וְאָמַ֣רְתִּי אָ֔נִי טוֹבָ֥ה חָכְמָ֖ה מִגְּבוּרָ֑ה וְחָכְמַ֤ת הַמִּסְכֵּן֙ בְּזוּיָ֔ה וּדְבָרָ֖יו אֵינָ֥ם נִשְׁמָעִֽים׃
Kaya sinabi ko: “Mas mabuti ang karunungan kaysa sa lakas; gayunman, hinahamak ang karunungan ng dukha, at hindi pinakikinggan ang kanyang mga salita.”
Tze'enah Ure'enah
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.
Rabbeinu Bahya
ואם לא תיטיב, “but if you fail to improve (your deeds) you will find the sin at the very entrance of your grave.” G’d told Kayin that though in this life punishment may not be immediate, as you as you die you will be punished for the sins you committed and have not been punished for while on earth. This punishment will take place in the world of the souls.
An alternative meaning of the words לפתח חטאת רובץ, may be that it is an allusion to the physical pain inflicted upon sinners even while they are in their grave. The words ואליך תשוקתו mean that you will have a natural disposition for listening to the evil urge; however, ואתה תמשל בו, “you are able to rule over it, control it.” If you want to listen to the voice of the יצר הטוב, “the urge to be good and to do good,” G’d promises that you will be able to counter the influence of the evil urge. This is what Solomon said in Kohelet 9,15: ומלט הוא את העיר בחכמתו, “and he saved the city through his wisdom.” He also said two verses previously that עיר קטנה ואנשים בה מעט ובא אליה מלך גדול וסבב אותה ובנה עליה מצודים גדולים ומצא בה איש מסכן חכם ומלט את העיר בחכמתו. “There was a small town with only a few inhabitants, and a mighty king came and surrounded it, and built great fortifications against it. Within that town there was a poor wise man who by his wisdom saved the town.” Solomon describes man‘s body as “a small town,” seeing man is perceived as a microcosm. The “few inhabitants” are a metaphor for the various cravings of man, both of his body and his animalistic life-force, נפש. The reason Solomon refers to these cravings as מעט,” is because though man has many cravings only a few of them will be satisfied. The “mighty king” is a reference to the evil urge who has at his command many assistants, i.e. the many and variegated cravings of man. These cravings are for the evil urge what an army with many troops is for a king. The words: “he surrounded it,” are a metaphor describing how the evil urge surrounds the entire body invading even our thought processes. The great fortifications are the wicked deeds already performed by man. The “poor wise man” is a simile for the יצר הטוב, the urge to be good, the שכל, intelligence; seeing that this urge has relatively few “assistants.” he is described as מסכן. He is generally very unpopular as we know from Proverbs 19,7 כל אחי רש שנאהו, “all the brothers of a poor man hate him.” This is why Solomon continues in Kohelet 9,16 ואדם לא זכר את האיש המסכן ההוא; “and no one remembers that poor man.” Solomon is also on record as saying there וחכמת המסכן בזויה ודבריו אינם נשמעים, ”the wisdom of the poor man is despised and no one listens to what he has to say.” When Solomon said that nonetheless this poor man saved the town by means of his wisdom, this is because a little truth sometimes goes a long way and is able to outweigh the efforts of the many wicked all of whose efforts are devoted to perverting the truth and to make the lies appear as if they were the truth. The matter is similar to a little light driving out darkness from a vast area which had previously been totally dark.
An alternative meaning of the words לפתח חטאת רובץ, may be that it is an allusion to the physical pain inflicted upon sinners even while they are in their grave. The words ואליך תשוקתו mean that you will have a natural disposition for listening to the evil urge; however, ואתה תמשל בו, “you are able to rule over it, control it.” If you want to listen to the voice of the יצר הטוב, “the urge to be good and to do good,” G’d promises that you will be able to counter the influence of the evil urge. This is what Solomon said in Kohelet 9,15: ומלט הוא את העיר בחכמתו, “and he saved the city through his wisdom.” He also said two verses previously that עיר קטנה ואנשים בה מעט ובא אליה מלך גדול וסבב אותה ובנה עליה מצודים גדולים ומצא בה איש מסכן חכם ומלט את העיר בחכמתו. “There was a small town with only a few inhabitants, and a mighty king came and surrounded it, and built great fortifications against it. Within that town there was a poor wise man who by his wisdom saved the town.” Solomon describes man‘s body as “a small town,” seeing man is perceived as a microcosm. The “few inhabitants” are a metaphor for the various cravings of man, both of his body and his animalistic life-force, נפש. The reason Solomon refers to these cravings as מעט,” is because though man has many cravings only a few of them will be satisfied. The “mighty king” is a reference to the evil urge who has at his command many assistants, i.e. the many and variegated cravings of man. These cravings are for the evil urge what an army with many troops is for a king. The words: “he surrounded it,” are a metaphor describing how the evil urge surrounds the entire body invading even our thought processes. The great fortifications are the wicked deeds already performed by man. The “poor wise man” is a simile for the יצר הטוב, the urge to be good, the שכל, intelligence; seeing that this urge has relatively few “assistants.” he is described as מסכן. He is generally very unpopular as we know from Proverbs 19,7 כל אחי רש שנאהו, “all the brothers of a poor man hate him.” This is why Solomon continues in Kohelet 9,16 ואדם לא זכר את האיש המסכן ההוא; “and no one remembers that poor man.” Solomon is also on record as saying there וחכמת המסכן בזויה ודבריו אינם נשמעים, ”the wisdom of the poor man is despised and no one listens to what he has to say.” When Solomon said that nonetheless this poor man saved the town by means of his wisdom, this is because a little truth sometimes goes a long way and is able to outweigh the efforts of the many wicked all of whose efforts are devoted to perverting the truth and to make the lies appear as if they were the truth. The matter is similar to a little light driving out darkness from a vast area which had previously been totally dark.