To be envious against evil men is plainly to confess ourselves to be worse than they are. For, as St. Gregory speaketh, we cannot envy except it be those who we think to be better than ourselves. Indeed, to envy against evil men is to make wickedness to be goodness, and to show no goodness to be in his heart that is so envious. . . . Whosoever thou be that envieth evil men, I cannot tell who should envy thee, except the devil, because thou strivest to be more wicked than he is. For they are only the godly that he is envious against.—Jermin.
Verse 4. The last virtue here spoken of is knowledge, whereby the inward rooms of the house are filled with all precious substance; unto the providing and treasuring up of food, of money, and all things necessary and comfortable, the knowledge of times, the prices of things, and of the means whereby commodities may be obtained, is requisite. . . . It is not to be marvelled at that many young married folk and householders in these days have nothing in their families but want of necessaries and bare walls, seeing they want both wisdom and understanding, and knowledge.—Muffett.
Riches imply (1) plenty of that which is precious and pleasant. (2) Propriety. They must be that which is their own; and hereunto economical prudence much conducteth. God bestoweth abundance on the wicked ex largitate, only out of a general providence; but upon his people that are good husbands ex promisso, by virtue of this and the like promises.—Trapp.
Verse 5. A strong man. (See Miller’s rendering in the [Critical Notes].) A common man, a better sort of man, are the four words for man in the Bible. This is a strong man. It means strong in a worldly sense. That man, if wise, is a power indeed. . . . The meaning is that a “strong” man, if not “wise,” is not “strong” at all; that piety is itself strength; that the stronger a man without it, the weaker he is; that a strong man who is pious, not only becomes strong in that, but strong really by his worldly strength; because piety gives realness to every gift.—Miller.
I. Intelligence apart from piety is power. A man who has great intelligence, and knows how to use it, possesses a power superior to any physical force. . . . II. Piety apart from intelligence is a higher kind of power. It is the patience of love, endurance, patience, compassion; it is a power which will touch men’s hearts, move the very arm of Omnipotence, “take hold upon the strength of God.” III. Piety associated with intelligence is the highest creature power. What power on earth is equal to that possessed by the man of vast intelligence and consecrated affections, the man of sunny intellect and Heaven-inspired sympathies and aims?—Dr. David Thomas.
A wise man is not only strong in having wisdom, but in getting strength also. . . . For by wisdom knowing well the want and need of strength, he is careful and diligent to procure it; whereas many times strength, being presumptuous upon its own might, seeks not for wisdom to support it, and falls for want of having it.—Jermin.
main homiletics of verse 7.
A False Estimate and a True One.
I. The fool’s estimate of wisdom. Solomon here gives the fool’s own reason for remaining in his folly, viz., that wisdom is difficult to acquire—that neither intellectual or spiritual knowledge can be gained without pains and self-denial. This is of course saying in effect that they are worthless, and this false estimate lies at the root of all ignorance, whether it be mental or moral. For if we can make a man feel that a thing is good and will bring him good, he will not be unwilling to seek to possess it, and his search and his pursuit will be diligent, and eager, and continuous, in proportion to the good which he believes the possession will bring him. The idle schoolboy complains of the difficulty of his tasks, and of the severity of his teacher, because he does not rightly estimate the value of knowledge, and the moral fool finds fault with the methods of becoming spiritually wise, because he has no sense of the worth of such wisdom. But it must not be forgotten that the longer the fool makes the excuse of the text, the more true it becomes. The powers of the intellect, like those of the body, are less capable of use the longer they remain idle. If a healthy man is so indolent as to refuse to walk, his legs by long disuse may become unable to perform their office, and if the mental powers are left unexercised in youth, it is more difficult to use them to purpose in middle life. And it is so, too, with the spiritual perceptions and capabilities. Although it is never too late to acquire the highest wisdom, it certainly seems more out of the reach of the man who has neglected to seek it throughout a long life, than of him who gives to its pursuit the vigour and freshness of his youth.
II. The consequent estimate which wise men form of the fool. If men undervalue wisdom, they themselves are little valued, and their words and opinions have no weight with wise men. As it is a mark of folly generally to “open the mouth,” although nothing comes therefrom that is worth anything, the declaration that a fool “openeth not his mouth in the gate” must point, not to his own modesty or conscious inability to speak wisely, but to the estimation in which he is held by others.