Proverbs 22:1

1 A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold.

Proverbs 22:1 Meaning and Commentary

Proverbs 22:1

A [good] name [is] rather to be chosen than great riches
The word "good" is not in the text, but is rightly supplied, as it is by the Targum, Septuagint, and Vulgate Latin versions; for it is not any name that is more eligible than riches; nor is it a need name among any sort of persons; for to have a good name with some turns to a man's reproach rather than to his credit; but a good name among good men, a name in the house of God, which is better than sons and daughters; a new name, the name of the children of God, which no man knoweth but he that receiveth it; this is to be preferred to a multitude of riches: it is not to be procured by them, and is where they are not, or are lost, but this continues; see ( Ecclesiastes 7:1 ) ; [and] loving favour rather them silver and gold;
favour with God and man, especially with God, whose loving kindness is better than life, and all the enjoyments of it: or, as it may be rendered, "grace [is] better than silver and gold" F16; the grace of God through Christ, the grace of Christ, in whom all fulness of it dwells, the grace of the Spirit of Christ; faith is more precious than gold that perisheth; and if a man would give all the substance of his house for love it would be contemned; the Spirit and his grace are not to be purchased for money.


FOOTNOTES:

F16 (bwj Nx) "gratia melior", Munster, Tigurine version, Junius & Tremellius, Michaelis; so Schultens.

Proverbs 22:1 In-Context

1 A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold.
2 The rich and the poor meet together; the LORD is the maker of them all.
3 A prudent man sees danger and hides himself; but the simple go on, and suffer for it.
4 The reward for humility and fear of the LORD is riches and honor and life.
5 Thorns and snares are in the way of the perverse; he who guards himself will keep far from them.
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.