No Peasants Allowed

(Pro 10:15 KJV) The rich man's wealth is his strong city: the destruction of the poor is their poverty.

There are at least four different Hebrew words that are translated “poverty” (7389) in the KJV.  In trying to figure out the differences I began to wonder if this one has to do with the class systems of the world.  Most cultures have them whether they admit it or not.  It can be based on the ethnic group you belong to.  It can be traced to religion.  In the case of Israel it was what we might call the peasants.  If you were born into it, you were it.  There was almost no chance of changing. 

A peasant class tends to stay “poor” (1800b) because of their attitudes as much as their lack of money.  We are seeing that in our culture.  We don’t actually have classes that are acknowledged.  We have a small group of people that think they have the right to run the lives of others but the others tend to reject that.  We do have what is becoming called an “underclass” that is getting locked into a poverty mindset. 

So?  As Christians we cannot embrace the concept of class.  We are all children of God and the ground is level beneath the cross.  That involves regarding others.  For ourselves we need to make sure that we don’t fall into the peasant mind set and give up on hard work and a healthy frugality.