The desire of a man is his kindness? Rereading Proverbs 19:22.

‎ Proverbs 19:22 תַּאֲוַ֣ת אָדָ֣ם חַסְדּ֑וֹ וְטֽוֹב־רָ֜שׁ מֵאִ֥ישׁ כָּזָֽב׃

^KJV Proverbs 19:22 The desire of a man is his kindness: and a poor man is better than a liar.

^NASB Proverbs 19:22 What is desirable in a man is his kindness, And it is better to be a poor man than a liar.

Translation

All other OT instances of תַּאֲוַ֣ת ta'avat (desire) followed by a personal noun are subjective genitives (Psa. 10:3 - his soul's desire; 10:17 - the humble’s desire; Psa. 21:3 - his heart’s desire; Psa. 112:10 - the wicked’s desire; Pro. 11:23 - the righteous’s desire; cf. Prov. 21:25; Isa. 26:8). That would suggest taking ta’avat ’adam here as ‘a man’s desire.” The word desire can be negative or positive. It depends on the context, usually the following genitive, to determine which it is. That it can be negative (greed) without a genitive is shown by Num. 11:4 and Num. 11:34, where Israel is greedy for meat.

חַסְדּ֑וֹ hasdo - Waltke, 2:115, notes, “Ḥesed is a homonym meaning both “unfailing kindness” and “disgrace, shame” (HALOT, 1.336, s.v. I ḥesed and II ḥesed). Since both interpretations of ḥesed are feasible, probably the pun is intentional.”

Waltke, 2:92, translates, “What people desire in a human being is his unfailing kindness; better is a poor person than a liar.”

However, Solomon uses the homonym hesed ‘shame’ in Prov. 14:34 and the verbal form of this same root in Prov. 25:10. This Solomoic usage makes taking hesed here in 19:22 as ‘shame’ more feasible.

If we take ta’avat negatively and hesed as ‘shame,’ that yields “A man’s greed/lust is his shame” or “The greed of a man is his shame.”

Interpretation

Waltke, 2:115, writes : “... this proverb by a pun instructs the son specifically to show unfailingly kindness to the needy, and not to be selfish.” This is possible. The question is which side of the pun is uppermost in the text.

I’m taking the “selfish” or greedy side as uppermost because 1) it is within the well-recognized semantic range of hesed, 2) Solomon uses this sense elsewhere in Proverbs, 3) it makes use of a recognized sense of ta’avat, and 4) it reflects the normal use of ta’avat in genitive phrases, and 5) requires no semantic jimmying to make sense. That yields the following translation:

^APB Proverbs 19:22 The greed of a man is his shame, And better is a poor man than a liar.

Given this reading, Yahweh, what are you teaching me about yourself?

You think greed is shameful. You are not greedy. Therefore, you do not want me to greedy. Jesus said, ὁρᾶτε καὶ φυλάσσεσθε ἀπὸ πάσης πλεονεξίας ... Beware and guard yourself from all covetousness. Father, help me to guard myself from every form of covetousness. Greed for more is often the grounds of dishonesty. Hence the follow-up linein Prov. 19:22b: a [honest] poor man is better than a [rich] liar.

Yahweh, You value truth-telling over wealth, honesty over gain. Strengthen my commitment to these same values, that I may walk worthy of you, pleasing you in all things.