Comentários de Citação sobre Provérbios 3:9

כבד את ה' מהונך ומראשית כל תבואתך, וימלאו אסמיך שבע ותירוש יקביך יפרוצו, “Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your harvests; so that your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine.” (Proverbs 3, 9-10).

A Midrashic approach, based on Tanchuma Re'ey 12: the words: “honor the Lord from your wealth (הונך),” are interpreted as related to הנאה, something from which one derives satisfaction or profit. Solomon urges people who have received anything enjoyable from G’d over and above what the average person enjoys (not only their harvest) as obligated to “kick back” something to G’d and to thereby honour His name. As an example of the point just made, consider a person who has been endowed by G’d with an especially beautiful voice, a singer. It behooves such a person to place this gift in the service of the Lord by acting as Cantor in the Synagogue services during communal prayer, provided he does so in order to honor the Lord and not in order to receive personal applause by the congregants in his own honor. If such a person truly intends his vocal contribution to the Synagogue services to be in G’d’s honor, the words of Solomon in Song of Songs 2,15: “Let Me hear your voice for your voice is sweet,” may be applied to him. On the other hand, if such a well endowed person uses his gift to reap personal honor, Scripture applies to him the verse in Jeremiah 12,8: “She raised her voice against Me, therefore I have hated her.” A similar example would be someone endowed with the ability to be a calligrapher of especial talent. He should acknowledge having been granted this talent, by using it in the preparation of sacred texts, to write Torah scrolls, phylacteries, etc. If he does indeed write a Torah scroll from pure motives (not because he wants to sell it at a profit), he has acquired an outstanding merit. Our sages (Menachot 30) went as far as describing a person who wrote a Torah scroll from such motives as comparing him to someone who had literally received the Torah from heaven (at Mount Sinai). The same applies to people who possess exceptional skill in performing the art of circumcision. Such people should strive to use their skill regularly, seeing that the performance of that commandment is linked to 13 covenants between G’d and His people. All people endowed with exceptional skills or talents are duty bound to place it in the service of the Lord as a form of acknowledging that their talent is G’d-given.
The words ומראשית כל תבואתך quoted in Proverbs 3,9 are reminiscent of the fact that the Jewish people are described by G’d as “His first harvest (ראשית),” such as in Jeremiah 2,2. It behooves them therefore more than any other nation to know and acknowledge the Lord Who is the First of all Firsts. They must therefore honor the Lord by offering Him the very first of their respective harvests. This is what the Torah had in mind with the commandment governing the bringing of Bikkurim to the Temple as spelled out already in Exodus 23,1. The Torah commanded the Jewish people who have been called ראשית to go to Jerusalem, a place which is known as the first in the universe, i.e. ranking first in beauty, as described in Psalms 50,2 and to offer these firstlings of their harvest to the First, i.e. to the Lord of the universe. They deliver these gifts to the priest who represents the “first” of the nation performing service to the Lord in that capacity, etc. This is the meaning of the opening verse of our Parshah,

King Solomon, of blessed memory, said: “honor the Lord with your wealth, with the best of all your income, and your barns will be filled with grain, your vats will burst with new wine” [Proverbs, 3:9–10]. King Solomon showed us in this verse that the person should rely on the Holy One and the person should honor the Holy One with what he can and owns, and should feed the poor. He should know that God will repay him double. He should not think that when he will give the poor person, his wealth will decrease, but he should rely on the Holy One, who will increase his money even more, as the verse says, “one man gives generously and ends with more” [Proverbs, 11:24]. There are many who are not stingy and spend money on the poor. With this, they gather even more. Therefore, the verses said that you should honor the Holy One with your goods. Then the Holy One will make you rich, will increase your grain and your wine. We find this concerning the tithes. The Holy One explicitly wrote, “put me to the test” [Malachi, 3:10]. This means, the Holy One said test me and give tithes and charity, and I will make you rich. Even though concerning all the commandments, the person should not say, I will fulfill a commandment, expecting that I should have good luck with my money, as the verse says, “do not try the Lord” [Deuteronomy, 6:16]. This means, do not test God. However, concerning tithes, one may test God and may say, I am giving tithes and charity expecting that it will make me rich. Our sages also learned from these verses, “honor the Lord with your wealth” [Proverbs, 3:9]. You should honor God with what God has given you. When someone sees that he has a good voice to sing and praise God, he should not spare himself, and should sing to honor the Holy One. However, in any event he should not do it so that women and men would praise him for his voice, but to honor the Holy One. Similarly, when he was worthy to be a scribe, he should write books to learn from them. The one who writes a Torah scroll, his reward is like he had received the Torah on Mount Sinai. Similarly, he can be a mohel. His reward is very great because thirteen covenants were said concerning the commandment of circumcision. The verse “honor the Lord with your wealth” [Proverbs, 3:9] says this. This means, with whatever God has blessed you; you should honor the Holy One. Also, Israel are called first. Thus, it is just that they should bring the first of their grain and fruits to the Holy One, who is called first, since He is the first, before everything. Therefore, the Torah wrote here that one should bring the first fruits to the Holy One before he tests them. This is the meaning of “you shall take some of every first fruit of the soil” [26:2].¹Bahya, Ki Tavo, Introduction. This means, you should take some of every first fruit of the soil.