Ecclesiastes 9:13-18 NIV

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Ecclesiastes 9:18

Wisdom is better than weapons of war - So proved in the case of Archimedes. But one sinner - Such as the Roman butcher above mentioned. Destroyeth much good - Such as were the life and skill of the Syracusan mathematician. One sinner has often injured the work of God; one stumbling-block has sometimes destroyed a revival of religion. Sin acts like a ferment; whatever comes in contact with it, it assimilates to itself. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ecclesiastes 9:13

This wisdom have I seen also under the sun ; better, as the Septuagint, This also I saw to be wisdom under the sun . The experience which follows he recognized as an instance of worldly wisdom. To what special event he alludes is quite unknown. Probably the circumstance was familiar to his contemporaries. It is not to be considered as an allegory, though of course it is capable of spiritual application. The event in Bible history most like it is the preservation of Abel-Beth-maachah by... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ecclesiastes 9:13-16

Section 9. That wisdom, even when it does good service, is not always rewarded, is shown by an example. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ecclesiastes 9:14

There was a little city . The substantive verb is, as commonly, omitted. Commentators have amused themselves with endeavoring to identify the city here mentioned. Thus some see herein Athens, saved by the counsel of Themistocles, who was afterwards driven from Athens and died in misery (Justin; 2.12); or Dora, near Mount Carmel, besieged unsuccessfully by Antiochus the Great, B.C. 218, though we know nothing of the circumstances (Polyb; 5.66); but see note on Ecclesiastes 9:13 . The... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ecclesiastes 9:15

Now there was found in it a poor wise man. The verb, regarded as impersonal, may be thus taken. Or we may continue the subject of the preceding verse and consider the king as spoken of: "He came across, met with unexpectedly, a poor man who was wise." So the Septuagint. The word for "poor" in this passage is misken, for which see note on Ecclesiastes 4:13 . He by his wisdom delivered the city . When the besieged city had neither soldiers nor arms to defend itself against its mighty... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ecclesiastes 9:16

Then said I, Wisdom is better than strength . The latter part of the verse is not a correction of the former, but the whole comes under the observation introduced by "I said." The story just related leads to this assertion, which reproduces the gnome of Ecclesiastes 7:19 , wherein it is asserted that wisdom effects more than mere physical strength. There is an interpolation in .the Old Latin Version of Wis. 6. I which seems to have been compiled from this passage and Proverbs 16:13 ,... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ecclesiastes 9:17

The words of wise men are heard in quiet more than the cry of him that ruleth among fools . This verse would be better translated, Words of the wise in quiet are heard better than the shout of a chief among fools . The Vulgate takes the tranquility to appertain to the hearers, thus: Verba sapientium audiuntur in silentio ; but, as Delitzsch points out, the contrast between "quiet" and "cry" shows that it is the man, and not his auditors, who is quiet. The sentence says that a wise... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ecclesiastes 9:17-18

Section 10. Here follow some proverbial sayings concerning wisdom and its opposite, which draw the moral from the story in the text. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ecclesiastes 9:18

Wisdom is better than weapons of war . Such is the moral which Koheleth desires to draw from the little narrative given above (see Ecclesiastes 9:14-16 ; and Ecclesiastes 7:19 ). Wisdom can do what no material force can effect, and often produces results which all the implements of war could not command. But one sinner destroyeth much good. The happy consequences which the wise man's counsel might accomplish, or has already accomplished, may be overthrown or rendered useless by the... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Ecclesiastes 9:13

Or, Also this have I seen - wisdom under the sun, and great it seemed to me.From this verse to the end of Ecclesiastes 10:0, the writer inculcates, in a series of proverbs, wisdom in contrast to folly, as the best remedy in the present life to the evil of vanity. read more

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Ecclesiastes 9:18

The Pulpit Commentary - Ecclesiastes 9:13

The Pulpit Commentary - Ecclesiastes 9:13-16

The Pulpit Commentary - Ecclesiastes 9:14

The Pulpit Commentary - Ecclesiastes 9:15

The Pulpit Commentary - Ecclesiastes 9:16

The Pulpit Commentary - Ecclesiastes 9:17

The Pulpit Commentary - Ecclesiastes 9:17-18

The Pulpit Commentary - Ecclesiastes 9:18

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Ecclesiastes 9:13

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