Ecclesiastes 9:16

THE SUPERIORITY OF WISDOM

"Then said I, Wisdom is better than strength: nevertheless the poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard. The words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the cry of him that ruleth among fools. Wisdom is better than weapons of war; but one sinner destroyeth much good."

"The poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard" (Ecclesiastes 9:16). Loader understood these words as justifying his unusual translation given above.

These last three verses stress both the value and the vulnerability of wisdom. Yes, wisdom is more valuable than strength or weapons of war; "But we are left here with a suspicion that, `In human politics the last word generally goes to the loud voice of Ecclesiastes 9:17, or to the cold steel of Ecclesiastes 9:18.'"[16]

"But one sinner destroyeth much good" (Ecclesiastes 9:18). Achan, one sinner alone, caused the tremendous defeat of all God's people at Ai (Joshua 7); and Doeg, one sinner alone, caused the murder of the priests at Nob (1 Samuel 22). Bathsheba, one sinner alone, by her nude behavior, caused the fall of David and the ultimate ruin of all Israel through her son Solomon and his son Rehoboam. It was to David's magnificent forgiveness, that we must attribute the fact that he never blamed Bathsheba for this. However, no impartial observer could possibly overlook the responsibility of Bathsheba and the part she played in all that.

With these verses, we enter the final phase of Ecclesiastes which contains a large number of proverbs, which may be construed as the author's answer to the question of "What is good for man"? (Ecclesiastes 2:3; Ecclesiastes 6:12). "A great part of these seem to have a special reference to servants of a king,"[17] as would be natural enough in the writings of Solomon.