Proverbs 10:15 - Clarke's commentary and critical notes on the Bible

Bible Comments

The rich man's wealth is his strong city: the destruction of the poor is their poverty. The rich man's wealth is his strong city - Behold a mystery in providence; there is not a rich man on earth but becomes such by means of the poor! Property comes from the labor of the poor, and the king himself is served of the field. How unjust, diabolically so, is it to despise or oppress those by whose labor all property is acquired!

The destruction of the poor is their poverty - A man in abject poverty never arises out of this pit. They have no nucleus about which property may aggregate. The poet spoke well: -

Haud facile emergunt, quorum virtutibus obstat

Res angusta domi.

"They rarely emerge from poverty, whose exertions are cramped by want at home."

Proverbs 10:15

15 The rich man's wealth is his strong city: the destruction of the poor is their poverty.