The Pulpit Commentary on Proverbs 22:22

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public domain

This and the following verse form a terrastich, which connects itself in thought with Proverbs 22:16. Rob not the poor, because he is poor. The word for "poor" is here dal, which means "feeble," "powerless" (see on Proverbs 19:4), and the writer enjoins the disciple not to be induced by his weakness to injure and despoil a poor man.

Neither oppress the afflicted in the gate. The gate is the place of judgment, the court of justice (comp. Job 31:21). The warning points to the particular form of wrong inflicted on the lowly by unjust judges, who could give sentences from which, however iniquitous, there was practically no appeal.

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