John Gill Commentary Proverbs 22:1

"A [good] name is rather to be chosen than great riches, [And] loving favor rather than silver and gold." — Proverbs 22:1 (ASV)

A [good] name [is] rather to be chosen than great riches
The word "good" is not in the text, but is rightly supplied, as it is by the Targum, Septuagint, and Vulgate Latin versions; for it is not any name that is more eligible than riches; nor is it a good name among any sort of persons; for to have a good name with some turns to a man's reproach rather than to his credit; but a good name among good men, a name in the house of God, which is better than sons and daughters; a new name, the name of the children of God, which no man knows but he that receives it; this is to be preferred to a multitude of riches: it is not to be procured by them, and is where they are not, or are lost, but this continues; see (Ecclesiastes 7:1) ;

[and] loving favour rather than silver and gold ;
favour with God and man, especially with God, whose loving kindness is better than life, and all the enjoyments of it: or, as it may be rendered, "grace [is] better than silver and gold" ^F16 ; the grace of God through Christ, the grace of Christ, in whom all fulness of it dwells, the grace of the Spirit of Christ; faith is more precious than gold that perishes; and if a man would give all the substance of his house for love it would be contemned; the Spirit and his grace are not to be purchased for money.

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FOOTNOTES:

• F16: (bwj Nx) "gratia melior", Munster, Tigurine version, Junius & Tremellius, Michaelis; so Schultens.