Wisdom, Good or Bad: Ecclesiastes 9:13-10:20

The Preacher feels the need to bring home the point that wisdom is not the answer to life, but is preferable to foolishness. His wisdom had helped him see the futility of life and of the search for some guarantee that life would always come up smelling like roses. It seems counter-intuitive to critique the very tool he used to gain this understanding, but that is the burden of this section of his treatise.

I have also seen this example of wisdom under the sun, and it seemed great to me. There was a little city with few men in it, and a great king came against it and besieged it, building great siegeworks against it. But there was found in it a poor, wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that poor man. But I say that wisdom is better than might, though the poor man’s wisdom is despised and his words are not heard. The words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools. Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good. Dead flies make the perfumer’s ointment give off a stench; so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.

Wisdom can accomplish great things, even to the saving of a city. But wisdom cannot prevent people from forgetting the wise person. And just a tiny amount of foolishness can outstrip wisdom. Neville Chamberlain’s little bit of foolishness in tolerating and appeasing Hitler when he invaded Sudetenland and Czechoslovakia in 1938 resulted in an empowered and more formidable Germany when war was finally declared against her.

A wise man’s heart inclines him to the right, but a fool’s heart to the left. Even when the fool walks on the road, he lacks sense, and he says to everyone that he is a fool. If the anger of the ruler rises against you, do not leave your place, for calmness will lay great offenses to rest.

Wisdom helps us avoid the negative consequences of the actions of fools, especially those who have power over us. Our calmness in the presence of one who has the power to take our lives may save us from a ruler’s anger.

There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, as it were an error proceeding from the ruler: folly is set in many high places, and the rich sit in a low place. I have seen slaves on horses, and princes walking on the ground like slaves. He who digs a pit will fall into it, and a serpent will bite him who breaks through a wall. He who quarries stones is hurt by them, and he who splits logs is endangered by them. If the iron is blunt, and one does not sharpen the edge, he must use more strength, but wisdom helps one to succeed. If the serpent bites before it is charmed, there is no advantage to the charmer.

Despite wisdom’s benefits, the unhappy truth is that many times fools get put in the places of power and influence. And the very skill that wisdom develops and puts to use, though often granting the wise person more success, also puts him or her in places where the exercise of that skill may lead personal danger. Wisdom is still not the answer to life.

The words of a wise man’s mouth win him favor, but the lips of a fool consume him. The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness, and the end of his talk is evil madness. A fool multiplies words, though no man knows what is to be, and who can tell him what will be after him? The toil of a fool wearies him, for he does not know the way to the city.

Yet wisdom is still to be preferred to foolishness.

Woe to you, O land, when your king is a child, and your princes feast in the morning! Happy are you, O land, when your king is the son of the nobility, and your princes feast at the proper time, for strength, and not for drunkenness! Through sloth the roof sinks in, and through indolence the house leaks. Bread is made for laughter, and wine gladdens life, and money answers everything. Even in your thoughts, do not curse the king, nor in your bedroom curse the rich, for a bird of the air will carry your voice, or some winged creature tell the matter.

We will be happy to have the right persons in power but do not always have that option. Nevertheless, do use wisdom and don’t curse the one in leadership at peril to your own life.