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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
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Matthew Henry |
E C C L E S I A S T E S
CHAP. IX.
Solomon, in this chapter, for a further proof of the vanity of this
world, gives us four observations which he had made upon a survey of
the state of the children of men in it:–
I. He observed that commonly as to outward things, good and bad men
fare much alike,
II. That death puts a final period to all our employments and
enjoyments in this world
(ver. 4-6),
whence he infers that it is our wisdom to enjoy the comforts of life
and mind the business of life, while it lasts,
III. That God’s providence often crosses the fairest and most hopeful
probabilities of men’s endeavour, and great calamities often surprise
men ere they are aware,
IV. That wisdom often makes men very useful, and yet gains them little
respect, for that persons of great merit are slighted,
And what is there then in this world that should make us fond of
it?
| Mysteries in Providence. | |
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1 For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all
this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in
the hand of God: no man knoweth either love or hatred by all
that is before them.
2 All things come alike to all: there is one event to the
righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and
to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that
sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he
that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.
3 This is an evil among all things that are done under the
sun, that there is one event unto all: yea, also the heart of
the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart
while they live, and after that they go to the dead.
It has been observed concerning those who have pretended to search for
the philosophers’ stone that, though they could never find what they
sought for, yet in the search they have hit upon many other useful
discoveries and experiments. Thus Solomon, when, in the close of the
foregoing chapter, he applied his heart to know the work of God,
and took a great deal of pains to search into it, though he despaired
of finding it out, yet he found out that which abundantly recompensed
him for the search, and gave him some satisfaction, which he here gives
us; for therefore he considered all this in his heart,
and weighed it deliberately, that he might declare it for the
good of others. Note, What we are to declare we should first
consider; think twice before we speak once; and what we have
considered we should then declare. I believed, therefore have
I spoken.
The great difficulty which Solomon met with in studying the book of
providence was the little difference that is made between good men and
bad in the distribution of comforts and crosses, and the disposal of
events. This has perplexed the minds of many wise and contemplative
men. Solomon discourses of it in
and, though he does not undertake to find out this work of God,
yet he says that which may prevent its being a stumbling-block to
us.
I. Before he describes the temptation in its strength he lays down a
great and unquestionable truth, which he resolves to adhere to, and
which, if firmly believed, will be sufficient to break the force of the
temptation. This has been the way of God’s people in grappling with
this difficulty. Job, before he discourses of this matter, lays down
the doctrine of God’s omniscience
(Job xxiv. 1),
Jeremiah the doctrine of his righteousness
(Jer. xii. 1),
another prophet that of his holiness
(Hab. i. 13),
the psalmist that of his goodness and peculiar favour to his own people
and that is it which Solomon here fastens upon and resolves to abide
by, that, though good and evil seem to be dispensed promiscuously, yet
God has a particular care of and concern for his own people: The
righteous and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God,
under his special protection and guidance; all their affairs are
managed by him for their good; all their wise and righteous actions
are in his hand, to be recompensed in the other world, though
not in this. They seem as if they were given up into the hand of
their enemies, but it is not so. Men have no power against them
but what is given them from above. The events that affect them do
not come to pass by chance, but all according to the will and counsel
of God, which will turn that to be for them which seemed to be most
against them. Let this make us easy, whatever happens, that all God’s
saints are in his hand,
John x. 29; Ps. xxxi. 15.
II. He lays this down for a rule, that the love and hatred of God are
not to be measured and judged of by men’s outward condition. If
prosperity were a certain sign of God’s love, and affliction of his
hatred, then it might justly be an offence to us to see the wicked and
godly fare alike. But the matter is not so: No man knows either love
or hatred by all that is before him in this world, by those things
that are the objects of sense. These we may know by that which is
within us; if we love God with all our heart, thereby we may know that
he loves us, as we may know likewise that we are under his wrath if we
be governed by that carnal mind which is enmity to him. These will be
known by that which shall be hereafter, by men’s everlasting state; it
is certain that men are happy or miserable according as they are under
the love or hatred of God, but not according as they are under the
smiles or frowns of the world; and therefore if God loves a righteous
man (as certainly he does) he is happy, though the world frown upon
him; and if he hates a wicked man (as certainly he does) he is
miserable, though the world smile upon him. Then the offence of this
promiscuous distribution of events has ceased.
III. Having laid down these principles, he acknowledges that all
things come alike to all; so it has been formerly, and therefore we
are not to think it strange if it be so now, if it be so with us and
our families. Some make this, and all that follows to
to be the perverse reasoning of the atheists against the doctrine of
God’s providence; but I rather take it to be Solomon’s concession,
which he might the more freely make when he had fixed those truths
which are sufficient to guard against any ill use that may be made of
what he grants. Observe here
(v. 2),
1. The great difference that there is between the characters of the
righteous and the wicked, which, in several instances, are set the one
over-against the other, to show that, though all things come alike
to all, yet that does not in the least confound the eternal
distinction between moral good and evil, but that remains immutable.
(1.) The righteous are clean, have clean hands and pure
hearts; the wicked are unclean, under the dominion of
unclean lusts, pure perhaps in their own eyes, but not
cleansed from their filthiness, God will certainly put a
difference between the clean and the unclean, the precious and the
vile, in the other world, though he does not seem to do so in this.
(2.) The righteous sacrifice, that is, they make conscience of
worshipping God according to his will, both with inward and outward
worship; the wicked sacrifice not, that is, they live in the
neglect of God’s worship and grudge to part with any thing for his
honour. What is the Almighty, that they should serve him?
(3.) The righteous are good, good in God’s sight, they do good
in the world; the wicked are sinners, violating the laws of God
and man, and provoking to both.
(4.) The wicked man swears, has no veneration for the name of
God, but profanes it by swearing rashly and falsely; but the righteous
man fears an oath, swears not, but is sworn, and then with great
reverence; he fears to take an oath, because it is a solemn appeal to
God as a witness and judge; he fears, when he has taken a oath, to
break it, because God is righteous who takes vengeance.
2. The little difference there is between the conditions of the
righteous and the wicked in this world: There is one event to
both. Is David rich? So is Nabal. Is Joseph favoured by his prince? So
is Haman. Is Ahab killed in a battle? So is Josiah. Are the bad figs
carried to Babylon? So are the good,
There is a vast difference between the original, the design, and the
nature, of the same event to the one and to the other; the effects and
issues of it are likewise vastly different; the same providence to the
one is a savour of life unto life, to the other of death unto
death, though, to outward appearance, it is the same.
IV. He owns this to be a very great grievance to those that are wise
and good: “This is an evil, the greatest perplexity, among
all things that are done under the sun
(v. 3);
nothing has given me more disturbance than this, that there is one
event unto all.” It hardens atheists, and strengthens the hands of
evil-doers; for therefore it is that the hearts of the sons of men
are full of evil and fully set in them to do evil,
ch. viii. 11.
When they see that there is one event to the righteous and the
wicked they wickedly infer thence that it is all one to God whether
they are righteous or wicked, and therefore they stick at nothing to
gratify their lusts.
V. For the further clearing of this great difficulty, as he began this
discourse with the doctrine of the happiness of the righteous (whatever
they may suffer, they and their works are in the hands of God,
and therefore in good hands, they could not be in better), so he
concludes with the doctrine of the misery of the wicked; however they
may prosper, madness is in their heart while they live, and after
that they go to the dead. Envy not the prosperity of evil-doers,
for,
1. They are now madmen, and all the delights they seem to be blessed
with are but like the pleasant dreams and fancies of a distracted man.
They are mad upon their idols
(Jer. l. 38),
are mad against God’s people,
When the prodigal repented, it is said, He came to himself
(Luke xv. 17),
which intimates that he had been beside himself before.
2. They will shortly be dead men. They make a mighty noise and bustle
while they live, but after awhile, they go to the dead,
and there is an end of all their pomp and power; they will then be
reckoned with for all their madness and outrage in sin. Though, on this
side death, the righteous and the wicked seem alike, on the other side
death there will be a vast difference between them.
| The Consequences of Death; The Proper Enjoyment of Life. | |
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4 For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope:
for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
5 For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know
not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the
memory of them is forgotten.
6 Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now
perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any
thing that is done under the sun.
7 Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a
merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works.
8 Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no
ointment.
9 Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of
the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun,
all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in this
life, and in thy labour which thou takest under the sun.
10 Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might;
for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in
the grave, whither thou goest.
Solomon, in a fret, had praised the dead more than the living
(ch. iv. 2);
but here, considering the advantages of life to prepare for death and
make sure the hope of a better life, he seems to be of another
mind.
I. He shows the advantages which the living have above those that are
dead,
1. While there is life there is hope. Dum spiro, spero–While I
breathe, I hope. It is the privilege of the living that they are
joined to the living, in relation, commerce, and conversation,
and, while they are so, there is hope. If a man’s condition be,
upon any account, bad, there is hope it will be amended. If
the heart be full of evil, and madness be in it, yet while there
is life there is hope that by the grace of God there may be a
blessed change wrought; but after men go to the dead
(v. 3)
it is too late then; he that is then filthy will be filthy still, for
ever filthy. If men be thrown aside as useless, yet, while they are
joined to the living, there is hope that they may yet again take
root and bear fruit; he that is alive is, or may be, good for
something, but he that is dead, as to this world, is not capable of
being any further serviceable. Therefore a living dog is better than
a dead lion; the meanest beggar alive has that comfort of this
world and does that service to it which the greatest prince, when he is
dead, is utterly incapable of.
2. While there is life there is an opportunity of preparing for death:
The living know that which the dead have no knowledge of,
particularly they know that they shall die, and are, or may be,
thereby influenced to prepare for that great change which will come
certainly, and may come suddenly. Note, The living cannot but
know that they shall die, that they must needs die. They know
they are under a sentence of death; they are already taken into custody
by its messengers, and feel themselves declining. This is a needful
useful knowledge; for what is our business, while we live, but to get
ready to die: The living know they shall die; it is a thing yet
to come, and therefore provision may be made for it. The dead know they
are dead, and it is too late; they are on the other side the great gulf
fixed.
3. When life is gone all this world is gone with it, as to us.
(1.) There is an end of all our acquaintance with this world and the
things of it: The dead know not any thing of that which, while
they lived, they were intimately conversant with. It does not appear
that they know any thing of what is done by those they leave behind.
Abraham is ignorant of us; they are removed into darkness,
Job x. 22.
(2.) There is an end of all our enjoyments in this world: They have
no more a reward for their toils about the world, but all they got
must be left to others; they have a reward for their holy actions, but
not for their worldly ones. The meats and the belly will be destroyed
together,
It is explained
v. 6.
Neither have they any more a portion for ever, none of that
which they imagined would be a portion for ever, of that which
is done and got under the sun. The things of this world
will not be a portion for the soul because they will not be a portion
for ever; those that choose them, and have them for their good
things, have only a portion in this life,
Ps. xvii. 14.
The world can only be an annuity for life, not a portion for
ever.
(3.) There is an end of their name. There are but few whose names
survive them long; the grave is a land of forgetfulness, for the
memory of those that are laid there is soon
forgotten; their place knows them no more, nor the lands
they called by their own names.
(4.) There is an end of their affections, their friendships and
enmities: Their love, and their hatred, and their envy have now
perished; the good things they loved, the evil things they hated,
the prosperity of others, which they envied, are now all at an end with
them. Death parts those that loved one another, and puts an end to
their friendship, and those that hated one another too, and puts an end
to their quarrels. Actio moritur cum personâ–The person and
his actions die together. There we shall be never the better for
our friends (their love can do us no kindness), nor ever the worse for
our enemies–their hatred and envy can do us no damage. There the
wicked cease from troubling. Those things which now so affect us
and fill us, which we are so concerned about and so jealous of, will
there be at an end.
II. Hence he infers that it is our wisdom to make the best use of life
that we can while it does last, and manage wisely what remains of
it.
1. Let us relish the comforts of life while we live, and cheerfully
take our share of the enjoyments of it. Solomon, having been himself
ensnared by the abuse of sensitive delights, warns others of the
danger, not by a total prohibition of them, but by directing to the
sober and moderate use of them; we may use the world, but must not
abuse it, take what is to be had out of it, and expect no more. Here we
have,
(1.) The particular instances of this cheerfulness prescribed: “Thou
art drooping and melancholy, go thy way, like a fool as thou
art, and get into a better temper of mind.”
[1.] “Let thy spirit be easy and pleasant; then let there be joy
and a merry heart within,” a good heart (so the word is),
which distinguishes this from carnal mirth and sensual pleasure, which
are the evil of the heart, both a symptom and a cause of much evil
there. We must enjoy ourselves, enjoy our friends, enjoy our God, and
be careful to keep a good conscience, that nothing may disturb us in
these enjoyments. We must serve God with gladness, in the use of what
he gives us, and be liberal in communicating it to others, and not
suffer ourselves to be oppressed with inordinate care and grief about
the world. We must eat our bread as Israelites, not in our
mourning
as Christians, with gladness and liberality of heart,
Acts ii. 46.
See
[2.] “Make use of the comforts and enjoyments which God has given thee:
Eat thy bread, drink thy wine, thine, not another’s, not the
bread of deceit, nor the wine of violence, but that which is
honestly got, else thou canst not eat it with any comfort nor expect a
blessing upon it–thy bread and thy wine, such as are
agreeable to thy place and station, not extravagantly above it nor
sordidly below it; lay out what God has given thee for the ends for
which thou art entrusted with it, as being but a steward.”
[3.] “Evidence thy cheerfulness
(v. 8):
Let thy garments be always white. Observe a proportion in thy
expenses; reduce not thy food in order to gratify thy pride, nor thy
clothing in order to gratify thy voluptuousness. Be neat, wear clean
linen, and be not slovenly.” Or, “Let thy garments be white in
token of joy and cheerfulness,” which were expressed by white
raiment
(Rev. iii. 4);
“and as a further token of joy, let thy head lack no ointment
that is fit for it.” Our Saviour admitted this piece of pleasure at a
feast
and David observes it among the gifts of God’s bounty to him.
Thou anointest my head with oil. Not that we must place our
happiness in any of the delights of sense, or set our hearts upon them,
but what God has given us we must make as comfortable a use of as we
can afford, under the limitations of sobriety and wisdom, and not
forgetting the poor.
[4.] “Make thyself agreeable to thy relations: Live joyfully with
the wife whom thou lovest. Do not engross thy delights, making much
of thyself only, and not caring what becomes of those about thee, but
let them share with thee and make them easy too. Have a wife; for even
in paradise it was not good for man to be alone. Keep to thy
wife, to one, and do not multiply wives” (Solomon had found the
mischief of that); “keep to her only, and have nothing to do with any
other.” How can a man live joyfully with one with whom he does not live
honestly? “Love thy wife; and the wife whom thou lovest thou
wilt be likely to live joyfully with.” When we do the duty of
relations we may expect the comfort of them. See
“Live with thy wife, and delight in her society. Live joyfully with
her, and be most cheerful when thou art with her. Take pleasure in
thy family, thy vine and thy olive plants.”
(2.) The qualifications necessary to this cheerfulness: “Rejoice and
have a merry heart, if God now accepts thy works. If thou
art reconciled to God, and recommended to him, then thou has reason to
be cheerful, otherwise not.” Rejoice not, O Israel! for joy, as
other people, for thou hast gone a whoring from thy God,
Hos. ix. 1.
Our first care must be to make our peace with God, and obtain his
favour, to do that which he will accept of, and then, Go thy way,
eat thy bread with joy. Note, Those whose works God has accepted
have reason to be cheerful and ought to be so. ‘Now that thou eatest
the bread of thy sacrifices with joy, and partakest of the wine
of thy drink-offerings with a merry heart, now God accepts
thy works. Thy religious services, when performed with holy joy,
are pleasing to God; he loves to have his servants sing at their work,
it proclaims him a good Master.
(3.) The reasons for it. “Live joyfully, for,”
[1.] “It is all little enough to make thy passage through this world
easy and comfortable: The days of thy life are the days of
thy vanity; there is nothing here but trouble, and disappointment.
Thou wilt have time enough for sorrow and grief when thou canst not
help it, and therefore live joyfully while thou canst, and
perplex not thyself with thoughts and cares about to-morrow;
sufficient to the day is the evil thereof. Let a gracious
serenity of mind be a powerful antidote against the vanity of the
world.”
[2.] “It is all thou canst get from this world: That is thy portion
in the things of this life. In God, and another life, thou
shalt have a better portion, and a better recompence for thy labours in
religion; but for thy pains which thou takest about the things
under the sun this is all thou canst expect, and therefore do
not deny this to thyself.”
2. Let us apply ourselves to the business of life while life lasts, and
so use the enjoyments of it as by them to be fitted for the
employments: “Therefore eat with joy and a merry heart,
not that thy soul may take its ease (as
but that thy soul may take the more pains and the joy of the Lord may
be its strength and oil to its wheels,”
Whatsoever thy hand finds to do do it with thy might. Observe
here,
(1.) There is not only something to be had, but something to be done,
in this life, and the chief good we are to enquire after is the good
we should do,
Eccl. ii. 3.
This is the world of service; that to come is the world of recompence.
This is the world of probation and preparation for eternity; we are
here upon business, and upon our good behaviour.
(2.) Opportunity is to direct and quicken duty. That is to be done
which our hand finds to do, which occasion calls for; and an
active hand will always find something to do that will turn to a good
account. What must be done, of necessity, our hand will here find a
price in it for the doing of,
(3.) What good we have an opportunity of doing we must do while we have
the opportunity, and do it with our might, with care, vigour,
and resolution, whatever difficulties and discouragements we may meet
with in it. Harvest-days are busy days; and we must make hay while the
sun shines. Serving God and working out our salvation must be done
with all that is within us, and all little enough.
(4.) There is good reason why we should work the works of him that
sent us while it is day, because the night comes, wherein no man can
work,
John ix. 4.
We must up and be doing now with all possible diligence, because our
doing-time will be done shortly and we know not how soon. But this we
know that, if the work of life be not done when our time is done, we
are undone for ever: “There is no work to be done, nor
device to do it, no knowledge for speculation, nor
wisdom for practice, in the grave whither thou goest.” We
are all going towards the grave; every day brings us a step nearer to
it; when we are in the grave it will be too late to mend the
errors of life, too late to repent and make our peace with God, too
late to lay up any thing in store for eternal life; it must be done now
or never. The grave is a land of darkness and silence, and therefore
there is no doing any thing for our souls there; it must be done now or
never,
| The Disappointment of Hopes. | |
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11 I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to
the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the
wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to
men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.
12 For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are
taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the
snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it
falleth suddenly upon them.
The preacher here, for a further proof of the vanity of the world, and
to convince us that all our works are in the hand of God, and
not in our own hand, shows the uncertainty and contingency of future
events, and how often they contradict the prospects we have of them. He
had exhorted us
(v. 10)
to do what we have to do with all our might; but here he reminds
us that, when we have done all, we must leave the issue with God, and
not be confident of the success.
I. We are often disappointed of the good we had great hopes of,
Solomon had himself made the observation, and so has many a one since,
that events, both in public and private affairs, do not always agree
even with the most rational prospects and probabilities. Nulli
fortuna tam dedita est ut multa tentanti ubique
respondeat—Fortune surrenders herself to no one so as to ensure
him success, however numerous his undertakings. Seneca. The issue
of affairs is often unaccountably cross to every one’s expectation,
that the highest may not presume, nor the lowest despair, but all may
live in a humble dependence upon God, from whom every man’s judgment
proceeds.
1. He gives instances of disappointment, even where means and
instruments were most encouraging and promised fair.
(1.) One would think that the lightest of foot should, in running, win
the prize; and yet the race is not always to the swift;
some accident happens to retard them, or they are too secure, and
therefore remiss, and let those that are slower get the start of them.
(2.) One would think that, in fighting, the most numerous and powerful
army should be always victorious, and, in single combat, that the bold
and mighty champion should win the laurel; but the battle is not
always to the strong; a host of Philistines was once put to
flight by Jonathan and his man; one of you shall chase a
thousand; the goodness of the cause has often carried the day
against the most formidable power.
(3.) One would think that men of sense should always be men of
substance, and that those who know how to live in the world should not
only have a plentiful maintenance, but get great estates; and yet it
does not always prove so; even bread is not always to the
wise, much less riches always to men of
understanding. Many ingenious men, and men of business, who were
likely to thrive in the world, have strangely gone backward and come to
nothing.
(4.) One would think that those who understand men, and have the art of
management, should always get preferment and obtain the smiles of great
men; but many ingenious men have been disappointed, and have spent
their days in obscurity, nay, have fallen into disgrace, and perhaps
have ruined themselves by those very methods by which they hoped to
raise themselves, for favour is not always to men of
skill, but fools are favoured and wise men frowned upon.
2. He resolves all these disappointments into an over-ruling power and
providence, the disposals of which to us seem casual, and we call them
chance, but really they are according to the determinate counsel
and foreknowledge of God, here called time, in the language of
this book,
Time and chance happen to them all. A sovereign Providence
breaks men’s measures, and blasts their hopes, and teaches them that
the way of man is not in himself, but subject to the divine will. We
must use means, but not trust to them; if we succeed, we must give God
the praise
(Ps. xliv. 3);
if we be crossed, we must acquiesce in his will and take our lot.
II. We are often surprised with the evils we were in little fear of
(v. 12):
Man knows not his time, the time of his calamity, his fall, his
death, which, in scripture, is called our day and our
hour.
1. We know not what troubles are before us, which will take us off our
business, and take us out of the world, what time and chance will
happen to us, nor what one day, or a night, may bring
forth. It is not for us to know the times, no, not our own
time, when or how we shall die. God has, in wisdom, kept us in the
dark, that we may be always ready.
2. Perhaps we may meet with trouble in that very thing wherein we
promise ourselves the greatest satisfaction and advantage; as the
fishes and the birds are drawn into the snare and net by the bait laid
to allure them, which they greedily catch at, so are the sons of men
often snared in an evil time, when it falls suddenly upon them,
before they are aware. And these things too come alike to all.
Men often find their bane where they sought their bless, and catch
their death where they thought to find a prize. Let us therefore never
be secure, but always ready for changes, that, though they may be
sudden, they may be no surprise or terror to us.
| The Advantages of Wisdom. | |
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13 This wisdom have I seen also under the sun, and it seemed
great unto me:
14 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.
16 Then said I, Wisdom is better than strength: nevertheless
the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard.
17 The words of wise men are heard in quiet more than the cry
of him that ruleth among fools.
18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war: but one sinner
destroyeth much good.
Solomon still recommends wisdom to us as necessary to the preserving of
our peace and the perfecting of our business, notwithstanding the
vanities and crosses which human affairs are subject to. He had said
(v. 11),
Bread is not always to the wise; yet he would not therefore be
thought either to disparage, or to discourage, wisdom, no, he still
retains his principle, that wisdom excels folly as much as light
excels darkness
(ch. ii. 13),
and we ought to love and embrace it, and be governed by it, for the
sake of its own intrinsic worth, and the capacity it gives us of being
serviceable to others, though we ourselves should not get wealth and
preferment by it. This wisdom, that is, this which he here describes,
wisdom which enables a man to serve his country out of pure affection
to its interests, when he himself gains no advantage by it, no, not so
much as thanks for his pains, or the reputation of it, this is the
wisdom which, Solomon says, seemed great unto him,
v. 13.
A public spirit, in a private sphere, is wisdom which those who
understand things that differ cannot but look upon as very
magnificent.
I. Solomon here gives an instance, which probably was a case in fact,
in some neighbouring country, of a poor man who with his wisdom
did great service in a time of public distress and danger
(v. 14):
There was a little city (no great prize, whoever was master of
it); there were but few men within it, to defend it, and men, if
men of fortitude, are the best fortifications of a city; here were
few men, and, because few, feeble, fearful, and ready to give up
their city as not tenable. Against this little city a great king
came with a numerous army, and besieged it, either in pride, or
covetousness to possess it, or in revenge for some affront given him,
to chastise and destroy it. Thinking it stronger than it was, he
built great bulwarks against it, from which to batter it, and
doubted not but in a little time to make himself master of it. What a
great deal of unjust vexation do ambitious princes give to their
harmless neighbours! This great king needed not fear this
little city; why then should he frighten it? It would be little
profit to him; why then should he put himself to such a great expense
to gain it? But as unreasonable and insatiably greedy as little people
sometimes are to lay house to house, and field to field, great
kings often are to lay city to city, and province to province, that
they may be placed alone in the earth,
Isa. v. 8.
Did victory and success attend the strong? No; there was found
in this little city, among the few men that were in it, one poor
wise man–a wise man, and yet poor, and not preferred to any place
of profit or power in the city; places of trust were not given to men
according to their merit, and meetness for them, else such a wise man
as this would not have been a poor man. Now,
1. Being wise, he served the city, though he was poor. In their
distress they found him out
and begged his advice and assistance; and he by his wisdom delivered
the city, either by prudent instructions given to the besieged,
directing them to some unthought-of stratagem for their own security,
or by a prudent treaty with the besiegers, as the woman at Abel,
He did not upbraid them with the contempt they had put upon him, in
leaving him out of their council, nor tell them he was poor and had
nothing to lose, and therefore cared not what became of the city; but
he did his best for it, and was blessed with success. Note, Private
interests and personal resentments must always be sacrificed to public
good and forgotten when the common welfare is concerned.
2. Being poor, he was slighted by the city, though he was wise and had
been an instrument to save them all from ruin: No man remembered
that same poor man; his good services were not taken notice of, no
recompence was made him, no marks of honour were put upon him, but he
lived in as much poverty and obscurity as he had done before. Riches
were not to this man of understanding, nor favour to
this man of skill. Many who have well-merited of their prince
and country have been ill-paid; such an ungrateful world do we live in.
It is well that useful men have a God to trust to, who will be their
bountiful rewarder; for, among men, great services are often envied and
rewarded with evil for good.
II. From this instance he draws some useful inferences, looks upon it
and receives instruction.
1. Hence he observes the great usefulness and excellency of wisdom, and
what a blessing it makes men to their country: Wisdom is better than
strength,
v. 16.
A prudent mind, which is the honour of a man, is to be preferred before
a robust body, in which many of the brute creatures excel man. A man
may by his wisdom effect that which he could never compass by his
strength, and may overcome those by out-witting them who are able to
overpower him. Nay, wisdom is better than weapons of war,
offensive or defensive,
Wisdom, that is, religion and piety (for the wise man is here
opposed to a sinner), is better than all military endowments or
accoutrements, for it will engage God for us, and then we are safe in
the greatest perils and successful in the greatest enterprises. If
God be for us, who can be against us or stand before us?
2. Hence he observes the commanding force and power of wisdom, though
it labour under external disadvantages
(v. 17):
The words of wise men are heard in quiet; what they speak, being
spoken calmly and with deliberation (though, not being rich and in
authority, they dare not speak aloud nor with any great assurance),
will be hearkened to and regarded, will gain respect, nay, will gain
the point, and sway with men more than the imperious clamour of him
that rules among fools, who, like fools, chose him to be their
ruler, for his noise and blustering, and, like fools, think he must by
those methods carry the day with every body else. A few close arguments
are worth a great many big words; and those will strike sail to fair
reasoning who will answer those that hector and insult according to
their folly. How forcible are right words! What is spoken wisely
should be spoken calmly, and then it will be heard in quiet and calmly
considered. But passion will lessen the force even of reason, instead
of adding any force to it.
3. Hence he observes that wise and good men, notwithstanding this, must
often content themselves with the satisfaction of having done good, or
at least attempted it, and offered at it, when they cannot do the good
they would do nor have the praise they should have. Wisdom capacitates
a man to serve his neighbours, and he offers his service; but, alas! if
he be poor his wisdom is despised and his words are not heard,
v. 16.
Many a man is buried alive in poverty and obscurity who, if he had but
fit encouragement given him, might be a great blessing to the world;
many a pearl is lost in its shell. But there is a day coming when
wisdom and goodness shall be in honour, and the righteous shall
shine forth.
4. From what he had observed of the great good which one wise and
virtuous man may do he infers what a great deal of mischief one wicked
man may do, and what a great deal of good he may be the hindrance of:
One sinner destroyeth much good.
(1.) As to himself, a sinful condition is a wasteful condition. How
many of the good gifts both of nature and Providence does one sinner
destroy and make waste of–good sense, good parts, good learning, a
good disposition, a good estate, good meat, good drink, and abundance
of God’s good creatures, all made use of in the service of sin, and so
destroyed and lost, and the end of giving them frustrated and
perverted! He who destroys his own soul destroys much good.
(2.) As to others, what a great deal of mischief may one wicked man do
in a town or country! One sinner, who makes it his business to debauch
others, may defeat and frustrate the intentions of a great many good
laws and a great deal of good preaching, and draw many into his
pernicious ways; one sinner may be the ruin of a town, as one Achan
troubled the whole camp of Israel. The wise man who delivered the city
would have had his due respect and recompence for it but that some one
sinner hindered it, and invidiously diminished the service. And many a
good project, well laid for the public welfare, had been destroyed by
some one subtle adversary to it. The wisdom of some would have healed
the nation, but, through the wickedness of a few, it would not be
healed. See who are a kingdom’s friends and enemies, if one saint does
much good, and one sinner destroys much good.
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