Proverbs 23:5

My Notes

What Does Proverbs 23:5 Mean?

This is one of the most vivid images in Proverbs. "Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not?" — the question itself is provocative. Solomon is asking: why would you fix your gaze on something that doesn't really exist? The "that which is not" refers to wealth viewed as permanent security. It looks solid. It looks real. But it's an illusion.

Then the image: "for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven." Not a sparrow fluttering away — an eagle, soaring powerfully and irretrievably beyond your reach. The Hebrew intensifies this: riches don't just disappear, they actively grow wings and launch themselves away. You can't chase them down. You can't call them back. The eagle metaphor emphasizes both the speed and the finality of the loss.

The marginal note in the KJV — "cause thine eyes to fly upon" — adds another layer. It's not just that wealth flies away. It's that your eyes, your attention, your fixation on wealth is itself a kind of flight — a chasing after wind. You're pursuing something that was never going to stay. The proverb isn't anti-wealth; it's anti-illusion. It's a warning against building your identity, security, or peace on something that has wings.

Reflection Questions

• 1.What does it look like in your daily life when you're 'setting your eyes' on wealth — fixating on financial security as your source of peace?
• 2.Have you experienced riches 'flying away' — a sudden financial loss or shift? How did that experience reshape your relationship with money?
• 3.What's the difference between being financially responsible and being financially fixated? Where do you fall on that spectrum right now?
• 4.If money has wings, what doesn't? What in your life feels truly permanent and worth building on?

Devotional

There's a particular kind of anxiety that comes from making money your foundation. It's the anxiety of watching the stock market, of calculating and recalculating, of lying awake wondering if you have enough. It's the anxiety of setting your eyes on something that was never designed to hold your gaze.

Solomon isn't telling you not to work hard or be wise with money. He's telling you not to stare at it. Not to fixate on it as though it were the solid ground beneath your feet. Because it isn't. It has wings. It can leave overnight — through a market crash, a medical emergency, a job loss, a thousand things beyond your control. And when it goes, it goes like an eagle, not like something you can run after and catch.

This is an invitation to hold money loosely. To be grateful for it when it's there and to not be destroyed when it shifts. Your security was never meant to come from your bank account. It was meant to come from the God who owns the cattle on a thousand hills and knows exactly what you need.

What are you staring at today? What has your fixation? If it has wings, it might be time to redirect your gaze.

Commentary

Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.

Cross References

Related passages throughout Scripture