John Trapp on Ecclesiastes 9:16

Verſ. 16. Then ſaid I, wiſdome is better, &c.] This hee had ſaid before, chap. 7.19. Prov. 21.22. (See the Notes there) but now upon this new occaſion, Nunquam ſatis dicitur, quod nunquam ſatis diſcitur. Sen.

Nevertheleſs the poor mans wiſdome is deſpiſed] Hierome reads it thus, Et ſapientia pauporis quae despecta eſt, & verba ejus quae non ſunt audita; that is. And the wiſdome of the poor man which is deſpiſed, and his words which are not heard. According to which reading, the ſenſe is, wiſdome is better than ſtrength, yea even the deſpiſed wiſdome of the poor man, &c. The Septuagint and Vulgar Latine read it. Quomodo ergo ſapientia pauperis contempta eſt & verba ejus non audita! How therefore is the wiſdome of the wiſe man deſpiſed, and his words not heard! As making a wonder and a ſtrange thing of it. Too often it befalls Gods poor Miniſters, either to bee rejected with ſcorn, or if heard, yet not regarded, much leſs rewarded, unleſs it bee as Micaiah was by Ahab, and Jeremiah by his Country-men of Anathoth, Jeſus Chriſt by the proud Phariſees, John 7.14, 15, 27. St. Paul by the ungrateful Corinthians; 2 Cor. 4.7 His bodily preſence, ſaid they, is weak, his Sermons without Philoſophy and Rhetorick.