There was a little city, and few men within it; and there came a great king against it, and besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it: (15) Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same poor man.
I am inclined to think that what the preacher here delivers as a parable; and if so, the spiritual sense of it is not far to fetch. If the city here besieged means the church of Christ, it may well be called a little city. Fear not, little flock, said Jesus, when comforting his church. It is small, comparatively considered, to the world's wide wilderness, Luke 12:32. How this city was besieged, needs not be told. Enemies without and within. The poor man can be no other than Jesus; for though he is in himself rich, yet, for our sakes, he became poor. 2 Corinthians 8:9. How Jesus manifested his wisdom, is also equally plain. Indeed grace, wisdom, love, mercy, favour, all, all were displayed by our Jesus, in his unequalled work of delivering us from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us. And what the preacher saith of the ingratitude of the whole city delivered by him, is a most apt representation of the universal unworthiness and ingratitude of God's Israel. No man remembered that same poor man. Blessed Jesus! I take shame to myself in the recollection of my own personal forgetfulness, of thee, and of thine unequalled love to me this day! Oh! how have I forgotten thee times without number! And not only I, Lord, but all have forgotten thee. Precious Lord! hath thy love to us been so great? And are there none, no, not one of all our nature to love thee, as thou hast loved us? Oh! what a state must our nature have been in to all eternity, hadst thou not interposed to deliver us from it. Hail! thou wise Poor Man! thou hast by thy wisdom delivered the city, thy Church!