Bruce Waltke observes that Solomon’s proverb give equal attention to the dangers of wealth and the positive implications of it. Wealth in the wrong hands is deceitful and destructive. On the other hand, poverty connotes the idea of powerlessness (see Prov. 10), which leads to panic. The desire for poverty–as some modern evangelicals long–is not a biblical one. The deprivation of life’s necessities is against God’s purposes for His people.
