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“A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches” Part 1

(Pro 22:1-10)

[Study Aired December 4, 2025]

Many are called but few are chosen (Mat 22:14) and those few who are chosen in this age are the ones who are blessed to have a good name.

The good name is Christ, and His words are what make up his name (Rev 19:13), and our adherence to those words is what makes it possible for us to have a good name within us (Rev 1:3, it is a life long process to come to do the things that He says Luk 6:46). (Col 3:17)

Rev 1:3  Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

That name is more valuable than all the riches of this world, and in order to have it and retain it we need God’s holy spirit within us to refine and purify His word which is His name (Heb 11:25-27, Rom 8:9).

Heb 11:27  By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.(Heb 10:38-39, Joh 8:36, Mat 20:23, Eph 2:8-9).

Heb 10:38  Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.
Heb 10:39  But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.

Joh 8:36  If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

Mat 20:23  And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.

Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: (free indeed – drink indeed)
Eph 2:9  Not of works, lest any man should boast.

The good name is Christ that we want and desire, and it is for his name’s sake that we are hated of all, meaning for keeping His words (Mat 10:22). It is those same words that, if we continue in them, will produce the “disciples indeed” who will inherit eternal life (Joh 8:31-32).

Joh 8:31  Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:32  And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Pro 22:1 A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour^H2580 rather than silver  and gold.

Favour H2580  chên  khane
From H2603; graciousness, that is, subjectively (kindness, favor) or objectively (beauty): – favour, grace (-ious), pleasant, precious, [well-] favoured.
Total KJV occurrences: 69
grace, 38
favour, 26
gracious, 2
pleasant, 1
precious, 1
wellfavoured, 1

God’s elect are called to have respect unto the recompence of the reward (Heb 11:25-27), and that is not naturally within anyone until God’s grace is poured out upon us in order to have this desire and right appreciation for the things of the spirit that we can only see through the faith of Christ (Eph 2:8).

Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

The word favour^H2580 in this proverb is the word “grace” first used as “grace” in (Gen 6:8) and then the same Strong’s number as “favour” in (Gen 18:3). These two verses will help us understand why God’s “grace” or “favour” is more valuable than “silver and gold”. It is God’s favour or grace that chastens and scourges us so that we see the riches of this world and all the things that are passing for the dung that Paul contrasts it in comparison to “the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ” (Php 3:8).

Gen 6:8  But Noah found grace^H2580 in the eyes of the LORD.

Gen 18:3  And said, My Lord, if now I have found favour^H2580 in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant:

God’s grace or favour is to correct us in this life, to judge us, so that we forsake ungodliness and worldly lust, and no one can naturally do this unless we are dragged unto Christ by our Father in heaven (Joh 6:44). To be a peculiar people zealous of good (Tit 2:14) works can only happen by the grace and faith of God that causes us to move with fear to the building up of the body of Christ (Heb 11:7, Eph 4:16), as typified by Noah who “found graceH2580  in the eyes of the LORD”.

Heb 11:7  By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.

God’s name is being formed within the body of Christ, by our dying daily experience, by the death of our old man that is precious unto God (Psa 116:15, 1Co 15:31) and more valuable than the great riches of this earth, whether those riches are literal riches, including the kingdoms of this world that the devil promised to Christ if He would just bow down and subject himself unto him, as opposed to being subject to the will of God. We are called to be as Christ (1Jn 4:17) who made himself of no reputation, taking on the form of a servant, rebuking the devil and worshipping “the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve”, which will lead to the reward of rulership (Mat 4:8-10, Rev 11:15, Jas 4:7, Joh 6:44).

Mat 4:10  Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

Pro 22:2  The rich and poor meet together: the LORD is the maker of them all.

God is the one who makes the rich and the poor, whether that is someone who is spiritually rich, or physically rich, or physically poor, or spiritually poor. He makes them all and all things are ours (1Co 3:19-23) and God wants us to deeply appreciate all of His creation that he is going to save through judgement that begins at the house of God (1Pe 4:17).

1Co 3:19  For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.
1Co 3:20  And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.
1Co 3:21  Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;
1Co 3:22  Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;
1Co 3:23  And ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s. (Joh 18:9)

We examine ourselves and die daily to the spiritually poor man within us, asking God for His spirit and the mind of Christ to enrich our lives “The rich and poor meet together” (Luk 11:13, 2Co 3:5). So we do meet that poor man within us if God is working with us and become the publican who sees his continual need for God’s grace in his life (Luk 18:10-14).

Luk 11:13  If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

2Co 3:5  Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;

Pro 22:3  A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on^H5674, and are punished.

It is a great blessing when we come to the point by God’s mercy to be able to “foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself” as opposed to when we were the ‘simple who passed on and were punished’, like the man in Proverb Chapter 7 who symbolizes us when we could not detect the lies of Babylon that seduced us and had us under their sway via the devil (Pro 7:6-19). No longer ‘passing on’, (“but the simple pass on”)^H5674, is a lifelong process of being scarcely saved (Pro 24:16, 1Pe 4:18) as God burns out of us all the wood, hay and stubble that has to go (Isa 33:8). In time the Son of God sets us free and sin’s seductive pull no longer has any hold on us as we gain dominion over it through Christ (Rom 6:9, Rom 6:14).

Rom 6:9  Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.

Rom 6:14  For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace

Pro 22:4  By humility and the fear of the LORD are riches, and honour, and life.

God must create the circumstances in our life that will humble us (Mat 23:12, Luk 18:14, Php 4:12-13), and along with that humbled spirit we have to have our hearts softened and changed so that we “fear the LORD”. If God will grant us such a heart it will result in having true riches, and honour, and life, which all come from God through Christ.

Mat 23:12  And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.

Luk 18:14  I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

Php 4:12  I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.
Php 4:13  I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. [Ecc 3:18, Ecc 1:13 CLV]

Pro 22:5 Thorns and snares are in the way of the froward: he that doth keep his soul shall be far from them.

Keeping our soul^H5315, our “nephesh”, is another way of saying ‘keeping under ourselves’ (1Co 9:26-27). It is a dying-daily and keeping-under-ourselves process that we will keep ourselves far from “Thorns and snares are in the way of the froward”. Those thorns and snares represent the false doctrines in this life which is all we can initially produce without Christ as our head and husbandman (Gen 3:18-19).

Gen 3:18  Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
Gen 3:19  In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

With Christ as our head we can resist the sin that results in embracing the lies of Babylon, typified by the crown of thorns on Christ’s head that was put there to symbolize for us that we can, through Christ, overcome the snares and the way of the froward, even unto the shedding of blood (Heb 12:4-6, Mat 27:29-30).

1Co 9:26  I therefore so run, not as uncertainly;(Php 4:13) so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:
1Co 9:27  But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.

Heb 12:4  Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.
Heb 12:5  And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

Mat 27:29  And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews!
Mat 27:30  And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head.

Pro 22:6  Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

We are the child being spoken of in this proverb, and if Christ is our Father, He will be the author and finisher of our faith (Heb 12:2-4), meaning in the end we will not depart from the way, the truth and the life (Joh 8:32-33) that God can form in his kind-of-first-fruit elect who are predestined unto this high calling for the sake of those who we will one day save (Oba 1:21).

Heb 12:2  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Heb 12:3  For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
Heb 12:4  Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.

Oba 1:21  And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD’S.

Pro 22:7  The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.

In the positive, Christ is the rich man who rules over the poor in spirit, and while we are in theses earthen vessels, we are taking that which God has given to us, his talents that we have ‘borrowed’ in that sense and have become the servant to the lender, our God in heaven, who will bring all men to give an account “that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.”(2Co 5:10, Rom 14:12-13, 1Co 3:11-15)

2Co 5:10  For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

Rom 14:12  So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.
Rom 14:13  Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way.

1Co 3:11  For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
1Co 3:12  Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;
1Co 3:13  Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
1Co 3:14  If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
1Co 3:15  If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

Pro 22:8  He that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity: and the rod of his anger shall fail.

“Sowing iniquity” is being self-righteous (Eze 33:13) and we will “reap vanity”, the vanity of receiving our reward in this life for blowing our own trumpet and not giving God absolute credit for every single thing that we’ve done in our life, both good and evil (Mat 6:2, Luk 17:10, Php 2:12-13).

Eze 33:13  When I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity, all his righteousnesses shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it.

Mat 6:2  Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

Luk 17:10  So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.

Php 2:12  Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
Php 2:13  For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

The “good name” that we’ve been talking about is obtained by Christ alone who can and does burn up that first name within us, that first beastly number of 6.6.6., his image, his mark, and number of his name (Rev 15:2) that is incomplete and in need of going through a process of judgement that will bring us unto perfection on the third day (three sixes) (Luk 13:32).

Luk 13:32  And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.

This “rod of his anger^{H5678 = wrath, rage} [that] shall fail” is part and parcel of the self-righteous spirit within all men that wants to correct others without examining ourselves first (2Sa 12:7, Mat 5:22)

2Sa 12:7  And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul;

Mat 5:22  But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.

It is for this cause that judgement must begin at the house of God (1Pe 4:17) so that this self-righteous spirit can be burnt out of God’s children making them vessels “meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work” (2Ti 2:21, Jer 18:6).

2Ti 2:21  If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.

Jer 18:6  O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.

Pro 22:9  He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed; for he giveth of his bread to the poor.

When our eye is single it is a work of the Lord who makes it possible for us to understand that singleness, or simplicity (2Co 11:3) that is in Christ, seeing ourselves as one body with many members (Rom 12:4).

2Co 11:3  But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity^G572 that is in Christ.

Simplicity G572 haplotēs hap-lot’-ace
From G573; singleness, that is, (subjectively) sincerity (without dissimulation or self seeking), or (objectively) generosity (copious bestowal): – bountifulness, liberal (-ity), simplicity, singleness.

With this conviction in our hearts we understand the spiritual significance of no man ever hating his own flesh (Eph 5:29-30). Through Christ we are able to acknowledge His body and be blessed to give our life up for each other as a joint that supplies in love (Eph 4:16). It is with this ‘good’ or “bountiful eye” which God gives His children that we will be blessed, giving our bread both physically and spiritually to the once spiritually poor who represent the elect. We are not exempt from taking care of others as we have opportunity in the world, but we are especially to do good unto the household of faith, unto our own flesh and blood (Gal 6:10, Mat 5:47-48).

Pro 22:10  Cast out the scorner, and contention shall go out; yea, strife and reproach shall cease.

Inwardly we are doing battle against powers and principalities that are constantly trying to create doubtful disputations in our hearts and minds (Eph 6:12-13). It is with the faith of Christ that we can quench all the fiery darts of the devil (Eph 6:16) as we bring every thought into to subjection unto him (2Co 10:5-6).  That is when “strife and reproach shall cease”, and that is how a “good name” is being formed within the lives of those who have been called to overcome in this age (1Jn 2:13-14).

Eph 6:16  Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

Eph 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Eph 6:13  Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

2Co 10:5  Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
2Co 10:6  And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.

1Jn 2:13  I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father.
1Jn 2:14  I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.