The Pulpit Commentary — Ecclesiastes — Section 118

Vera. 13, 14.-Folly a worse evil than poverty. This is no doubt a paradox. For one man who seeks to become wise, there a.re a hundred who desire a.nd strive for riches. For one man who desires the friendship of the thoughtful a.nd prudent, there a.re ten who cultivate the intimacy of the prosperous and luxnrious. Still, men's judgment i:1 fallible and often erroneous; a.nd it is so in this particular. I. WISDOM ENNOBLES YOUTH AND POVERTY. Age does not always bring wisdom, which is the gift of God, sometimes-as in the case of Solomon-conferred in early life. True excellence a.nd honour are not attached to age a.nd station. Wisdom, modesty, and trustworthiness ma.y be found in lowly a.bodes a.nd in youthful years. Character is the supreme test of what is admirable a.nd good. A young ma.n may be wise in the conduct of his own life, in the use of his own gifts and opportunities, in the choice of his own friends; he may be wise in his counsel offered to others, in the influence he exerts over others. And bis wisdom may be shown in his contented acquiescence in the poverty of his condition and the obscurity of his station. He will not forget that the Lord of all, for our sakes, became poor, dwelt in a lowly home, wrought at a manual occupation, enjoyed few a.dva.nta.ges of human education or of companionship with the great. II. FOLLY DEGRADES AGE AND ROYALTY. In the natural order of things, knowledge and prudence should accompany advancing age. It is" years that bring the philosophic miud." In the natural order of things, high station should call out the exercise of statesmanship, thoughtful wisdom, mature and weighty counsel. Where all these are absent, there ma.y be outward greatness, splendour, luxury, empire, but true kingship there is not. There is no fool so conspicuously and pitiably foolish as the aged monarch who ca.n neither give counsel himself nor accept it from the experienced and trustworthy. And the ea.so is worse when his folly is apparent in the mismanagement of his own life. It may be questioned whether Solomon, in bis youth, receiving in answer to prayer the gift of wisdom, and using it with serious sobriety, was not more to be admired than when, as a splendid but disappointed voluptuary, he enjoyed the revenues of provinces, dwelt in sumptuous palace3, a.nd received the homage of distant potentates, but yet was corrupted by his own weaknesses into connivance at idolatry, a.nd was unfaithful to the Lord to whose bounty he wa.s indebted for all he possessed. APPLICATION. This is e. word or encouragement to thoughtful, pure-minded, a.nd religious youth. The judgment of inspire.tion commends those who, in the flower of their age, by God's grace rise above t..1e temptations to which they a.re exposed, ancl cherish that reverence toward the Lord which is the beginning of wisdom.-'r. Vers. 1-3.-Pessimism and Christian life. It is a very significant fa.et that tbi6 pessimistic note (of the text) should be as much heard as it is in this land and in this age ;-in this land, where the bard and heavy oppressions of which the writer of Ecclesiastes had to complain are comparatively unknown; in this age, when Christian truLh is familiar to the highest and the lowest, is taught in evory sanctuary a.nd may be read in every home. There a.re to be found (1) not only many who, without the courage of the suicide, wish themselves in their grave; but (2) also many more who believe that hume.n lire is worth nothing at all, even less than nothing; who would say with the Preacher, "better than both is he who ha.th not been;" who would respond to the English poet of this century in his lament- " Count o'er the joys thy life ha.s seen,, Count o'er thy days from sorrow free; But know, whatever thou hast been, 'Tis something betur not to be." There is an unfailing remedy for this wretched pessimism, and that is found in a.n earnest Christian life. No man who heartily and practically appropriates a.11 that Christian truth offers him, and who lives e. sincere and genuine Christian life, could  102 ECCLESIASTES; OR, 'I'HE PREACHER. [err. 1v. 1-16.