Great men are not [always] wise
Men of grandeur and dignity, as Job's friends might be, the rich,
the honourable, and noble; the apostle is thought to refer to
this, at least to express the sentiment contained in it, (
1
Corinthians 1:26 ) ; or the great in quantity, the many, the
multitude; and therefore are not to be followed in principle or
practice; or that are great in years, well stricken in age, have
lived long in the world, so some versions F17; or
are doctors, teachers of others, masters in Israel, as Nicodemus,
and yet ignorant; all these may be wise in natural, civil, and
worldly things, though this is not always the case; but not wise
and knowing in divine and spiritual things, particularly in those
respecting the causes and reasons of God's providential dealings
with men, afflicting the righteous, and suffering the wicked to
prosper, which is more fully explained in the next clause:
neither do the aged understand judgment;
what is right and wrong, the difference between truth and error,
and particularly the judgments of God, which are unsearchable,
and his ways past finding out; even so to understand them as to
observe and acknowledge his sovereignty, wisdom, truth, and
faithfulness in them.
F17 (Mybr) (polucronioi) , Sept. "longaevi", V. L. Mr. Broughton renders it, "as men of not great time may be wise, as the old understand the right."
