Good Eye

(Proverbs 22:9 KJV)  He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed; for he giveth of his bread to the poor.

Once again the KJV does us the favor of reaching for a more literal translation.  For the life of me I cannot understand why translators cannot back off and allow the literal text to speak to us instead of trying to tell us what God must have meant.  Here we have a “bounteous” (2896a) “eye” (5869) instead of the “generous” of the NASB.  As I read the whole verse today I saw the marginal reading of the NASB which said “good eye”.  Why could they not have just said that?

In this context it struck me that this could involve a bit of discernment.  Notice that the NASB talks about “food” (3899) and the KJV is again more literal with “bread”.  It is talking about giving the basic needs not the numerous wants.  And I think it is referring to the genuine poor not just the ones who are used to getting handouts instead of working. 

So?  To me this means the family in the church that has had sudden medical bills and doesn’t know how they are going to pay for them.  It means the single mother who can’t afford to get her car repaired.  The needs are numerous.  Make sure that you don’t give what you can spare to someone who just has their hand out.