Ecclesiastes Lesson Thirteen

Ecclesiastes Lesson Thirteen: Ecclesiastes 7:15-22 – The Value of Moderation

In my futile life I have seen everything: there is a righteous man who perishes in spite of his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who lives long in spite of his evil. ¹⁶ Don’t be excessively righteous, and don’t be overly wise. Why should you destroy yourself? ¹⁷ Don’t be excessively wicked, and don’t be foolish. Why should you die before your time? ¹⁸ It is good that you grasp the one and do not let the other slip from your hand. For the one who fears God will end up with both of them. 

¹⁹ Wisdom makes the wise man stronger 

than ten rulers of a city. 

²⁰ There is certainly no righteous man on the earth 

who does good and never sins. 

²¹ Don’t pay attention to everything people say, or you may hear your servant cursing you, ²² for you know that many times you yourself have cursed others. (HCSB)

The preceding lesson talked about wisdom through parables. This lesson will also have an underlying theme of wisdom but in the context of moderation. 

I’ll be dividing this lesson into two parts.

• The mystery of righteousness versus sin and the length of a person’s life – verses 15-18.
• Another exposé on wisdom – verses 19-22.

The Mystery of Righteousness Versus Sin and the Length of a Person’s Life

Don’t we often wonder and struggle when we see blatantly sinful people living long and seemingly prosperous lives? And the same happens when we see good people who die young. It begs the question, “Why do the righteous suffer and the wicked prosper?” Doesn’t this contradict God’s Word?

• Exodus 20:12 Honor your father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. 
• Deuteronomy 4:40 Keep His statutes and commands, which I am giving you today, so that you and your children after you may prosper and so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you for all time.
• Deuteronomy 4:25-26 When you have children and grandchildren and have been in the land a long time, and if you act corruptly, make an idol in the form of anything, and do what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, provoking Him to anger, ²⁶ I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that you will quickly perish from the land you are about to cross the Jordan to possess. You will not live long there, but you will certainly be destroyed.
• Psalm 55:23 God, You will bring them down to the Pit of destruction; men of bloodshed and treachery will not live out half their days. But I will trust in You.

We need to consider two facts when we ponder the question of whether or not the Word has been contradicted.

• God did promise to bless Israel in their land if they obeyed His Law, but those promises are not given to believers today under the new covenant.
  • Matthew 5:3 The poor in spirit are blessed, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.
• The wicked appear to prosper only if you take a short-term view of things.
  • Psalm 73
  • 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 Therefore we do not give up. Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory. ¹⁸ So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

When we consider these two facts, we see clearly that God has not contradicted Himself.

Another biblical example to consider is the book of Job and his three “friends.” They are convinced that the question of how humans relate to God and the world is captured in one belief: If you obey all the rules, you’ll be safe. The result is that those who ascribe to this belief lean towards asceticism, self-denial as a spiritual discipline. However, asceticism has the following shortcomings.

• Futility – everyone will end up failing at some point.
• Arrogance – there’s a tendency to have a smug certainty about one’s righteousness.
• Miserable – cutting off from the everyday joys of life.

Putting these ideas into modern understanding would caution us not to be fanatics or legalistic in our behavior.

The second half of verse eighteen effectively summarizes verses 15-18. 

• To understand, we must figure out how fearing God will allow a person to end up with both. But what are “both?”
  • Having a devotion to God and following His teachings of wisdom.
  • Enjoying the good things in life.
• A person who faithfully follows God will be able to maintain both of these throughout their life.
• This is in contrast with two other philosophical outlooks.
  • Asceticism – any indulgence or humor is either a sin against religion or folly against wisdom.
  • Libertine – any form of restraint is a threat against pleasure-seeking.
• The author seems to warn against excesses, but the Christian life seems filled with them.
  • Exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees: Matthew 5:20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 
  • Be exceedingly glad when we are persecuted: Matthew 5:12 Be glad and rejoice, because your reward is great in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you. 
  • God has given us exceedingly great and precious promises: 2 Peter 1:4a By these He has given us very great and precious promises.
  • God has promised to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think: Ephesians 3:20 Now to Him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think  according to the power that works in us.
• The author is warning against the wrong kind of excess, not excess in general, as Scripture can’t contradict other sections of Scripture.
• God’s creation is wonderfully balanced.
• We must learn to balance the ways we perceive the circumstances of our lives.

Another Exposé on Wisdom

This section contains two short teachings.

• A person with wisdom is infinitely stronger than the foolish rulers of a city.
  • Wise men are necessary because human sin is universal: Romans 3:23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
  • Rulers can try to control evil by brute force, but because of pettiness, weakness, and ambition in society, only wise men can maintain the equilibrium among them.
• Verses 21-22 are a warning against being overly sensitive to what others say about us. It’s also highly likely, if not an absolute given, that we’ve said things about or to others that have caused pain.
  • We might try and explain away what we said by blaming it on “having a bad day” or “we didn’t really mean what we said.”
    • Others would probably use the same excuse when speaking badly about us.
    • Why do we apply different standards to what we say and what others say about us?
  • The knowledge of our flawed nature should shape our attitudes toward others.
    • We are sinful people, and apart from the redemptive power of Christ, we are destined to spend eternity in hell.
    • We are also called to love our neighbors as ourselves: Mark 12:31 “The second is: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other command greater than these.” 
  • If we’re wise, we won’t pay attention to what others say about us and won’t speak ill of others.

Applications

• Avoid excesses in your life. This can also include “church activities” if they are detrimental to the balance in your life. I knew one Christian family while in high school who went to church Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, and just about any other church event during the week. You might think that’s great, but you never saw the inside of their house. There were dishes and pots piled high in their kitchen. There were piles of dirty clothes throughout the house, even in the common areas. They had two dogs, and I often wondered if “accidents” ever occurred and how long it took to find them! Their family life lacked balance.
• Focus on acquiring, understanding, and applying the wisdom contained in Scripture. But do this to walk in obedience to God’s Word and strengthen your walk with Christ, not as a way to show off or justify yourself.
• Don’t let what others say about you cause discouragement. Sometimes, that isn’t easy. But in the end, if we’re walking in obedience to Christ, what others say about us doesn’t matter. They aren’t our judge. Only Christ can and will judge us.