Proverbs 11:24 - Exposition

There is that scattereth; that giveth liberally, as Psalms 112:1-10 :99, "He hath dispersed, he hath given to the needy." And yet increaseth ; becomes only the richer in wealth and more blessed by God (comp. Proverbs 19:17 ). Nutt quotes the old epitaph, "What we spent, we had; what we saved, we lost; what we gave, we have." Experience proves that no one ultimately loses who gives the tithe of his income to God (see on Proverbs 28:27 ). There is that withholdeth more than is meet; i.e. is niggardly where he ought to be liberal. But the expression is best taken as in the margin of the Revised Version, "that withholdeth what is justly due," either as a debt or as a proper act of generosity becoming one who desires to please God and to do his duty. But it tendeth to poverty . That which is thus withheld is no real benefit to him. it only inure, sos his want. Septuagint and Vulgate, "There are who, sewing what is their own, make the more; and there are who, gathering what is another's, suffer loss." Dionysius Cato, 'Distich. de Mor.,' 54.4, 1—

" Despice divitias, si vis animo esse beatus,

Quas qui suscipiunt mendicant semper avari ."