גַּם־לְ֭רֵעֵהוּ יִשָּׂ֣נֵא רָ֑שׁ וְאֹהֲבֵ֖י עָשִׁ֣יר רַבִּֽים׃
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Ramban
THAT THOU [Moses] WOULDST MAKE THYSELF A PRINCE OVER US ‘GAM HISTAREIR’ — [the repetition of this phrase — literally ‘also to rule’ means]: ‘also many forms of lordship.’ Or92In our text of Ibn Ezra’s commentary the word “or” is missing, so that he is expressing only one thought: “also many forms of lordship — thou and thy brother Aaron.” [it may refer to lordship by] ‘thou and thy brother Aaron.’” This is the language of Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra. In my opinion the word gam (also) here means “even.” Similarly: There is none that doeth good, not ‘gam’ (even) one;93Psalms 14:3. The poor is hated ‘gam’ (even) of his own neighbor,94Proverbs 14:20. and similar cases. Thus Dathan and Abiram said to Moses: “Is it a small thing on your part that you have done us such a great evil to kill us in the wilderness, for which we should have stoned you, that you would rule over us even in a small measure of lordship, by sending us [a summons] to appear before you, let alone that you should play the king and be elevated over us!”
Rabbeinu Bahya
In this verse Solomon explained to us the usefulness (on a functional level) of practicing charity and the great reward in store for performance of this commandment both in this life and in the world to come. It is a well known fact that the eyes of the wealthy person are turned inwards towards his wealth or to the many people whom he believes to be his friends. Solomon himself said in Proverbs 14,20 that the rich have many friends. The poor on the other hand, has no one to focus his eyes on except Hashem. He cannot rely on his personal wealth, seeing he does not have any. He cannot turn to his friends either, seeing that the poor do not have many friends. Even if he had friends from before he became poor, they will likely abandon him as they do not want to be associated with “a loser,” a person whom they now perceive as a failure. Solomon already taught us this piece of human psychology in Proverbs 19,7: where he said: “all the brothers of a poor man hate him; how much more is he shunned by his one time friends. He pursues them with words but they are not to be found.” In verse 4 of that same chapter Solomon had already said that a poor man finds himself separated from his friend. Solomon means that even if he had one solitary friend left, this one too soon turns his back on him. Seeing the poor is shunned by his peers, G’d loves him instead.
This point is made succinctly in Isaiah 14,32: “in it (Zion) the needy of His people shall find shelter.” Seeing that the Jewish people (Zion) act as lenders to Hashem in supporting the poor when they perform charity, Hashem in turn is indebted to them and has to repay them both in this life and in the hereafter. It is not the custom for the Book of Proverbs to mention commandments explicitly written in the Torah unless a new dimension of that commandment is added to our understanding of it thereby. When Solomon speaks about חונן דל instead of מרחם, in Proverbs 19,17 “granting grace to the poor, instead of extending mercy to the poor,” the reason is that the word חונן suggests חינם, extending help for free, without demanding any sort of recompense from the recipient. Even when the recipient did not have a claim on such largesse, G’d extends it “without strings attached.” He had explained this as being one of His attributes when He told Moses at Mount Sinai וחנותי את אשר ארחם, “I reserve the right to extend My grace to whomsoever I will extend My mercy” (Exodus 33,19).
We are commanded to emulate this attribute of Hashem when the Torah writes in Deut. 28,9: והלכת בדרכיו, “you shall walk in His ways,” i.e. just as G’d extends His mercy not asking for anything in return, we too must relate to the poor without asking anything in return. When someone practices this commandment and he makes certain requests from Hashem in the course of his prayer, his prayer will be favorably received. We have proof of this In Psalms 30,9 where David says: “I called to You my Lord, to my Lord I made appeal.” The repetition is an explanation of why David thinks he has a right to make such an appeal. Moses did something similar in the first verse of our portion when he describes himself as having pleaded with G’d, i.e. ואתחנן. He was busy for 40 days and 40 nights praying and none of his prayers was responded to positively until he used the תחנה prayer.
This point is made succinctly in Isaiah 14,32: “in it (Zion) the needy of His people shall find shelter.” Seeing that the Jewish people (Zion) act as lenders to Hashem in supporting the poor when they perform charity, Hashem in turn is indebted to them and has to repay them both in this life and in the hereafter. It is not the custom for the Book of Proverbs to mention commandments explicitly written in the Torah unless a new dimension of that commandment is added to our understanding of it thereby. When Solomon speaks about חונן דל instead of מרחם, in Proverbs 19,17 “granting grace to the poor, instead of extending mercy to the poor,” the reason is that the word חונן suggests חינם, extending help for free, without demanding any sort of recompense from the recipient. Even when the recipient did not have a claim on such largesse, G’d extends it “without strings attached.” He had explained this as being one of His attributes when He told Moses at Mount Sinai וחנותי את אשר ארחם, “I reserve the right to extend My grace to whomsoever I will extend My mercy” (Exodus 33,19).
We are commanded to emulate this attribute of Hashem when the Torah writes in Deut. 28,9: והלכת בדרכיו, “you shall walk in His ways,” i.e. just as G’d extends His mercy not asking for anything in return, we too must relate to the poor without asking anything in return. When someone practices this commandment and he makes certain requests from Hashem in the course of his prayer, his prayer will be favorably received. We have proof of this In Psalms 30,9 where David says: “I called to You my Lord, to my Lord I made appeal.” The repetition is an explanation of why David thinks he has a right to make such an appeal. Moses did something similar in the first verse of our portion when he describes himself as having pleaded with G’d, i.e. ואתחנן. He was busy for 40 days and 40 nights praying and none of his prayers was responded to positively until he used the תחנה prayer.