give me neither poverty nor riches;
feed me with the food that is needful for me,
lest I be full and deny you
and say, “Who is the LORD?”
or lest I be poor and steal
and profane the name of my God.
Do not slander a servant to his master,
lest he curse you, and you be held guilty.
There are those who curse their fathers
and do not bless their mothers.
There are those who are clean in their own eyes
but are not washed of their filth.
There are those—how lofty are their eyes,
how high their eyelids lift!
There are those whose teeth are swords,
whose fangs are knives,
to devour the poor from off the earth,
the needy from among mankind.
Proverbs 30:8-14, ESV
We've been thinking about the common sins of the poor (post 1) and of the rich (post 2). We've seen that the sage does not discriminate between criminal sins (such as stealing) and private sins (such as idolatry, materialism and pride), and we've hopefully concluded that we cannot discriminate between these different types of sins either. If we do, and we think our sin struggles aren't as bad as someone else’s, then we are like those who think their צֹאָה don’t stink--modern day vernacular!--“but forgot to wash off their anus” (verse 12, see previous post).
Now that we've tackled the false notion that the sins of the poor are worse than the sins of the wealthy, we need to dispel another myth, which is that our sins are less damaging than the sins of the poor.
One of the great strengths of the Christian tradition I was raised in was the emphasis on “heart sins.” The accent was much needed because it was through this emphasis that our predominately middle and upper class congregations were able to see that we were just as spiritually needy as the man found guilty in the court room. By dwelling on our “inward sins” during personal and corporate worship, the gospel became alive and more beautiful to us. All of this is very good and I do not wish to discredit this emphasis at all; however, we need to make sure that we don’t fool ourselves into thinking that our "inward," "heart" sin is simply a personal matter between us and God, as if we could actually suppress what’s inside us. The Scriptures teach that everything we do and say comes from the overflow of our hearts. Thus, to the extent that “inward sin” remains in our hearts, it will surely express itself outwardly.
In other words, while we like to think of our “heart sin” as being a private issue between us and God, in reality, it always affects those around us. God may be the primary one we assault with our sins of greed and self-righteousness (the basic sins attached to the rich in this passage), but he’s not the only one we assault. Our sins are social evils.
Am I exaggerating by calling what we typically think of as private sins “social evils?” It sure feels like it, but I think this is the point Argur, the author of this passage, is alluding to in the last part of this passage. While blindness to one’s own filth is bad enough (v. 12), it gets worse. Those who consider themselves superior exhibit exactly what they’re thinking to everyone they look upon (v. 13) and every time they open their mouths, whether they’re addressing their own parents (v. 11) or the marginalized poor (v. 14). While we tend to be blind to our own attitudes, they are never subtle to those we come into contact with. This probably just irritates those around us who are also self-confident, but it is devastating to those who already feel inferior.
In “When Helping Hurts” (a must read, if you haven’t already!), Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert help us observe that most poor people tend to describe their poverty in terms of shame, inferiority, powerlessness, humiliation, social isolation, etc. They provide some quotes from the poor from various parts of the world such as the following:
“For a poor person everything is terrible- illness, humiliation, shame. We are cripples; we are afraid of everything; we depend on everyone. No one needs us. We are like garbage that everyone wants to get rid of.” – Moldova
“When I don’t have any [food to bring my family], I borrow, mainly from my neighbors and friends. I feel ashamed standing before my children when I have nothing to help feed the family. I’m not well when I’m unemployed. It’s terrible.” – Guinea-Bissau
“When one is poor, she has no say in public, she feels inferior.” – Uganda
It’s no different for the poor in America. In the Jobs for Life class, I always ask the class to describe what it feels like when they aren't working. I've asked this question to over 400 mostly unemployed adults; I've never heard anyone say that it was nice or care-free or relaxing. Instead, I get the same kinds of answers over and over again:
“I feel like I’m not even a man.”
“I can’t even work at Burger King! I feel like nobody wants me.”
While the poor often feel powerless and inferior, conversely, the self-sufficient often consider themselves wise and superior. As Fikkert likes to say, “We have god-complexes” because we ignorantly think we achieved everything we have strictly by our own efforts which, by implication, makes those who haven’t accomplished what we have, i.e., the poor, inferior to us. Thus, I shouldn't be surprised that when I hear my middle class friends talk about people on welfare, the messages I hear are similar to the self-messages of the poor:
“They’re all just lazy!”
“Why don’t they get a job!”
“They just think they’re entitled to my money that I worked hard for!”
“No one gave me a handout, so why should they get one?”
Sadly, this kind of rhetoric is found in our churches as well. I once heard a pastor state from the pulpit: "I can have compassion for the poor children, but not a grown man. Anyone who won't provide for his own family is worthless."
Such statements not only reveal our critical attitudes, but also a profound ignorance among middle class Christians about the poor. Is there any wonder why so few poor people attend our evangelical churches? If there's one thing I've learned while working at Advance it's that there are tons of people who want to work, but for a variety of reasons it hasn't worked out for them, evidenced by the fact that there is always a waiting list to get in our Jobs for Life program. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand that the last thing a grown man, whose chief ambition is to provide for his family but finds himself constantly rejected by employers, needs to hear is "Get a job!"
Rather than being simply a personal matter between us and God, our attitudes of superiority are extremely damaging and hurtful to others. The reason is this: our hearts always manifest themselves outwardly. Some of us are able to guard our tongues better than others; however, if our hearts are prideful, we still can’t help but “look proudly around, casting disdainful glances” (verse 13, NLT). The way that we look at those in the streets is obvious to them. They know they’re looked down on by the rest of society, causing them to feel further marginalized and isolated.
Verse 14 describes those whose teeth are like swords, and whose jaws are set with knives. In a pre-gunpowder era, the sword was the chief instrument of violence. The commentators I've consulted all believe that the use of weapon imagery used in this passage is a metaphor for destructive speech.
Why is it that the self-sufficient tend to struggle with self-righteousness on the one hand and criticism on the other? The latter part of verse 14 gives us the answer: “to devour the poor from off the earth, the needy from among mankind.” “Well,” we might think, “I’m not trying to devour anybody.” But this is where we must really search our hearts. Of course we aren't actively trying to kill the poor; neither were the Bible’s wealthy class. But just because we aren't actively destroying the poor, are we not just as guilty when we allow them to be slowly consumed because we passively neglect their needs.
What's our motive? The reason we think and talk about the poor the way we do is because we want to feel justified in not helping them. As long as the hungry man is a “lazy-good-for-nothing,” and not an image bearer, we feel okay about holding on to our goods.
The imagery is ironic. We who are pure in our own minds are the real doers of violence! While the self-righteous and self-sufficient may be less likely to be convicted of literal violence, our very words destroy the dignity of others, especially the vulnerable, the poor and the needy. Why? Because we’d rather accumulate wealth than love our neighbors.
Our heart sin of superiority is very serious. We are the ones condemned in this passage, not the impoverished thief. Because the poor are made in God’s image, Jesus takes this very personally: “Whoever mocks the poor, insults his Maker” (Prov 17:5; cf. 14:31; 21:13). If we do not change our thinking, we mock God and devour his image.
Andrew Vincent
Jobs for Life Coordinator
andrew@advancememphis.org
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