Better to Be Wise Than Foolish
August 13, 2019
Commentary
In continuing with key words we find:
4. Determination (vv. 11-12) – The writer says that everything is really predetermined. We expect the fastest and the strongest to win the battle but often this does not happen. Neither do the wise always earn a living, gain food, get rich or acquire a great reputation. The reason for such failures is that all people are subject to times of misfortune.
Either not having enough time, or being in the wrong place at the right time or the right place at the wrong time, we become victims of the whims of chance. Time and chance attack us all and nothing happens as we expect. No man knows when his hour will come (v. 12).
5. Despising (vv.13-18) – Finally in the last part of this chapter the author tells us a parable. An example is given of a poor wise man who delivers a small poorly defended city from a siege by a powerful king. However, the poor man’s accomplishments went unrewarded because nobody remembered him.
6. The basic idea is that man’s destiny leads to death. Therefore, we might as well enjoy the desires of this life while we have them because determinism will eventually catch up with us. All things are controlled and even the good and wise will not be remembered.
Application
I need to remember that all of this is the thinking of the natural man and that through Christ the Christian can rise above this.
Ecclesiastes 9:11– 18 (NET)
11 Again, I observed this on the earth: the race is not always won by the swiftest, the battle is not always won by the strongest; prosperity does not always belong to those who are the wisest, wealth does not always belong to those who are the most discerning, nor does success always come to those with the most knowledge— for time and chance may overcome them all.
12 Surely, no one knows his appointed time. Like fish that are caught in a deadly net, and like birds that are caught in a snare— just like them, all people are ensnared at an unfortunate time that falls upon them suddenly.
13 This is what I also observed about wisdom on earth, and it is a great burden to me:
14 There was once a small city with a few men in it, and a mighty king attacked it, besieging it and building strong siege works against it.
15 However, a poor but wise man lived in the city, and he could have delivered the city by his wisdom, but no one listened to that poor man.
16 So I concluded that wisdom is better than might, but a poor man’s wisdom is despised; no one ever listens to his advice.
17 The words of the wise are heard in quiet, more than the shouting of a ruler is heard among fools.
18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner can destroy much that is good.
Illustration: Destiny is a Predetermined Pattern
“Men wiser and more learned than I have discovered in history a plot, a rhythm, a predetermined pattern. But these harmonies are concealed from me. I can see only one emergency following another, as wave follows upon wave–there can be no generalization. There is only one safe rule for the historian–that he should recognize in the development of human destiny the play of the contingent and the unforeseen.” (Encyclopedia of 15,000 Illustrations)