Proverbs 11:22-26--The Proverbs of Solomon

Proverbs 11:22-26
English Standard Version
​22 Like a gold ring in a pig's snout
    is a beautiful woman without discretion.
23 The desire of the righteous ends only in good,
    the expectation of the wicked in wrath.
24 One gives freely, yet grows all the richer;
    another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want.
25 Whoever brings blessing will be enriched,
    and one who waters will himself be watered.
26 The people curse him who holds back grain,
    but a blessing is on the head of him who sells it.

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I doubt I need to remind you that pigs were the most unclean animals to the Jewish readers of these proverbs, and I would imagine that everyone else who read this understood that the Jewish people were not to come into contact with pigs.  So, it is the image of a pig that Solomon uses to talk about a woman without discretion.  You can put a ring in the pig's nose to make it look fancy, but it is still a pig.  In the same way, a person can dress themselves up however they want on the outside, but if their heart is ugly, they will lack true beauty--this goes for both men and women, though the text here is warning Solomon's son about women who do everything to make themselves look pretty on the outside but inside they are ugly.

The righteous man desires things that are not only for his own good, but also for the good of others.  If you know a good man or woman, listen to his or her vision because the LORD will give them vision that will be helpful to everyone.  However, those who follow after the wicked person are following them into the wrath that is prepared for them.  It is your choice whether God's blessings that spill out from the righteous person onto those around him or her, or if the curses of God spill over from the unrighteous person to those around him or her.

God's economy doesn't make sense to us.  It seems like those who are generous with God's money in the same way that God would be generous with it are entrusted with more of His money to be generous with, but those who are stingy and act like whatever they are stewards of belongs to them--even that will be taken from them.  See the parable of the talents and the parable of the minas that both teach this principle.  The stingy and selfish person will never have enough to be satisfied either.  That too is a curse.

You reap what you sow.  If you are a blessing to others, more than likely they will be a blessing to you in your time of need (though maybe not in the same quantity or quality, but the community as a whole will probably gather around you to support you if you have supported the community).  A person who is stingy often has no one to turn to in their time of need other than maybe to government entitlement programs, and that's not nearly the same.  Charity that comes from a heart that wants to help is very different than someone giving you money because you are entitled to that service.  There is blessing that comes both from giving and receiving charitable contributions.

If you have in abundance and hold back what your neighbor needs, you will rightly be called a "monster" or something worse.  While they don't have a right to covet your property and it doesn't belong to them by any stretch of the imagination, we're talking in this part of Proverbs about something that is a necessity--food.  If they are literally dying of hunger and thirst and you have food and water and you have the means to help them and won't, then you will probably be held accountable by both the courts on this earth and by the court of heaven for your depraved indifference.  However, Solomon says that if you have an abundance of grain (food), there is nothing wrong with selling it to make money.  Don't hoard it all, but don't also assume that you have to give away for free what cost you something.  Determine a fair price that person in need can pay (maybe you even barter with them in some way so that they feel like they are doing something useful, because that is good for their emotional and mental health too).  Do what is right and leave the rest up to God.  I think that's a general principle here.