Know well the condition of your flocks, and pay attention to your herds; for riches are not forever, nor does a crown endure to all generations. When the grass disappears, the new growth is seen, and the herbs of the mountains are gathered in, the lambs will be for your clothing, and the goats will bring the price of a field, and there will be enough goats’ milk for your food, for the food of your household, and sustenance for your attendants. Proverbs 27:23-27
“This poem consists of an admonition to take good care of one’s flocks and herds… On the one hand, money and status are depreciating, not self-renewing resources. Money vanishes, sometimes flying away unexpectedly and capriciously like a bird.
On the other hand, animals are self-renewing and an increasing source of wealth. If given the grasses that the highlands of Palestine naturally provide, the he-goats provide clothing and money to purchase arable land, and the she-goats provide enough milk to feed the entire household, including the milkmaids.
The list of benefits does not aim to be exhaustive. Flocks are also important for food and for cultic sacrifice. Their skins were used for bottles and fabric, and their horns for vessels or as instruments.”
Bruce Waltke in The Book of Proverbs, Chapters 15-31 (NICOT; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2005) 390.
God’s design for sustainability appears in today’s Scripture. God’s generosity which fuels human sharing also comes into view. The admonition is not to see wealth as an end but a tool for ongoing enjoyment and sharing.
Why not seek money or status, riches or a crown? It provides short-lived satisfaction. Instead, we put to work what God supplies in ways that contribute to flourishing for us and our community.
Notice that God’s provision blesses not just our household but those around us. What’s our role? We must steward with diligence what God has entrusted to us, or in this case, our herds and flocks.
Notice that some of what we have will be consumed, some will serve like working capital to produce more, and some will be shared. But it’s never, ever stored up on earth.
That’s not its purpose. Don’t allow it to be yours! Whatever you hold on to and think you own, owns you. Hear the Word of God. Riches are not forever. Quit holding on to them. Put them to work today!