Part 1 of 3
In these next three articles, we will be looking at Ecclesiastes 7:14-29 under the theme, “Living a Balanced Life.”
Balance in life is very important and we could say that life is very much about striking the right balance between various opposites or extremes. We need to strike the right balance between work and play, saving and spending, theory and practice, authority and submission, sorrow and joy, love and hate, and so on.
And as Christians, we also need to have a balanced view and approach to things like God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility, law and gospel, faith and works, church and family and so on. Balance is very important. If you’re not careful, you can end up in one extreme or another, which will not be good or healthy.
But not every kind of balance is right or appropriate. Let me give you just one example. There is a Chinese idiom that literally says, one leg stepping in two boats. It is usually used of a guy who is unfaithful and two-timing. He is already in a relationship with a woman but he is pursuing another at the same time. Such a man often has to maintain a fine balance between the two relationships or else risk losing one or even both of them, or worse still being publicly exposed and put to shame for his infidelity. But such a balance is wrong and to be avoided.
This passage in Ecclesiastes records another kind of balance that is not good and to be rejected as well. We may be divided it into two parts. From verses 15-22, we have the search for balance, while from verse 23-29, the search for wisdom.
The Search for Balance (vv. 15-22)
Verse 15 begins by saying, “All things have I seen in the days of my vanity:” This gives us an indication that what follows is going to come from the under-the-sun perspective.
The rest of verse 15 contains the preacher’s observation, “there is a just man that perisheth in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life in his wickedness.” Quite simply, what he’s saying is that he sees good people suffering and evil people prospering. The righteous perish whereas the wicked live long. This is contrary to all expectation. In fact, this is the opposite of what others parts of scripture teach (see Deut. 4:40).
This is the same paradox and struggle which the Psalmist Asaph faced in Psalm 73. Asaph eventually came to a proper understanding of the situation after he went into the sanctuary of the Lord.
Here in Ecclesiastes, the preacher too would come to a proper resolution of the problem but before he does that, he offers some very shocking advice, based on mere observation and human reasoning or the under-the-sun approach to life.
He says in verses 16 and 17, “Be not righteous over much; neither make thyself over wise: why shouldest thou destroy thyself? Be not over much wicked, neither be thou foolish: why shouldest thou die before thy time?”
In other words, as a result of his observation that the righteous perish and the wicked prosper, the preacher advises his readers to be careful not to go to either extreme but to maintain a balance between righteousness and wickedness, and between wisdom and foolishness.
Now, how should we understand his words? There are some who want to guard Solomon’s piety and orthodoxy, and so they say that Solomon is really warning again a false kind of righteousness and wisdom, perhaps like the righteousness and wisdom of the scribes and Pharisees and hypocrites.
But I don’t think that is the right way to understand it. I think Solomon is indeed talking about true righteousness and wisdom as well as real wickedness and foolishness, which is why his statement is so shocking and unorthodox.
In these verses, Solomon is essentially saying, “Avoid being too righteous or too wise. What’s the point? There is no guarantee that the righteous and wise will always be better off than the wicked and foolish. In fact, those who are overly righteous and wise may end up destroying themselves. But on the other hand, be careful about going to the other extreme of unrestrained wickedness and folly because that too might lead to a shortening of your life. The best thing to do if you want to prolong your life, based on mere human reasoning, is to avoid both excessive righteousness and excessive wickedness. Strike the balance. Walk in the middle. Don’t allow yourself to pursue too much righteousness or too much wickedness. It’s alright to be a little righteous and a little wicked, but too much of either might bring an early end to your life so don’t go off to either extreme.”
Well, the Bible does give some examples of both extremes. Think about righteous and faithful Abel. He was cut off in his youth by his jealous brother. If only he had been a little less righteous, he might not have been murdered. Or in the New Testament, think of Stephen, the first martyr, or even of Christ Himself. They were killed in the prime of their life because of their righteous zeal and fervour.
On the other end, we have Haman in the book of Esther, who because of his great wickedness and his intense zeal to murder Mordecai and exterminate the Jews, was cut off before his time. Then in the New Testament, we have King Herod, whose excessive pride and wickedness led to a premature ruin.
So the moral of the story is: don’t be too righteous or too wicked if you want to prolong your life. The safest place to be is to keep between the two. Take the middle-of-the-road approach to life – not overly zealous about righteousness and wisdom or overly foolishly and wicked.
Now how is that for advice? Well, that is indeed good advice if you’re looking at life from an unbelieving point of view. And that is the perspective that many people in the world take, whether they’re aware of it or not. If you ask the man on the street whether he is a good or bad person, he’ll probably say, “Well, I’ve done some bad things in my life but I’m certainly not an evil person. And on the other hand, I try to live a good life, though I’m not perfect.” So a little bit of both, and not too much of either.
But if you’re looking at things from God’s perspective and viewpoint, then this best-of-both-worlds approach is really bad advice. If you follow it, you may possibly prolong your days on this earth but you’ll still end up in the place of eternal destruction when you die.
That is not the kind of balance we want to strike between righteousness and wickedness. It’s like someone who likes two boats equally and can’t decide which one to get into so he puts his right foot in one and his left foot in another, and for a while, he seems to be enjoying the best of both boats. The problem, however, is that the two boats are not headed in the same direction but are slowly drifting apart. And eventually, the man can stay on neither of them and falls into the water.
So if that is not the right approach to take, then what is? Well, Solomon goes on in verse 18 and following to tell us.
Verse 18, “It is good that thou shouldest take hold of this; yea, also from this withdraw not thine hand: for he that feareth God shall come forth of them all.” Solomon says that it is good for us to take hold on what he’s about to say and not to withdraw our hand from it, namely, that he who fears God shall come forth or escape from all dangers or extremes. In other words, instead of trying to walk a tightrope of avoiding too much righteousness on the one side and avoiding too much wickedness on the other, give yourself rather to this – the fear of God, for the one who fears God will come off best of all. He is the one who will truly strike the right balance and escape all false extremes.
So the way to deal with the paradox of the righteous perishing and the wicked prospering is not to strike a compromise or balance between the two. Rather, the way to deal with it is to fear God and to entrust ourselves to Him.
The fear of God brings a right perspective and indeed a right balance to all that goes on in our life and in this world. And it is the fear of God that brings wisdom. Indeed, the one who fears God will not give any place at all to sin and wickedness, not even a little. Instead, he will pursue after righteousness with all his heart for he knows that that is what pleases the Lord.
Jesus says, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.” And if pursuing righteousness leads to a shortening of one’s life, then the godly man will humbly submit to the Lord’s will. But he will not give in to wickedness in order to preserve or lengthen his life.
Then in verse 19, Solomon says, “Wisdom strengtheneth the wise more than ten mighty men which are in the city.” So the one who fears the Lord has wisdom and wisdom gives great power and strength to the wise person.
Normally when we think of power, we think either of a very strong man or else a man who has been invested with great authority to make decisions and to get things done. But here, Solomon is telling us that a single wise man is more effective and powerful than ten mighty men or ten rulers of a city.
Oh that all of us might value more highly the wisdom of God than the wisdom and strength of man, and thus diligently seek Him for it. And remember that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
But as if to counterbalance what he had just said about wisdom, Solomon goes on in the very next verse to remind us that no one, not even the wise man, is perfect. He writes in verse 20, “For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.” There is no perfect man upon the earth. There is no one who always does good and never sins. Sinless perfection will not be found in anyone in this life. That must wait till Christ comes again and oh how we long for that day!
But for now, remember the reality of this present life – that there is not a just man upon earth that doeth good and sinneth not. This truth has many implications, and in verses 21-22, Solomon directs our attention to one of them, namely, don’t be too sensitive to criticism.
He writes, “Also take no heed unto all words that are spoken; lest thou hear thy servant curse thee: For oftentimes also thine own heart knoweth that thou thyself likewise hast cursed others.”
What is he saying? Well simply this – everyone sins and everyone is guilty of cursing or speaking evil of others. The word translated “curse” would include things like slander or even just grumbling and murmuring. The example he cites is given in the context of a master-servant relationship. He says that masters should not listen too closely to what their servants are saying just in case they hear their servants criticising or speaking poorly of them.
And what is the reason for not being overly sensitive to the criticisms of other people against you? Well, Solomon tells us in verse 22 that all of us, including masters, are guilty of criticising and speaking evil of other people, including their servants. Again, this ties in with verse 20. There is no perfect man in this world. Even the very best of men sin and are guilty of sinful words and thoughts.
The problem with us is that we tend to see the faults of others and fail to see our own faults. We tend to focus only on the criticisms levelled against us and forget that we ourselves are guilty of doing the same thing, and sometimes even far worse than what others have done to us.
So the wisdom of these two verses is this: do not be too sensitive to criticism and do not go about trying to hear everything that people are saying about you. If you do that, it will not be very long before you hear something you would rather not have heard. But when you do hear such criticism, which is inevitable in this life, don’t lay it too much to heart. Remember the evil thoughts and words which you yourself have thought and said about others.
So the next time we’re disappointed by the unkind or careless words or criticisms of someone perhaps even a close friend or a loved one, remember two things – first, no one is perfect in this world, and second, we ourselves are not free of such sins. This brings to an end the first part of this passage on the search for balance. In the next article, we will consider Solomon’s search for wisdom.