“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11)
Growing Dominion, Part 71
“He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him: but blessing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it” (Prov. 11:26).
This passage addresses the activity of a merchant directly. Assumed in the background is some sort of scarcity. There is a shortage of corn, and the merchant thinks that if sits on his stash a little longer, the chances are good that the price will go up. If he withholds corn, his customer base will curse him for it. But public relations is an important part of all business; the one who does what he can to sell receives the blessing of his customers.
This means that business has to be seen (in part) as public service. In a previous post, we talked about how it is possible to receive through bestowing. This is what we have here. The bestowal is of corn; the receiving is of blessing and good will from the general public. Whether it is ever said this way explicitly or not, the merchant should conduct each transaction in such a way that, when the deal is over, the customer could honestly and conscientiously say, “Bless you.”