main homiletics of the paragraph.—Verses 24–26.
The Liberal and the Niggardly Man.
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE: Be very careful with the word “niggardly” because it can sound like a racial slur, especially to those who do not know the word or who are not paying attention. Consider substituting “miserly,” “sparing,” or “parsimonious.”
We have here a twofold contrast under two similitudes—
I. A man who withholds what he ought to give out. “He withholdeth more than is meet—he withholdeth corn” when he ought to sell it. 1. He is a sinner against the law of necessity which runs through all human things. The earth will only yield of her good things by first having good things cast into her bosom. The farmer who is sparing of labour and of money in the tillage of his fields will never be a rich man. The same principle is at work in the mart and on the exchange. There must of necessity be a wise scattering of wealth before there is any increase. 2. He is a sinner against the Divine ordination and commandment. When God organized the Hebrew commonwealth He ordained that the “poor should not cease out of the land” (Deut. xv. 11), and that they should be helped by the rich. The same principle was proclaimed by Christ, when He said “Freely ye have received, freely give” (Matt. x. 8), God has given to you that you may give to others. This is the fast that Jehovah has chosen, “Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thine house? When thou seest the naked that thou cover him, and that thou hide not thyself from thy own flesh” (Isa. lviii. 7). 3. He is, as a necessity, a sinner against his fellow creatures. He sins against their need. In times of scarcity those who have abundance and will not give of their abundance are guilty, how much more those who have the material to feed the people and will not even sell it, but withhold it to raise the price. Such men are robbers and murderers. They murder by refusing the means of life. 4. He is a sinner against himself. He will not be so rich as he would have been if he had used what he had in accordance with the laws of nature and morality. A man who does not put his money out to a lawful use cannot make more by it. More than this, he is a stranger to that blessedness of which Christ spake when He said “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts xx. 35). But this is not all, he is under a Divine and human curse. God’s ban is upon him. If a tree is constantly receiving from the fatness of the earth and the heavens and yet brings forth no fruit for the service of man, it is marked for the woodman’s axe. The message of God to such cumberers of the ground is, “Go to, now, ye rich man, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and your silver is cankered, and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire” (Jas. v. 1–3). “The people shall curse him.” How can they do otherwise? They feel that he has robbed them of their rights when he will not even sell what they are willing to buy.
II. The man who gives out liberally of that which he possesses. He yields first of all to the necessity of things. He scatters his wealth wisely in order to increase it. But this is his lowest motive and his smallest blessing. So far as more trading goes this scattering to increase is a mere matter of necessity. He knows he must cast a bushel of corn into the ground if he would have it increase—that he must spend a thousand pounds before he can gain ten thousand. In this way he shows that he has faith in the ordinary law of multiplication. But he goes further than this. “He selleth corn” at a fair price, when, by withholding it, he might exact more. This is a sample of all his dealings with his fellow-men. He does not take advantage of their necessities to enrich himself (see Homiletics on [verse 1]). He goes beyond this—he not only sells at a fair price, but he is a giver. He scatters in the way of giving out of his abundance, “looking for nothing again” (Luke vi. 35). But he is a great gainer. 1. He will very likely get richer in material wealth by giving. This is not positively affirmed in the text “there is that scattereth and yet increaseth.” But he will certainly never be the poorer, for he makes God his creditor. “He that hath pity on the poor lendeth to the Lord” (chap. xix. 17). 2. He will certainly be richer in more precious wealth. “He will be watered himself.” He will have a double blessing. Men will call down blessings on his head. Those who partake of his wealth will give him in return love, honour, and respect. God will add to his personal character that which will increase tenfold the blessedness of his existence. He will, according to the apostolic promise, “make all grace to abound toward him, that he, having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.” He will “increase the fruits of righteousness” (2 Cor. ix. 6–11), and water his soul with His own Divine influence. “If thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon-day: and the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones; and thou shalt be like a watered garden, whose waters fail not” (Isa. lviii. 11).
outlines and suggestive comments.
Verses 24, 25. Is not this just one of the appropriate ways of putting faith to the test on God’s part, and showing its reality on ours? Is it not precisely the defectiveness of this faith that makes us timid, cautious, parsimonious in giving? ever fearing that we may stint ourselves and feel the want of what we expend on suffering humanity and on the cause of God? Is it not thus by unbelief that we are tempted to sow sparingly? And ought it to be, that the husbandman trust more to the laws of nature than the Christian does to the covenant of his God?—Wardlaw.
The Jews in Haggai’s time had no prosperity till they made the house of the Lord their chief object (Hag. i. 6, 9–11; ii. 15–19). So far is the true wealth of the withholder from being increased by withholding what is meet to be given for the glory of God and the good of man, that he is at last deprived even of that which he had (Matt. xiii. 12).—Fausset.
Men may scatter in improvidence and sin, and it tendeth to poverty (chap. xxi. 17). But the man of God, “dispersing abroad” the seed of godliness (Ps. cxii. 9), consecrating his substance and influence to the Lord, “as he has opportunity, doing good unto all men” (Gal. vi. 10), shall receive a plentiful increase.—Bridges.