Proverbs 10:15

The poor. Heb, dallim, a word that describes the poor as low, helpless, reduced, downcast, and ignorant. In countries outside of Israel the poor were left to shift for themselves and to sink ever lower in the social scale. In Israel the restrictions upon land sale and the provisions of the jubilee and seventh-year statutes were designed to prevent both abject poverty and the accumulation of land (Lev. 25:1-55).

Poverty need not be the ruin of a family. Those who set about to use all their abilities will be blessed by God and will usually be able to provide for a reasonably comfortable way of life. Unfortunately, poverty often saps the energy and destroys the confidence of the poor, so that many of them fall into despair.