Tafsiran yang Mengutip untuk Amsal 14:24

King Solomon, of blessed memory, said, “the ornament of the wise is their wealth; the stupidity of dullards is stupidity” [Proverbs, 14:24]. The verse teaches us that the sages who are worthy of wealth, it is a crown to them. For the evildoers, wealth is an evil thing. It makes them stumble in all things. When a wise man is wealthy, then the people hear his words and they listen to him. When he is in poverty, his words are not heard, even when he says very wise things, they are considered as nothing, as the verse says, “a poor man’s wisdom is scorned” [Ecclesiastes, 9:16]. The wisdom of a poor man is shamed and ignored. He can also apply the wealth to the fulfillment of commandments. However, for the evildoer the wealth is foolishness and a stumbling block. He gives no charity and is very arrogant. He does not speak with the people and as a result they hate him. They separate from him and always consider him insignificant, since he does not want to do any good, to lend money to a person even for a pledge and this gives him a bad name. If he is poor then his words are as nothing. When he is an evildoer and has done evil deeds, they ignore him. However, through the money that he has, the poor person speaks of him and tells of his deeds. They even add many evil deeds that he had not done. They curse his business and his merchandise, and they rejoice at his downfall. Therefore, the Torah also always writes that one should fulfill the commandments. It tells us near this that He wants to give grain, plentiful rain, and health for the body, as a reward. Even though the Torah and commandments were not given for people to eat and drink for enjoyment, but the Torah says that it will give food and drink, expecting that one should be able to study Torah and fulfill commandments, so that on should come to the world to come through this.¹Bahya, Behukotai, Introduction.

עטרת חכמים עשרם אולת כסילים אולת, ”The crown of the wise is their riches; the foolishness of fools is folly” (Proverbs 14,10).

Solomon informed us here that wealth is an attribute possessed by the wise who benefit by it whereas for the sinners it is an attribute that causes them to stumble. When material wealth is in the hands of the wise person it is a crown and honor for him. The reason is simply that all the time the wise man lacks wealth his wisdom is held in low esteem and his words are not heeded as the general public equates wealth with competence of the person who possesses it. Not only this, but wealth is accompanied by authority to lend power to truth and to effectively denigrate lies, etc. Also, the wealthy wise man is able to spend his wealth in a manner where it does a great deal of good, which in turn will reflect credit upon him and enhance his reputation.
The reverse is true when fools are wealthy as they boast about their wealth and they employ their wealth to strengthen other like-minded individuals, in the process increasing the amount of sin committed. The financial success of the sinner is always a danger as it serves the fools to maintain their sinful lifestyle, and encourages them to continue in their mistaken ways.