The poor are disliked even by their neighbors, but the rich have many friends. Those who despise their neighbors are sinners, but happy are those who are kind to the poor.
This section of Proverbs binds together three traits we know to be related, but here it’s explicit. Poverty, neighbors, and compassion. A poor person is disliked, EVEN by their neighbors. There’s something about being a neighbor that implies, or at least implied at that time, that there was an expectation of kindness. But a poor person is disliked even by their neighbors. There’s something poignant and tender to me about that sentence. How sad, to suggest that a poor person is disliked at all, especially by the neighbor.
Contrast that with the idea that the rich have many friends. Wealth draws people in. We are attracted, perhaps like Icarus and the sun, to wealth. We befriend wealth. We ascribe positive attributes to those with wealth. To be clear, we can all name exceptions. We can try to refute this premise by the exceptions. For example, I am not drawn to wealthy celebrities who flaunt their wealth. But I would suggest that we all are a little drawn to traits of the wealthy. We like certain cars or clothing styles, and we’d argue that it’s just a matter of personal preference. But I’d suggest this is one of those implicit biases we have that we don’t even know we have. We like certain things or traits or clothes or houses precisely because of the embedded wealth.
The opposite is true. We are sometimes repelled by the traits, clothes, cars and other traits of people in poverty. Whether it’s a cultural, or racial minority, if we ascribe poverty to the group, we implicitly dislike some of the traits. Why should I care what someone else wears? Or the style of earrings, or piercings, or high heels, or curlers in their hair, or vernacular, or front porch accouterments?
The proverb sets out some human truths. People dislike their poor neighbors, but like their wealthy ones. Then the proverb sets that all on its head by suggesting that those who despise their neighbor (presumably, their poor neighbor) is a sinner. And that those who show compassion on their poor neighbor are happy.
From this brief little bit of scripture, I understand that we are 1) expected to have greater compassion and mercy on our neighbors (as evidenced by the word EVEN), 2) we tend to be drawn to the wealthy, 3) conversely, we are deterred by poverty, and 4) contrary to human nature, we are to show compassion and mercy on the poor, especially our poor neighbors.
I like how this ties poverty, compassion and neighborliness together. I especially like it as I’m sitting on my new porch in my new impoverished community. Can I look around and remove any trace of that slight WASP sneer? Can I look on my impoverished neighbors with compassion? That is my plan and deep hope. I am not suggesting that I’m haughtily walking around, but where I live now does not look like anywhere else I’ve ever lived. My neighbors don’t look like anyone I’ve ever lived amongst. And I love it.
This morning, I’m thinking about how to increase my compassion for my neighbors, even my poor neighbors. Especially, my poor neighbors.
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