Withholding and Selling
Commonplace –
“He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him: but blessing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it” (Proverbs 11:26).
This week our pastor read from Obadiah, which is a book I am not very familiar with. It’s short, only one chapter, just twenty-one verses. The book is written to Edom, the descendants of Esau. God is rebuking them for their hateful treatment of the Israelites, at one point noting that even robbers leave somethings from those they rob, even grapegatherers leave some grapes when they gather. The point is Edom was greedy and hateful and like “[he] that withholdeth corn”, as mentioned in our verse today, there is a reckoning for such evil greed: curses.
In his Commentary on verse 11:26, Matthew Henry notes,
“We are not to think it an indifferent thing, and not worth heeding, whether we have the ill will and word, or the good will and word, of our neighbours, their prayers or their curses; for here we are taught to dread their curses, and forego our own profit rather than incur them; and to court their blessings, and be at some expense to purchase them. Sometimes, vox populi est vox Dei – the voice of the people is the voice of God” (700).
Works Cited
Henry, Matthew. “Proverbs 11:26.” Matthew Henry’s Commentary On the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition. Volume 3 and Volume 6, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., March 1996.
Holy Bible: Giant Print with Study Aids. Dugan Publishers, Inc., 1984.
© 2026 Angela Hormberg
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