Even in war, counsel does more than brute strength. So of the warfare which is carried on in the inner battlefield of the soul. There also wisdom is mighty to the "pulling down of strongholds" (2-Corinthians 10:4, where Paul uses the very words of the Septuagint Version of this passage), and the wise man scales and keeps the city which the strong man armed has seized and made his own.

A wise man scaleth the city of the mighty - Wisdom is in many respects preferable to strength, even in the case of defense. See what skill does in the fortification and reduction of strong places.

A (k) wise [man] scaleth the city of the mighty, and casteth down the strength of its confidence.
(k) Wisdom overcomes strength and confidence in worldly things.

A wise man scaleth the city of the mighty,.... Which makes good what is elsewhere said, that "wisdom is better than strength", Ecclesiastes 9:16; and sometimes more is done by prudence and wisdom, by art and cunning, by schemes and stratagems, than by power and force; especially in military affairs, and particularly in besieging and taking fortified cities; when one wise man, by his wisdom, may so order and manage things, as to be able, with a few under his command, to mount the walls of a city and take it, though defended by a mighty garrison in it. This may be applied to, our Lord Jesus Christ entering into the city of a man's heart, possessed by the strong man armed; overcoming him, taking from him his armour, and dividing his spoil, Luke 11:21; compare with this Ecclesiastes 9:14;
and casteth down the strength of the confidence thereof; the strong walls, bulwarks, and such fortifications, in which the mighty in the city placed their confidence: and the like does Christ, when he enters into the heart of a sinner by his word and spirit; he destroys all its former strong confidences, and brings it into subjection to himself, 2-Corinthians 10:4.

Those that have wisdom, often do great things, even against those confident of their strength.

"Wisdom is better than strength" (Ecclesiastes 7:19; Ecclesiastes 9:15).
strength . . . thereof--that in which they confide.

22 A wise man scaleth a city of the mighty;
And casteth down the fortress in which they trusted.
Ecclesiastes 9:14. is a side-piece to this, according to which a single wise man, although poor, may become the deliverer of a city besieged by a great army, and destitute of the means of defence. עלה, seq. acc., means to climb up, Joel 2:7; here, of the scaling of a fortified town, viz., its fortress. עז is that which makes it עיר עז, Isaiah 26:1 : its armour of protection, which is designated by the genit. מבטחה, as the object and ground of their confidence. The vocalization מבטחה, for mibtachcha (cf. Jeremiah 48:13 with Job 18:14), follows the rule Gesen. 27, Anm. 2b. The suff., as in לאתננּה, Isaiah 23:17, is lightened, because if its mappik, Michlol 30b; vid., regarding the various grounds of these formae raphatae pro mappicatis, Bttcher, 418. If a city is defended by ever so many valiant men, the wise man knows the point where it may be overcome, and knows how to organize the assault so as to destroy the proud fortress. With ויּרד, he brings to ruin, cf. עד רדתּהּ, Deuteronomy 20:20.

The strength - The strongest sorts to which the citizens trust.