E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Poor.
Poor as Job. The allusion is to Job, who was by Satan deprived of everything he possessed.
1
Poor as Lazarus. This is the beggar Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at the rich man’s gate, and desired to be fed from the crumbs that fell from Divs’ table (Luke xvi. 13–31).
2
Poor as a church mouse. In a church there is no cupboard or pantry, where mice most do congregate.
3
There are none poor but those whom God hates. This does not mean that poverty is a punishment, but that the only poverty worthy of the name is poverty of God’s grace. In this sense Divs may be the poor man, and Lazarus the beggar abounding in that “blessing of the Lord which maketh rich.”
s’ table (Luke xvi. 13–31).
