WISDOM OVER WICKEDNESS (ECCLESIASTES 8)
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Who is a wise man, according to the Talmud?
He who learns of all men. The Talmud
A wise man is a greater asset to a nation than a king. [Maimonides]
Do not be wise in words alone, but also in deeds. [Talmud]
Everyone whose deeds are more than his wisdom, his wisdom endures; and everyone whose wisdom is more than his deeds, his wisdom does not endure.
-The Talmud
The highest form of wisdom is kindness. The Talmud
Ecclesiastes is part of the Wisdom Books that comprise of Job (self), Psalms (God), Proverbs (man), Ecclesiastes (universe), and Song of Songs (family), so wisdom is not individual, but interpersonal; intellectual, but improvisational; and not introspection, but implementation.
What kind of wisdom do we need today? How does following God’s word make us wise? Why is wisdom applicable in good and troubled times, before good and bad guys, with good results or not?
Wisdom is the Blueprint of Decisions
1 Who is like the wise? Who knows the explanation of things? A person’s wisdom brightens their face and changes its hard appearance. 2 Obey the king’s command, I say, because you took an oath before God. 3 Do not be in a hurry to leave the king’s presence. Do not stand up for a bad cause, for he will do whatever he pleases. 4 Since a king’s word is supreme, who can say to him, “What are you doing?” 5 Whoever obeys his command will come to no harm, and the wise heart will know the proper time and procedure. 6 For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter, though a person may be weighed down by misery. 7 Since no one knows the future, who can tell someone else what is to come?
In 1937 architect Frank Lloyd Wright built a house for industrialist Hibbard Johnson. One rainy evening Johnson was entertaining distinguished guests for dinner when the roof began to leak. The water seeped through directly above Johnson himself, dripping steadily onto his bald head. Irate, he called Wright in Phoenix, Arizona. “Frank,” he said, “you built this beautiful house for me and we enjoy it very much. But I have told you the roof leaks, and right now I am with some friends and distinguished guests and it is leaking right on top of my head.” Wright’s reply was heard by all of the guests. “Well, Hib, why don’t you move your chair?”
Today in the Word, Moody Bible Institute, Jan, 1992, p.14.
The verb “know” in verse 1 (941x) appears more than seven times as much as the noun wise (137x) in the Old Testament, more than even wise and wisdom (149x) listed together. Knowledge is a precious commodity in the Bible, lately taken over by feelings and emotions nowadays. It is the foundation of experience and education. It is more than content, information or facts itself. From knowledge and experience we get wisdom. The realm of knowledge in the Bible includes knowing good and evil (Gen 3:5), knowing heart and thoughts (Ps 139:23), knowing and acknowledging Him.
In wisdom there is brightness, boldness and blessedness. The next verb “brighten” (v 1) is translated as give light (Gen 1:15), shine (Num 6:25), enlightened (1 Sam 14:27), break of day (2 Sam 2:32) and glorious (Ps 76:4). It is derived from the noun light (“or”). It means to brighten, lighten or glisten. Wisdom therefore makes one’s life bright, bold and bloom (v 1). The clause “changes its hard appearance” implies that wisdom is pleasant, presentable and peaceable, never provoking, perverse or proud.
The imperative to keep the king’s “command” is overstated. The noun command in verse 2 is the literally the “mouth” (peh) of the king. It is translated traditionally as “mouth” 340 times in the Bible, and “commandment” merely 37x. When I was in Hong Kong in my first year, I learned a new idiom from a friend who describes how it is like to work for the president of a school: “Tend to a king is like tend to a tiger.”
There are two prohibitive jussives (“let us not”) in the chapter – hasty and stand.
Verse 3 has two “not.” Hasty is never a good thing in the book.
Eccl 5:2 Be not rash
Eccl 7:9 Be not hasty
Eccl 8:3 Be not hasty
The first “not” is balanced by the second “not”: Do not stand up for a bad cause means not assist or appease them, agree or ally with them.
The first reason (ki) is bound in the verb “please” (v 3), which is translated as delight (Gen 34:19), like (Deut 25:7), pleased (Judg 13:23), will (Ruth 3:13), favors (2 Sam 20:11), moveth (Job 40:17). The king is unaccountable, unstoppable and unpleasable.
The alternative to keep oath is to keep or obey the commandment (v 5, mitsvah), not the king’s command (peh). NIV needlessly adds the personal pronoun “his command” to KJV’s “the commandment” that reflects the Hebrew rendition. Unlike with serving the king, the wise man can exercise time with judgement, the second reason (ki) or “for” (v 6) in the chapter. “Time and judgment” (v 8) refers to moment versus the method, time to be balanced with thoughtfulness, the day versus the decision, season with sensibility, occasion and opportunity. External and internal factors.
Wisdom is the Bridge to Devoutness
8 As no one has power over the wind to contain it, so no one has power over the time of their death. As no one is discharged in time of war, so wickedness will not release those who practice it. 9 All this I saw, as I applied my mind to everything done under the sun. There is a time when a man lords it over others to his own hurt. 10 Then too, I saw the wicked buried—those who used to come and go from the holy place and receive praise in the city where they did this. This too is meaningless. 11 When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, people’s hearts are filled with schemes to do wrong. 12 Although a wicked person who commits a hundred crimes may live a long time, I know that it will go better with those who fear God, who are reverent before him. 13 Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow. 14 There is something else meaningless that occurs on earth: the righteous who get what the wicked deserve, and the wicked who get what the righteous deserve. This too, I say, is meaningless.
What’s the difference between science and religion? Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Science investigates; religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge, which is power; religion gives man wisdom, which is control. Science deals mainly with facts; religion deals mainly with values. The two are not rivals.”
Wisdom is not derived from or the domain of a good school, but a godly person.
Never mistake knowledge for wisdom. One helps you make a living; the other helps you make a life.
Wisdom is knowing what to do next, skill is knowing how to do it, and virtue is doing it.
Wisdom, along with justice, temperance or self-control, and courage, are considered the four cardinal virtues for moral excellence and high moral standards, so it accepts no compromise with wickedness or wrong. Verse 8 begins with three “no” - “no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit,” “neither hath he power in the day of death” and “there is no discharge in that war,” but the focus is in the infinitive construct of purpose “TO retain.” What is to retain? It is translated as restrain (Gen 8:2), withhold (Gen 23:6), forbid (Num 11:28), shut up (1 Sam 6:10), kept back (Isa 43:6), stay (Ezek 31:15), and finish (Dan 9:24). It implies that we do not have the ultimate power to command, control, curtail, change or correct things. Even so there is a difference between destruction (death) and self-destruction (man).
The word “evil” in the noun and verb form occurs an astonishing twelve times in the chapter (vv 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11 twice, 12, 13, 14 twice), more than most chapters in the Bible, noun (v 8), and two adjectives (vv 10, 13, 14 twice), so it appears at least once from verses 8-14 (vv 8, 9, 10, 11 twice, 12, 13, 14 twice). Evil is audacious, arrogant, ambitious, adversarial and attractive, but it is not almighty, altruistic and adored.
There are no benefits to those who live by evil. Evil leads and ends in disgrace, discipline, disdain, but also doom, damnation and destruction.
V 8 V 9 V 10 V 11
No assurance
Not attainable Not admired Not acceptable
No rescue No respect No remembrance
No reform
Spread Suffer Scorn
Setback
Verse 12 Verse 13
Well not well
Fear God
not fear God
(his days) be prolonged
neither shall he prolong
A person, however, finds his or her wisdom in fearing God, not finding evermore. Wisdom is not derived from or the domain of a good school, but a godly person. Who is one who fears the Lord? The person who walks in his ways (Ps 128:1), hopes in his mercy? (Ps 33:18), who trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God (Isa 50:10).
Wisdom is the Basis for Delight
15 So I commend the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany them in their toil all the days of the life God has given them under the sun. 16 When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe the labor that is done on earth—people getting no sleep day or night— 17 then I saw all that God has done. No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all their efforts to search it out, no one can discover its meaning. Even if the wise claim they know, they cannot really comprehend it.
This year’s World Happiness Report saw Hong Kong fall to 75th among 156 countries from its high of 46th in 2012. Inequality was identified as the biggest cause of unhappiness. Each country is measured according to six factors: GDP per capita, life expectancy, social welfare support, freedom from corruption, freedom to make life choices and generosity.
Denmark is now the world’s happiest place, followed by Switzerland, Iceland, Norway and Finland. At the other end of the spectrum, languishing at the bottom, were war-torn Burundi and Syria. Hong Kong ranked in the middle, just ahead of fractious Islamic Somalia and behind war-torn Libya. Also in the region, Singapore has the top spot among Asian countries at 22nd, Taiwan at 35th, and China improved to 83rd. (Deep blue: Hong Kong tumbles to 75th in world happiness rankings, lowest since UN report debuted. SCMP 18 March, 2016)
A.B. Simpson once said in a classic line, “When you cannot rejoice in feelings, circumstances, or conditions, rejoice in the Lord.”
The author can now rejoice knowing the limitations of the power of darkness, the weakness of evil and the defeat of wickedness. Commend (v 15) is less boisterous than the original. Which is mostly translated as glory (Chron 16:35), praise (Ps 63:3), stilleth (Ps 65:7), triumph (Ps 106:47) and keepeth. For all the pessimism, cynicism and negativity that is supposedly associated with the book, the noun “enjoyment/mirth” makes a big splash in the book. It is translated traditionally as joy (44x), gladness (31x) mirth (8x), rejoice or rejoicing (5x).
This word occurs eight times, but three times from the author’s personal experience. The progress is as follows:
Eccl 2:1 I will prove thee with mirth
Eccl 2:10 I withheld not my heart from any joy;
Eccl 8:15 Then I commended mirth,
The verb “find” occurs three times (v 17). Ecclesiastes is the only book that the verb “find” occurs three times in a verse (Ecc 7:28, 8:17). On the one hand the author advocates to know wisdom, but on the other hand he does not believe it can be found.
The only certainty is to behold all the work of God (v 17). What does it mean? He is powerful, perfect, personal, purposeful and peerless. You can find His greatness, glory, grace, gentleness and goodness at work if you open your eyes, heart and hands to Him.
Conclusion:
Do you want these results – fear Him?
1. Ye that fear the Lord, trust in the Lord: he is their help and their shield (Ps 115:11)
2. He will bless them that fear the Lord, both small and great (Ps 115:13
3. Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord (Ps 128:1)
4. He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him: he also will hear their cry, and will save them (Ps 145:19)
5. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant (Ps 25:14)
6. O fear the Lord, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him (Ps 34:9)
7. Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him; that glory may dwell in our land (Ps 85:9).
8. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him Ps 103:11
9. But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children (Ps 103:17)
10. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him (Ps 103:13).
