Proverbs 14:24

Proverbs 14:24 "The crown of the wise is their riches: but the foolishness of fools is folly."

Given the massive amounts of both wealth and wisdom that Solomon had, it makes sense that he included both in so many of his proverbs.  He often linked the two and taught that riches were the result of getting wisdom as that was his personal experience.  When God came to Solomon that unforgettable night in Gibeon with the question that everyone wants to hear from an omnipotent God, Solomon didn’t respond with a request for riches.  In asking for wisdom instead of wealth, God was well-pleased with Solomon and decided to give him both.  Solomon wisely noted the path to true wealth is through prioritizing virtue over wealth.  He learned that when he valued wisdom over wealth, God saw a heart that could handle wealth and blessed him with it.  He understood that when a wise man gets wealth, he has the necessary virtue to maintain that wealth without being corrupted by it.

When describing wisdom in the first person in Proverbs 8, Solomon wrote, “Riches and honour are with me; yea, durable riches and righteousness.”  A few statements later again in the first person, he explained the reason for her leadership style this way: “That I may cause those that love me to inherit substance; and I will fill their treasures.”  In chapter 3, he said of wisdom that, “Length of days is in her right hand; and in her left hand riches and honour.”  In the Old Testament economy, prosperity was typically connected to morality and for sound Biblical reason.  Throughout the Law, God promised blessing to those who obeyed Him while pledging physical consequence to those who disobeyed Him.  As a result, the Old Testament saint looked at wealth as God’s favor and poverty as God’s disfavor.  While there was an element of Scriptural truth to this perspective, it wasn’t always a perfect perspective.  Poverty struck righteous people as the result of national immorality just as wealth found its way to the house of the wicked in times of national obedience.  There were always cases of wealthy sinners as well as impoverished saints for a variety of reasons known only to God.  Wealth was often the demise of wicked men and for many good men, they were better off without it.  Solomon’s father, David understood that wealth in itself wasn’t always the barometer of morality, concluding that God always took financial care of the righteous writing, “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread” (Psalm 37:25).

In this proverb, Solomon is not declaring universal wealth to every wise man or woman.  If he were doing that, he would be contradicting himself in Ecclesiastes 9 when he wrote about a poor wise man in a besieged city.  In fact, in Proverbs 28:11, he contrasted a wealthy fool with a virtuous poor man stating, “The rich man is wise in his own conceit; but the poor that hath understanding searcheth him out.”  There are rich wise souls and there are poor wise souls.  Wisdom often brings riches but it always retains riches.  That being said, there isn’t much money for the wise to have in a broken national economy.  Wisdom in an individual doesn’t magically create money out of thin air if a devastating accident, injury or illness is experienced.  In any case, wisdom manages money very well.  In the case of a prosperous economy, an abundant inheritance or a life of health and opportunity, wisdom produces riches with sound decisions and hard work.  In such a case, she manages, budgets, conserves and invests wisely.  In the case of poor economy or personal tragedy, she does better with what money there is to manage than the average soul without wisdom.

This proverb isn’t promising wealth to the wise nor is it defining the wise by their wealth.  It simply connects whatever wealth a wise person has to his or her wisdom.  It describes the riches of a wise man as his crown.  It describes the prosperity of a wise woman as her crown.  A crown is what identifies a person.  A man with a crown is known as a king or a prince whereas a woman with a crown is known as a queen or a princess.  The first part by itself, teaches us that we are known generally by our management of money.  Whether we have a lot of riches or not a lot of riches, our level of virtue is often determined by how we manage our money.  If we’re always in debt, we’re generally seen as foolish.  If we’re constantly wearing clothes or driving cars that don’t seem to fit our career, we’re generally seen as foolish.  We very naturally judge others and we ourselves are very naturally judged by others by how we manage our money.   If a person is financially successful, we naturally and at times, prematurely conclude that they’re wise.  If a person is financially stable and not a slave to lenders or to past purchases, they naturally come across as wise.  Just knowing a person’s financial status by the life they’re living speaks volumes about a person’s character.  Like it or not, we crown a person wise if they’re good with money.  Like it or not, we crown a person wise if they seem like they’re financially secure.

While the first part of the proverb implies that we identify the character of a person by our perception of their money management, the second part of the proverb combined with the first part of the proverb is what is really being taught.  As already stated, there are wealthy wise men and there are wealthy wicked men.  Fools can fall into money.  Fools can also work hard and earn money.  Fools can even be financially creative and accumulate wealth.  Do fools then get crowned as wise when wealthy?  Do we respect fools when living in mansions or earning millions of dollars?  Do we perceive some level of financial wisdom in fools when accumulating massive net worths?  We do…until their foolishness is revealed by their folly.

For us, wealth is a barometer of wisdom to some degree but it’s only a barometer as long as we’re not privy to any folly in the wealthy.  This proverb doesn’t teach that wealthy people are crowned as wise.  It teaches us that we crown the financially secure as wise only as long as their actions don’t say otherwise.  The wise can look wise simply by being financially secure but fools can’t hide behind their riches.  A fool’s nutty actions speak louder than a fool’s net worth.  No amount of money can substitute for a foolish lifestyle.  A person with a huge house is naturally seen as someone doing something right until the police are called to that house for a domestic assault.  A successful CEO is crowned by his peers with doing something right until he is caught on a Kiss-Cam at a concert with his arms romantically wrapped around a woman not named Mrs. CEO.  The rich and famous are credited with something good until they’re in court for their second divorce or until they’re arrested for their second DWI.  Folly speaks louder than prosperity.  Folly identifies a fool no matter how wealthy he is.  Folly exposes a fool no matter how successful he is in the economy.  The moment a person is known for folly, their money and their financial success means nothing to the rest of us.

How we manage our money says a lot about us but nothing says more about us than how we manage our behavior.  Like it or not, what type of house we live in says a lot about us but what type of life we live says a lot more about us.  Folly speaks so much louder than our property.  Big moral mistakes identify us so much quicker and for so much longer than any economic success.  Foolish actions speak louder than financial worth.