Proverbs 28:22
Greed blinds a person to the destruction that their pursuit of wealth will bring.
22 A stingy man hurries after riches, and doesn’t know that poverty waits for him.
Greed blinds a person to the destruction that their pursuit of wealth will bring.
To warn that a greedy and envious pursuit of wealth blinds a person to the poverty and ruin that will ultimately follow.
Proverbs 28:22 follows Proverbs 28:21, which warned that partiality is not good and that a person may do wrong for a piece of bread. Verse 22 continues the tight cluster on money, gain, greed, and moral compromise. Proverbs 28:20 warned that the one eager to get rich will not go unpunished. Proverbs 28:21 showed that a person may do wrong for even small gain. Proverbs 28:22 now describes the stingy person who is eager to get rich but does not know that poverty is coming. The sequence is deliberate: greedy haste brings punishment, small gain can corrupt justice, and stingy eagerness blinds a person to ruin. This also connects with Proverbs 28:8 and 16, where exploitative gain and ill-gotten profit are condemned.
In ancient Israel, wealth could be pursued through land, crops, livestock, trade, lending, wages, inheritance, royal service, or dishonest gain. The 'evil eye' idiom often described envy, greed, stinginess, or begrudging generosity. Proverbs 28:22 warns that the person with a stingy or greedy eye hastens after riches but does not perceive that poverty will come upon him.
Righteous Boldness, Law-Keeping, Confession, Justice for the Poor, and the Fear of the LORD
Wisdom walks boldly in righteousness, keeps instruction, confesses sin, fears the LORD, rejects greed and oppression, cares for the poor, and trusts the LORD rather than self, wealth, or corrupt power.