7 The rich over the poor ruleth, And a servant `is' the borrower to the lender.
`With' supplications doth the poor speak, And the rich answereth fierce things.
and ye did dishonour the poor one; do not the rich oppress you and themselves draw you to judgment-seats;
And a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets hath cried unto Elisha, saying, `Thy servant, my husband, is dead, and thou hast known that thy servant was fearing Jehovah, and the lender hath come to take my two children to him for servants.'
And there are who are saying, `We have borrowed money for the tribute of the king, `on' our fields, and our vineyards; and now, as the flesh of our brethren `is' our flesh, as their sons `are' our sons, and lo, we are subduing our sons and our daughters for servants, and there are of our daughters subdued, and our hand hath no might, and our fields and our vineyards `are' to others.'
An oppressor of the poor reproacheth his Maker, And whoso is honouring Him Is favouring the needy.
Rob not the poor because he `is' poor, And bruise not the afflicted in the gate.
And it hath been -- as a people so a priest, As the servant so his master, As the maid-servant so her mistress, As the buyer so the seller, As the lender so the borrower, As the usurer so he who is lifting `it' on himself.
Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan, Who `are' in the mountain of Samaria, Who are oppressing the poor, Who are bruising the needy, Who are saying to their lords: `Bring in, and we do drink.'
Therefore, because of your trampling on the poor, And the tribute of corn ye take from him, Houses of hewn work ye have built, And ye do not dwell in them, Desirable vineyards ye have planted, And ye do not drink their wine. For I have known -- many `are' your transgressions, And mighty your sins, Adversaries of the righteous, taking ransoms, And the needy in the gate ye turned aside.
To purchase with money the poor, And the needy for a pair of sandals, Yea, the refuse of the pure corn we sell.
and he having nothing to pay, his lord did command him to be sold, and his wife, and the children, and all, whatever he had, and payment to be made.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Proverbs 22
Commentary on Proverbs 22 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 22
Pro 22:1
Here are two things which are more valuable and which we should covet more than great riches:-
Pro 22:2
Note,
Pro 22:3
See here,
Pro 22:4
See here,
Pro 22:5
Note
Pro 22:6
Here is,
Pro 22:7
He had said (v. 2.), Rich and poor meet together; but here he finds, here he shows, that, as to the things of this life, there is a great difference; for,
Pro 22:8
Note
Pro 22:9
Here is,
Pro 22:10
See here,
Pro 22:11
Here is,
Pro 22:12
Here is,
Pro 22:13
Note,
Pro 22:14
This is designed to warn all young men against the lusts of uncleanness. As they regard the welfare of their souls, let them take heed of strange women, lewd women, whom they ought to be strange to, of the mouth of strange women, of the kisses of their lips (ch. 7:13), of the words of their lips, their charms and enticements. Dread them; have nothing to do with them; for,
Pro 22:15
We have here two very sad considerations:-
Pro 22:16
This shows what evil courses rich men sometimes take, by which, in the end, they will impoverish themselves and provoke God, notwithstanding their abundance, to bring them to want; they oppress the poor and give to the rich.
Pro 22:17-21
Solomon here changes his style and manner of speaking. Hitherto, for the most part, since the beginning of ch. 10, he had laid down doctrinal truths, and but now and then dropped a word of exhortation, leaving us to make the application as we went along; but here, to the end of ch. 24, he directs his speech to his son, his pupil, his reader, his hearer, speaking as to a particular person. Hitherto, for the most part, his sense was comprised in one verse, but here usually it is drawn out further. See how Wisdom tries variety of methods with us, lest we should be cloyed with any one. To awaken attention and to assist our application the method of direct address is here adopted. Ministers must not think it enough to preach before their hearers, but must preach to them, nor enough to preach to them all in general, but should address themselves to particular persons, as here: Do thou do so and so. Here is,
Pro 22:22-23
After this solemn preface, one would have expected something new and surprising; but no; here is a plain and common, but very needful caution against the barbarous and inhuman practices of oppressing poor people. Observe,
Pro 22:24-25
Here is,
Pro 22:26-27
We have here, as often before, a caution against suretiship, as a thing both imprudent and unjust.
Pro 22:28
Pro 22:29
Here is,