Proverbs 27:11 - Pleasure and Poverty

Proverbs 21:17 -
He who loves pleasure will become a poor man; he who loves wine and oil will not become rich.

Message: Pleasure and poverty

Time: It seems that Proverbs was written and then compiled sometime between the tenth and sixth centuries B.C. Proverbs was probably written during the reign of Solomon, 971-931 B.C.

What the Lord is Saying:

Initial Observations
The first thing I think of when I read this verse is Hugh Hefner. Isn't it funny that when talking about pleasure, he is the first person that comes into my mind. That somehow the idea of gratifying oneself in a sexual sense is what pleasure is all about. And yet as I was driving to work this morning I had in me the desire to stop by and get a Bavarian cream doughnut. In essence, I was looking for a little pleasure.

Also, both sides of this verse or both lines state the same thing. It says, he who loves wine and oil will not become rich. The price of oil or precious unguent was about equal to the 300 days‘ wages of a field laborer. Indulgence in such a luxury would thus become the type of all extravagance and excess.

Not necessarily poor

So I come back to this verse, he who loves pleasure will become a poor man. Now I wouldn't call Hugh Hefner poor; financially he began an empire that other people wanted and so he was and is paid a lot of money. But I also wonder if that is the only meaning of poor. It seems every time I saw the guy he had a different woman he was holding onto. Like I wonder if he was ever satisfied. I guess if I eat a Bavarian cream doughnut every day on the way to work I would simply spend about $.75 a day and it probably wouldn't make me broke, but it would give me a little pleasure. But, is it that in seeking out a pleasure like a Bavarian creme doughnut (gluttony) and looking at beautiful women (adultery of the mind) or even filling my life with TV watching or shopping or something else, that in these ventures, I am becoming a poor man. There must be something different that is meant by poor.

Never satisfied

I also see with both of these that the love of pleasure or wine and oil always brings people back to wanting more. The pleasure received is enjoyable and pleasurable but it also wears off quickly. Maybe the key to these verses is the word love. The problem with these vices in our lives is that we often do not just sample them, but we become addicted to them in our life. We go from a like to a love and that becomes the problem. Clearly, the drunk is not rich.

People today are selling different types of pleasure indulgences. There is gambling, drinking, but also entertainment of various types, like video games

Promise: We will continually run out of money every time we get it if we make it our aim to enjoy every conceivable pleasure that we can afford. It is right to appreciate the good gifts of God, but these gifts are not satisfying as ends in themselves.