Do wisdom and wealth always go together?

Yes.

Solomon, the wisest man ever, says if you hold onto his teachings, they’ll bring you prosperity. He says Wisdom holds riches in her hand, and that she calls out offering to make people’s treasuries full with a rich inheritance of riches and enduring wealth. He says anyone who loves understanding will soon prosper. He contrasts fools and the rich, taking it for granted that those are not the same people.

Jeremiah wasn’t surprised that some people were foolish, because they were just poor people. And according to Hosea, God says any nation that lacks understanding will inevitably come to ruin.

No.

Solomon recommends gaining wisdom because that’s better than gold and silver and rubies. If wealth automatically came with wisdom, there would be no point in comparing them, because you would never have to choose between them. But Solomon says it might cost everything you have to get understanding. He says Wisdom calls out advising people to choose her instruction and knowledge instead of gold and silver and rubies, because wisdom is better. He says it’s better to get wisdom than gold, and better to get insight than silver.

He says the rich only think they’re wise, and the poor are discerning enough to see that the rich are wrong about that. He says it’s better to be poor and wise than to be a foolish (and presumably rich) king. Why would he say that if wise people were always wealthy? He knows they’re not. He has seen wise people who were always poor.

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