WHICH IS A BLESSING?  RICHES OR POVERTY?

Luke 6:20  And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God. (KJV) James 2:5  Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him? (KJV) Proverbs 10:15  The rich man's wealth is his strong city: the destruction of the poor is their poverty. (KJV) Job 42:12  So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses. (KJV)

Neither riches nor poverty are a blessing by themselves.  The Luke and James passages are making the general statement that poor people are blessed because their faith is not in riches, though they are not saying that their poverty is a blessing.  The Proverbs passage, if read within context, is not talking about material wealth, but about spiritual wealth.  The riches given to Job was a blessing only because God was reimbursing Job for what He had allowed the devil to take away from him.  No contradictions here.