Prepare
Prepare your work outside; get everything ready for yourself in the field, and after that build your house – Proverbs 24:27
This week we will transition from what Proverbs says about money to what it says about family. Proverbs 24:27 ties these two things together, along with work which is the means by which we attain money. Historically, boys became men by age 21 (or earlier), our culture has created a new category between boyhood and manhood called “prolonged adolescence”. Proverbs 24:27 is a good corrective and call for us to work in order to build and provide for a household.
There is a call to work: “prepare your work outside” and “get everything ready for yourself in the field” and “then build and establish the household”. “For yourself” shows the son’s own self-interest to prepare his arable fields to provide food and wealth to sustain his household (Waltke).
In sum, he must first make ready and productive what the Creator has provided to sustain the household, and then he must “create” a household for his prosperity. The saying entails counting the cost before building a household. This ordering of work is necessary because building a house, furnishing it, and sustaining its life consumes wealth. – Bruce Waltke
It is good and pleasing to work to create wealth in order to establish a flourishing household where yourself and others can experience shelter and rest. One final warning from Waltke on the limited value on money to create a flourishing household:
Money’s value is limited: It can build a house, but not a home; it can put food on a table, but not fellowship around it; it can give a woman fur and jewelry, but not the love she really wants. Wisdom, however, gives both material well-being and spiritual life – Waltke
We serve a generous God who has given us all things in order that we may wisely use them to create, enjoy Him and point others to Him.