Riches

From BiblePortal Wikipedia

King James Dictionary [1]

RICH'ES, n. This is in the singular number in fact, but treated as the plural.

1. Wealth opulence affluence possessions of land, good or money in abundance.

Riches do not consist in having more gold and silver, but in having more in proportion than our neighbors.

2. Splendid sumptuous appearance.

The riches of heav'n's pavement, trodden gold.

3. In Scripture, an abundance of spiritual blessings.

 Luke 16 .

The riches of God, his fullness of wisdom, power, mercy, grace and glory,  Ephesians 1,2 or the abundance supplied by his works.  Psalms 104 .

The riches of Christ, his abundant fullness of spiritual and eternal blessings for men.  Ephesians 3 .

The riches of a state or kingdom, consist less in a full treasury than in the productiveness of its soil and manufactures, and in the industry of its inhabitants.

Webster's Dictionary [2]

(1): ( a.) That which makes one rich; an abundance of land, goods, money, or other property; wealth; opulence; affluence.

(2): ( a.) That which appears rich, sumptuous, precious, or the like.

Holman Bible Dictionary [3]

Wealth And Materialism

Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology [4]

See Wealth

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament [5]

See Wealth.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia [6]

rich´ez , rich´iz  : Used to render the following Hebrew and Greek words: (1) ‛Ōsher , which should, perhaps, be considered the most general word, as it is the most often used (  Genesis 31:16;  Ecclesiastes 4:8;  Jeremiah 9:23 ). It looks at riches simply as riches, without regard to any particular feature. Alongside this would go the Greek πλοῦτος , ploútos ( Matthew 13:22;  Ephesians 2:7 ). (2) Ḥōṣen ( Proverbs 27:24;  Jeremiah 20:5 ), nekhāṣı̄m and rekhūsh ( Genesis 36:7;  Daniel 11:13 ,  Daniel 11:14 the King James Version) look at riches as things accumulated, collected, amassed. (3) Hōn looks upon riches as earnings, the fruit of toil ( Psalm 119:14;  Proverbs 8:18;  Ezekiel 27:27 ). (4) Hāmōn regards riches in the aspect of being much, this coming from the original idea of noise, through the idea of a multitude as making the noise, the idea of many, or much, being in multitude ( Psalm 37:16 the King James Version). (5) Ḥayil regards riches as power ( Psalm 62:1-12 :19;   Isaiah 8:4;  Isaiah 10:14 ). (6) Yithrāh means "running over," and so presents riches as abundance ( Jeremiah 48:36 the King James Version). Along with this may be placed shūa‛ , which has the idea of breadth, and so of abundance ( Job 36:19 the King James Version). (7) Ḳinyān regards riches as a creation, something made ( Psalm 104:24; compare margin); (8) (χρῆμα , chrḗma ) looks at riches as useful ( Mark 10:23 f parallel). Like the New Testament, the Apoe uses only ploutos and chrēma .

Material riches are regarded by the Scriptures as neither good nor bad in themselves, but only according as they are properly or improperly used. They are transitory ( Proverbs 27:24 ); they are not to be trusted in ( Mark 10:23;  Luke 18:24;  1 Timothy 6:17 ); they are not to be gloried in ( Jeremiah 9:23 ); the heart is not to be set on them ( Psalm 62:10 ); but they are made by God ( Psalm 104:24 ), and come from God ( 1 Chronicles 29:12 ); and they are the crown of the wise ( Proverbs 14:24 ). Material riches are used to body forth for us the most precious and glorious realities of the spiritual realm. See, e.g.,  Romans 9:23;  Romans 11:33;  Ephesians 2:7;  Philippians 4:19;  Colossians 1:27 . Compare Mammon; Treasure; Wealth .

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature [7]

(the rendering in the A.V. of several Heb. and Gr. words, especially עשֶׁר , Πλοῦτος ). The wealth of a pastoral people, such as the Hebrews in the patriarchal age, consisted chiefly in flocks and herds. Hence we find it assigned as a cause of the separation of Esau and Jacob that "their riches were more than they might dwell together; and the land wherein they were strangers could not bear them because of their cattle" ( Genesis 36:8). It was not until the reign of Solomon that the Jews possessed any abundance of the precious metals; and as the nation never became commercial, its rich men must in all ages have been the great land holders. Throughout the East the holders of land have ever been remarkable for exacting very disproportionate shares of the profit from the actual cultivators of the soil, and this is the reason why we find "the rich" so often and so severely denounced in Scripture. Riches is frequently used in a metaphorical sense for intellectual endowments, and for the gifts and graces of God's Holy Spirit, which constitute the treasure to be "laid up in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through and steal."

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