Proverbs 17:24

Pro 17:24 Wisdom [is] before him that hath understanding; but the eyes of a fool [are] in the ends of the earth.

Ver. 24. Wisdom is before him that hath understanding.] The face of an understanding man is wisdom; his very face speaks him wise; the government of his eyes, especially, is an argument of his gravity. {a} His eyes are in his head, {Ecc 2:4} he scattereth away all evil with them. {Pro 20:8} He hath oculum irretortum, as Job had; {Job 31:1} and Joseph had oculum in metam (which was Ludovica’s Vives’s motto), his eye fixed upon the mark; he looks right on; {Pro 4:25} he goes through the world as one in a deep muse, or as one that hath haste of some special business, and therefore overlooks everything besides it. He hath learned out of Isa 33:14-15, that he shall see God to his comfort, must not only "shake his hands from taking gifts," as in the former verse, but also "stop his ears from hearing of blood," and "shut his eyes from seeing of evil." Vitiis nobis in animum per oculos est via, saith Quintilian; {b} sin entereth into the little world through these windows, and death by sin, as fools find too oft by casting their eyes into the corners of the earth, suffering them to rove at random without restraint, by irregular glancing and inordinate gazing. In Hebrew the same word signifies both an eye and a fountain, to show, saith one, that from the eye, as from a fountain, flows both sin and misery. ‘Shut up, therefore, the five windows, that the house may be full of light,’ as the Arabian proverb hath it. We read of one, that making a journey to Rome, and knowing it to be a corrupt place, and a corrupter of others, entered the city with eyes close shut; neither would he see anything there but St Peter’s church, which he had a great mind to go visit. Alipius in Augustine being importuned to go to those bloody spectacles of the gladiatory combats, resolved to wink, and did; but hearing an outcry of applause, looked abroad, and was so taken with the sport, that he became an ordinary frequenter of those cruel meetings.

{a} Vultus index animi. - Profecto occulis animus inhabitat. - Plin,

{b} Quintil., Declam.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Pro_17:24

Wisdom is before him that hath understanding; but the eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth.

The nearness of lifes interest and work

Far fowls have fine feathers--that is our modern rendering of the Hebrew proverb. Both proverbs are directed against a common weakness of human nature, our English proverb hitting it off with a good-natured smile, the Hebrew proverb rebuking it with the bluntness of a moral censor. To make little of what is at our door, and to magnify what is distant, is a familiar way in which the weakness of human nature shows itself. It is a weakness to which most of us must plead guilty, and it is a weakness which proves itself a formidable enemy of spiritual life. There is no chance of our achieving anything great in the spiritual life while we hug the delusion that greatness is to be found far off in space or in time, and that its only congenial surroundings are far different from those in which we find ourselves. The wise man knows where to look for the interest and grandeur of life; he knows they are to be found near at hand, even at his own door. Two directions in which this lesson is needed.

I. We may look for the interest of life in the wrong place. It is difficult to see the spiritual in what is commonplace, the great in what is near, the sacred in what is ordinary. Men go to far-off lands seeking beauty which can be found almost at their doors. The romance of life has often been sought far afield, while all the time a nobler romance was to be found around the door. The wisest delineators of human life have found its romance near home. One reason of the popularity of George Eliots novels lies just here, that she has taken up the lives of ordinary people, and shown, with fine sympathy, how rich in interest is the common life of the common people. It is of supreme importance for the living of a Christian life that we should have our interest kept fresh and rightly directed. It is not only the flesh that wars against the spirit, but listlessness; not only positive sins, but the deadening weight of the conviction that we are set down in the midst of dull commonplace. Our enthusiasm needs to be aroused, and the rousing of our enthusiasm must spring from the conviction that there is something within our reach worth being enthusiastic about. That conviction often fails us just because we commit the folly which our proverb reproves. Immanuel Kant was never more than a few miles from his native Konigsberg. He found in the human mind a field of study exhaustless in its scope and interest. If the life of our town is dull it is because our own souls are dull. The insipidity and commonplaceness of which we complain belong to our own vision.

II. We may look for the work of life in the wrong place. The one error is linked with the other. From false views of life there spring erroneous conceptions of the work we may accomplish. It is not circumstances that make a man spiritually great, but the way in which he handles the circumstances. Spiritual greatness springs not from without, but from within. It matters little what may be the rough material put into our hands. The spiritual product we turn out depends upon the spirit in which we work. Our work is not far off in the ends of the earth; it is close beside us. These are no tame, prosaic days in which we live. They may be days of trouble, and unrest, and upheaval, but the Spirit of God is moving as of old upon the face of the waters. We need not sigh for the opportunity of playing our part in the movements of other days. The movements of to-day are enough for our faith, and energy, and devotion. (D. M. Ross, M. A.)

Contrast between a wise man and a fool

I. That the one has a meaning, the other an unmeaning face. One translator renders the words In the countenance of a wise man wisdom appeareth, but the fools eyes roll to and fro. God has so formed man that his face is the index to his soul; it is the dial-plate of the mental clock. A wise mans face looks wisdom--calm, devout, reflective. The fools face looks folly. As the translucent lake reflects the passing clouds and rolling lights of sky, so does the human countenance mirror the soul.

II. That the one has an occupied the other a vacant mind. The meaning of Solomon perhaps may be wisdom as before, that is, present, with the man that hath understanding. The principles of wisdom are in his mind, are ever before his eye. Wisdom is before his mind in every circumstance and condition. Its rule, the Word of God, is before him. Its principle, the love of God, is before him. Thus he has an occupied mind. But the mind of the fool is vacant. His eyes are in the ends of the earth. He has nothing before him, nothing true, or wise, or good. He looks at emptiness. Alas! how vacant the mind of a morally unwise man! It is a vessel without ballast, at the mercy of the winds and waves. His thoughts are unsubstantial, his hopes are illusory, the sphere of his conscious life a mirage.

III. That the one has a settled, the other an unsettled heart. The morally wise man is fixed, wisdom is before him and his heart is on it. He is rooted and grounded in the faith. He is not used by circumstances, but he makes circumstances serve him. But the fool is unsettled, his eyes are in the ends of the earth. His mind, like the evil spirit, walks to and fro through the earth, seeking rest and finding none. (Homilist.)

Common follies

If the eyes are in the ends of the earth, they cannot be here, where, probably, the work and duty lie. The man will stumble over obstacles which he would see if his eyes were where they should be, and he wilt lose his way. This is a common kind of folly, and appears under different aspects.

I. The folly of discontent. A mans eyes may be said to be in the ends of the earth if he thinks his happiness lies in a different sphere from that which Providence has allotted to him. The grumbling spirit is widespread, and is not confined to any class of the community. Sometimes the round man is put into the square hole. God does not invariably wish a man to stay for ever in the place where he has been dropped. The mistake is when we so allow these feelings to work in us that they make us disheartened where we are. Some time the tide of opportunity rises to every mans feet, and happy is he if he is ready to take it when his hour comes. But if it does not come, what then? Why, then we must surely conclude that God needs us where we are.

II. The folly of the scorner. A persons eyes are in the ends of the earth if the objects of his admiration are all people he has never seen, and if he has nothing but contempt for those among whom he lives. If the only causes that can awaken your enthusiasm are causes belonging to past centuries, if all your heroes are men who are dead, and you have no living heroes, your eyes are in the ends of the earth. Some go to romance and poetry for the objects of their admiration. But it is one thing to pity the poor in a book, and quite a different thing to pity them in the flesh.

III. The folly of the busybody. A persons eyes are in the ends of the earth when he occupies his eyes with the affairs of other people and neglects his own. The gossip; the loud-mouthed politician; the satirist who lashes the iniquities of the times, and who himself is the slave of the same vices. A wise man said that ours is an age when every man wants to reform the world and no one is willing to reform himself.

IV. The folly of the procrastinator. A mans eyes are in the ends of the earth if he is looking forward to the proper use of future time and not making proper use of present time. We all do it. How easy and pleasant is the duty which is going to be done to-morrow! Some are committing this folly in regard to the most important of all concerns--the concern of the soul and eternity. This is a threefold folly.

1. The future opportunity may never come.

2. If it does come, can you be sure that you will then be anxious about eternity?

3. You can only have a mean and selfish conception of religion if you defer it to some future time. You are going to spend your life on yourself, going to give it to the devil, and at last going to creep to Christ and get Him to take you into heaven and save you from the consequences of your sin. Can you hold your face up to a conception of religion like that? Christ wants your life--wants to make it year by year more and more useful and noble. (James Stalker, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Pro 17:24. Wisdom is before him — Hebrew, את פני, in the face, or countenance, of him that hath understanding — His wisdom appears in his very countenance, or in his gestures, or looks, which are modest, composed, and grave. Or, rather, wisdom is before him, or in his eye, he never loses sight of it; it is the mark at which he constantly aims, and the rule by which he constantly walks, and by which he orders all his steps, continually minding his present duty and business. But the eyes of the fool are in the ends of the earth — He manifests his folly, as the man of understanding doth his wisdom, by his very appearance, by his light, unsteady, disorderly carriage and looks. And his mind is wavering and unsettled; he neither proposes a right and certain end to himself, nor is he constant in the use of fit means to attain it; he neglects his present business and true interest, and wanders hither and thither in the pursuit of earthly vanities, minding most those things which are most remote from him, and which least concern him.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL NOTES.—

Pro_17:24. Many explain this verse to mean that the wise find wisdom everywhere while the fool seeks it everywhere but in the right place. Delitzsch and others understand the proverb to mean that wisdom is the aim of the man of understanding while the fool has no definite aim in life.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_17:24 IN CONNECTION WITH THE FIRST CLAUSE OF Pro_17:22

THE EYES OF A FOOL AND THOSE OF A WISE MAN

I. Even a fool is conscious that there is good to be found. If we meet a traveller in search of a certain city, even although he is journeying in the very opposite direction to that in which the city lies, yet the fact that he is journeying at all shows that he is conscious of its existence. His eyes may be turned away from it instead of towards it, his feet may be carrying him every moment farther from it, yet he would not be seeking it in any direction if he had not a persuasion that it was in existence. A man may be digging for gold in a soil in which gold has never been found, nor ever will be, but the fact that he is digging anywhere proves that he is alive to the fact that there is gold in the world. So the fool is here represented as seeking—which shows that he is persuaded that there is a certain good and desirable thing which is attainable. Most men are seeking—“There be many which say, Who will show us any good?” (Psa_4:6). They are in one direction and another looking for that which will satisfy and ennoble them, and this universal quest proves a universal sense of the existence of some desirable good.

II. But the fool looks afar for what he needs while it is close at hand. An idle, unpractical man of business spends his time in fancies that he could make his fortune if he were in some far-off land, and all the time misses the opportunities of doing so which are within his reach at home. The idle youth dreams of the great things he would do if he were a man, and neglects to do that which would ennoble and bless his present life. It is a very common characteristic of moral fools to imagine that they would be blest if they possessed something which is entirely beyond their reach, whereas means of obtaining the only real and lasting good are scattered around them so abundantly that they trample them every day under their feet. Every sinful man feels that it would be good for him to stand in a different relation to God, but he does not always seek that good in the direction in which it is to be found. He feels his need of a different disposition and character, but he does not go in quest of them where they may be found. In Pro_17:22 the wise man traces this habit of the moral fool to its source. He finds “no good” because he “is froward in heart.” The fruitlessness of his search is due to nothing else but to his own perversity. He would rather demand external evidence for the truth of revelation than test it by compliance with its precepts. He excuses his neglect of the plain commands of God, by dwelling upon mysteries connected with His gospel, which finite minds cannot solve. Israel of old was warned against this error. “For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it and do it? Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldst say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it and do it? But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it (Deu_30:11-14). And Paul convicts them of the same sin after the coming of the Messiah. The Scribes and Pharisees in the days of Christ perversely looked everywhere for light, except to the moral sun which was shining in their midst.

III. The man whose understanding is enlightened not only knows what he needs, but he knows where to find it. It is a mark of practical sagacity in human affairs to know what is wanted, and to know also where to look for a supply of the want. A traveller ought not only to know the name of the city which he wants to find, but he ought to know upon which road to travel to find it. The physician ought not only to know what his patient needs, but he ought to know where to find the remedy. The statesman ought to be able to detect the nation’s needs, and he ought also to know where to look for a supply of the need. And so in every department of social life. A man’s life will be a failure if he can only discern that something is wanting in himself, in his family, or in his business, but does not know where to turn to supply the want. So is it in spiritual things. But he who is morally wise knows what is the real good to be aimed at, and knows where to seek it. He knows that “happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding,” that “the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold” (chap. Pro_3:13-14). And he knows that it is “before him”—that the “fear of the Lord that is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding” (Job_28:28); and that he need not go “to the ends of the earth” in quest of this, but that it is within the reach of every sincere and earnest seeker. (Many expositors give this verse a different rendering. See Critical Notes. It would then express a truth similar to that contained in Homiletics on chap. Pro_13:14, page 313).

OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS

Heaven is able to know so much more plainly than hell. The very thing which is the best enlightener, the minds of hell will be entirely without. “The depth saith, It is not in me; and the sea saith, It is not in me. Destruction and death say, We have heard the fame thereof with our ears.” Hell, therefore, will always cavil. If saints judge better than sinners, how much better God than saints. “Wisdom is before (His) very face,” while the “eyes,” not of the “stupid” only, but of Gabriel himself, must be in the respect of the contrast, “at the end of the earth.” “At the end,” not in the middle, where the thing can be best judged, but at the dark extremity.—Miller.

The countenance is the glass of the mind, and the star of the countenance is the eye. “In the face of the prudent wisdom is present.” In the whole countenance of the discreet person, and in every part thereof, there is a wise moderation; for in his brows he carrieth calmness, in his eyes modesty, in his cheeks cheerfulness, in his lips comeliness, in his whole face a certain grace and staidness. “But the eyes of the fool are in the ends of the earth.” On the contrary, he who is simple or vain governeth not his very eyes aright, but letteth loose unto them the bridle in such sort as that they roll or rove after every vanity, or pry into every corner.—Muffet.

We must not only learn wisdom, but keep it in our eyes, that it may be a light to our feet; for a man that has wisdom in his mind, and forgets to use it, is like one that has money in his chest, but forgets to carry some of it with him when he is going a long journey, to bear his necessary expenses. He will be at a great loss, on many occasions, that has money in his house, but none in his pocket.—Lawson.

“But the eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth.” He has no fixed and steady principle or rule; nothing on which he fixes his eye for his guidance. His thoughts are incessantly wandering after matters he has nothing to do with,—anything and everything but that which he should at the time be minding;—roving after every vanity, and keeping steadily to no pursuit. It is specially true of “things pertaining to salvation.” Wisdom, in this matter above all others, is “before him that hath understanding.” He looks to one point. He sees one thing to be needful. He sees the wisdom of God providing for it. There he fixes. And this is wisdom. It is ever before him. One end—one means. Whereas “the fool’s eyes are in the ends of the earth.” He has examined nothing. He roves at random, with no determinate ideas about the most interesting, by infinite degrees, of all concerns. Ask him how he hopes to be saved, and you immediately discover his thoughtless unsettledness. He is in “the ends of the earth.” His answer is to seek. It is here, it is there, it is nowhere. He hesitates, he supposes, he guesses, he is at a stand—he cannot tell.… There is another character that may here be meant, namely, the schemer, the visionary projector. The truly intelligent man applies the plain and obvious dictates of common sense to the attainment of his end; but the scheming visionary fool is ever after out-of-the-way plans, new and farfetched expedients.—Wardlaw.

Wisdom is full in the sight of the man of understanding, he beholdeth the beauty and perfection of it, he looketh into the worth and happiness of it. He sets it before him as a pattern, by which he frameth and ordereth all his ways, all his doings. His eye is never from it. It is the glass by which he espieth out the blemishes and defects of his life, and if he see in it a true resemblance of himself, it is not the glass that must be said to be true for that cannot be false, but it is himself that is a man of true worth; the glass approving his goodness, not he the goodness of the glass. But a fool beholds wisdom as a thing afar from him; he discerneth not what it is, nor what is the glory and excellency of it: he perceiveth nothing whereby either to take direction from it, or liking to it. He thinketh that he must go to the ends of the earth to get it, and if ever, it is in the end of his life, that he hath any sight of it.… Or else we may understand the latter part of the verse thus: That a fool’s eyes are in the ends of the earth, because in any trouble or distress he looketh all up and down the earth, from one end of it to the other for help and succour, and in the end as a fool remaineth helpless. But wisdom is before him that hath understanding, and stopping his eyes from looking too much that way, turneth them and directeth them up to heaven, where help ought to be sought and is sure to be found.—Jermin.

Pro_17:25 is a repetition of the thought in Pro_17:21. For Homiletics and Comments see on chap. Pro_10:1.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

17:24 Wisdom is not a natural quality but must be pursued. Sensible people persistently cultivate wisdom, but a fool’s eyes cannot stay focused.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

That is, wander to and fro, and seek not after wisdom.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Note, 1. He is to be reckoned an intelligent man that not only has wisdom, but has it ready when he has occasion for it. He lays his wisdom before him, as his card and compass which he steers by, has his eye always upon it, as he that writes has on his copy; and then he has it before him; it is not to seek, but still at hand. 2. He that has a giddy head, a roving rambling fancy, will never be fit for any solid business. He is a fool, and good for nothing, whose eyes are in the ends of the earth, here, and there and every where, any where but where they should be, who cannot fix his thoughts to one subject nor pursue any one purpose with any thing of steadiness. When his mind should be applied to his study and business it is filled with a thousand things foreign and impertinent.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Wisdom . . . him--ever an object of regard, while a fool's affections are unsettled.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 24. Are in the ends of the earth.] Wisdom is within the sight and reach at every man: but he whose desires are scattered abroad, who is always aiming at impossible things, or is of an unsteady disposition, is not likely to find it.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(24) Wisdom is before him that hath understanding—i.e., he can easily find her.

But the eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth.—He is looking for her everywhere, while all the time she lies straight before him. (For the thought, comp. Deu_30:11-14.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

24. before] More literally and forcibly, before the face of, R.V., as the object of his stedfast contemplation and pursuit, whereas “the eyes of a fool” seek the world over and find not. Comp. Pro_4:25.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Wisdom is before him that hath understanding,.... Is near him, to direct and assist him; it is before him as a rule to walk by, and it is the mark he aims at. A man of spiritual understanding has the book of wisdom before him, the Scriptures of truth, which are able to make a man wise to salvation; and he steers his course according to them; he sets Christ, the Wisdom of God, always before him; and keeps his eye on the mark for the prize, all the while he is running his Christian race: or, "in the face of an understanding man is wisdom" (a); it is to be seen in his countenance, which is grave and composed;

but the eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth; where wisdom is not to be found, it is far off from him; his mind is wandering after every object, is unsettled and unfixed to anything; and which may be discerned in his eyes, which are rolling about and turning, first one way and then another; and which shows the levity and inconstancy of his mind.

(a) "in facie prudentis (lucet) sapientia", V. L. so Vatablus, Mercerus, Gejerus, Piscator, Noldius, p. 140. No. 665. "in vultu intelligentis sapientia", Schultens.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Before him - Set straight before his eyes as the mark to which they look. Others, following the Septuagint and Vulgate, interpret the verse, Wisdom is seen in the clear, stedfast look of the wise man as contrasted with the wandering gaze of the fool.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Earth. Wandering and insatiable, and deeming the acquisition of wisdom too difficult.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Before him; or, in (as the particle beth is used, Deu 2:7, and is here rendered by divers interpreters) the face or countenance. The sense is either,

1. His wisdom appears even in his gestures and looks, which are modest, and composed, and grave. Or,

2. Wisdom is before him, or in his sight, as the mark at which he aims, or as the rule by which he constantly walketh and ordereth all his steps, from time to time minding his present duty and business. The steps of a fool are in the ends of the earth: the sense of this clause also is either,

1. His folly appears in his light, and unsteady, and disorderly carriage and looks. Or,

2. His mind is wavering and unsettled; he neither proposeth a right and certain end to himself, nor is he constant in the use of fit means to attain it; he neglects his present business and true interest, and wanders hither and thither in the pursuit of earthly vanities, minding most those things which are remotest from him, and least concern him.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

24. Wisdom… before him — Present with him or before him, as a mark at which he looks. “Wisdom is in the face of him that hath understanding;” that is, is seen in his clear, steadfast look.

Eyes of a fool… ends of the earth — His garish, wandering eyes fix on nothing that will avail to his good; they mind those things which least concern him. — Patrick.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Wisdom is before the face of him that hath understanding. The idea is that the intelligent man directs his look towards Wisdom, and therefore she beams upon him with all her light; as the Vulgate puts it, "In the face of the prudent wisdom shines." He has one object to which he directs all his attention. (Pro_15:14) The Septuagint rendering is not so satisfactory: "The countenance of a prudent man is wise;" he shows in his look and bearing the wisdom that guides him. Thus Ecc_8:1, "A man"s wisdom maketh his face to shine, and the hardness of his face is changed." The eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth. A fool has no one definite object in view; he pursues a hundred different things, as they happen to come in his way, but misses the most important quest of all and fritters away the powers which might have aided him to obtain wisdom.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

In the face - His wisdom appears even in his looks. The eyes - Minding most, those things which are remotest from him, and least concern him.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

24 The understanding has his attention toward wisdom;

But the eyes of a fool are on the end of the earth.

Many interpreters explain, as Euchel:

"The understanding finds wisdom everywhere;

The eyes of the fool seek it at the end of the world."

Ewald refers to Deu 30:11-14 as an unfolding of the same thought. But although it may be said of the fool (vid., on the contrary, Pro 15:14) that he seeks wisdom, only not at the right place, as at Pro 14:6, of the mocker that he seeks wisdom but in vain, yet here the order of the words, as well as the expression, lead us to another thought: before the eyes of the understanding את־פּניע, as Gen 33:18; Sa1 2:11, and frequently in the phrase 'את־פני ה, e.g., Sa1 1:22) wisdom lies as his aim, his object, the end after which he strives; on the contrary, the eyes of the fool, without keeping that one necessary thing in view, wander in alia omnia, and roam about what is far off, without having any fixed object. The fool is everywhere with his thoughts, except where he ought to be. Leaving out of view that which lies nearest, he loses himself in aliena. The understanding has an ever present theme of wisdom, which arrests his attention, and on which he concentrates himself; but the fool flutters about fantastically from one thing to another, and that which is to him precisely of least importance interests him the most.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

Let us trace our interest in wisdom from the beginning. It first "enters into the heart." (Pro 2:10 .) There it "rests in him that hath understanding" (Pro 14:33 ), as his principle of conduct. Now it is before his eyes in the Book of Wisdom, as his rule of faith and life. (Pro 14:8 .) It is the center, to which all his thoughts, motives, and pursuits tend. All is now order. Every faculty, desire, and affection, finds its proper place. ’He that hath understanding fixeth his eyes upon wisdom, and contenteth himself with that object; whereas the eyes of a fool are constantly wandering everywhere; and his thoughts settle upon nothing that may avail to his good.’†1 His eyes are in the ends of the earth, rolling and wandering from one object to another. His thoughts are scattered. He has no definite object, no settled principle, no certain rule. Talent, cultivation of mind, improvement of opportunity — all are frittered away. He cares for those things which are furtherest from him, and with which he has the least concern.

An original writer thus vividly portrays this inconstancy — ’Today he goes to the quay to be shipped for Rome. But before the tides come, his tide is turned. One party thinks him theirs; the adverse theirs; he is with both; with neither; not an hour with himself. Indifference is his ballast, and opinion his sail; he resolves not to resolve. He knows not what he doth hold. He opens his mind to receive notions, as one opens his palm to take an handful of water. He hath very much, if he could hold it. He is sure to die, but not what religion to die in. He demurs, like a posed lawyer, as if delay could remove some impediments. — In a controverted point, he holds with the last reasoner he either heard or read. The next diverts him, and his opinion dwells with him perhaps so long as the teacher of it is in his sight. He will rather take dross for gold, than try it in the furnace. He receives many judgments, retains none. — He loathes manna after two days’ feeding. — His best dwelling would be his confined chamber, where he would trouble nothing but his pillow. He is full of business at Church; a stranger at home; a skeptic abroad; an observer in the street; everywhere a fool.’†2

This diversion is a great engine of the enemy. His great object is to turn the mind aside from what is immediate to what is indefinite, from what is plain and important to what is unsearchable;†3 from what is personal to what is irrelevant.†4 Many trifles take the place of the "One thing needful." And is not this waste of time often a temptation to the Christian? Where are his eyes, or his thoughts, at prayer? Alas! too often, instead of "looking unto Jesus" (Heb 12:2 ), his great object, the life of prayer, the only way to God — are they not in the ends of the earth, as if there was no nearer, no better object of attraction? Oh! do not we want simplicity of spiritual understanding to keep him, the great uncreated Wisdom, constantly before our eyes? Lord! I am ashamed of my base inconstancy. But it is thou alone canst heal it. "Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity." (Psa 119:37 .) Fix them — O fix them — on him, on whom all heaven, all the redeemed, delight to gaze for ever.

Footnotes:

†1 Bishop Hall.

†2 Works of Rev. Thomas Adams. Folio, 1630 — The Soul’s Sickness.

†3 Deu 29:29. Col 2:18 .

†4 Luk 13:23-24. Joh 21:21-22 .

Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs (1846) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

v. 24. Wisdom is before him that hath understanding, it is very near to him, it guides and directs him always, leading him along one definite road always; but the eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth, engaged with things in a dim and shadowy distance, his thoughts straying about without definite aim.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Wisdom is directly in front of an understanding man The wisdom is directly in front of an understanding man.

but the eyes of a fool are at the end of the earth saying, “Wisdom is inaccessible to me [lit. The wisdom is not found before me] because it is far from me. How will I be able to learn the Order Nezikin, which consists of thirty chapters; Tractate Kelim, consisting of thirty chapters; Tractate Shabbath, consisting of twenty-four chapters?” But, for the wise man, it is an easy matter: “Today I learn two chapters and tomorrow two chapters.” And he says, “This is what those who preceded me from time immemorial did.”

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.