The blessed inheritance has built-in boundaries: God is invited into the equation and the moral restraints and convictions of the mature heart are in place. From the deep pockets of spiritual tradition comes this observation from the compiler of the Proverbs.
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Doubtless it is built not only upon observation but also upon the stories told among friends and passed down through the generations.
Imagine a young person born into wealth and power. What happens if he or she suddenly inherits it all at an early age? The writer of Proverbs warns, there is danger ahead. He has seen too much not to know that in such times, caution is prudent.
The Bible continually reminds us that money has a potentially corruptive influence. Like fire, it can quickly assume control, particularly when there is an absence of experience, of maturity, of intentional living. In cases like these, money is likely to lead to disaster.
Today we read of young entrepreneurs who have accumulated dazzling amounts of money by selling a company or offering an IPO. At the time this proverb was formulated, however, very few people acquired great wealth through an overnight bonanza of financial success. In those days, wealth came slowly and was hard-won (unless it was gained surreptitiously through forms of crime and violence).
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