The wealth of the wise is not merely monetary wealth. While it is true that financial wealth is a blessing of the Lord (10:22) and a gift from God, not a product of human attainment; the wealth that is a crown is not solely money.
The wealth of the wise that is their crown is compared to the folly of fools that yields folly. The fool inherits shame (18, 3:35). The crown of the wise is knowledge (18). The wise inherit honor (3:35).
Consider Levi who was a rich young man sitting in his tax collector booth and partying with his friends. Why did he leave all that behind to follow a traveling country preacher? Consider also the rich young man who came to ask Jesus a question about how to inherit eternal life. Why did this nameless man walk away sad when Jesus told him to sell all he had and give to the poor? Levi became Matthew whose book is read and studied over 2,000 years later and the other man is the image of folly. Matthew wears a crown and the other is called a fool.
