Albert Barnes Commentary Proverbs 2:4

"If thou seek her as silver, And search for her as for hid treasures:" — Proverbs 2:4 (ASV)

Note the illustrations.

1. Contact with Phoenician commerce, and joint expeditions in ships of Tarshish (see Psalms 72:10 note), had made the Israelites familiar with the risks and the enterprise of the miller’s life. Compare Job 28.
2. The treasure hidden in a field, is the second point of comparison. Such treasure-seeking has always been characteristic of the East. Compare Matthew 13:44.