According to Ben Sirach, there is a natural incompatibility between the rich and the poor. The two images he uses to illustrate this point are very suggestive: “he who touches pitch will have his hands stuck together” (1), and the iron pot should not be put together with the clay pot (2). The point is that one must avoid the company of the rich so as not to end up being exploited and, therefore, humiliated by them. In light of the Gospel, this warning applies not so much to the impoverished as to the rich; if they do not renounce their riches, they will have no place in the kingdom of heaven; and in light of the modern socio-anthropological conception of reality, it should be added that if they do not also commit themselves to the real and practical struggle against the structures that generate injustice, they will not enter the kingdom of heaven.