Ecclesiastes 7:11 - Meaning and Application

Solomon recommends wisdom here as the best remedy for the trouble and frustration we feel in this world. The world is full of vanity, disappointment, and pain, so wisdom is not a small help, it is a great one. He gives both reasons to value wisdom and practical instructions for living by it.

Wisdom is needed if we want to handle worldly goods well. “Wisdom is good with an inheritance,” because an inheritance does little good without wisdom. A person may have a large estate, even one handed down from family, yet still waste it if he does not know how to use it rightly. Wisdom is not only useful for poor people, helping them stay content, it is also useful for rich people, keeping them from being harmed by wealth and helping them do good with it. Wisdom makes a person useful on its own, but wealth joined with wisdom gives even greater chances to serve others and “make friends” for oneself (Luke 16:9).

Wisdom is also good for us through the whole course of life under the sun. It brings real profit to those who live in this world, both to the wise person and to others around him. It is pleasant to see the sun (Ecclesiastes 11:7), but wisdom gives a deeper and better joy. Bodily eyesight helps us do our daily work (John 11:9), but without wisdom, even that advantage is small. Clear judgment is more valuable than sharp eyesight.

Wisdom also gives safety. It is like a shadow, like the shade of a great rock in a dry and weary land. Wisdom is a defense, and money can also serve as a defense. A wise man can make his wisdom into a strong city, just as a rich man can use his wealth as protection. Wisdom and money both give a kind of shelter, but wisdom is the greater shield. Money may protect a field like a thorn hedge, but wisdom guards the heart and life more deeply.

Wisdom is also joy and true happiness. This is especially true of divine knowledge, the knowledge of God, which is better than money and better than human cleverness. The fear of the Lord, which means reverence and holy respect for God, is wisdom, and it is life. It does not just preserve natural life, it gives spiritual life and points toward eternal life. Wealth may put a person in danger, but true wisdom protects him. So it is far better to get wisdom than gold.

Wisdom also gives strength. It strengthens the wise person’s spirit and makes him firm and steady, because he stands on sure ground. It strengthens his influence, wins him friends, and gives him honor. It also helps him endure service and suffering, and it protects him against attacks. In that way, wisdom is stronger than ten mighty men who might try to defend a city. Those who are truly wise and good are under God’s care, and that is safer than any human protection.

We must also look to God in everything that happens to us. “Consider the work of God” means we should think carefully about his hand in our circumstances. That will quiet our complaints about hard events. We should not speak against what God has done. His works are wise, just, and good, and in the end they will all prove to have been for the best. We should give him glory for all he does with us and seek to fit ourselves to his purpose.

We also need to remember that we cannot change God’s work. “Who can make straight what he has made crooked?” If God brings trouble, who can create peace? If he blocks the way with thorns, who can force a clear path? If judgments go out, who can stop them? Since we cannot improve on what God does, we should make the best of it.

We must also fit ourselves to the changing ways in which Providence, God’s wise rule over our lives, deals with us, and do the duty of each day as it comes. In this world, prosperity and adversity are often set side by side. Different people experience them at the same time, and the same person may know both at once. Both come from God. He has set the one against the other, so we can see how quickly life can change. This should teach us to hold prosperity loosely and to be ready for whatever comes, trusting Providence and not pretending we can make the future secure.

Our religion should remain the same in every condition, but the way we express it must fit our outward state. In a day of prosperity, and it is only a day, we should be joyful, keep doing good, receive good, and serve the Lord with gladness of heart in the abundance of all things.

When life goes well, rejoice in God, praise him, and let the Lord’s joy be your strength. In a time of trouble, and that trouble is only for a short time, think it over. Times of suffering are the right times for reflection, because God calls us to think then (Haggai 1:5). If we never pause to ask why he is dealing with us, we will miss the good he means to work through our pain. Thinking carefully is needed both to understand our suffering and to steady us under it.

We should also not be shocked when wicked people do very well, or when the godly suffer the worst troubles in this life (Ecclesiastes 7:15). Wisdom helps us read these dark parts of God’s providence, his wise rule over life, in a way that agrees with his wisdom, holiness, goodness, and faithfulness. We should not think this is strange. Solomon says he saw many such things in his own time, and they were as troubling and confusing to him as anything he had seen.

Even though Solomon was a very wise and great man, he called his life “the days of my vanity,” for the best days on earth are empty compared with eternity. He may also be speaking of the days when he turned away from God, for those truly were days of vanity. He remembered that one thing that had tempted him toward unbelief, or at least toward indifference in religion, was seeing righteous people perish while doing right. Great piety does not always protect people from great suffering, and sometimes it even brings them to the worst harm from wicked and unreasonable men. Naboth and earlier Abel both died while living righteously.

He also saw wicked people lengthen their lives in their wickedness. They live on, grow old, and become strong in power (Job 21:7), and through fraud and violence they often avoid human justice. In this, we are told to consider the work of God and not let it trip us up. The troubles of the righteous are preparing them for future blessing, and the wicked, while their lives are extended, are only ripening for ruin. A day of judgment is coming that will set right what now seems out of order, to God’s glory and to the full satisfaction of his people. Until then, we must wait patiently.

Wisdom is useful both to guide saints in their path and to restrain sinners in theirs. For saints, it encourages them to continue in righteousness, but also warns them not to go to extremes. A just man may perish while doing right, yet he must not bring trouble on himself by his own rashness, then blame God for treating him unfairly. “Do not be over-righteous” (Ecclesiastes 7:16). In doing what is right, use prudence. Do not let zeal for God drive you into excess, angry spirits, or actions that do not fit your calling or harm your interests.

There can be too much of even a good thing. Self-denial and putting down the desires of the body are good, but if they damage our health and make us less able to serve God, then we are being over-righteous. Rebuking sin is right, but throwing holy things to people who will only turn and tear us apart is being over-righteous too. “Do not make yourself too wise.” That means, do not become proud of your own judgment. Do not act as though you are a ruler over everyone, or pretend you can judge all things and all people. Do not make yourself a critic of everything said or done, and do not keep meddling in other people’s affairs as if you knew everything and could do anything. Why destroy yourself, as fools often do by getting into fights that do not belong to them? Why stir up those in authority and rush into danger through needless arguments, or by stepping outside your place to fix every wrong you see? Be wise and careful.

The same wisdom also checks sinners, even if it does not lead them all the way to leave their sins. Still, it may keep them from becoming wildly sinful. It is true that there are wicked people who prolong their lives in wickedness (Ecclesiastes 7:15), but no one should think that means they can safely be as evil as they want. “Do not be overmuch wicked” (Ecclesiastes 7:17), or rush into reckless sin. Many who will not fear God or dread hell will still, if they think at all, avoid sins that ruin their health, waste their money, or bring them under public justice.

Solomon uses these practical warnings too. The magistrate, a civil ruler, does not bear the sword for nothing. He watches closely and acts strongly against evil, and he is a terror to wrongdoers. So be afraid of coming within his reach. Do not be so foolish as to put yourself in danger under the law. Why should you die before your time? Solomon likely had some of his own subjects in mind, men who were unhappy with his rule and soon after his death did revolt. Some may have criticized the sins of their ruler and used that as a cover for rebellion. To them he says, do not be over-righteous. Others were tired of the strictness of the government and temple service, and wanted another king instead. He warns both groups against rebellious behavior, and warns others too not to join those who are always eager for change.

Wisdom also keeps us between extremes and holds us in the plain, safe path of duty (Ecclesiastes 7:18). It is good to take hold of this wisdom, this carefulness not to trap yourself. Do not let go of it. Keep a firm grip on the bridle that holds back your strong passions, like a horse or mule that has no understanding. If you loosen that grip, things will spill out quickly, like water from an open vessel, and it will not be easy to recover control.

So be sincere, but also careful. Train yourself in this. Govern yourself steadily by the principles of religion, and you will find that the one who fears God will escape many of the traps and troubles that ruin others. The fear of the Lord is the wisdom that can lead us out of the most tangled situations. Honesty is still the best course. Those who truly fear God have one aim before them, so they walk steadily.

God has also promised to guide those who fear him and to lead them not only in the right way, but out of danger too (Psalm 37:23-24). Wisdom teaches us how to deal with the sins and offenses of other people, which often disturb our peace more than anything else and bring both guilt and grief. It keeps us from expecting faultless behavior from others, because we ourselves are not faultless, and neither is anyone else, not even the best.

This truth strengthens wise people and helps guard them against the trouble that comes from being offended (Ecclesiastes 7:19). They remember that the people they live and work with are not angels, but sinful sons and daughters of Adam. Even the best people are still sinners, so there is no one on earth who always does right and never sins (Ecclesiastes 7:20). Solomon said this in his prayer (1 Kings 8:46), in his proverbs (Proverbs 20:9), and here again in his teaching.

The point is clear. Just people are marked by doing good, because a tree is known by its fruit. But even the best people, and those who do the most good, are not free from sin. Those who are holy are still not sinless while they live on this side of heaven. If we say we have not sinned, we deceive ourselves. We sin even in our good actions, because there is always something lacking, and sometimes something wrong, in our best efforts. What is good in substance and pleasing to God is still not done as well as it should be, and failing to do what we should is itself sin. Yet this weakness belongs only to just people on earth. When they are freed from the body, their spirits are made perfect in holiness (Hebrews 12:23), and in heaven they do good and do not sin.

Wisdom also teaches us not to be too sharp in noticing or resenting insults. We should often ignore wrongs done to us and act as if we did not see them (Ecclesiastes 7:21). We should not pay attention to every word spoken against us or let it settle in our hearts. Do not trouble yourself over rude remarks or suspicions about you, but be like a deaf man who hears nothing (Psalm 38:13-14). Do not keep asking what people say about you. If they speak well of you, it can feed pride. If they speak badly, it can stir anger. Instead, make sure you please God and your own conscience, and then do not worry about what people say.

Those who listen for gossip seldom hear anything good about themselves. If you notice every word spoken against you, you may hear your own servant curse you when you think he does not know you can hear him. It may be only a rumor, and the tale-bearer may be lying (Proverbs 29:12). But even if it is true, and you hear yourself blamed, despised, or cursed by your own servant, that is still no reason to let your peace be destroyed. A servant should protect your good name, as well as your other interests. Maybe he is a servant you were kind to, and his bad treatment will hurt you all the more. Or maybe you treated him unjustly, and though he will not say it to your face, he says it to others and even to God. Then your own conscience will agree with him, and that will be harder to bear.

A great person’s good name is often at the mercy of the smallest servant. And often more evil is said of us than we realize, by people we least expected. We do not protect our peace, or even our reputation, if we notice every slight word against us. It is easier to overlook twenty such insults than to avenge one.

Wisdom also reminds us of our own faults (Ecclesiastes 7:22). If people speak badly of you or wish you harm, your own conscience may remind you that you have spoken badly of others and wished them harm too. Then you are only getting back what you gave. When someone insults or injures us, it is wise to examine ourselves and ask whether we have done the same, or worse, to others. If we find that we have, we should use that time to repent again, honor God’s justice, and calm our own anger. If we are truly displeased with ourselves for backbiting and judging others, we will be less quick to resent it when others do the same to us. We should show gentleness to everyone, because we ourselves were once foolish too (Titus 3:2-3; Matthew 7:1-2; James 3:1-2).