◄ Proverbs 13:23 ►
Abundant food is in the fallow ground of the poor, but without justice it is swept away.
Study Bible
Abundant food is in the fallow ground of the poor
This phrase highlights the potential and resources available even in seemingly unproductive or neglected areas. In ancient agrarian societies, fallow ground referred to land that was left unplanted to restore its fertility. The poor, often lacking resources to cultivate their land, still possess the potential for abundance. This reflects the biblical principle that God provides for all, and even the least likely places can yield great blessings. The concept of fallow ground is also a metaphor for spiritual readiness, as seen in Hosea 10:12, where breaking up fallow ground symbolizes preparing one's heart for righteousness.

but without justice it is swept away
This part of the verse underscores the importance of justice in maintaining and realizing potential. In biblical times, justice was a central theme, often associated with righteousness and fairness. The absence of justice can lead to the loss of resources and opportunities, as corruption and exploitation prevent the poor from benefiting from their potential. This aligns with the broader biblical narrative that emphasizes God's concern for justice, as seen in passages like Isaiah 1:17, which calls for defending the oppressed. The sweeping away of resources without justice serves as a warning against societal structures that perpetuate inequality and highlights the need for godly governance and stewardship.

Persons / Places / Events
1. The Poor
This refers to individuals who lack material wealth or resources. In the context of this proverb, they possess potential resources (fallow ground) that are not fully realized due to external injustices.

2. Fallow Ground
This is land that is left unplowed and unseeded for a period to restore its fertility. It symbolizes untapped potential or resources that could yield abundance if properly utilized.

3. Justice
In this context, justice refers to fairness and righteousness in societal structures and personal interactions. The lack of justice results in the poor being unable to benefit from their potential resources.
Teaching Points
Recognizing Potential
The proverb teaches us to see the potential in what may seem unproductive or overlooked, such as the fallow ground of the poor. We should seek to cultivate and develop these resources.

The Role of Justice
Justice is crucial in ensuring that everyone can benefit from their potential resources. As Christians, we are called to advocate for justice and fairness in our communities.

Stewardship and Responsibility
We have a responsibility to be good stewards of the resources God has given us, ensuring they are used to benefit all, especially the marginalized.

Compassion for the Poor
This verse challenges us to have compassion for the poor and to work towards systems that allow them to thrive rather than be swept away by injustice.

Community and Support
The church community should be a place where the needs of the poor are met, and their potential is nurtured through support and empowerment.
Bible Study Questions
1. How can we identify and cultivate the "fallow ground" in our own lives and communities?

2. In what ways can we actively promote justice for the poor in our society today?

3. How does the concept of stewardship apply to the resources and opportunities we have been given?

4. What are some practical steps we can take to ensure that the needs of the poor are met within our church community?

5. How do the themes of justice and potential in Proverbs 13:23 connect with the teachings of Jesus in the Gospels?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Proverbs 14:31
This verse highlights the importance of treating the poor with kindness and justice, emphasizing that oppressing the poor is an affront to their Maker.

Isaiah 5:8-10
These verses speak against those who accumulate land and wealth at the expense of others, leading to desolation and lack of justice.

James 5:1-6
This passage warns the rich about the consequences of exploiting the poor and withholding their rightful wages, echoing the theme of justice and fairness.
Sermons
The Responsibility, Cultivation, and Harvest of Small GiftsA. Maclaren, D. D.Proverbs 13:23
The Tillage of the PoorAlexander MaclarenProverbs 13:23
The Blessings of Obedience and Their CounterpartE. Johnson Proverbs 13:18-25
People
Solomon
Places
Jerusalem
Topics
Abundance, Abundant, Consumed, Destroyed, Fallow, Field, Fields, Ground, Injustice, Judgment, Lost, Man's, People's, Ploughed, Poor, Produce, Reason, Righteousness, Substance, Sweeps, Swept, Tillage, Wrongdoing, Yields
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Proverbs 13:23

     5447   poverty, causes

Library
The Tillage of the Poor
'Much food is in the tillage of the poor.'--PROVERBS xiii. 23. Palestine was a land of small peasant proprietors, and the institution of the Jubilee was intended to prevent the acquisition of large estates by any Israelite. The consequence, as intended, was a level of modest prosperity. It was 'the tillage of the poor,' the careful, diligent husbandry of the man who had only a little patch of land to look after, that filled the storehouses of the Holy Land. Hence the proverb of our text arose. It …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Poor Rich and the Rich Poor
'There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing; there is that maketh himself poor, yet hath great riches.'--PROVERBS xiii. 7. Two singularly-contrasted characters are set in opposition here. One, that of a man who lives like a millionaire and is a pauper; another, that of a man who lives like a pauper and is rich. The latter character, that of a man who hides and hoards his wealth, was, perhaps, more common in the days when this collection of Proverbs was put together, because in all ill-governed …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Practical Methods of Studying the Old Testament
[Sidenote: The various methods of approach] The Old Testament may be studied as literature, as history, as the record of an important stage in the evolution of religion, as the revelation of God to the race, or as a practical aid to the individual in living the true life. Each angle of approach calls for different methods and yields its correspondingly rich results. Studied in accordance with the canons of modern literary investigation, a literature is disclosed of surpassing variety, beauty, and …
Charles Foster Kent—The Origin & Permanent Value of the Old Testament

The Song of the Redeemed
And they sung a new song, saying, Thou ... hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation ... T he extent, variety, and order of the creation, proclaim the glory of God. He is likewise, ^* Maximus in Minimis . The smallest of the works, that we are capable of examining, such for instance as the eye or the wing of a little insect, the creature of a day, are stamped with an inimitable impression of His wisdom and power. Thus in His written Word, there …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 2

The Heavenly Footman; Or, a Description of the Man that Gets to Heaven:
TOGETHER WITH THE WAY HE RUNS IN, THE MARKS HE GOES BY; ALSO, SOME DIRECTIONS HOW TO RUN SO AS TO OBTAIN. 'And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain: escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.'--Genesis 19:17. London: Printed for John Marshall, at the Bible in Gracechurch Street, 1698. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. About forty years ago a gentleman, in whose company I had commenced my …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

"And this is his Commandment," &C.
1 John iii. 23.--"And this is his commandment," &c. There are different tempers of mind among men, some more smooth and pliable, others more refractory and froward. Some may be persuaded by love, who cannot be constrained by fear. With some a request will more prevail than a command. Others again are of a harsher disposition. Love and condescension doth rather embolden them, and therefore they must be restrained with the bridle of authority. It would seem that the Lord hath some regard to this in …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Second Sunday after Easter
Text: First Peter 2, 20-25. 20 For what glory is it, if, when ye sin, and are buffeted for it, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye shall take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. 21 For hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that ye should follow his steps: 22 who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: 23 who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, threatened not; but committed …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. II

How is Christ, as the Life, to be Applied by a Soul that Misseth God's Favour and Countenance.
The sixth case, that we shall speak a little to, is a deadness, occasioned by the Lord's hiding of himself, who is their life, and "the fountain of life," Ps. xxxvi. 9, and "whose loving-kindness is better than life," Ps. lxiii. 3, and "in whose favour is their life," Ps. xxx. 5. A case, which the frequent complaints of the saints manifest to be rife enough, concerning which we shall, 1. Shew some of the consequences of the Lord's hiding his face, whereby the soul's case will appear. 2. Shew the …
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life

Opposition to Messiah Ruinous
Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel T here is a species of the sublime in writing, which seems peculiar to the Scripture, and of which, properly, no subjects but those of divine revelation are capable, With us, things inconsiderable in themselves are elevated by splendid images, which give them an apparent importance beyond what they can justly claim. Thus the poet, when describing a battle among bees, by a judicious selection of epithets …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 2

"But if Ye have Bitter Envying and Strife in Your Hearts, Glory Not," &C.
James iii. 14.--"But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not," &c. It is a common evil of those who hear the gospel, that they are not delivered up to the mould and frame of religion that is holden out in it, but rather bring religion into a mould of their own invention. It was the special commendation of the Romans, that they obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine into which they were delivered, (Rom. vi. 17) that they who were once servants, or slaves of sin, had now …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

"But Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God, and his Righteousness, and all These Things Shall be Added unto You. "
Matth. vi. 33.--"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." The perfection even of the most upright creature, speaks always some imperfection in comparison of God, who is most perfect. The heavens, the sun and moon, in respect of lower things here, how glorious do they appear, and without spot! But behold, they are not clean in God's sight! How far are the angels above us who dwell in clay! They appear to be a pure mass of light and …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Blessed are the Poor in Spirit
Having spoken of the general notion of blessedness, I come next to consider the subjects of this blessedness, and these our Saviour has deciphered to be the poor in spirit, the mourners, etc. But before I touch upon these, I shall attempt a little preface or paraphrase upon this sermon of the beatitudes. 1 Observe the divinity in this sermon, which goes beyond all philosophy. The philosophers use to say that one contrary expels another; but here one contrary begets another. Poverty is wont to expel …
Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12

Proverbs
Many specimens of the so-called Wisdom Literature are preserved for us in the book of Proverbs, for its contents are by no means confined to what we call proverbs. The first nine chapters constitute a continuous discourse, almost in the manner of a sermon; and of the last two chapters, ch. xxx. is largely made up of enigmas, and xxxi. is in part a description of the good housewife. All, however, are rightly subsumed under the idea of wisdom, which to the Hebrew had always moral relations. The Hebrew …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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