If I Were a Rich Man

Pro 30:7-9 Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die:
Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.

Solomon pleads with the Lord for these 2 things, deliverance from vanity and lies and to stay dependant on God.

It's a worthy request.

If you read the book of Ecclesiastes, you see Solomon's obsession with vanity. He despises emptiness. He went to every imaginable length to avoid vanity, unfortunately, most of it was apart from God. That only exacerbates the problem. As to the lies, put yourself on King Sol's throne for a day! Imagine the whoppers he had to sort through. The only place I can imagine where lies are more common is in the back seat of a police cruiser or at the door on church visitation.

The second request shows that uncanny wisdom that God granted him. I would suppose this proverb must have been written at the end of Solomon's life when things became clear to him once again. Seems like the words of one who had went the route of royal lavishness, departed from the Lord's way and realized that was not the right path to take. It really does seem a hypocritical prayer for someone pulling down $17M a year, not to mention the apes and peacocks to boot!

Live and learn Solomon, live and learn. Thanks for the proverb though. Perhaps, since I will never have a pile of shekels and will probably never end up penniless on the street, I will learn to desire modesty and dependence on the Almighty.

Remember the guy in Fiddler on the Roof and his famous song, "If I Were a Rich Man?" I guess it doesn't hurt to dream, but the reality is that most of us would fall into the same pitfalls as old King Solomon.