Theological Commentary: Click Here
Looking at
Proverbs 22 gives us many words on wisdom and how we conduct ourselves. I find the words about the poor to be
especially drawing today. How we handle
the poor – for that matter, the rich, too – speak deeply about who we are as
people.
Proverbs
22:22 tells us to not rob the poor or crush the afflicted because the Lord is
the one who pleads for them. Why would
we want to make an enemy of God? Why
would we want to make the one who is in charge of eternal life an enemy?
What I find
more interesting is that the Lord should identify with the poor and the
oppressed. Sure, this is a theme
throughout the Bible. The Lord is the
advocate of the poor and oppressed. He
always has been and He always will be.
What I find so interesting is that the author of the Lord should care
about them at all. After all, what can
the poor and the oppressed give to God?
It isn’t what the poor and the oppressed bring to God that matters,
actually. What matters is that the poor
and the oppressed have no other defense.
The point of all of this is that the Lord isn’t interested in what we
can do for Him. While we are interested
in such details, the Lord is not. The
Lord is interested in righteousness and justice. To be righteous means to stand up for those
who cannot stand for themselves.
It is for these
reasons that we have verse 16. “Those
who oppress the poor to increase their own wealth will come into poverty.” This is also why we have verse 2. “The rich and the poor meet together, but the
Lord is maker of them all.” The Lord
does not take it lightly when we take advantage of those who are lower in
station than we are. Anyone can kick
someone while they’re down. That shows
no righteousness. In fact, it only
invokes the wrath of the one who defends them for the sake of righteousness:
the Lord.
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