Proverbs 22:2

The rich and poor meet together: the LORD is the maker of them all. THE RICH AND POOR MEET TOGETHER: THE LORD IS THE MAKER OF THEM ALL. Though the rich and the poor are unequal in worldly means, yet they are equal in respect to creation and common nature. In spite of the conventional distinctions of property and position, they meet on a common footing in many things. They meet on a level in respect to the common weaknesses of humanity, sickness, and death. So in the house of God (James 2:1). Neither could dispense with the other. The rich need the labour of the poor; the poor the money and educated intelligence of the rich. Therefore the poor are not to be despised, nor the rich to be envied. To do so would be to reproach God, who hath made both as they are (;...

Verse Proverbs 22:2. _THE RICH AND POOR MEET TOGETHER_] עשיר _ashir_ the _opulent_, whether in money, land, or property; רש _rash_, the man that is destitute of these, and lives by his labour, whether a handicraftsman, or one that tills the ground. In the order of God, the rich and the poor live together, and are mutually helpful to each other. Without the _poor_, the _rich_ could not be supplied with the articles which they consume; for the poor include all the labouring classes of society: and without the _rich_, the _poor_ could get no _vent_ for the _produce_ of their _laborer_, nor, in many cases, _labour_ itself. The _poor_ have more _time_ to labour than the mere necessaries of life require; their _extra_ time is employed in providing a multitude of things which are called the _superfluities_ of life, an...

Compare the margin reference. Another recognition of the oneness of a common humanity, overriding all distinctions of rank....

EXPOSITION PROVERBS 22:1 A GOOD NAME IS RATHER TO BE CHOSEN THAN GREAT RICHES. It will be observed that "good" in the Authorized Version is in italics, showing that the epithet is not expressed in the Hebrew, which is simply שֵׁם (_shem_)_, _"name." But this word carried with it the notion of good repute, as in Ecclesiastes 7:1; for being well known implied honour and reputation, while being nameless (Job 30:8) signified not only obscurity, but ignominy and discredit. Hence the versions have ὄνομα καλόν_, nomen bonum, _and Ecclesiasticus 41:12, "Have regard to thy name (περὶ ὀνόματος)_, _for that shall continue with thee above a thousan

THE RICH AND POOR MEET TOGETHER,.... In an hostile way, as some; they rush upon one another; the rich despise the poor, and the poor envy the rich; they cannot speak well one of another, as the Arabic version; or they are dependent on one another, they cannot do without each other; as in the natural body one member cannot say to another, I have no need of thee; so, in the body politic, the rich and the poor cannot say they have no need of one another; the rich stand in need of the poor to till their land, to plough and sow, and do all other servile works for them; and the poor have need of the rich to employ them; have need of their money as their wages for their work, to support themselves and families with: or they sometimes change conditions, and so meet; the poor grow rich, and the rich become poor; the one goes uphill and the other downhill, and so meet in their passage. They meet t...

CHAPTER 22 INSTRUCTIONS CONTINUED Better than great riches, better than silver and gold is a name and loving favor. If a person has riches and a bad name and is not well thought of, he is less honorable than the poor man who has a name and good reputation. In Ecclesiastes, Solomon says: “A good name is better than precious ointment” Ecclesiastes 7:11). The third verse has a wise message: “The prudent man foreseeth the evil and hideth himself, but the simple pass on, and suffer for it.” The Lord has revealed in His Word the evil which is in store for the sinner and the impenitent. He also has prepared a hiding place, an ark of safety, in His Son, our Lord. The prudent believeth the Word and flees to the refuge; the simple, the unbelieving, pass on and suffer for it when the evil comes. Humility and the fear of the Lord has a reward, while thorns and snares are in the way of the

PROVERBS 22:6. IN THE WAY HE SHOULD GO puts more into the Heb. than it contains. It is lit. train up a child in proportion to his way_ i.e._ train him suitably. The moral implication is absent. The stress is on the effect of training. Proverbs 22:11. RV hides disorder of MT. Read, probably, The king loves the pure in heart, grace of lips is his good pleasure. Proverbs 22:12 a is difficult. RV will not pass. The lit. Heb. is the eyes of Yahweh guard knowledge. The abstract knowledge in Heb. cannot mean its possessors; the eyes of Yahweh are nowhere said to guard anybody, and no Hebrew would say that the eyes of Yahweh guard knowledge in the sense of possessing it, nor does it give any

POOR. needy. Hebrew. _rush._ See note on Proverbs 6:11. Same word as in Proverbs 22:7. Not the same word as in verses: Proverbs 22:9; Proverbs 22:16; Proverbs 22:22....

Comp. Proverbs 29:13. The true remedy for social inequalities is not to abolish them, but to recognise Who it is that has appointed them, and the obligations of mutual consideration and respect which they involve....

THE RICH AND POOR MEET TOGETHER— The world does not consist all of rich, nor all of poor; but they are mixed together, and have need one of another, and will properly harmonise if they consider that there is one Lord who is the creator of both, who hath by his providence ordered this inequality for their mutual good, and who is no respecter of persons....