The Pulpit Commentary — Ecclesiastes — Section 219

HOMILETICS. Ver. 1.-.A. wise man's superio1·ity-in what does it consist1 I. IN PENETRATION OF INTELLECT. He knoweth not merely things, but the interpretation thereof. Among the Chaldeans the interpretation of dreams was a. special branch of wisdom professed by magicians and astrologers (Dan. ii. 4-13). A wise man-using the term in its widest sense-has clearer insight than ordinary mortals into the essences of things. To him pertains the faculty of searching into and discovering the causes of events (cf. "Naturam cognoscere rerum," Lucretius, iii. 1072). In particular he has insight into : 1. The secrets of nature. He is qualified to understand and explain phenomena. which to ordinary minds are mysterious and inscrutable. 2. The events of history. He is able fre- quently to trace the under-currents moving society,and bringing about occurrences which to oommon minds are inexplicable. 3. The wonders of revelation. He can discover in sacred Scripture truths veiled to unenlightened eyes. 4. The mysteries of grace. Pos- sessed of an unction from the Holy One, he can understand all things (1 John ii. 20, 27). II. IN ELEVATION OF CHARACTER, " A man's wisdom maketh his face to shine." u It scarcely needs a proof that the countenance or front of the head is regarded in Scripture as the mirror of Divine influences upon the man-,-of all affections, and of the entire life of soul and spirit." "In the physiognomy is reflected the moral condition of the man" (Delitzsch's 'Bib. Psych.,' p. 301; Clark). "Many a poet, and seer, and martyr, and reformer, and woman of the finest fibre has at times had a face that has looked like porcelain with a light behind it" (Joseph Cook,' Boston Noonday Lectures,' 2ud series, p. 148). The wise man's face shines because of three things: 1. The light of truth in his understanding. The wise man is essentially a child. of light. A luminous intellect makes a radiant countenance. 2. The light of purity in his hea,:t. There are faces which glow and beam with a soft silver sheen, as if they had shed off all that was gross and material, auimal and brutish, and were spiritualized into a fine ethereal essence ; because they reflect upon their surface the pure, sweet, chaste, and holy emotions that stir the clear depths of their bosoms within. 3. The light of life in kis conscience. In the wise man the moral faculty is not dead, torpid, dull, and besotted; but alive, bright, sensitive, and vigorous; and what Cook calls the solar look in a face "arises from the activity of the higher nature when conscience is supreme" (' Boston Noonday Lectures,' 2nd series, p. 149). III. IN REFTh"EMENT OF HANNERS. "'l'he hard.Dess," or strength, " of o. wise man's face is changed." "The coarse ferocity of ignorance" is in him "transformed by culture" (Plumptre). What Ovid says of human learning-it "Makes manners gentle, rescues men from strife"- i; true of heavenly wisdom, which is" first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated." etc. (Jas. iiL 17). "Wisdom gives to a man bright eyes, a gentle counte- nance, a noble expression; it refines and dignifies bis external appearance and his d"meanour; the hitherto rndP. external, and the rude regardless, selfish, and bold deportnent, are changed into tLeir contraries" (Delitzsch). 'l'he change may be: 1. Grudwil, as all moral transformaUous are slow, "from stage to stage," "first the blad,(I OH. VIII, 1-17.] ECCLESIASTES; OR, THE PREACHER 207