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Ge 13:10-13 Nu 22:17-19 Jos 7:11 2Ki 5:20-27 Pr 15:27; 20:21

Verse 9. But they that will be rich] oi de boulomenoi ploutein. The words are emphatic, and refer to persons who are determined to get riches; who make this their object and aim in life; who live to get money; who get all they can, save all they can, and keep all they get; and yet are apprehensive of no danger, because they seek to be rich by honest means; for it is likely that the apostle does not refer to those who wish to get riches by robbery, plunder, extortion, &c.

By the term rich it is very likely that the apostle refers to what he had said above: Having food and raiment, let us be therewith content. He that has more than these is rich in the sense in which the apostle uses the term.

Fall into temptation and a snare] tou diabolou, Of the devil, is added by D*FG, Vulgate, Itala, and many of the fathers. It is in consequence of the temptation of the devil that they have determined to be rich; this temptation once received, others quickly succeed: and when they have swallowed down the temptation to the thing, then they drink in a thousand temptations to the means; and all these lead them eiv pagida, into an unforeseen and concealed trap. pagiv signifies a net, trap, gin, snare, springe, or pit dug in the ground filled with sharp stakes, and slightly covered over; so that when a man, or any animal, steps upon it, he tumbles in, and is taken or destroyed. Such a snare is that into which those who will be rich must necessarily fall. But who will believe this? See on verse 10.

And into many foolish and hurtful lusts] The whole conduct of such a person is a tissue of folly; scraping, gathering, and heaping up riches, and scarcely affording to take the necessaries of life out of them for himself.

These lusts or desires are not only foolish, but they are hurtful; the mind is debased and narrowed by them; benevolent and generous feelings become extinct; charity perishes; and selfishness, the last and lowest principle in mental degradation, absorbs the soul; for these foolish and hurtful lusts drown men in destruction and perdition - the soul is destroyed by them here, and brought through them into a state of perdition hereafter. The apostle considers these persons like mariners in a storm; by the concurrence of winds, waves, and tide, they are violently driven among the rocks, the vessel is dashed to pieces, and in a moment they are all ingulfed in the great deep! Such is the lot and unavoidable catastrophe of them that will be rich, even though they should strive to accomplish their desires by means the most rigidly honest.

In this place I beg leave to refer the reader to a sermon on this text by the late Rev. John WESLEY, in which the whole of this subject is treated by the hand of a master; and, for usefulness, the sermon is superior to every thing of the kind ever published. It is entitled, The Danger of Riches; and is found in his WORKS, Vol. 2, page 248, American edit.

Ver. 9. But they that will be rich , etc.] Not they that are rich; for some rich men are good men; and do much good with their riches; and are as free from temptations and snares, and foolish and hurtful lusts, as other persons, as Abraham, Joseph of Arimathea, Gaius, and others were; but such that would be rich, who labour after, make haste for it, and are resolved upon it, at any rate, right or wrong, as there be thousands, who never attain to it; so that the apostle does not point at rich men particularly, but at such who are determined to be rich, whether they ever are so or not: these fall into temptation ; not in such sense in which the phrase is used in ( James 1:2) but in such sense as Christ uses it, ( Matthew 6:13) namely, a falling into temptation to sin, so as to be drawn away by it, and overcome with it: and a snare ; the Vulgate Latin version reads, �the snare of the devil�, and so Beza's Claromontane copy; which perhaps is taken from ( 1 Timothy 3:7), and though this seems not to be the genuine reading, yet it may give the true sense: Satan may be compared to a fowler; his temptations to sin are his nets and snares; and they that will be rich, are the birds that are caught and entangled therein, out of which sometimes it is impracticable to extricate themselves: and into many foolish and hurtful lusts ; carnal and worldly lusts, the lusts of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, which are the things that are in the world and draw the affections to them; yea, what sin is there but such persons may, and do fall into; as defrauding of the neighbour, oppressing the poor, lying, perjury, theft, murder, rapine, violence, and injustice of every kind? so that they may be said to be �many�, and some of them are �foolish�. All sin is folly, and every wicked man is a foolish one, and acts a part quite contrary to reason; but some evil ways are notoriously silly, weak and foolish, and which they that will be rich make use of to get money; though others of them are sly and artful enough, and all of them are �hurtful� to their credit and reputation, or to the health of their bodies, and especially to the welfare of their immortal souls. So the phrase a�pj �whyrxy , �their foolish lust�, is used by the Targumist in ( Ezekiel 20:25) and the corruption of nature in general is by the Jews called the old and foolish king, in ( Ecclesiastes 4:13). They ask f87 , �why is he called a king? because all obey him; why is he called old? because he is joined to him (a man) from his birth to his old age; and why is he called lysk , �foolish?� because he teaches him an evil way, which he knows not how to warn him of again.� Which drown men in destruction and perdition ; that is, in utter ruin, in the ruin both of soul and body; and which is irrecoverable, like that of the drowning of a man in the sea, with a millstone about his neck; such folly and danger do those expose themselves to, who will be rich at any rate.