destroy the wise men i.e. so deprive them of their wisdom that they shall cease to be wise men. Comp. Jeremiah 49:7, "Concerning Edom, thus saith the Lord of hosts; Is wisdom no more in Teman? is counsel perished from the prudent? is their wisdom vanished?" There is perhaps a reference to wisdom as a special characteristic of the Edomites. "Eliphaz, the chief of Job's friends, the representative of human wisdom, was a Temanite." (Pusey, see Job 2:11.) In the Book of Baruch the Edomites are referred to as types of wisdom. "It hath not been heard of in Chanaan, neither hath it been seen in Theman. The Agarenes that seek wisdom upon earth, the merchants of Meran and of Theman, the authors of fables, and searchers out of understanding; none of these have known the way of wisdom, or remember her paths." Bar 3:22-23.

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