Surely this should humble us, that riches,--that should be our rises to raise us up to God, or glasses to see the love of God in--our corrupt nature useth them as clouds, as clogs, etc., yea, sets them up in God's place, and saith to the fine gold, "Thou art my confidence" (Job xxxi. 24). _The destruction of the poor is their poverty._ They are devoured by the richer cannibals (Psa. xiv. 4), as the lesser fish are by the greater. Men go over the hedge where it is lowest. "Poor" and "afflicted" are joined together (Zeph. iii. 12). So are "to want" and "to be abased" (Phil. iv. 12).--_Trapp._ Here he is describing what is, rather than prescribing what ought to be. The verse acknowledges and proclaims a prominent feature in the condition of the world. It is not a command from the law of God, but a fact from the history of men. In all ages and in all lands money has been a mighty power, and its relative importance increases with the advance of civilisation. Money is one of the principal instruments by which the affairs of the world are turned, and the man who holds that instrument in his grasp can make himself felt in his age and neighbourhood. It does not reach the Divine purpose, but it controls human action. It is constrained to become God's servant, but it makes itself the master of man.--_Arnot._ The rich man often goes about his Sion, or rather his Jericho, and views the walls thereof; he marketh the bulwarks, and telleth the towers of it. He looks upon his wealth, he marks his bags, he tells his moneys, and therein is his confidence; thereby he thinketh to outstand any siege or assault, and, placing his security on it, dareth to oppose his strength to any right or reason; whereas God with a blast of ram's horns is quickly able to throw down all his might and his greatness.--_Jermin._ Verse 16. The labour of the righteous tendeth to life or "serves as life." 1. Because it is a good thing in itself. 2. Because it procures good, each stroke earning its pay. 3. Because it increased, and that on for ever, making us holier and happier, and making other holier and happier through the endless ages. It "_serves_" pre-eminently "_as life_," therefore, literally, "_is for life._" But the fruit, or "_gains of the wicked_" (and we must not fail to note the crescendo in the second clause, "The _labour_ of a righteous man"--"the _gains_ of a wicked man"; the righteous still toiling, the wicked having made his harvest,) serve to sin or "_as a sin-offering._" That is, they are all demanded by justice, and are all consumed by the expiation of his sins. Pious acts are a life. Wicked gains go to swell what our great creditor seizes.--_Miller._