Job 20:10
His children will seek to appease the poor,
His offspring must give back his ill-gotten gains.
I read an article about how the rich avoid taxes through the use of loans and deduction of interest on these loans. The first time I heard about it, I dismissed it as an option for me because I do not believe God wants me to get ahead by debt. Someone I knew well used to operate out of debt with the apparent belief that once they died, all those debts would go away. I really did not like this thought process, but something like it is set up in the tax code to help the rich stay that way and skip the estate tax (which I do not believe is right either.)
‘Seek to appease’ was also ‘seek the favor of’, ‘must make amends’, ‘shall seek to please’, ‘ingratiate with’, and ‘have to placate’.
‘Offspring’ was also ‘their hands’ of ’his own’. ‘Ill-gotten gains’ was also ‘wealth’, ‘what he gained by force’, and ‘their goods’.
I must admit that I do not know enough about debt or the poor taking back from the dead to really know what was the basis for the verse. My guess is that the man in question was a no good tyrant who stole from everyone and his kids are not mean enough to prevent them from taking it back once he is gone. Sure sounds like wishful thinking rather than a religious philosophy. Zophar is not presented as the smartest of the companions.
My understanding of generational wealth comes from the Bible where the parents passed down everything to the kids with the oldest getting a little more than the others. There was no government to take death taxes like in our country. I also know our country is supposed to let everyone give away whatever they have to whoever they want as long as they are not rich. My mom left us a little and we split it as even as made sense. Oddly, I had to invest my own money to make sure it didn’t all get taken by her debt.
When I was little, I thought everyone died rich and passed it to the next generation. I eventually learned my family was poor and there would be no such wealth coming our way. I eventually learned I wanted my parents to live longer than any inheritance would impact my live style. And now I know I want my kids to establish themselves before we die and pass on whatever is left from our savings. I doubt we will have enough to hit the estate tax level, but if we do I will try to have a plan for those too.
God has provided everything we have. I try to honor that. I have ideas of different ways to do so. As this new year unfolds further, I hope that I can use all I steward to glorify God. And when I say hope I mean pray.
Written 1/27/26, Posted 3/30/26, Job 468/~1070