Wealth and Poverty
Commonplace –
“The rich man’s wealth is his strong city: the destruction of the poor is their poverty” (Proverbs 10:15).
Superficially, this verse seems to uplift the wealthy and deride the poor. By now, we know to look deeper.
Solomon tells us that a rich man’s wealth is his strong city. What does this mean?
If a man is wealthy, his wealth can protect him. It can buy him a home with high walls. It can buy him food and clothing. It can provide his every need, until it doesn’t. Wealth, in and of itself, is not evil. It’s how the man views his wealth which leads to problems.
Solomon tells us that the destruction of the poor is their poverty. Is this true? Is every poor man destroyed by his poverty. It is terrible to be without food, without clothing, without a home. Does this have to destroy someone?
The question really seems to be: what is the wealth that we are talking about? Is it tangible, physical, material wealth? It can’t be, because we know that one rich man’s physical wealth is only a strong city, until another, wealthier rich man comes along. It’s not a very strong city that can be easily replaced by another one. Every day, we see one rich man’s wealth usurped by another.
What this really seems to be about is spiritual wealth and spiritual poverty. If a man is spiritually wealthy, he has a strong city that can never be taken from him. If he is spiritually poor, he has nothing.
Here is a quick glimpse of Matthew Henry’s thoughts on 10:15 from his Commentary :
“This may be taken in two ways:
- As a reason why we should be diligent in our business…
- As a representation of the common mistakes of both rich and poor concerning their outward condition” (692-693).
Works Cited
Henry, Matthew. “Proverbs 10:15.” Matthew Henry’s Commentary On the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition. Volume 3 and Volume 6, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., March 1996.
Holy Bible: Giant Print with Study Aids. Dugan Publishers, Inc., 1984.
© 2026 Angela Hormberg
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