The word "destruction" is capable of two meanings. First, there are temptations peculiar to poverty as well as to riches. Agur was aware of these when he prayed, "Give me not poverty, lest I steal and take the name of my God in vain" (chap. xxx. 7-9). He who gives way to such influences of poverty ensures "destruction" as much as he who is "full and denies God, and says, Who is the Lord?" Secondly, as we found in the preceding clause to refer to the state of mind--the _confidence of safety_ inspired by his wealth in the bosom of the rich, it seems fair and natural to understand the latter clause on a similar principle. "The destruction of the poor" will then mean, that which, _in their own eyes,_ is their destruction; that which engenders their fears and apprehensions--their constant dread of destruction. They are ever apt to contrast their circumstances with those of their wealthy neighbours, and to deplore their poverty, and fret at it as that which keeps them down, depriving them of all good, and exposing them to all evil. And, without doubt, it is the source of many and heavy sufferings, both in the way of privation and endurance. But the poor may indulge their fears, and make themselves unhappy without cause. Their forebodings may be more than groundless. If by their poverty they are exposed to some evils, they are exempted by it from others. . . . Let the poor seek the peace, and comfort, and safety which are imparted by the Gospel; and thus, possessing the "true riches," they will not need to "fear what man can do unto them." The worst of all destructions will be far from them.--_Wardlaw._ The "wealth of the rich," even in this world, is their great capital. The "destruction of the poor" is the helplessness, and friendlessness, and creditlessness, and lack of instruments incident to "poverty." In the spiritual world the distinction is entire. The rich get richer, and the poor get poorer, and both by inviolable laws. All works for good for one, and all for evil for the other. The last Proverb explained it. Wisdom, by its very nature, grows, and so does folly. All other interests vibrate: sometimes worse, and sometimes better. But Wisdom, like the God that chose it, has no "shadow of turning." If it begins in the soul it grows for ever. If it does not begin it grows more distant. There is never rest. Wealth in the spiritual world, by the very covenant, must continually heap up; and poverty, by the very necessities of justice, must increase its helplessness.--_Miller._ Naturally the author is here thinking of wealth well earned by practical wisdom, and this is at the same time a means in the further effort of Wisdom; and, again, of a deserved poverty, which, always causes one to sink deeper in folly and moral need. Compare the verse following.--_Lange's Commentary._