Proverbs 14:6

A scorner seeketh wisdom, and findeth it not: but knowledge is easy unto him that understandeth. A SCORNER SEEKETH WISDOM, AND (FINDETH IT) NOT: BUT KNOWLEDGE (IS) EASY (HEBREW, AN EASY THING) UNTO HIM THAT UNDERSTANDETH. The scorner findeth it not, because he does not seek it diligently and seriously, and with a desire for piety, but as profane Esau sought the blessing: nor does he seek it with the end in view that he may obey the will of God (for if he did so, God would teach him, ), but in order to get the sanction of God for gratifying his own desires (Jeremiah 42:1; Ezekiel 20:1), and to amuse his mind with the eloquence of God's ministers ...

Verse Proverbs 14:6. _A SCORNER SEEKETH WISDOM_] I believe the _scorner_ means, in this book, the man that _despises_ the _counsel of God_; the _infidel_. Such may _seek wisdom_; but he never can find it, because he does not seek it _where_ it is to be found; neither in the _teaching of God's Spirit_, nor in the _revelation_ of his will....

FINDETH IT NOT - literally, there is none. The successful pursuit of wisdom presupposes at least earnestness and reverence. The scoffer shuts himself out from the capacity of recognizing truth....

EXPOSITION PROVERBS 14:1 EVERY WISE WOMAN BUILDETH HER HOUSE. Wise women order well their household matters and their families; they have an important influence, and exercise it beneficially. Γυναικὸς ἐσθλῆς ἐστὶ σώζειν οἰκίαν_._ "A good wife is the saving of a house." The versions render as above. A different pointing of the word translated "wise" (_chakhmoth_)_ _will give "wisdom" (_chokhmoth_)_, _which it seems best to read here, as the parallel to the abstract term "folly" in the second member. So we have, "Wisdom hath builded her house" (Proverbs 9:1; comp. Proverbs 1:20). Thus: "The wi

A SCORNER SEEKETH WISDOM, AND [FINDETH IT] NOT,.... So the scornful Greeks, that scoffed at the plainness and simplicity of the Gospel, sought natural wisdom, and thought they found it, and professed they had; but professing themselves to be wise they became fools, and with all their wisdom knew not God; and false teachers, that boasted of their evangelical wisdom, and of their great attainments in Gospel light, and derided others, were ever learning, and never came to the knowledge of the truth; and the scornful Jews, that mocked at the true Messiah, would seek him, the Wisdom of God, as they have done, and find him not; see John 7:34; Men often seek for wisdom in a wrong way and manner, in the use of wrong means; and seek it of wrong persons, and to wrong ends and purposes, and so seek amiss and find not; and some seek for wisdom, even evangelical wisdom, in a scornful manner, in a jee...

CHAPTER 14 THE WISE AND THE FOOLISH: THE RICH AND THE POOR The contrast now concerns the wise and the foolish, the rich and the poor. Let us see some of these contrasts. “In the mouth of the foolish is a rod of pride, but the lips of the wise shall preserve them” Proverbs 14:3. The foolish shoots forth his foolishness like a branch. Separation from the foolish man is commanded in the seventh verse. The wise cannot have fellowship with the foolish, as the believer is not to be yoked to the unbeliever. Fools make a mock at sin Proverbs 14:9). The word “sin” in the original means “trespass offering.” That is exactly what the foolish man does, including the religious fool; he denies both sin and the blessed provision God has made to deliver from the guilt and power of sin. But among the righteous, says

PROVERBS 14. In this, as in each of the preceding Chapter s in this section, aphorisms on the moral government of the world come first in number. There are rather more in this chapter of a political and social character, while a group that might be called psychological appears for the first time (_e.g._ Proverbs 14:10; Proverbs 14:13, and in part Proverbs 14:30). The contrast between wisdom and folly, simplicity and prudence, also yields a fairly numerous group. PROVERBS 14:1. MT cannot be translated. Proverbs 14:1 a is p

SEEKETH. every scorner hath sought repeatedly. Note the past tense. AND FLNDETH IT NOT. Illustrations: the Pharisees (John 9:29. Compare Pro 7:52, and 1 Corinthians 2:14); Jews (Acts 13:41; Acts 13:45); Athenians (1 Corinthians 1:23; 1 Corinthians 2:8). UNDERSTANDETH. is discerning. Illustration: Ethiopian (Acts 8:27)....

findeth it _not_ Lit. AND IT IS NOT (_there_)! Only to the lowly and reverent does Wisdom reveal herself. Comp. Matthew 11:25....

A SCORNER SEEKETH WISDOM, &C.— He that comes to seek after knowledge, says Lord Bacon, with a mind to scorn and censure, shall be sure to find matter enough for his humour, but none for instruction; one reason of which is, that this humour of deriding all things, in men of this kind, springs from a great pride and conceit of their own wit, which disposes them to seek for wisdom, not from others, but wholly from themselves; and so, as the wise man observes, they are not likely to find it where it is not to be had: when he who attributes less to himself, and hath the humility to listen to instruction, in a short time attains to great wisdom. See Advancement of Learning, b. vii. c. 2. and Bishop Patrick....