Command the Raven

Proverbs 14:31 [show/hide]Proverbs 14:31 [31]Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker, but he who is generous to the needy honors him.

31 He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker: but he that honoureth him hath mercy on the poor.

God is here pleased to interest himself more than one would imagine in the treatment given to the poor.

1. He reckons himself affronted in the injuries that are done them. Whosoever he be that wrongs a poor man, taking advantage against him because he is poor and cannot help himself, let him know that he puts an affront upon his Maker. God made him, and gave him his being, the same that is the author of our being; we have all one Father, one Maker; see how Job considered this, Job 31:15 [show/hide]Job 31:15 [15]Did not he who made me in the womb make him? And did not one fashion us in the womb?
. God made him poor, and appointed him his lot, so that, if we deal hardly with any because they are poor, we reflect upon God as dealing hardly with them in laying them low, that they might be trampled upon.

2. He reckons himself honoured in the kindnesses that are done them; he takes them as done to himself, and will show himself accordingly pleased with them. I was hungry, and you gave me meat. Those therefore that have any true honour for God will show it by compassion to the poor, whom he has undertaken in a special manner to protect and patronise.
- Matthew Henry Commentary