 1 Chronicles 29:28); Widow ...

Fourth Address. Chap. Proverbs 3:1-10 Be obedient to my instruction, so shalt thou live long and prosper (Proverbs 3:1). Trust, not in thyself, but in God (Proverbs 3:5). Seek His direction (Proverbs 3:5): render Him His due (Proverbs 3:9): and (see Proverbs 3:12, note) submit to His fatherly correction (Proverbs 3:11)....