The parable of the rich fool

[Littlejoe]

That got SO old.... every time I heard people say "enlarge my territory", I wanted to shout "you can't even manage what you have NOW!!!!"

right?!?

[Joel]

I have another thought about verse 33 “Sell your possessions and give to charity;..."

The preceding 11 verses are teaching not to worry or fear about your future material needs. That too at first seems a bit strange. In a 20-verse lesson about greed, 11 verses are teaching about worry. But I'm thinking that Jesus is saying that worry/fear is a major motivator for greed: a person may strive to acquire material wealth for himself out of worry/fear about his future material needs. Fear narrows your focus to acquiring material wealth, at the expense of seeking the kingdom. The worry passage is introduced with "For this reason":

"21 So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God. 22 And He said to His disciples, “For this reason I say to you, do not worry about..."

Those 11 verses about worry are immediately followed by verse 33 "Sell your possessions and give to charity;...". My translation (NASB) has the 11 worry verses set off in their own paragraph, but what if verse 33 is part of it: an application of the teaching against worry. That is: don't let the aforementioned worry/fear get in the way of your giving to charity. You don't have to be afraid to give "for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom."

[Joel]

One thing I still don't understand is what does "rich toward God" mean? ("21 So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”) That doesn't seem to make grammatical sense in English, and I wonder if it's a translation problem. In English there's no meaning to being rich "toward" something/one.

Someone in this thread suggested "not rich toward God" means "being stingy toward God". But generous (non-stingy) is not the same as rich. It's not at all clear in English that "rich toward God" would mean "generous toward God".

Perhaps it's the preposition "towards" (εἰς) that requires a better translation? Perhaps someone who knows Greek better than I could comment on that? Looking at a lexicon, it can have lots of meanings, such as: into, unto, until, towards, on behalf of.

In verse 33 Jesus contrasts material wealth with treasure in heaven. Is it making that same distinction here in v. 21? Like you can put your wealth "into" stocks or gold or real estate. Or "into" God, meaning God (or the kingdom?) is your wealth. Your wealth should be God, rather than gold. But I'm not very sure that I see anything in my lexicon that would support that particular meaning for εἰς.

Perhaps it could mean "on behalf of" or "for" God? That would parallel the dative "for himself" earlier in the same sentence. Then it would be a matter of motivation: are you doing it just for yourself, or for God.

But I'm not aware of any English translation that says "for God" here. All the translations I checked have "toward".

[JonathanL]

One thing I still don't understand is what does "rich toward God" mean? ("21 So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”) That doesn't seem to make grammatical sense in English, and I wonder if it's a translation problem. In English there's no meaning to being rich "toward" something/one.

Someone in this thread suggested "not rich toward God" means "being stingy toward God". But generous (non-stingy) is not the same as rich. It's not at all clear in English that "rich toward God" would mean "generous toward God".

Perhaps it's the preposition "towards" (εἰς) that requires a better translation? Perhaps someone who knows Greek better than I could comment on that? Looking at a lexicon, it can have lots of meanings, such as: into, unto, until, towards, on behalf of.

In verse 33 Jesus contrasts material wealth with treasure in heaven. Is it making that same distinction here in v. 21? Like you can put your wealth "into" stocks or gold or real estate. Or "into" God, meaning God (or the kingdom?) is your wealth. Your wealth should be God, rather than gold. But I'm not very sure that I see anything in my lexicon that would support that particular meaning for εἰς.

Perhaps it could mean "on behalf of" or "for" God? That would parallel the dative "for himself" earlier in the same sentence. Then it would be a matter of motivation: are you doing it just for yourself, or for God.

But I'm not aware of any English translation that says "for God" here. All the translations I checked have "toward".

The Swedish translation I'm using (Svenska Folkbibeln, or SFB) translates it as "rik inför Gud", which in English would be something like "rich before God". I've always read it to mean something like "rich in the eyes of God".

[Mountain Man]

God's riches are in righteous acts and not worldly wealth.

[Littlejoe]

One thing I still don't understand is what does "rich toward God" mean? ("21 So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”) That doesn't seem to make grammatical sense in English, and I wonder if it's a translation problem. In English there's no meaning to being rich "toward" something/one.

Someone in this thread suggested "not rich toward God" means "being stingy toward God". But generous (non-stingy) is not the same as rich. It's not at all clear in English that "rich toward God" would mean "generous toward God".

Perhaps it's the preposition "towards" (εἰς) that requires a better translation? Perhaps someone who knows Greek better than I could comment on that? Looking at a lexicon, it can have lots of meanings, such as: into, unto, until, towards, on behalf of.

In verse 33 Jesus contrasts material wealth with treasure in heaven. Is it making that same distinction here in v. 21? Like you can put your wealth "into" stocks or gold or real estate. Or "into" God, meaning God (or the kingdom?) is your wealth. Your wealth should be God, rather than gold. But I'm not very sure that I see anything in my lexicon that would support that particular meaning for εἰς.

Perhaps it could mean "on behalf of" or "for" God? That would parallel the dative "for himself" earlier in the same sentence. Then it would be a matter of motivation: are you doing it just for yourself, or for God.

But I'm not aware of any English translation that says "for God" here. All the translations I checked have "toward".

God's riches are in righteous acts and not worldly wealth.

Building on what MM said, I would think Matt 6:19-20 is what Jesus was referring to:

19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.