Bible Commentaries

THE MAKER OF HIGH AND LOW

‘The rich and poor meet together: the Lord is the Maker of them all.’

Proverbs 22:2

I. ‘The Lord is the Maker of them all.’—The God who creates light and darkness has created the happy and the wretched; there is no escape from this, if we believe in God at all. He cannot have created the human race and then have left it alone to rush into a social chaos and confusion of itself. Meantime we believe that the hand of God is upon all them for good that seek Him; though He gives grief, yet will He have compassion, according to the multitude of His mercies.

II. Read by the light of the Gospel, the text puts on another meaning.—The rich and poor are brethren. The feelings and interests which they have in common are far more weighty than those outward circumstances that divide them. In the pages of the New Testament we read a recognition of the rights of the poor. Rich and poor are equal when they stand at the foot of the Redeemer’s Cross craving pardon for their sins; seeking His righteousness to cover their uncleanness. They are equal when they come before God to worship. They are equal when both shall stand before the judgment-seat of the Lord to give an account of all things done in the body.

—Archbishop Thomson.

Illustration

‘In the presence of God distinctions between rich and poor vanish. The true wealth lies in humility and the fear of God. Poor Lazarus may lie at the door of Dives, but in the morning of heaven the poor rule over the rich. Wealth is specially blessed when it is connected with the bountiful eye and prodigal hand.’