The merchandise (sakh'rah); Vulgate, acquisitio; LXX; ἐμπορεύεσθαι. The gain arising from trading in wisdom is better than that which arises from trading in silver. Sakh'rah is the gain or profit arising from merchandise, i.
e. from trading. It denotes the act itself of gaining. The root sakrah, like the Greek ἐμπορευέσθαι, signifies "to go about for the sake of traffic," i.e. to trade. There may be an allusion here, as in Proverbs 2:4, to the new commerce (Plumptre).
The gain thereof (t'vuathah); i.e. the gain existing in, and going along with, Wisdom herself; gain, therefore, in a different sense from that indicated in sakh'rah. Gesenius takes it as "gain resulting from Wisdom," as in Proverbs 8:19 and Isaiah 23:3.
The word is used of the produce of the earth, the idea apparently embodied in the Vulgate fructus. In this case there may be a reference to Isaiah 23:18, where Wisdom is said to be a "tree of life." The LXX.
omits the latter clause of this verse. The sense is, "The possession of Wisdom herself is better than fine gold." Fine gold (karuts); Vulgate, aurum purum; Syriac, aurum purissimum.