Which other scriptures warn against valuing wealth over human dignity and souls? Recognizing the Tragic Trade in Revelation 18:13 “ …of horses and carriages; and of slaves— and of human lives.” Babylon’s shopping list climaxes with people treated as cargo. Scripture consistently condemns any profit that downgrades image-bearers to merchandise. Torah Foundations: Wealth Must Serve People • Exodus 23:8 — “Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the righteous.” • Leviticus 19:13 — “You must not defraud your neighbor or rob him. You must not withhold the wages of a hired man overnight.” • Deuteronomy 24:14-15 — “Do not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy… Pay his wages each day before sunset… otherwise he may cry out to the LORD against you, and you will be guilty of sin.” Wisdom Literature: Money Cannot Buy Real Security • Proverbs 11:4 — “Riches are worthless in the day of wrath, but righteousness brings deliverance from death.” • Proverbs 11:28 — “He who trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like foliage.” • Proverbs 22:1 — “A good name is more desirable than great riches; favor is better than silver and gold.” • Proverbs 23:4-5 — “Do not wear yourself out to get rich… when you glance at wealth, it disappears, for it makes wings for itself and flies like an eagle to the sky.” • Proverbs 28:6 — “Better a poor man who walks with integrity than a rich man whose ways are perverse.” • Ecclesiastes 5:10 — “He who loves money is never satisfied with money… This too is futile.” Prophets Confront Systemic Exploitation • Isaiah 5:8 — “Woe to you who add house to house and join field to field till no space is left and you alone dwell in the land.” • Amos 2:6 — “…they sell the righteous for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals.” • Amos 5:11 — “Because you trample on the poor and exact a tax of wheat from him, you will never live in the stone houses you have built.” • Micah 2:1-2 — “Woe to those who devise iniquity… They covet fields and seize them… they oppress a man and his inheritance.” • Micah 6:11-12 — “Can I excuse dishonest scales…? Your rich men are full of violence.” • Zechariah 7:10 — “Do not oppress the widow or the orphan, the foreigner or the poor.” Jesus Sets Kingdom Priorities • Matthew 6:19-21 — “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth… For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” • Matthew 6:24 — “You cannot serve both God and money.” • Matthew 16:26 — “What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world yet forfeits his soul?” • Mark 10:21-25 — “Go, sell everything you own… Then come, follow Me… How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!” • Luke 12:15 — “Guard yourselves against every form of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” • Luke 12:20-21 — “‘You fool! This very night your life will be required of you…’ This is how it will be for anyone who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich toward God.” • Luke 16:13-15 — “What is prized by men is detestable before God.” Apostolic Teaching: Wealth as a Test of Love • Acts 8:20 — “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money!” • 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.” • 1 Timothy 6:17-19 — “Instruct those who are rich… to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share.” • James 2:5-7 — “You have dishonored the poor… Are not the rich the ones who oppress you?” • James 5:1-6 — “Come now, you rich, weep and wail over the misery to come upon you… The wages you withheld… are crying out against you.” • 1 John 3:17-18 — “If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God abide in him?” Key Takeaways for Today • People are sacred image-bearers; they can never be reduced to profit margins. • Wealth is temporary and unreliable; righteousness and generosity last forever. • God hears the cries of the exploited and judges systems that trade lives for luxury. • True discipleship holds possessions loosely and stewards them for eternal impact. |
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