“The poor are shunned even by their neighbors, but the rich have many friends.” – Proverbs 14:20 NIV

The meaning of friends here is very important. A lot of people think that if they are wealthy, or skillful, good looking or whatever that they’ll get friends. That is a common misconception. Let me explain. What happens when a rich person loses their wealth? Then they become the poor person who are shunned even by neighbors and obviously that would include friends. Can we really say that those many friends were actually friends at all? Or did they care about the wealth and benefits from the wealthy? I think friends in this context should be used in quotations as “friends”. True friends or people that won’t leave you despite your circumstance because they care about you and not what you have or can give them.