Ecc 7:22 | KingComments | STEP | After his warning for wanting to be ‘excessively righteous’ ( ), the Preacher points out the value of true wisdom in . Wisdom strengthens to live in the city despite all the problems and dangers to which living in a city can be exposed. Wisdom strengthens more than the collective power of ten rulers. These men may have the power, but when there is no wisdom they lead the city to destruction, for they are sinful men and only seek their own advantage. The value of wisdom lies in the consciousness that God directs everything. The wise man is not led by the circumstances. Of course he has to deal with the circumstances, but he knows that they are in God’s hand. Rulers trust in their own wisdom and power, in order to protect the city against evil – which can come from both the inside and the outside – with their own interest as a motivation. Therefore they will not be successful and they will lose the fight. A man with wisdom has more advantage for the defense of a city than ten rulers without wisdom ( ). For the believer, Christ is both the power of God and the wisdom of God ( ). He who lives with Him, learns how to be “content in whatever circumstances” he is, as Paul has learned it ( ). As a result of that he can say: “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me” ( ). In he says the same as what Solomon said in his prayer at the dedication of the temple ( ; ). Now that he is a bitter experience richer, he comes to the same conclusion. He emphasizes here, in connection to the previous verse, the sinful state of the rulers, but at the same time he makes it a general matter by speaking about “there is not a righteous man on earth”. No one is so righteous in the practice of his life that he does only good without having any sin attached to what he does. The only exception is the Lord Jesus. He has done good without sinning. Peter, Paul and John testify in their letters of the absolute absence of sin in Him: “who committed no sin”, “who knew no sin”, “in Him there is no sin” ( ; ; ). By this remark the Preacher reminds us of not to overstate our achievements and not to be disparaging about those of others. We need to consider that we do not live perfectly righteous and are not completely selfless. It is impossible for a man to do anything without taking some credit for himself. Only when the believer is led by the Spirit he is able to do good without sinning. The sinfulness of man, which is stated in the previous verse, is manifested primarily in what he says ( ; ). The Preacher points out that we should not take seriously “all the words which are spoken” by man in general. He means to say, that we should not want to know everything what people say about us ( ; ). When people speak good of us, we become arrogant; when one speaks evil of us, we become angry and possibly vengeful. We should not believe everything we hear, either. If we hear it, it is wise not to always take what someone else says seriously. Those who always take everything that people say seriously, are asking for disappointment and disillusionment. We see clear examples of this in politics. In election time, people want to distinguish themselves from others and say that it is unthinkable to govern with a certain political party. When it really comes to governing, a twist is given to those words and it turns out that it is still possible to govern with a party that people did not like at first. By not being too curious about what one thinks of us, we can protect ourselves from people’s remarks about us that are not flattering. The boss does not have to place microphones all over the place to know how his staff thinks about him. He has to be aware that he is not without sin and that there will be something wrong with him. The sickly urge of ‘wanting to know everything’, even the things you do not need to know, is in fact pride and lack of self-knowledge. Let’s make sure we have the approval of God and our conscience, then we do not have to worry about what people say about us. If others curse us, rightly or wrongly, wisdom will remind us of our own mistakes and flaws ( ). What would happen to us if we were given the punishment we had deserved for every wrongful word about someone else? We have to realize that we ourselves have hurt others because of what we said. I have committed the same sins or similar sins that I condemn in others ( ; ; ; ). If something comes to our mind in this context that we have cursed someone, that is to say we wished him evil, and have not yet confessed it, we must confess it. That does not have to be to the person about whom we have spoken evil to someone else, but we have to do it before the Lord and the other person to whom we said that evil. When people talk about us, we do not have to get angry or sad about it. It is better that we humble ourselves about it and become small, because we have often done it ourselves, in our hearts, in our minds or with our tongues. As noted above, we will, if all is well, have judged it and removed it ( ; ).

‏ Ecclesiastes 7:22

Wisdom Strengthens and Leads to Self-Knowledge

After his warning for wanting to be ‘excessively righteous’ (Ecc 7:16), the Preacher points out the value of true wisdom in Ecc 7:19. Wisdom strengthens to live in the city despite all the problems and dangers to which living in a city can be exposed. Wisdom strengthens more than the collective power of ten rulers. These men may have the power, but when there is no wisdom they lead the city to destruction, for they are sinful men and only seek their own advantage.

The value of wisdom lies in the consciousness that God directs everything. The wise man is not led by the circumstances. Of course he has to deal with the circumstances, but he knows that they are in God’s hand. Rulers trust in their own wisdom and power, in order to protect the city against evil – which can come from both the inside and the outside – with their own interest as a motivation. Therefore they will not be successful and they will lose the fight. A man with wisdom has more advantage for the defense of a city than ten rulers without wisdom (Pro 21:22 ; Pro 24:5).

For the believer, Christ is both the power of God and the wisdom of God (1Cor 1:24). He who lives with Him, learns how to be “content in whatever circumstances” he is, as Paul has learned it (Phil 4:11-12). As a result of that he can say: “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me” (Phil 4:13).

In Ecc 7:20 he says the same as what Solomon said in his prayer at the dedication of the temple (1Kgs 8:46; Pro 20:9). Now that he is a bitter experience richer, he comes to the same conclusion. He emphasizes here, in connection to the previous verse, the sinful state of the rulers, but at the same time he makes it a general matter by speaking about “there is not a righteous man on earth”.

No one is so righteous in the practice of his life that he does only good without having any sin attached to what he does. The only exception is the Lord Jesus. He has done good without sinning. Peter, Paul and John testify in their letters of the absolute absence of sin in Him: “who committed no sin”, “who knew no sin”, “in Him there is no sin” (1Pet 2:22; 2Cor 5:21; 1Jn 3:5).

By this remark the Preacher reminds us of not to overstate our achievements and not to be disparaging about those of others. We need to consider that we do not live perfectly righteous and are not completely selfless. It is impossible for a man to do anything without taking some credit for himself. Only when the believer is led by the Spirit he is able to do good without sinning.

The sinfulness of man, which is stated in the previous verse, is manifested primarily in what he says (Ecc 7:21; Jam 3:2). The Preacher points out that we should not take seriously “all the words which are spoken” by man in general. He means to say, that we should not want to know everything what people say about us (Psa 38:13-14; 1Sam 24:10). When people speak good of us, we become arrogant; when one speaks evil of us, we become angry and possibly vengeful.

We should not believe everything we hear, either. If we hear it, it is wise not to always take what someone else says seriously. Those who always take everything that people say seriously, are asking for disappointment and disillusionment. We see clear examples of this in politics. In election time, people want to distinguish themselves from others and say that it is unthinkable to govern with a certain political party. When it really comes to governing, a twist is given to those words and it turns out that it is still possible to govern with a party that people did not like at first.

By not being too curious about what one thinks of us, we can protect ourselves from people’s remarks about us that are not flattering. The boss does not have to place microphones all over the place to know how his staff thinks about him. He has to be aware that he is not without sin and that there will be something wrong with him. The sickly urge of ‘wanting to know everything’, even the things you do not need to know, is in fact pride and lack of self-knowledge. Let’s make sure we have the approval of God and our conscience, then we do not have to worry about what people say about us.

If others curse us, rightly or wrongly, wisdom will remind us of our own mistakes and flaws (Ecc 7:22). What would happen to us if we were given the punishment we had deserved for every wrongful word about someone else? We have to realize that we ourselves have hurt others because of what we said. I have committed the same sins or similar sins that I condemn in others (Rom 2:1; Tit 3:2-3; Mt 7:1-3; Jam 3:1-2).

If something comes to our mind in this context that we have cursed someone, that is to say we wished him evil, and have not yet confessed it, we must confess it. That does not have to be to the person about whom we have spoken evil to someone else, but we have to do it before the Lord and the other person to whom we said that evil.

When people talk about us, we do not have to get angry or sad about it. It is better that we humble ourselves about it and become small, because we have often done it ourselves, in our hearts, in our minds or with our tongues. As noted above, we will, if all is well, have judged it and removed it (1Pet 2:1; Col 3:8).