19 The wisdom giveth strength to a wise man, more than wealth the rulers who have been in a city.
This also I have seen: wisdom under the sun, and it is great to me. A little city, and few men in it, and a great king hath come unto it, and hath surrounded it, and hath built against it great bulwarks; and there hath been found in it a poor wise man, and he hath delivered the city by his wisdom, and men have not remembered that poor man! And I said, `Better `is' wisdom than might, and the wisdom of the poor is despised, and his words are not heard.' -- The words of the wise in quiet are heard, More than the cry of a ruler over fools. Better `is' wisdom than weapons of conflict, And one sinner destroyeth much good!
Because of this, we also, from the day in which we heard, do not cease praying for you, and asking that ye may be filled with the full knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, to your walking worthily of the Lord to all pleasing, in every good work being fruitful, and increasing to the knowledge of God, in all might being made mighty according to the power of His glory, to all endurance and long-suffering with joy.
And a wise woman calleth out of the city, `Hear, hear; say, I pray you, unto Joab, Come near hither, and I speak unto thee.' And he cometh near unto her, and the woman saith, `Art thou Joab?' and he saith, `I `am'.' And she saith to him, `Hear the words of thy handmaid;' and he saith, `I am hearing.' and she speaketh, saying, `They spake often in former times, saying, Let them diligently ask at Abel, and so they finished. I `am' of the peaceable -- faithful ones of Israel; thou art seeking to destroy a city, and a mother in Israel; why dost thou swallow up the inheritance of Jehovah? And Joab answereth and saith, `Far be it -- far be it from me; I do not swallow up nor destroy. The matter `is' not so; for a man of the hill-country of Ephraim -- Sheba son of Bichri his name -- hath lifted up his hand against the king, against David; give ye up him by himself, and I go away from the city.' And the woman saith unto Joab, `Lo, his head is cast unto thee over the wall.' And the woman cometh unto all the people in her wisdom, and they cut off the head of Sheba son of Bichri, and cast `it' unto Joab, and he bloweth with a trumpet, and they are scattered from the city, each to his tents, and Joab hath turned back to Jerusalem unto the king.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Ecclesiastes 7
Commentary on Ecclesiastes 7 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 7
Solomon had given many proofs and instances of the vanity of this world and the things of it; now, in this chapter,
Ecc 7:1-6
In these verses Solomon lays down some great truths which seem paradoxes to the unthinking part, that is, the far greatest part, of mankind.
Ecc 7:7-10
Solomon had often complained before of the oppressions which he saw under the sun, which gave occasion for many melancholy speculations and were a great discouragement to virtue and piety. Now here,
Ecc 7:11-22
Solomon, in these verses, recommends wisdom to us as the best antidote against those distempers of mind which we are liable to, by reason of the vanity and vexation of spirit that there are in the things of this world. Here are some of the praises and the precepts of wisdom.
Ecc 7:23-29
Solomon had hitherto been proving the vanity of the world and its utter insufficiency to make men happy; now here he comes to show the vileness of sin, and its certain tendency to make men miserable; and this, as the former, he proves from his own experience, and it was a dear-bought experience. He is here, more than any where in all this book, putting on the habit of a penitent. He reviews what he had been discoursing of already, and tells us that what he had said was what he knew and was well assured of, and what he resolved to stand by: All this have I proved by wisdom, v. 23. Now here,