Proverbs 14:20

The poor is hated even of his own neighbour: but the rich hath many friends. THE POOR IS HATED EVEN OF HIS OWN NEIGHBOUR. How inhuman to be the less charitable, just in proportion as the poor, whom God hath afflicted, need our charity! BUT THE RICH HATH MANY FRIENDS - literally, 'But those who love the rich are many.' It is not the man, but his riches that they love....

Verse Proverbs 14:20. _BUT THE RICH_ HATH _MANY FRIENDS._] Many who _speak_ to him the _language_ of _friendship_; but if they profess _friendship_ because he is _rich_, there is not _one real friend_ among them. There is a fine saying of Cicero on this subject: Ut hirundines festivo tempore praesto sunt, frigore pulsae recedunt: ita falsi amici sereno tempore praesto sunt: simul atque fortunae hiemem viderint, evolant omnes. - Lib. iv., ad Herenn. "They are like _swallows_, who fly off during the winter, and quit our cold climates; and do not return till the warm season: but as soon as the winter sets in, they are all off again." So Horace: - Donec eris felix, multos numerabis amicos: Nullus ad amissas ibit amicus opes....

The maxim, jarring as it is, represents the generalization of a wide experience; but the words which follow Proverbs 14:21 show that it is not to be taken by itself. In spite of all the selfish morality of mere prudence, the hearer is warned that to despise his “neighbor” (Christians must take the word in all the width given to it by the parable of the Good Samaritan) is to sin. The fullness of blessing comes on him who sees in the poor the objects of his mercy....

EXPOSITION PROVERBS 14:1 EVERY WISE WOMAN BUILDETH HER HOUSE. Wise women order well their household matters and their families; they have an important influence, and exercise it beneficially. Γυναικὸς ἐσθλῆς ἐστὶ σώζειν οἰκίαν_._ "A good wife is the saving of a house." The versions render as above. A different pointing of the word translated "wise" (_chakhmoth_)_ _will give "wisdom" (_chokhmoth_)_, _which it seems best to read here, as the parallel to the abstract term "folly" in the second member. So we have, "Wisdom hath builded her house" (Proverbs 9:1; comp. Proverbs 1:20). Thus: "The wi

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....

CHAPTER 14 THE WISE AND THE FOOLISH: THE RICH AND THE POOR The contrast now concerns the wise and the foolish, the rich and the poor. Let us see some of these contrasts. “In the mouth of the foolish is a rod of pride, but the lips of the wise shall preserve them” Proverbs 14:3. The foolish shoots forth his foolishness like a branch. Separation from the foolish man is commanded in the seventh verse. The wise cannot have fellowship with the foolish, as the believer is not to be yoked to the unbeliever. Fools make a mock at sin Proverbs 14:9). The word “sin” in the original means “trespass offering.” That is exactly what the foolish man does, including the religious fool; he denies both sin and the blessed provision God has made to deliver from the guilt and power of sin. But among the righteous, says

PROVERBS 14. In this, as in each of the preceding Chapter s in this section, aphorisms on the moral government of the world come first in number. There are rather more in this chapter of a political and social character, while a group that might be called psychological appears for the first time (_e.g._ Proverbs 14:10; Proverbs 14:13, and in part Proverbs 14:30). The contrast between wisdom and folly, simplicity and prudence, also yields a fairly numerous group. PROVERBS 14:1. MT cannot be translated. Proverbs 14:1 a is p

THE POOR. A needy one. Hebrew. _rash._ See note on Proverbs 6:11. THE RICH. a rich man....

TEXT Proverbs 14:13-24 13. Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful; And the end of mirth is heaviness. 14. The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways; And a good man shall be satisfied from himself. 15. The simple believeth every word; But the prudent man looketh well to his going. 16. A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil; But the fool beareth himself insolently, and is confident. 17. He that is soon angry will deal foolishly; And a man of wicked devices is hated. 18. The simple inherit folly; But the prudent are crowned with knowledge. 19. The evil bow down before the good; And the wicked, at the gates of the righteous. 20. The poor is hated even of his own neighbor; But the rich hath many friends. 21....

14:20 friends. (i-17) Lit. 'lovers.'...