Ecclesiastes 9:17

The words of wise men are heard in quiet more than the cry of him that ruleth among fools. THE WORDS OF WISE (MEN ARE) HEARD IN QUIET. So the Lord Jesus did "not cry, nor lift, up, nor cause His voice to be heard in the street" (). Unlike the world's monarchs, who bluster when ought opposes their will. The "still small voice" of God is best heard in stillness and quiet. Compare , margin. If the poor believer is to "cry," let it be unto the Lord (), so shall he be delivered. Though generally the poor wise man is not heard (), yet 'the words of wise men, when heard in quiet (when calmly given heed to, as in...

13-18 A man may, by his wisdom, bring to pass that which he could never do by his strength. If God be for us, who can be against us, or stand before us? Solomon observes the power of wisdom, though it may labour under outward disadvantages. How forcible are right words! But wise and good men must often content themselves with the satisfaction of having done good, or, at least, endeavoured to do it, when they cannot do the good they would, nor have the praise they should. How many of the good gifts, both of nature and Providence, does one sinner destroy and make waste! He who destroys his own soul destroys much good. One sinner may draw many into his destroying ways. See who are the friends and enemies of a kingdom or a family, if one saint does much good, and one sinner destroys much good....

Verse 17. _THE WORDS OF WISE_ MEN ARE _HEARD IN QUIET_] In the tumult of war the words of _Archimedes_ were not heard; and his _life_ was lost....

EXPOSITION ECCLESIASTES 9:1 One fate happens to all, and the dead are cut off from all the feelings and interests of life in the upper world. ECCLESIASTES 9:1 This continues the subject treated above, confirming the conclusion arrived at in Ecclesiastes 8:17, viz. that God's government of the world is unfathomable. FOR ALL THIS I CONSIDERED IN MY HEART EVEN TO DECLARE ALL THIS; literally, _for_ _all this laid up in my heart, and all this I have been about _(equivalent to _I sought_)_ to clear up_._ _The reference is both to what has been said and to what is coming. The ki,...

THE WORDS OF WISE [MEN ARE] HEARD IN QUIET,.... That is, by some persons and at some times, though not by all persons and always; or they are to be heard, or should be heard, though they seldom be, even the words of wise men that are poor: these are to be heard quietly and patiently, without any tumult and contradiction; or should be heard, being delivered with a low and submissive voice, without any noise, or blustering pride, or passion, sedately and with great humility, submitting them to the judgment of others; which sense the comparison seems to require; MORE THAN THE CRY OF HIM THAT RULETH AMONG FOOLS; more than the noisy words of a foolish governor; or than the dictates of an imperious man, delivered in a clamorous and blustering way; by which he obtains authority among such fools as himself, who are influenced more by the pomp and noise of words than by the force of true wisdom...

2. PRAISE OF WISDOM AND PHILOSOPHY, THEFINAL WORD AND THE GREAT CONCLUSION CHAPTER 9:13-18 Before he had declared that wisdom is strength. He comes back to this statement and gives an illustration of it. He is in a calmer mood, but what does his meditation amount to? Only to show that this also is vanity....

FOOLS. fat, inert. Hebrew. _kesil._ See note on Proverbs 1:7....

_The words of wise men are heard in quiet_ The thought is like that of the "great cry and little wool" of the English proverb. That which tells on men, in the long run, is the wisdom whose words are wary, and calm, and few, not the declamation of the wind-bags of popular oratory. Comp. the description of the highest type of wisdom in Isaiah 42:2; Matthew 12:19. He that "ruleth among fools" is not the foolish ruler, but the man who takes the highest place in the company of fools, and graduates, as it were, as the Senior Wrangler in that class-list. Such an one is as the "prating fool" of Proverbs 10:10....

THE WORDS OF WISE MEN ARE HEARD IN QUIET— _The words of wise men are more minded among people of a sedate disposition, than the cry of war raised by a man in authority among the inconstant multitude._ By this translation, the opposition designed by the author is preserved, as well as the allusion to the condition of a small town mentioned in the preceding parable. See Desvoeux, p. 420. REFLECTIONS.—1st, Solomon had been applying his mind with the greatest diligence to the study of wisdom; he had deliberately weighed and considered the particulars mentioned in the foregoing Chapter s, and the end that he proposed was, _to declare all this_ for the edification of others. One difficulty in the ways of Providence he had observed, respecting the distribution of afflictions and prosperity to the righteous and the wicked; they who deserve least possessing often the greatest affluence; and they...