His strong city (Proverbs 18:11). Wealth is a help in many ways, securing from dangers, giving time and opportunity for acquiring wisdom, making one independent and free in action (Ecclesiastes 7:12; Ec 40:25, etc.). The destruction of the poor is their poverty. The poor are crushed, exposed to all kinds of evil, moral and material, by their want of means. The word for poor is here dal, which implies weakness and inability to help one's self; the other word commonly used for "poor" is rash, which signifies rather "impecuniosity," opposed to "wealthy." So in the present passage the LXX. renders ἀσθενῶν, "the feeble." The poor were but lightly regarded till Christ pronounced the benediction, "Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God" (Luke 6:20). The view of Theoguis will speak the experience of many—
καὶ γὰρ ἀνὴρ πενίῃ δεδμημένος οὔτέ τι εἰπεῖν
οὔθ ἕρξαι δύναται γλῶσσα δὲ οἱ δέδεται
"A man, by crushing poverty subdued,
Can freely nothing either say or do—
His very tongue is tied."