Proverbs 29:7 Commentary and Bible Study

What we choose to know is different from what we actually know. There may be a deliberate ignoring of things that are unwelcome, uncomfortable, or inconvenient. The existence of poverty in our world is one such thing, and yet Christ tells us we always have the poor with us. Our world is fallen and it will always be a feature of this life that there is hardship, inequality, and suffering. Some of these human beings bring on themselves through strife with others, through idleness, through addiction and degenerate behaviour that impoverishes a person. Other times people become poor through the greed or cruelty of others, through being taken advantage of, through meanness, corrupt power in the hands of an elite. The natural human response to this is pity and a desire to alleviate hardship. This instinct is found in believer and unbeliever alike based on our common humanity with those who suffer. The duty to love our neighbour as ourselves is not an new and alien requirement to us, but is what we are acutely aware we would want from others, for a sense of our own vulnerability is part of our normal experience. When therefore the righteous man extends mercy to the poor he does so because he knows he cannot turn a blind eye towards them. He too is dependent on the Lord for mercy and far more mercy than he will ever extend to fellow human beings on earth. How can he withhold from others what he desperately needs himself? And mercy must not just be a sentiment in the heart but must lead to action. He cannot rationalise the situation of the poor and say, he would never have gone that way himself. There are a thousand turns in life that may have led the poor to go that way. But the wicked choose not to think about the condition of the poor. They drive mercy out of their hearts, and tell themselves that only a fool would have made himself poor. The poor are to blame for their poverty and therefore deserve no help. It is therefore perfectly in order for all concern for them to be put out of the heart, and for the wicked to enjoy the good things of this life which have landed in their laps. This callousness is a snare, because its true source is selfishness. That selfishness will cause him or her to tell themselves all manner of lies so that it is impossible for them to judge the matter correctly. The wise man is not naïve about the causes of poverty, but he also wants to be honest with himself, and not to deceive himself about his true motives for giving or withholding help.