My dear readers,

Proverbs 11:26 “He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him: but blessing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it.”

Hoarding means to collect and to accumulate. When a farmer sowed and reaped in Old Testament times, he would keep a portion of his crops for his family's food, another portion as seedlings for next year's crops, and would sell the rest in the market so that other Israelites would have food. All the above would be done after the firstfruits and tithes had been given to God. However, when he hoards, i.e. withholds his crops, the nation would suffer. Israel, like all nations, had many different trades, such as shepherding, carpentry, tailoring and tentmaking. Hoarding would prevent others from buying.

For the farmer, it would be corn. The word “corn” in the Bible usually refers to wheat or barley rather than maize. To withhold means to store them in a safe place so that pests like rats and humidity would not eat and ruin them. The large barns that Joseph commanded the Egyptians to construct must have had sufficient ventilation and protection from humidity and pests to keep the grain good for food for seven long years. But withholding corn in Israel during OT times would have been much more challenging. Storing them in clay jars, in caves, or by digging holes in the ground and lining the bottom with dry straw to prevent moisture before burying them did not ensure that the corn would last very long, especially against pests. Long-term hoarding would likely ruin the corn.

Why do people hoard?

Some people hoard items for investment because they believe the items may increase in value in the not-too-distant future. Others hoard because it is a mental health issue (called Hoarding Disorder). From a business perspective for the Israelite, hoarding or withholding of corn was usually to maximise profit. Some might release their corn slowly to take advantage of supply and demand and get a higher price. Gentile nations could do what was right in their own eyes. But God’s people were not permitted to do so by the owner of the Promised Land, the Almighty God. All Israelites understood from the day they conquered and settled in the Promised Land under Moses and Joshua around 1400 B.C. that every lot was given to them by the LORD. They were to live in their respective lots for perpetuity. They were not to sell them. When they were in debt and had to hand their land over to their creditors to work until the debt was paid, the LORD instituted the year of release in the Law of Moses so that the debtor would be cleared of debt and given a new beginning free of debt. In the case of the land, it would be the year of jubilee, i.e. the fiftieth year. Leviticus 25:8-10 “And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years. 9 Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubile to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land. 10 And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.”

The holy Name of the LORD was indelibly linked to Israel in Exodus 19, when the LORD became Israel's God and Israel became God's people. Therefore, God provided His laws to help and teach Israel how to live in a manner that reflected God’s character. God knew that every Israelite born into the world was just as depraved and sinful as every Gentile baby. Some would make bad choices in life and business, and others would be wiser and better in business. The LORD ensured that, under theocratic rule in the Promised Land, fellow Israelites had to take care not to take advantage of one another.

It is with this understanding that Proverbs 11:26 ought to be understood. 

• Curse the hoarder – If farmers withheld their food, the nation would suffer. The spiritual blessings of the LORD on Israel as a national witness were tied to physical blessings. Leviticus 26:1-5 “Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the LORD your God. 2 Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the LORD. 3 If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them; 4 Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. 5 And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and ye shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely.”

Therefore, if Israel obeys God’s Word and struggles to find food because the farmers withhold it for personal gain, like greed, the Israelites might think that the LORD has failed to keep His word. The Israelites will stop obeying God’s Word and might turn to idols since the LORD failed them; the holy national witness for Christ will be replaced by an idolatrous one.

Murmuring and complaints will not be limited to the greedy farmers but extend toward the LORD. God does His part in providing the early and latter rain to ensure the Promised Land is fertile and indeed flowing with milk and honey. But when greedy farmers hoard their crops, not only physical suffering will ensue, but spiritual suffering will as well. Israel was the only holy nation from eternity past and into eternity future. Israel was the only nation on earth designed and created by God from its inception. Israel was the only nation whose every aspect of its existence was ordained by God and imbued with spiritual significance. All these could be jeopardised by the greedy farmers who withhold their crops. The Israelites will curse them for ruining their trust and faith in their LORD God, for their selfish greed, and deliberately making them suffer when they can very well help them and strengthen their faith and trust in the LORD. The rest of the world will also curse them for darkening the spiritual light that Israel alone could shine on behalf of the Lord Jesus Christ. God will surely curse them for their evil in causing the Israelites to think that God does not keep His Word.

• Bless the seller – However, if they sell their crops as they are supposed to do in obedience to the Law of Moses, the people will bless them. God did not instruct these farmers to give away their crops, for that would promote laziness. These farmers need to live and prosper like all the trades in the Promised Land. All trades must prosper, but they must not be greedy. All Israelites must remember their paramount duty as a nation was to be a spiritual witness for Christ. They were to care for and help one another. They were not to compete and hurt other businesses to prosper their own. They were to help their fellow farmers to prosper so that all of God’s farmers could prosper together in God’s Promised Land. In this way of collective prosperity, all in Israel would see the gracious hand of God throughout the Promised Land. They were to be a holy nation and encourage one another to be holy for generations, as God is holy. They were to fulfil God’s spiritual purpose for their existence, to shine brightly for Christ as they live in righteousness according to the Holy Scriptures.

The LORD will bless them, too, for their hard work and obedience to God’s Word. Their crops will continue to flourish and be full. Deuteronomy 28:8-12 “The LORD shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. 9 The LORD shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, and walk in his ways. 10 And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be afraid of thee. 11 And the LORD shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers to give thee. 12 The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow.”

All nations of the world needed to see Christ through their holy lives and God’s blessing in the Promised Land. If Israel obeys the LORD, the blessings will flow. If other nations become Christians, the blessings will also flow to them. If more and more nations become Christians, they will become part of Israel, and the borders of Israel will grow, not by military or economic conquest but spiritual conquest. These nations will voluntarily remove all their idols and destroy their places of idolatrous worship, and embrace the Law of Moses and enlarge the borders of the Promised Land willingly. Sadly, this did not happen.

The local church witness inherited the responsibility from the nation of Israel when Israel rejected Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah (Christ, in Greek). Inside every sound and biblical church, Jesus Christ is its Saviour and God. The world outside the church has the devil as its god. Every local church must be a holy witness, caring for and helping one another to become more and more like Christ in their daily lives as they witness to sinners for Christ outside the church.

Do not hoard but help.

Yours faithfully in the Saviour’s Service

Rev Dr Quek Suan Yew, Pastor