Which other Scriptures warn against excessive accumulation of wealth and possessions? Isaiah 5:8—God’s Woe on Land-Grabbers “Woe to you who add house to house and join field to field until no space is left and you alone dwell in the land.” Isaiah exposes a heart issue: piling up property until others are pushed out. The Lord calls it a “woe,” not simply a poor life-choice but a sin that invites judgment. Other Old Testament Echoes The same warning keeps surfacing: • Deuteronomy 17:16-17—The king “must not acquire great numbers of horses…or accumulate large amounts of silver and gold.” • Proverbs 11:28—“He who trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf.” • Proverbs 23:4-5—“Do not wear yourself out to become rich…riches surely sprout wings and fly off like an eagle.” • Ecclesiastes 5:10—“He who loves money is never satisfied by money.” • Amos 5:11—“Because you trample on the poor…you will never live in the houses of cut stone you have built.” • Micah 2:2—“They covet fields and seize them…They defraud a man of his inheritance.” • Habakkuk 2:9—“Woe to him who builds his house by unjust gain, setting his nest on high.” Each text ties greed to injustice and eventual loss—exactly the pattern Isaiah names. Jesus on Treasures and True Security • Matthew 6:19-21—“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth…For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” • Luke 12:15—“Watch out! Guard yourselves against every form of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” • Luke 12:20-21—The rich fool hears, “You fool! This very night your life will be required of you…So is he who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” Christ shifts the focus from stockpiling assets to investing in heaven—an antidote to Isaiah’s land-hunger. Apostolic Counsel for Contented Living • 1 Timothy 6:9-10—“Those who want to be rich fall into temptation…For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.” • Hebrews 13:5—“Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have.” • James 5:1-3—“Come now, you who are rich, weep and wail…You have hoarded treasure in the last days.” • Revelation 3:17—“You say, ‘I am rich…’ but you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.” The apostles underline Isaiah’s point: unchecked accumulation blinds us to spiritual reality and invites divine correction. Pulling It Together From the Law and the Prophets to Jesus and the apostles, Scripture speaks with one voice: when wealth and possessions become the goal, people get hurt, hearts grow hard, and God Himself opposes the hoarder. Contentment, generosity, and a heaven-focused outlook keep us from the peril Isaiah first exposed—and steer us into the joy of sharing God’s blessings rather than stockpiling them. |
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