Jeremiah 17:11 As the partridge sits on eggs, and hatches them not; so he that gets riches, and not by right… I. THERE ARE MANY WRONG WAYS OF GETTING RICHES, or seeking, at least, to get them, even where there is no violation of right or equity in a man's transactions with his fellow men. 1. What right-minded man would rush into the strife and scramble for them in the headlong way that many do? 2. Can that man be said to be getting riches rightly who is scraping them together, and hoarding them up, without regarding the urgent necessities, not to say anything of the desirable comforts, of others? 3. Is it right to get riches in an irreligious way, by habitually neglecting God and putting our duty to Him out of the account altogether? 4. It is one thing to get riches in a way that is not right — that is, unworthily, hard-heartedly, and irreligiously — and another thing to get them "and not by right," — that is, unrighteously, by downright dishonesty, by the violation of the law of equity, by the rupture of the bond of uprightness in the conduct of man to man. It is this latter way of getting riches which is expressly mentioned here, emphatically condemned, and threatened with an inevitable and appropriate punishment. II. THERE IS A REMARKABLE CONNECTION BETWEEN WHAT IS SAID ABOUT THE HUMAN HEART in verse 9, and what immediately follows. "The heart is deceitful," etc. Here is a challenge. Fathom the depth of depravity, obscured and complicated by the deceitfulness, who can. There is only One who can accept the challenge; and He does. "I the Lord search," etc. His judgment is ever according to truth. He stamps all human character with its proper die; calls all human conduct by its proper name; and will infallibly lead all human conduct, be it good or bad, to its appropriate issue. Not by right are riches gotten — 1. If by the deceptions of merchandise. 2. By the unfair remuneration of labour. 3. By the artifices of commerce.Conclusion — Be industrious: seeking, by the hand of diligence, if it be God's will, even to be rich. But beware of being carried away from moral principle, from a religious life, by the prevailing furor of business, the almost terrific money rage. "One thing is needful." All things are ours, if we are Christ's, for Christ is God's. (H. Angus, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: As the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not; so he that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool. |
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