Proverbs 28:22

He that hasteth to be rich hath an evil eye, and considereth not that poverty shall come upon him.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(22) Hath an evil eye.—Envies others their prosperity, and keeps all he has for himself.

And considereth not that poverty shall come upon him.—For it is “the liberal soul” that “shall be made fat” (Proverbs 11:25), not such as he, who can get no blessing from God.

Benson Commentary

Proverbs 28:22. He that hasteth to be rich — That is pushed on by his desires to get riches by right or wrong; hath an evil eye — Is uncharitable to persons in want, and envious toward those who get any thing besides himself; and considereth not that poverty shall come upon him — And, consequently, that he shall need the pity and help of others, which he cannot reasonably expect, either from God or men, having so hardened his heart against others in misery.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

28:18. Uprightness will give men holy security in the worst times; but the false and dishonest are never safe. 19. Those who are diligent, take the way to live comfortably. 20. The true way to be happy, is to be holy and honest; not to raise an estate suddenly, without regard to right or wrong. 21. Judgment is perverted, when any thing but pure right is considered. 22. He that hastens to be rich, never seriously thinks how quickly God may take his wealth from him, and leave him in poverty. 23. Upon reflection, most will have a better opinion of a faithful reprover than of a soothing flatterer.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The covetous temper leads not only to dishonesty, but to the "evil eye" of envy; and the temper of grudging, carking care, leads him to poverty.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

22. (Compare Pr 28:20).

evil eye—in the general sense of Pr 23:6, here more specific for covetousness (compare Pr 22:9; Mt 20:15).

poverty … him—by God's providence.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Hath an evil eye; is uncharitable to persons in want, envious towards those who get any thing besides him, and covetous or greedy of getting riches by all ways possible, whether just or unjust. Thus an evil eye is taken, Proverbs 23:6 Matthew 20:15, as a good eye notes the contrary disposition, Proverbs 22:9.

That poverty shall come upon him; and consequently that he shall need the pity and help of others, which he cannot expect either from God or men, who hath so hardened himself against others in misery.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

He that hasteth to be rich,.... As every man that is eagerly desirous of riches is; he would be rich at once (z), and cannot wait with any patience in the ordinary course of means:

hath an evil eye; on the substance of others, to get it, right or wrong; is an evil man, and takes evil methods to be rich (a); see 1 Timothy 6:9; or an envious one; is an envious man; as the Septuagint and Arabic versions; he envies others, as the Vulgate Latin version, the riches of other men; he grudges everything that goes beside himself; and that makes him in haste to be rich, that he may be equal to or superior to others: or he is a sordid, avaricious, illiberal man, that will not part with anything for the relief, for others, and is greedy of everything to amass wealth to himself; an evil eye is opposed to a good or bountiful one, that is, to a man that is liberal and generous, Proverbs 22:9;

and considereth not that poverty shall come upon him; for wealth gotten hastily, and especially wrongfully, diminishes, wastes, and comes to nothing in the end; it sometimes flies away as fast as it comes; it has wings to do the one, as well as the other: this the man in haste to be rich does not consider, or he would have taken another method; since this is not the true way of getting and keeping riches, but of losing them, and coming to want; see Proverbs 13:11.

(z) "Nam dives qui fieri vult, et cito vult fieri", Juvenal. Satyr. 14. v. 176. (a) "Sed quae reverentia legum? quis metus, ant pudor est unquam properantis avari?" Juvenal, ib.

Geneva Study Bible

He that hasteneth to be rich hath an evil {l} eye, and considereth not that poverty shall come upon him.

(l) Meaning, he that is covetous.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

22. He that hasteth &c. The order of subject and predicate should be reversed as in A.V. marg. and R.V.: He that hath an evil eye hasteth after riches. After the manner of this Collection, we have three proverbs (Proverbs 28:20-21) on the same subject brought together. Covetousness is a characteristic of a man who is untrustworthy, Proverbs 28:20, partial, Proverbs 28:21, and mean and grudging, Proverbs 28:22.

poverty] Or, want, R.V. Because it is “the liberal soul” that “shall be made fat,” Proverbs 11:25. Comp. Isaiah 32:8.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 22. - He that hasteth to be rich bath an evil eye (see ver. 20); better, the man of evil eye hasteth after riches. The man of evil eye (Proverbs 23:6) is the envious and covetous man; such a one tries to improve his position and raise himself speedily to the height of him whom he envies, and is quite unscrupulous as to the means which he uses to effect his purpose, and keeps all that he gains selfishly to himself. And yet he is really blind to his own best interests (comp Proverbs 20:21). And considereth not that poverty shall come upon him (comp. Proverbs 23:4, 5). His grasping greed brings no blessing with it (Proverbs 11:25), excites others to defraud him, and in the end consigns him to merited poverty. The LXX. here reads somewhat differently, and translates, "An envious man hasteth to be rich, and knows not that the merciful man (chasid instead of cheser) will I,ave the mastery over him," i.e. will take his wealth, as ver. 8. Proverbs concerning hastily gotten wealth have already been given. Here are a few more: Spanish, "Who would be rich in a year gets hanged in half a year;" Italian, "The river does not become swollen with clear water;" says a Scotch proverb, "Better a wee fire to warm as than a meikle fire to burn us." Proverbs 28:22

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

22 The man of an evil eye hasteneth after riches,

     And knoweth not that want shall come upon him.

Hitzig renders 'אישׁ וגו the man of an evil eye as apos. of the subject; but in that case the phrase would have been אישׁ רע עין נבהל להון (cf. e.g., Proverbs 29:1). רע עין (Proverbs 23:6) is the jealous, envious, grudging, and at the same time covetous man. It is certainly possible that an envious man consumes himself in ill-humour without quietness, as Hitzig objects; but as a rule there is connected with envy a passionate endeavour to raise oneself to an equal height of prosperity with the one who is the object of envy; and this zeal, proceeding from an impure motive, makes men blind to the fact that thereby they do not advance, but rather degrade themselves, for no blessing can rest on it; discontentedness loses, with that which God has assigned to us, deservedly also that which it has. The pret. נבחל, the expression of a fact; the part. נבהל, the expression of an habitual characteristic action; the word signifies praeceps (qui praeceps fertur), with the root-idea of one who is unbridled, who is not master of himself (vid., under Psalm 2:5, and above at Proverbs 20:21). The phrase wavers between נבהל (Kimchi, under בהל; and Norzi, after Codd. and old editions) and נבהל (thus, e.g., Cod. Jaman); only at Psalm 30:8 נבהל stands unquestioned. חסר [want] is recognised by Symmachus, Syr., and Jerome. To this, as the authentic reading, cf. its ingenious rendering of Bereschith Rabba, c. 58, to Genesis 23:14. The lxx reads, from 22b, that a חסיד, ἐλεήμων, will finally seize the same riches, according to which Hitzig reads חסד, disgrace, shame (cf. Proverbs 25:10).