Proverbs 21:13

Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard.

The cry of the poor

I. Social distress. “The cry of the poor.” The poor may be divided into two classes.

1. The deserving. There is a poverty that comes on men by circumstances over which they have no control: infirm bodies, diseased faculties, social oppression, untoward events. Such poverty is often associated not only with great intelligence, but with virtue and piety of a high order.

2. The undeserving.

II. Social heartlessness. “Whoso stoppeth his ears.”

1. The wealthy.

2. The legislating. In the name of heaven, what is the good of a government if it cannot overcome pauperism?

III. Social retribution. (D. Thomas, D. D.)

An unmerciful disposition

1. We may always expect, both in general society and in the Church of God, “the rich and poor to meet together.” Wherever there has been property it has been in various portions; and were there an equal division of property to-day, there would be a difference to-morrow. There are varieties of poverty; for poverty is a relative and comparative term. And among the indigent and dependent poor there are also varieties--the industrious and the indolent; the sober and the intemperate; the virtuous and the vicious, the deserving and the undeserving.

2. Nothing can be of greater consequence than marking this distinction, and regulating our charity accordingly. There is a “stopping of the ears” that is at times a virtue--requiring an effort of self-denying principle in opposition to the mere emotion and impulse of present pity. Charity must be exercised judiciously.

3. The sin here reproved is an unmerciful disposition; unfeeling hardness of heart; pitiless, avaricious, griping selfishness. This may be exemplified in beating down the wages of the poor labourer and artisan; in the denial of protection to the poor when it is pleaded for against oppression, and when we have it in our power to afford it. (R. Wardlaw, D. D.)