In Proverbs, chapter twenty-two, verse seven, “The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender. Those who live beyond their means end up enslaved to their creditors. This theme verse relates to the end of Proverbs twenty-one verse twenty, “but a foolish man spendeth it up.” The borrower has a habit of spending until it reaches the point of using someone else’s money. Luke sixteen, verses eleven, declares, “If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?”
The borrower is servant to the lender is the theme title, which is the second part of today’s scripture. However, the first part, “the rich ruleth over the poor,” is similar to the theme. Both the poor and the borrower are servants of the rich and the lender. Money is known as Mammon. “No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon, as in Luke sixteen, verse eleven.
Jesus spoke against mammon and warned those who look to pursue the accumulation of wealth as the driving force of life may experience the opposite. No one is guaranteed a rich, successful life. For believers, if the focus is on the Lord and His Word instead of mammon and worldly things, they will have success, as in Joshua one, verse eight. “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.” Prosperity begins with God.