Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard AT ont.com>]

Dear Vadim,

>  > HH: Some interpreters suggest that wickedness and richness are often
>  associated together, such as in the Prophets.

> Tanakh NEVER associates rich and evil. This association is a socialist
> invention. Even Jesus does not: recall that he suggested to the young man
> distributing his property as a way to perfection, not of avoiding evil. He
> suggested this only after the fellow said he wants to be even more good than
> he is know, and at first Jesus conceded that the commandments' observance is
> sufficient.

HH: Scripture does not assert that to be rich is 
to be evil, if that's what you mean. The Lord 
makes people rich:

1Sam. 2:7 The LORD sends poverty and wealth; He humbles and He exalts.

HH: But the Prophets show that it is often the 
rich who are oppressing the poor and taking their 
belongings:

Jer. 5:27 Like cages full of birds, their houses 
are full of deceit; they have become rich and 
powerful
Mic. 6:12 Her rich men are violent; her people 
are liars and their tongues speak deceitfully.
Zech. 11:5 Their buyers slaughter them and go 
unpunished. Those who sell them say,  'Praise the 
LORD, I am rich!' Their own shepherds do not 
spare them.

Is. 5:7 The vineyard of the LORD Almighty is the 
house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the 
garden of his delight. And he looked for justice, 
but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard 
cries of distress.
Is. 5:8 Woe to you who add house to house and 
join field to field till no space is left and you 
live alone in the land.
Is. 5:9 ¶ The LORD Almighty has declared in my 
hearing:  "Surely the great houses will become 
desolate, the fine mansions left without 
occupants.

The NT also suggests that they had a tendency to persecute the believers:

James 2:6 But you have insulted the poor. Is it 
not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not 
the ones who are dragging you into court?

                                Yours,
                                Harold Holmyard





> Tanakh criticizes greed, evil riches, but NEVER rich as a class in Marxist
> sense. In ancient society, it was honorable to be rich.
>
> > He was assigned with the rich in his death because he had not
> done violence and there was no deceit in his mouth.<
> It's a joke, right? He was executed for a crime, but because he had done no
> crime, buried honorably?
>
>
> Best regards,
>
> Vadim Cherny
>
>  > HH: Some interpreters suggest that wickedness and richness are often
>  > associated together, such as in the Prophets. But others object that
> >  when it comes to burials, being with the rich implies a good burial.
> >  So they take the verse to describe a two-stage assignment. It was
> >  intended that the person be buried with the wicked, but when he
> >  actually died he was put with the rich. "In his death" comes to have
> >  a sequential force. The reason would then be given in the following
> >  clause. He was assigned with the rich in his death because he had not
> >  done violence and there was no deceit in his mouth.
> >
> >  Yours,
> >  Harold Holmyard
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>
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