[It is] better to dwell in the wilderness
Where persons live without shelter, and are not only exposed to storms and tempests, but to beasts of prey; where is want of the necessaries of life, and no society; where no "speech" is, as the word F5 for wilderness may signify; yet it is better to dwell in such a place, where no human voice is heard, than with a contentious and an angry woman;
that is always brawling and scolding, ever in a quarrelsome and angry disposition, and provoking to anger all about her; (See Gill on Proverbs 21:9). In a mystical sense, it is better to be with the church in the wilderness, ( Revelation 12:14 ) ; than with the furious, bloodthirsty, and persecuting church of Rome, in all its worldly glory and splendour.