Proverbs 18:16

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 about using bribes:

Proverbs 18:16
A man’s gift makes room for him
And brings him before great men.
Solomon is giving us some great insight as to how the world works.   He is pointing out that when we give gifts to someone it opens doors for us.   This is an observation from Solomon not necessarily something he is promoting.   The fact that bribes and gifts work for opening doors is a fact of life.   This fact is both good and bad.   There are those who use bribes and gifts for ill.  They want to promote only their personal agendas and have no care for others and righteousness.   Solomon recognises that.  However, he also let's us see the good of the gift in the second line.   The giving of a gift gets you an audience for good, as well.  It gets you in front of great men; men you can influence for good.   Using a good gift to do good is a way we can influence.   In today's world we call that "marketing."   In Solomon's day they called that "gift giving."   Same result.  It is not improper to give a gift to find an audience to promote good.  However, it should be worthy of the good.   Again, this is an observation by Solomon.   Notice what Solomon also said:
Proverbs 25:6-7
Do not put yourself forward in the king's presence
or stand in the place of the great,
for it is better to be told, “Come up here,”
than to be put lower in the presence of a noble.
We have to balance what we do in life with what Solomon is saying.  When we want to have influence, integrity is still the guiding principle.   Yes, a “gift” will get you an audience.  But, we need to make sure we are not presumptions, as well.