There Is That Scattereth

The Treasure

This proverb names a genuine paradox worth sitting with directly: scattering, generous giving, is connected here to increase, while withholding, hoarding beyond what is meet, is connected instead to poverty. This inverts an intuitive assumption that holding onto resources tightly is the more secure, reliable path toward eventual prosperity.

Notice more than is meet, suggesting this warning is not against reasonable saving or prudent stewardship, both of which scripture elsewhere commends, but specifically against withholding beyond what genuine wisdom or need actually requires, hoarding driven by fear or love of accumulation rather than genuine prudence.

The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that watereth shall be watered also himself, describes a genuine, reciprocal pattern, generosity toward others somehow returning benefit to the one who is generous, not merely as external reward, but as an actual, connected principle this proverb names directly.

Consider today whether your own relationship to resources has drifted toward withholding more than is meet, fear-driven hoarding rather than reasonable stewardship, and whether scattering, genuine generosity, might actually be the path toward the increase and fatness this proverb somewhat surprisingly connects to giving rather than to holding tightly.