Abstract Concepts Personified
The Master Who Demands Devotion
Personifications · 6 verses
Jesus personifies wealth as 'Mammon'—not merely possessions but a rival deity demanding worship. 'Ye cannot serve God and mammon.' This personification exposes the spiritual nature of materialism: riches are not neutral tools but potential masters. They promise security but take wings and fly away like an eagle. They deceive, choking the word and making it unfruitful. The rich man's wealth is his strong city in his own imagination. Those who trust in riches shall fall. The love of money is the root of all evil, causing some to err from the faith and pierce themselves with many sorrows. The personification warns that what we own may come to own us.
Scripture References
“No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”
“Labour not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom. Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.”
“And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.”
“The rich man's wealth is his strong city, and as an high wall in his own conceit.”
“He that trusteth in his riches shall fall: but the righteous shall flourish as a branch.”
“For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”