(20) The poor is hated even of his own neighbour.--This sad experience of life is repeated in Proverbs 19:7. The following verse serves as a corrective of this selfish tendency of mankind.
Verse 20. - The poor is hated even of his own neighbour (Proverbs 19:4, 7). This sad experience of selfishness (comp. Ecclus. 6:8, etc.; 12:8) is corrected by the following verse, which must be taken in connection with this; at the same time, it is a truth which has been expressed in various ways by many moralists and satirists. Says the Greek Theognis -
Πᾶς τις πλούσιον ἄνδρα τίει ἀτίει δὲ πενιχρόν.
"The rich all honour, but the poor man slight." Says Ovid, 'Trist.,' 1:9. 6 -
"Donec eris felix, multos numerabis amicos; Tempora si fuerint nubila, solus eris."
"Prosperous, you many friends will own; In cloudy days you stand alone." In the Talmud we find (Dukes, 'Rabb. Blum.'), "At the door of the tavern there are many brethren and friends, at the poor man's gate not one." The rich hath many friends. Says Theognis again -
Αϋ μεν ἔχοντος ἐμοῦ πολλοὶ φίλοι η}ν δέ τι δεινον Συγκύρσῃ παῦροι πιστὸν ἔχουσι νόον And again, a distich which might have been written today -
14:18. Sin is the shame of sinners; but wisdom is the honour of the wise. 19. Even bad men acknowledge the excellency of God's people. 20. Friendship in the world is governed by self-interest. It is good to have God our Friend; he will not desert us. 21. To despise a man for his employment or appearance is a sin. 22. How wisely those consult their own interest, who not only do good, but devise it! 23. Labour of the head, or of the hand, will turn to some good account. But if men's religion runs all out in talk and noise, they will come to nothing. 24. The riches of men of wisdom and piety enlarge their usefulness. 25. An upright man will venture the displeasure of the greatest, to bring truth to light. 26,27. Those who fear the Lord so as to obey and serve him, have a strong ground of confidence, and will be preserved. Let us seek to this Fountain of life, that we may escape the snares of death. 28. Let all that wish well to the kingdom of Christ, do what they can, that many may be added to his church. 29. A mild, patient man is one that learns of Christ, who is Wisdom itself. Unbridled passion is folly made known. 30. An upright, contented, and benevolent mind, tends to health. 31. To oppress the poor is to reproach our Creator. 32. The wicked man has his soul forced from him; he dies in his sins, under the guilt and power of them. But godly men, though they have pain and some dread of death, have the blessed hope, which God, who cannot lie, has given them. 33. Wisdom possesses the heart, and thus regulates the affections and tempers. 34. Piety and holiness always promote industry, sobriety, and honesty. 35. The great King who reigns over heaven and earth, will reward faithful servants who honour his gospel by the proper discharge of the duties of their stations: he despises not the services of the lowest.
The poor is hated even of his own neighbour,.... As well as of strangers; that is, he is shy of him; he does not care to take any notice of him, or be friendly with him, lest he should be burdensome to him. Poverty brings a man into contempt and disgrace; the same man, in affluence and indigence, is respected or disrespected: this is true, as Gersom observes, of a man that is poor, whether in money or in knowledge, in his purse or in his understanding;
but the rich hath many friends; or, "many are the lovers of the rich" (r): for the sake of their riches; either for the sake of honour or profit, or because the rich want nothing of them, or because they themselves may gain something by them: this also is observed by the above Jewish commentator to be true of the rich in substance or in wisdom; but the former sense is best; for a wise man, if poor in the world, is but little regarded.
(r) "et amatores divitiis spissi", Schultens; "dilectores autem divitis multi sunt", Piscator. "Donec eris felix, multos numerabis amicos", Ovid. Trist. Eleg. 8. "Dat census honores, census amicitias", ib. Fasti, l. 1. so Phocylides, v. 925, 926.
Πᾶς τις πλούσιον ἄνδρα τίει ἀτίει δὲ πενιχρόν.
"The rich all honour, but the poor man slight." Says Ovid, 'Trist.,' 1:9. 6 -
"Donec eris felix, multos numerabis amicos;
Tempora si fuerint nubila, solus eris."
"Prosperous, you many friends will own;
In cloudy days you stand alone." In the Talmud we find (Dukes, 'Rabb. Blum.'), "At the door of the tavern there are many brethren and friends, at the poor man's gate not one." The rich hath many friends. Says Theognis again -
Αϋ μεν ἔχοντος ἐμοῦ πολλοὶ φίλοι η}ν δέ τι δεινον
Συγκύρσῃ παῦροι πιστὸν ἔχουσι νόον And again, a distich which might have been written today -
Πλήθει δ ἀνθρώπων ἀρετὴ μία γίγνεται ἥδε
Πλουτεῖν τῶν δ ἄλλων οὐδὲν ἄρ η΅ν ὄφελος
"One only virtue you must needs possess
(As say the most of men), and that is wealth;
All others are of small account."
but the rich hath many friends; or, "many are the lovers of the rich" (r): for the sake of their riches; either for the sake of honour or profit, or because the rich want nothing of them, or because they themselves may gain something by them: this also is observed by the above Jewish commentator to be true of the rich in substance or in wisdom; but the former sense is best; for a wise man, if poor in the world, is but little regarded.
(r) "et amatores divitiis spissi", Schultens; "dilectores autem divitis multi sunt", Piscator. "Donec eris felix, multos numerabis amicos", Ovid. Trist. Eleg. 8. "Dat census honores, census amicitias", ib. Fasti, l. 1. so Phocylides, v. 925, 926.