CRITICAL NOTES.—
Ecclesiastes 7:16. Be not righteous over much; neither make thyself overwise] This is not intended to inculcate carelessness in moral conduct, nor as a beatitude upon ignorance. The meaning is, that we are not to serutinise too narrowly the ways of God. We are to avoid that boldness which dares to say what would be just or unjust for Him to do, as though we could manage the world better. We are also to avoid rash speculation, full as it is of danger, tending to the destruction of true spiritual life.
Ecclesiastes 7:17. Be not over much wicked] Though all men are sinful by nature, yet some sin maliciously, and of set purpose. Even the righteous sin through weakness, but they set a watch over the ways of moral conduct. Therefore, beware of crossing the border-line, lest you sin with consciousness of evil.
Ecclesiastes 7:18. That thou shouldest take hold of this; yea also from this withdraw not thine hand] Avoid the two extremes, of a false righteousness on the one hand, and a life of carelessness and sin on the other.
Ecclesiastes 7:19. Ten mighty men which are in the city] Ten heroes, or commanders, at the head of their forces, to whom the defence of the city is entrusted.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH. Ecclesiastes 7:15-22
THE CAUTIONS OF A RELIGIOUS PHILOSOPHER
I. Against Judging the Moral Worth of Men by their Outward Conditions. (Ecclesiastes 7:15.) There are perplexing appearances in the moral government of God—a seeming confusion of right and wrong, as if the Supreme Ruler was indifferent to human conduct, and had no complacency in goodness.
1. Moral excellence is sometimes associated with misfortune. The just man perishes, notwithstanding his righteousness. He therefore is made to suffer all lesser evils beneath this extreme calamity. How often have the good been betrayed and persecuted, or condemned to obscurity and neglect! Some of the noblest souls on this planet are overwhelmed by adversity, and altogether unknown to the world.
2. That wickedness is sometimes associated with prosperity. The basest of men have occupied the highest places, and have been preserved to old age surrounded by all the appliances of luxury and pride.
3. These moral discrepancies must be viewed in the light of religion. The righteous man will perceive that, even through all these apparent irregularities, the great purpose of God is being accomplished. He will reflect that, after all, these disorders are of little significance to him. Even they are but “vanity;” they will soon be past, as far as he is concerned. Like his own life here, they are but a “vapour,” and that even an appearance for a little time. These evils must be endured; but what does it matter, since life is so short? They are but a momentary speck upon the clear glory of eternity. The humble and enlightened soul will consider the bitter root of all these evils.
1. He will look to the past. In the history of human nature, there is an evil somewhere—some primal transgression corrupting the origin of the human race. The burden of vanity is laid upon us on account of sin; and even the righteous, in many sorrows and in the painful necessity of dying, must pay the penalty.
2. He will look to the future. There is a higher revelation awaiting man. “That which is perfect” will come, and there will be a clear justification of all the ways of God. No evil will offend those pure and holy souls who live in His sight.
II. Against a Rash Estimate of the Divine Dealings with Man. (Ecclesiastes 7:16.) This is not a caution against aiming at the highest excellence in goodness or wisdom, for these are the proper objects of a righteous ambition. It is rather a caution against the conduct of those who presume to find fault with the methods of God’s dealings with men, as if they could devise and conduct a more satisfactory scheme. This is the most daring form of human arrogance.
1. It is the result of a proud righteousness. There is a dangerous refinement of rectitude and wisdom which is bold enough to venture a criticism on the moral government of God. Vain man has assumed an over-nice delicacy of moral principle, leading him to indulge the suspicion that he could surpass his Maker in righteous and wise administration. We have here the germ of that Pharisaism which appeared in the days of our Lord. The same error underlies both the earlier and the latter stages of this religious vice—the want of humility. We are warned against the temptation
(1) To re-judge the Divine justice. We may imagine that things would be better in our hands, that there would be a more equitable distribution of good and evil. But our weakness and ignorance sufficiently stamp this as impiety.
(2) To question the Divine wisdom. We may, in our foolish fancy, build imaginary systems in which no imperfection appears, nor any risk or chance of failure. Such pride needs the rebuke, “Shall mortal man be more just than God?” (Job 4:17.) Our knowledge is too limited for such a bold exercise as this. We have no basis of facts sufficiently broad, nor any experience of them sufficiently long and intimate, to warrant us in such an adventure. We are “but of yesterday,” and, as a consequence, “we know nothing.” Besides, there is our moral disqualification. Such impiety as this tends to ruin; “why shouldest thou destroy thyself?” Men who meddle with matters too high for them will receive some humiliating check, or suffer moral degradation and injury. But,
2. The dread of this fault must not drive us into the opposite extreme. (Ecclesiastes 7:17.) It is not hereby intended to teach moderation in sinful actions. We have rather a precept which takes into account the sad fact of our sinfulness; and, regarding absolute perfection as unattainable (Ecclesiastes 7:20), counsels us not to cross the border-line which separates the good man—still subject to weakness and infirmity—from the open sinner.
(1) Such conduct would be destructive. Vice, in considerable measure, brings its own punishment, by shortening human life and making it miserable.
(2) To avoid such extremes is the highest attainable excellence. (Ecclesiastes 7:18.) This is the “good” we should reach after, the only one possible to us. It is well if we can hit that happy medium which avoids the affectation of righteousness, on the one hand, and carelessness as to our moral conduct, on the other.
(3) Such excellence is only attainable by true piety. “He that feareth God shall come forth of them all.” He alone shall be saved from false righteousness and reckless immorality. A Divine hand alone can lead us in the safe way between these dangerous extremes.
III. Against Building upon an Impossible Ideal of Humanity. (Ecclesiastes 7:20.) Man might have some ground for boasting, and presuming upon his own wisdom, were he pure, and open to no impeachment of his goodness, or imputation of folly. But even the best are imperfect. Therefore,
1. We need some defence against the Divine Justice. Man has offended the justice of God, and must either receive the full force of the penalty, or provide a sufficient defence against it. We must accept the facts of our condition, painful though they be, and receive protection from the evils we deserve, as a gift of Divine mercy.
2. Heavenly wisdom supplies the needful defence. (Ecclesiastes 7:19.) By “wisdom” is signified the pious fear and love of God. This is the only sure defence. We cannot avert or mislead Divine justice. However we contrive, we must come face to face with it at last. Man can build fortified cities, and brave heroes may defend them with valour and skill, and maintain a successful resistance against the enemy. But no ingenuity of device, or bravery of resistance, can defend us from the inflictions of Divine Justice, if we are found without that wisdom which is godly and pure.
IV. Against an Over-sensitiveness in regard to the Judgments of Others. (Ecclesiastes 7:21.) Contrive how we may, men will think about us, and form some estimate of our character.
1. We must pay some attention to such judgments. The text refers both to praise and blame. We cannot be purely indifferent to either. Praise is the crown that society places upon the head of the good, the reward of brave and consistent virtue. Blame is often the index, pointing to some fault or defect in us; and a wise man will not neglect such indications. But,
2. Such judgments must not excite in us any undue anxiety.
(1) As to blame. If we are right and pure in motive, aim, and purpose, we can afford to despise adverse judgments. We consider that such are compounded of ignorance, malice, and rage.
(2) As to praise. It is often insincere; at best, fickle and inconstant. A wise man will receive it with moderation of desire and estimate. If we are too anxious to catch every breath of praise, we expose ourselves to the grief of bitter disappointment. A man may hear his own servant “cursing” him, while he is listening for the much-coveted praise.
3. We should remember our own failings. (Ecclesiastes 7:22.) We ourselves are not faultless. We may have the painful consciousness of some defects of disposition, or of wrong inflicted upon others, which may provoke just censure, or retaliation. We may possibly have come slowly and late to the possession of heavenly wisdom, and in our days of folly, may have inflicted injuries whese effects still remain. We are candidates for a mercy to come, and must, therefore, be merciful to others. The censure we overheard, when we expected a word of praise, may have been uttered in a moment of passion; and though the sharp agony of the sting remains with us, the hasty word may have been soon forgotten by him who uttered it. We must make allowance for the imperfections of our fellow men, and cherish the spirit of moderation and forgiveness. Unless protected by the shadow of a mercy which must cover many faults (even in the best), we have much to fear from the judgment of God. The vision of that awful trial which awaits humanity, and from which there is no escape, should make us more reserved in our censures, and more merciful in our estimation of human conduct. Our sin is at the bottom of all the evils we suffer here, the moral disorders of the world, and of all the trials and vexations which accompany us throughout our probation. Given faultless men, and there would be a faultless world; the very face of nature and of life would be changed. Righteousness would work itself outwardly in a “new heaven and a new earth.”
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Ecclesiastes 7:15. If we estimate the moral worth of men by their surroundings, we should greatly mistake. Dives and Lazarus, in their environment here, presented the contrasted pictures of happiness and ease with want and misery. If with perverted eye, we see in the outcast of earth the outcast of heaven; or in the favourite of fortune the favourite of heaven; how soon is the illusion dispelled when death strips both of all their time-vestments to the bare essence of their souls, and to the simple attributes of character!
How often has it happened that the just man, who has laboured to promote some social regeneration, or to give the world a purer faith, has perished, the victim of intolerance! The thankless world has often rewarded its best teachers with the prison, the cross, and the stake.
He who is unscrupulous may rise to prosperity and undisturbed enjoyment, while the righteous perishes because he will not forego high principle. It is only in the “days of our vanity” that we can see the apparent failure of the righteous, and the prosperity of the wicked. A far different sight will be presented to us in the stern realities of eternity!
Men who adopt a higher standard of duty than the rest of the world may have to suffer for it. The noble army of martyrs bears witness to this. He who adopts common views and principles may find life easy enough.
Ecclesiastes 7:16. Those rulers are over just who search everything too closely; and the theologians are over-wise who in matters of faith wish to direct everything according to their own reason [Cramer].
The boldest forms of impiety have assumed the garb of righteousness, in which men have dared to “snatch from His hand the balance and the rod.”
Unless goodness is sufficiently guarded by humility, we are exposed to the danger of intellectual and moral pride.
There must be some fatal fault in any refinement of justice or wisdom which leads a man to entertain a suspicion of God.
The attempt to oppose the justice and wisdom of God by our vain imagination leads to destruction. “The words of Job are ended,” says the inspired historian. All words spoken against God must sooner or later come to an end. Either grace forgives the folly of the speech—as in the case of Job—or God closes the impious mouth with violence.
The impiety here condemned has also an illustration in the government of human affairs, where it is often seen that, Summum jus summa injuria. Luther says, “He who would most rigidly regulate and rectify everything, whether in the State or in the household, will have much labour, little or no fruit.”
Ecclesiastes 7:17. As you would not be over-righteous, see to it that you be not over-wicked,—that is, that you do not contemn and neglect all government committed to you, thus letting everything fall into evil. It may be well to overlook some things, but not to neglect everything [Luther].
As there is a moral and intellectual activity which degenerates into impious speculation, so there is an inertness of conscience and of mind which issues in wickedness and folly.
As there are hazards attending high pretentions to wisdom, so there are risks peculiar to folly. The absolute fool becomes the object of contempt. His life is hardly thought worth an effort, far less a sacrifice, for its preservation. The fool is easily made the tool and the dupe of a party; exposing himself to be the prey of virulent enemies, or of selfish pretended friends. Folly leads a man into innumerable scrapes. It may induce him heedlessly to mix with wicked associates, and may thus occasion his suffering for crimes, in the perpetration of which he had no active hand, and which, fool as he is, he would shrink from committing. And in numberless ways he may come, by his folly, to “die before his time” [Wardlaw].
Ecclesiastes 7:18. By the fear of God we escape, on the one hand, the danger of Pharisaism, because, firstly, it awakens in the heart a dread of all attempts to deceive God by the trappings of a heartless show of piety, and because further, an energetic knowledge of sin is inseparably bound up with a true fear of God (Isaiah 6:5). We escape, also, on the other hand, the danger of a life of sin, because we cannot really fear God without also having a keen dread of offending Him by our sins, and a lively wish to walk in the ways of His commands [Hengstenberg].
The safe way of duty lies between dangerous extremes. Nothing but the fear of God can keep us from wandering to the utmost edge of hazard.
The fear of God springs from faith, and leads to that hope which expects all good from Him. If we believe in the character of God, as revealed in Scripture, we have everything to hope for. Fear is but the attitude of that caution which dreads to lose God, and by so doing, to lose all.
Our true safety lies not in dwelling exclusively upon the moral dangers to which we are exposed, but rather in “Setting the Lord always before us.” Herein is the only condition of stability for our righteousness.
Ecclesiastes 7:19. It is due to this inherent and immense superiority of intelligence and forethought, over mere numbers of animal energy, that the few in all ages have controlled the many—that a handful of cultivated and civilised men have triumphed over whole nations of barbarians. It is wisdom, in the sense of knowledge and intellectual skill, that has subdued the material world, and made it tributary to the convenience and comfort of mankind.… It is not human science, however great its achievements may be, that he intends to celebrate.… But more than these “mighty men,” with all their skill and energies combined, could do for such a city, can wisdom do to strengthen its possessor against the devil, the flesh, and the world [Buchanan].
Our goodness is besieged on all sides. We can only hold out against the enemy by the might of a wisdom and courage which is stronger than that of the world.
The true heroes of our race are spiritual men, who have felt and dared to utter great truths. Other heroes have conquered enemies, yet have themselves been vanquished by deadlier foes! Spiritual men alone have conquered all. “The good fight of faith,” is the only one that leads to any satisfactory and permanent result.
Ecclesiastes 7:20. There is not even a just man—a justified man—upon earth, that doeth good and sinneth not; that doeth good so exclusively and so perfectly as to be without sin. The law of sin which is in his members still wars against the higher law of his regenerated mind, and more or less at times prevails. But there is this grand and fundamental distinction between him and the impenitent and unbelieving, that the germ of a new and Divine life has been implanted in his soul [Buchanan].
The highest attainments in goodness come far short of absolute perfection. The best can only say with the Apostle, “Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect” (Philippians 3:12).
The boast of sinlessness can only arise from deplorable self-ignorance or spiritual pride.
The purest souls feel that they need some defence against the justice of God. Nature and Providence teach no doctrine of forgiveness; they often chastise without warning, and pay no heed to the excuse of ignorance. But spiritual wisdom is gifted with that insight into the character of God which beholds in Him infinite mercy and compassion. This is our only hope.
Ecclesiastes 7:21. The wisest and best run the risk of being misrepresented and misunderstood. They often suffer exquisite pain through the malice and envy of others, and the proneness of mankind to indulge in careless talk. But he who follows conscience has no need to lay this seriously to heart. All the “wood, hay, and stubble” of human speech will be burnt up.
Consistent goodness will, in the end, triumph over suspicion and unfavourable judgments. The clouds that accompany the sun on his journey, hiding his bright head, often form at his setting a cushion of vermillion and gold on which he sinks down to rest. Enough for us if our evening sky be pure and lovely; we can afford to despise the passing shadows of our course.
Even wise and good men are often unduly fretted and disquieted by the harsh and uncharitable things that may be said of them in this censorious and envious world. They err in giving way to such angry or disappointed feelings. They forget that even the best of men have still many failings—that there is no perfection among our fallen race; and while this fact should remind them that they themselves are not infallible, and that they may really have given some cause for the accusations of which they complain, it should also teach them not to form unreasonable expectations as to the conduct of others.… There is much point as well as truth in the familiar saying that eavesdroppers seldom hear good of themselves. They do not deserve to hear it. It is well that their craving curiosity and morbid vanity should be thus rebuked and humbled [Buchanan].
Extreme sensitiveness is one of the evils of ill-health. A robust strength and integrity of character will preserve us from many annoyances.
Ecclesiastes 7:22. As we can boast of no absolute purity, we cannot take too high ground with humanity.
Those who crowd around the gates of mercy, as suppliants, have little need to recriminate one another.
Your own consciousness will prevent you from thinking it impossible that you should hear any evil of yourself; and it will, at the same time, teach you to make allowance for the passions and hasty speeches of other men [Wardlaw].
Expect injuries, for men are weak, and thou thyself doest such too often [Richter].