Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 27:24
For riches [are] not forever: and doth the crown [endure] to every generation?
Verse 24. For riches are not for ever] All other kinds of property are very transitory. Money and the highest civil honours are but for a short season. Flocks and herds, properly attended to, may be multiplied and continued from generation to generation. The crown itself is not naturally so permanent.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Riches; or, treasure. The sense is, What thou dust now possess, or hast laid up, will not last always, but will soon be spent, if thou dost not take care to preserve and improve it.
The crown; by which he understands a condition of the greatest honour and plenty. If a man had the wealth of a kingdom, without provident care and due diligence it would quickly be brought to nothing. Hence the greatest kings have minded husbandry, as Solomon, Uzziah, and others.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
For riches [are] not for ever,…. A man cannot be assured of the continuance of them; they are uncertain things, here today and gone tomorrow: wherefore, though a man has a considerable share of them, yet should follow one calling or another; particularly husbandry is recommended, or keeping sheep and cattle, which are increasing; by which means his substance will be continued and augmented, which otherwise is not to be depended on, but in a diligent attendance to business;
and doth the crown [endure] to every generation? the royal crown, that is not to be depended upon; a king that wears a crown is not sure he shall always wear it, or that it shall be continued to his family one generation after another. And it is suggested, that it is not even beneath such persons to have a regard to their flocks and herds, and the increase of their riches in this way: the Chinese kings, many of them, formerly employed themselves in husbandry, and set examples of industry and diligence to their subjects t; King Hezekiah provided himself possessions of flocks and herds in abundance, 2Ch 32:28.
t Vid. Martin. Hist. Sinica, p. 92, 93, 326.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(24) For riches are not for ever.Comp. Pro. 23:5. So it is well to have a sure source of income, like husbandry or cattle-feeding, upon which to fall back.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
24. Riches are not for ever This assigns a good reason for the preceding. Wealth, though now abundant, does not necessarily stay for ever. On the contrary, it is very liable to be lost or squandered by carelessness and bad management.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Pro 27:24-27. For riches are not for ever, &c. See Hiller. pars 2: p. 9. The author of the Observations remarks, that milk is a great part of the diet of the eastern people. Their goats furnish them with some of it, and, as Dr. Russell informs us, are chiefly kept for that purpose; that they yield it in inconsiderable quantities; and that it is sweet and well tasted. This, at Aleppo, is however chiefly from the beginning of April to September, they being they being generally supplied during the other parts of the year with cow’s milk, such as it is; for being commonly kept at the gardens, and fed with the refuse, the milk generally tastes so strong of garlick or cabbage leaves, as to be very disagreeable. Might there not be the same difference in Judea in the time of Solomon? And may not his words in this place be designed to express the superior quality of goat’s milk to that of any other kind in that country?
REFLECTIONS.Diligence is necessary in every vocation, and the master’s eye is essential to the prosperity of his affairs. As the wealth of the east consisted chiefly in their flocks, and the fruit of the field, there are particularly instanced, and reasons given to inforce the needful care over them.
1. Riches are perishable things; even crowns are not secure: therefore it becomes every man to take care of what God has given him, that it be not wasted by his negligence.
2. The liberal provision that Providence has made leaves the negligent inexcusable. The earth, under the divine blessing, produces food for the cattle in abundance, and herbs for the service of man.
3. The benefit accruing from our industry will amply repay our labours. We shall have a sufficiency of clothes, meat, and money for ourselves and our families; and, though plain and homely be the fare, perhaps the more wholesome. Note; (1.) If we must look thus to our flocks, that they may thrive, how much more needful is it for us to search often into the state of our souls, whether they prosper: for without this, what would it profit a man to gain the whole world, if, after all, he lost his immortal soul? (2.) If a sheep be of such value, and require such attendance, how much more the glorious flock which Christ hath purchased with his blood, and committed to our care! Negligence of this trust would be attended with aggravated ruin.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Pro 27:24 For riches [are] not for ever: and doth the crown [endure] to every generation?
Ver. 24. For riches endure not for ever. ] Whether they be riches of inheritance or of purchase, they will waste without good husbandry. The royalty of Solomon could not have consisted for all his riches, had he not been frugal. Our Henry III merited to be called Regni dilapidator, a waste kingdom. But what a great husband, perhaps too great, was Louis XI of France, of whom ye shall find in the chamber of accounts a reckoning of two shillings for new sleeves to his old doublet, and three half pence for liquor to grease his boots (A.D. 1461)! Pertinax, the emperor, also was a singular good husband, for the which, as the rich gallants derided him, so others of us, Quibus virtus luxuria potior, laudabamus, who prized virtue above luxury, commended it in him, saith Dio the historian, who writes his life.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
riches. Consisted mainly in flocks and herds.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
For: Pro 23:5, Zep 1:18, 1Ti 6:17, 1Ti 6:18
riches: Heb. strength, Jam 1:10
doth: 2Sa 7:16, Psa 89:36, Isa 9:7
every generation: Heb. generation and generation
Reciprocal: Deu 17:20 – right hand Psa 39:6 – he heapeth 1Ti 6:7 – we brought