Proverbs 13:8

The book of Proverbs gives us a lot of instruction on a lot of different subjects. One subject that can keep us in God’s wisdom is Godly Follower-ship. Who we follow; where we follow; how we follow are all spoken about in Proverbs. Here is one of them on leverage:

Proverbs 13:8

The ransom of a man's life is his wealth,

but the poor hears no rebuke.

Proverbs 13:8 (ESV)

The ransom of a man's life is his wealth,

but a poor man hears no threat.

In this proverb we obviously have a comparison between the rich and the poor.  It might be vague to us at first, but when we see the comparison Solomon is making, it gives us some instruction in our day.   Those who are of wealth (and it doesn't have to be financial wealth) are often held at ransom for it.  If you have "power" as your wealth, you are held captive by others to use that power for someone else.  If you have "leadership" as your wealth, someone may hold you ransom until you use that leadership for their good.   So, the wealthy, all kinds of wealthy, are often held for ransom.   But, the poor doesn't hear that type of "rebuke" or "threat" because he/she has nothing of which to bargain.   The poor appears to lack anything anyone would want and therefore are left in solace to their own selves.   The rich must always worry about being held captive for the resources they own.  The poor have no such worries.   Then again the poor typically doesn’t have any such resources.  They may desire the wealth but at what cost?   It seems that Solomon almost admires the poor for not having the "rebuke" or "threat" or "troubles" of the rich.   In our day, what Solomon calls ransom we might call “leverage.” We might see a rich man’s wealth as being leveraged by others. When we are poor, it is seldom used as a leverage against us. The point Solomon is trying to make is that wealth comes with a burden. Poverty comes with a burden but they are quite different burdens.  Don’t seek to be rich, in anything ... someone may want to use it for their own leverage.