Ecclesiastes 9:18

Wisdom is better than weapons of war: but one sinner destroyeth much good. ONE SINNER ... - as Achan (; ). Though wisdom excels folly, and strengthens more than weapons of war (; ), yet a 'little folly (equivalent to sin) can destroy much good,' both of the soul and of the outward condition; both in himself (; ) and in others. He hereby warns the people of God not to divest themselves of that which is their strength against their seemingly more powerful worldly foes, by allowing any sinner among t...

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 18. _WISDOM_ IS _BETTER THAN WEAPONS OF WAR_] So proved in the case of _Archimedes_. _BUT ONE SINNER_] Such as the Roman butcher above mentioned. _DESTROYETH MUCH GOOD_] Such as were the life and skill of the Syracusan mathematician. One sinner has often injured the work of God; one stumbling-block has sometimes destroyed a revival of religion. Sin acts like a ferment; whatever comes in contact with it, it assimilates to itself....

SINNER - The word in the original indicates intellectual as well as moral error....

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,...

WISDOM [IS] BETTER THAN WEAPONS OF WAR,.... And does what they cannot do; of which the wisdom of the poor wise man is a full proof, which delivered the city from a potent prince, when weapons of war could not: see Ecclesiastes 7:10; BUT ONE SINNER DESTROYETH MUCH GOOD: his own soul by his sins, and the souls of others by his counsels, example, and conversation, which corrupt good manners; so does one sinner in a family, neighbourhood, and town; as one poor wise man does much good, one sinner mars much; one Achan in a camp or army, one bad counsel for in a cabinet, one false teacher in the church, will do a great deal of mischief, as well as one debauchee in a town or city. The Vulgate Latin version is, "who sins in one"; offends or sins in one, as in James 2:10; so the Syriac version

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....

_Wisdom is better than weapons of war_ The maxim presents another illustration of the irony of history. The excellence of wisdom is acknowledged. Counsel is more than the _materiel_of war; the statesman more than the general, and yet one man by his guilt or folly, by the perversity which includes both (the Hebrew verb for "sinneth" has this meaning, as in Proverbs 8:36), may mar what it has taken years to bring to a good issue. The defeat of an army, the most terrible catastrophe, may often be traced to the fact that "some one has blundered," in carelessness or passion. It is probable enough that, as in Ecclesiastes 9:14, the writer had some definite historical fact present to his thoughts which we are unable to identify. The history of Achan, in...

DISCOURSE: 843 THE DESTRUCTIVE INFLUENCE OF SINNERS Ecclesiastes 9:18. _One sinner destroyeth much good_. THE influence of every man in his sphere is considerable. Solomon had seen a remarkable instance of a poor man delivering by his wisdom a small and ill-garrisoned city from the besieging army of a very powerful monarch. From hence he was led to consider the superiority of wisdom above wealth or power. On the other hand, he saw that, as a wise and good man might be extremely useful, so a foolish and wicked man might do a great deal of injury, to those around him. Hence, contrasting the two, he observed, “Wisdom is better than weapons of war: but one sinner destroyeth much good.” In illustrating the latter member of the sentence, we shall point out the truth of it, I. In nations— [Men of all classes in the community may greatly affect the state t