Verse 3. Should the wicked by permitted to hold their substance all their days, Death, that terrible messenger, shall at last drag them from it; nor shall their glory descend after them to the grave, but that wickedness by which they acquired it shall lie down with them in the dust and torture their souls in hell.--_Lawson._ The substance of the wicked is "of the earth, earthy." It pertains not to the soul, and partakes not of its imperishable vitality. O the miserable but sadly common mistake of the rich man in the parable, when he addressed his _soul_ in terms of congratulation, as if, in the abundance of worldly good, it had got what would give it real and permanent satisfaction (Luke xii. 16-21). "_Casting it away_" is an act indicative of regarding it as _worthless._ The substance of this world is that on which the hearts of the sons of men are set. But "God will cast it away." He will not only bereave them of it--and that, it may be, suddenly--but what is there in all this substance that can avail as purchase money for the soul and for heaven? Had a man "the world" to offer, God would "cast it away." He would say, "Thy money perish with thee!" "Riches profit not in the day of wrath." The famished soul must then die, and die for ever.--_Wardlaw._ As the end of the former verse must chiefly be understood of spiritual death, because temporarily the righteous die as well as the wicked, so, with St. Jerome, I understand this of a spiritual famine. Now, as the course that is needful to preserve the body is so to nourish it that it may neither be glutted with fulness nor pined with emptiness, but in such sort to feed it that it may still have appetite for food, the same is the care which Almighty God taketh of the soul's health; for He so feedeth the righteous that He will not suffer them to famish, and yet He doth not so fill them as that they do not hunger and thirst after righteousness. The time of fulness is heaven, where, as there will be no danger of sickness to the soul, so no lack of plenty.--_Jermin._ It might be objected, If I strain not my conscience, I may starve for it. Fear not that, saith the wise man. Faith fears not famine. Necessaries thou shalt be sure of (Psalm xxxvii. 25, 26; xxxiv. 15); superfluities thou art not to stand upon (1 Tim. vi. 8).--_Trapp._ Verse 4. "The diligent" (Hebrew, _charutzim,_ from _charatz,_ to _cut short,_ or _settle_); those who are _decisive_ in all things, who economise their time and means--prompt in movement.--_Fausset._ Riches were first bestowed upon the world as they are still continued in it, by the blessing of God upon the industry of men, in the use of their understanding and strength.--_Bishop Butler._