At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Ps. 16: 11)
Rob not the poor, because he is poor: Neither oppress the afflicted in the gate: For the Lord will plead their cause, and spoil the soul of those that spoiled them.
Proverbs 22:23–24
For those graspers who are cruel and greedy, the poor are certainly a tempting target. They obviously do not have deep pockets, and so those who would milk them have to make it up in volume. This is why the mistreatment of the poor is so often systemic. Wealth is skimmed off the poor as a class. An enterprising thief cannot seize on just one poor man, empty his pockets, and make off with anything much, and so he deals with the poor in the aggregate.
This is why a proverb like this one is necessary. Precisely because the poor do not have a lot of resources, they do not have a lot of resources to defend themselves against entities, companies, institutions that have teams of lawyers. If you doubt what I say, drive through a poor neighborhood, and count the payday loan establishments. I wonder what the interest rates are?
“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation” (Matthew 23:14).
Of course, it is just as sinful to steal from a rich man, but at least the rich man has a sporting chance. He has enough wealth to provide a jackpot for the person who succeeds in robbing him, but he also has enough wealth to pay for safes and locks and fences and offshore accounts and lawyers of his own. It is at least something of a fair fight.
But when the poor are pillaged, it is often the case that they don’t even know that it is occurring. And when they discover that it is happening, they do not know how to identify whoever is responsible. Things can get so inverted that they turn to the thieves to provide them with the much needed protection, which is why their congressman keeps getting reelected.
