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1. Pro 3:15 – “She is more precious than rubies: and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her.”
- In Pro 3:13, Solomon declared that the man that finds wisdom is happy (fortunate).
- In verse 14, he gave two reasons why that is so.
- In this verse, he gives two more reasons to prove his case.
- She is more precious than rubies.
- Rubies are among the most rare and expensive gemstones on earth, costing between $1000-$3000 per carat for one of high quality.
- To this day, rubies are referred to as precious (of great price; having a high value; costly – OED) stones.
- As he describes the exceeding value of wisdom, Solomon compares it to increasingly more valuable commodities.
- In the previous verse he began by comparing wisdom to silver and then to gold.
- Historically gold was worth about 16 times as much as silver.
- Today it is worth about 85 times as much (October, 2019).
- By weight, rubies are currently worth approximately 200 times as much as gold (August, 2018).
- A believer should now begin to understand the immense value that God places on wisdom.
- Since wisdom is found in God’s word (Pro 2:6), how valuable must reading, searching, and meditating in the scriptures be in the eyes of God?
- All the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her.
- In the unlikely case that a man has no interest in silver, gold, or rubies, God gives one final comparison that proves the unparalleled value of wisdom.
- All of the things that a man desires cannot equal wisdom.
- Wisdom doesn’t merely surpass the value of a man’s most prized possessions; or even all the things that he owns; or greater yet, all the things that he desires; but rather all the things that he can
- Take all of the endless things that a man can think of and wish for and add them all together, and they not only are unequal to wisdom, but they are not to be compared to her.
- Just as a drop cannot be compared to an ocean, or a candle to a forest fire, so all the priceless things a man can conceive of cannot be compared to wisdom.
Do you now understand why God said that “Wisdom is the principal (first or highest in rank or importance) thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding” (Pro 4:7)?