Proverbs 16:16 How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! and to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver! I. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WISDOM AND UNDERSTANDING. It is like that which exists between the moving and the acting power, between the principle and the practice, between the plan and the process, between the cause and the effect. Wisdom is the knowledge and preference of the best and worthiest end; understanding is the apprehension and the employment of the means which shall be most effectual for attaining it. The well-being of the imperishable part of man throughout eternity is the chief end of his existence, and the knowledge and preference of this is "wisdom." Then the apprehension and the employment of the means which shall be effectual in obtaining it is "understanding." The habitual avoidance and resistance of all known sin is a sure test of spiritual "wisdom" and spiritual "understanding." II. WHY ARE WISDOM AND UNDERSTANDING TO BE CHOSEN RATHER THAN SILVER AND GOLD? These are more conducive than silver and gold to solid happiness. There are many things in the countless evils which make up man's heritage of woe for which silver and gold can provide no remedy whatever. Wisdom imparts to man the power of subjecting, if not of satisfying the bodily appetites; it makes him rich, if not by increasing his substance, by diminishing his wants; it sets before him the continual feast of a contented heart. And it teaches how to avoid and escape evils. It may also be added that wisdom and understanding are better than gold and silver because they alone can be conducive to the happiness of the "life that is to come." (T. Dale, M.A.) Parallel Verses KJV: How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! and to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver! |
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