If they say, “Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood; let us wantonly ambush the innocent; like Sheol let us swallow them alive and whole, like those who go down to the Pit. We shall find all kinds of costly things; we shall fill our houses with booty.
Throw in your lot among us; we will all have one purse” – my child, do not walk in their way, and keep your foot from their paths; for their feet run to evil, and they hurry to shed blood. For in vain is the net baited while the bird is looking on; yet they lie in wait – to kill themselves! and set an ambush – for their own lives! Such is the end of all who are greedy for gain; it takes away the life of its possessors. Proverbs 1:11-19
If we are willing to get rich at the expense of others, we value material gain over their very lives. Others become a means to our own financial ends, and we don’t bother to count the cost they bear – raided IRA’s, stolen identities, grossly underpaid labor. What do we care, as long as we get the life of luxury we want?
But there’s a high cost for such things. When we delude ourselves into thinking we can put a price (and a low one, at that) on the well-being of others, we cannot help but put a price on our own lives. The more our ill-gotten estate is worth, the lower our own value. Who we are becomes what we have taken from others, and we are diminished by the very gains we expected to elevate us. The free ride we steal may remain free, but its destination takes a heavy toll.
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains. I Timothy 6:10, NRSV