Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold.
Receive my instruction, and not silver. Thou canst not make as thy chief aim the acquisition of silver and that of true wisdom at one and the same time; for those aims mutually conflict, and each claims the whole man (Matthew 6:24). To accept the one involves the rejection of the other as the chief portion. He who lives for money is void of wisdom (Luke 12:16; Luke 12:20), and is called in Scripture a "fool." The phrase "and not" does not imply an utter disregard to money, because we cannot rightly avoid some attention to the business of this world; but it is used to imply the comparative worthlessness of money when brought in competition with heavenly wisdom. Compare the same phrase, and not, to imply not absolute rejection, but rejection comparatively (Genesis 32:28; Genesis 45:8; Exodus 16:8; Isaiah 43:18; Jeremiah 7:22; Jeremiah 16:14; Matthew 5:39; Matthew 9:13).
And knowledge rather than choice gold - than the most precious gold.