[Ecc 4:13-16] Better a Poor But Wise Youth(Lim)

John C Lim

Ecclesiastes 4:13-16

¹³ Better a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer knows how to take warning. ¹⁴ The youth may have come from prison to the kingship, or he may have been born in poverty within his kingdom. ¹⁵ I saw that all who lived and walked under the sun followed the youth, the king's successor. ¹⁶ There was no end to all the people who were before them. But those who came later were not pleased with the successor. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

The passage we have is under the subtitle of “Advancement is Meaningless.”  We find ourselves in pursuit of what everyone considers success in this race of life.  From early on, we have been taught the value of hard work and advancement in life.  So we strive to do our best and never find satisfaction with anything less than perfection, it seems.  Getting good grades is relative, is it not?  Some parents may be quite happy with their children’s average grade of B or even C.  But many parents pressure their children to achieve highest marks possible to ensure what they believe guarantees admissions to highly regarded institutions and therefore better future.  They believe in their mind that this will result in success in life and in a sense guarantee better life for their children while they struggle in their own lives.  They want what is best for their children with a flawed assumption that academic excellence and achievement is the best prognosticator for sure advancement in life. 

            Perhaps this is the case for many.  However, we need to consider this widely accepted practice or belief in light of God’s Word.  Solomon begins this somewhat puzzling section at the end of 4^th chapter of Ecclesiastes.  After talking about the importance of marriage in the previous section, he jumps to this seemingly an unrelated topic about advancement being meaningless. The encompassing theme of this passage is still the meaningless nature of advancement in Solomon’s eyes.  Solomon would conclude that our advancement in life is ultimately meaningless.  He is not necessarily invalidating hard work or high achievement but when those advancement becomes the goal in life or the end in itself, he would say that too is meaningless and a chasing after the wind. 

            But the reality of life would show that in spite of Solomon’s warning, we continue to operate within our own limited and jaded understanding of life and want to find out for ourselves.  That is our prerogative as we will one day find out what Solomon really meant and would come to agree with his conclusion.  But we will delve in to this passage while cognizant of this repeating theme of meaninglessness of all that we pursue in life. 

            Let’s look at verse 13.

Better a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer knows how to take warning.

            We are introduced to two characters in this verse.  One is a young man and the other is an old king.  In our initial observation, we would assume how much better off this old king must be.  And he may very well be in many areas.  He is in a position of authority and power with wealth that overflows.  He has achieved highest level of success as far as this life is concerned.  Who can rise above the king in a kingdom?  He rules without an equal.  On the other hand, we have a young man, up and coming but still without having achieved anything. 

            Then we are given more information about this young man and the old king.  The word that describes this young man is that he is a wise youth whereas the king is described as an old but foolish.  Usually age represents wisdom and experience.  In that light, we would think that this old king is much wiser with more experience in life.  But Solomon would characterize this king though old but foolish whereas he would describe the youth as the wiser. 

            Next, we see that Solomon would go even further and add another qualifier by saying that this wise youth though poor is better than old but foolish king who no longer knows how to take warning.  This is the important deciding factor between the two.  The youth might be poor but is wiser perhaps because he knows how to take warning.  On the other hand, we have an old king who no longer knows how to take warning. 

            We have an old saying that you really can’t teach an old dog a new trick.  That is to say that as we grow older we become more set in our ways and we are less willing or perhaps able to consider other options.  We would call that as being stubborn, or hardheaded.  What we have here in this verse is that this old king has forgotten his younger days.  We don’t know exactly how he was when he was a young man once many years ago.

            We look at ourselves in life and take a step back and look at where we are.  Have we reached a point in life where we are no longer willing to take warning because we think we know everything now?  One of the great traits of a wise man is that he is always willing and ready to learn from others.  I would suggest that we also pray to God that He will keep our hearts teachable that we would listen to His Spirit when we pray and mediate upon His Word.  Indeed the day when our head becomes too big and our hearts become hardened to submit ourselves before the Word of God, we can rightfully confess that we are no better than this old foolish king.  He is no longer able to open himself up for teaching. 

            When Christ walked on earth and went about teaching people of the Way, the Truth and the Life through Him, the very ones people considered wise would pay no heed to His message of eternal life and would take the path to destruction instead of trusting in Jesus to be saved eternally.  The Pharisees and the Scribes of the day ignored the message of the poor young Nazarene of humble origin. 

            This verse is quite sad when we think about the ramification.  Though this old king seems to be in a venerable position, Solomon would feel sorry for him for his sure doom.  Look at verse 14 as Solomon continues to describe what he means.  

The youth may have come from prison to the kingship, or he may have been born in poverty within his kingdom.

            We are now finding out more information about this perhaps hypothetical youth.  Solomon conjectures that this youth may have come from prison to kingship or that he may have been born in poverty within his own kingdom.  We can see the slim chance for this to happen and yet he seems to indicate that this is a distinct possibility.  Assuming that this happened, we can imagine how this youth rose to power.  One trait that he possessed might have been that he embodied teachable heart and spirit.  So we could see his rise from lowly stature in life to the highest status as the king.  This is no ordinary feat to achieve or accomplish.  What enabled him to get to this stage in life has everything to do with his wisdom to take warning throughout his life.  He listened and took heed.  Let’s look at verse 15.

I saw that all who lived and walked under the sun followed the youth, the king's successor.

            We can almost imagine in our mind that the time has come for the people to turn away from the old foolish king to this successor who started out humbly.  Solomon says all who lived and walked under the sun followed the youth.  There are several different facets to look at regarding this verse.  One is to see the vanity or meaninglessness of fleeting popularity and fame.  When the old foolish king came to power many years ago, there would have been throngs of people who eagerly celebrated his rise to power.  But yet, there also came a time when he no longer commanded people’s vote of confidence as they turned to the youth, the king’s successor. 

            In life there is no permanency.  Everything is constantly changing and fleeting.  What we think we have may not be here tomorrow.  Life itself is fleeting.  Today, we might feel invincible because we are young and fearless.  But in due time, our bravado and “can do” spirit will dissipate and we will become like everyone else who came before us, fearful of falling down and afraid of aging and all that comes with the sad realities of old age. 

            Before we start feeling sorry for this old foolish king, we see ourselves in this king.  All that we’ve accomplished and attained will not bring us true happiness or satisfaction in the end.  Just like this king, our highly regarded social status and position will soon come to an end and people will either forget us or move on to the next flavor of the month.  We are nothing but an old piece of history ensconced in time capsule no longer able to impress anyone other than ourselves in our own mind. 

            We will find out on that day that perhaps we should have been wiser and take steps to ensure our personal relationship with Jesus Christ from the early days on.  When we are completely frail physically and hardened in our heart, it would be difficult to humbly acknowledge the need for Jesus Christ and to receive him into our teachable heart as Lord and Savior.  We would be too set in our ways.  Life we live now can be so much more fulfilling and satisfying when our life becomes Christ centered instead of success centered or wealth centered.   

            When we become enamored with achieving social status or wealth and live life in pursuit of such goals, we might one day find ourselves in that enviable position of all that we aspired to be but that will not last.  As soon as we reach that point in life, we will not be able to stay in that position for too long.  Old age and physical deterioration will eventually take place and we would one day wonder aloud what we truly achieved in the end.  Life can be like that without Christ.  Let’s look at the final verse of this chapter in verse 16 to see how it all ends.

There was no end to all the people who were before them. But those who came later were not pleased with the successor. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

            With the rise of the new successor, people flocked to him but then Solomon observes that those who came later were not pleased with this new successor.  From one generation to the next, they flock to the new successor only to be disappointed.  In the earlier part, Solomon seemed to praise the wise young man who was the successor to the old foolish king.  Although this successor may have impressed many to follow him initially, as time went on, he is not able to sustain their expectations and hopes.  And those who came later represent next generation who no longer see the king as the previous generation did. 

            In a way, we might look at fleeting success and fame as something to strive after.  But when we achieve such goals, they may not bring as much satisfaction and fulfillment as we might have expected.  The world talks about the golden years of retirement and how good our life would be when we reach that elusive retirement with golden nest egg.  But when we actually get there, we may find that it is nothing more than hype as we struggle with all kinds of unpleasant consequences of the old age.  Perhaps we may have achieved what we set out to achieve but we may be quite disappointed when we actually get there.    

            When success, fame and wealth entice us with the promise that everything we seek can be found in those things, we may remember this passage and raise our eyebrow just a little and ask ourselves whether that truly will be the case.  Are we buying into this idea or are we able to discern from Solomon’s observation, timeless truth that all this too is meaningless.  When we place so much of our heart into this world, we will be disillusioned when that day finally comes upon us.  What have we truly gained in the end?  Matthew 16:26 says,

What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?

            Our life is so much more valuable than what this world has to offer.  What good are all the fame, prestige, and wealth in the world when we do not have eternal life in Christ Jesus when this life is over?  There is nothing gained if we have the world and yet do not have a place in His Kingdom.  Unfortunately, some have given their souls in exchange for the worldly success. 

            There are many people in this world, who have made that decision consciously by their own volition.  They have made a deliberate decision to choose life of material realm over the life of spiritual realm.  They will live and die with that decision.  When they come to that point in life where they will take last breath in life, they may realize too late that they made the wrong decision.  Solomon would urge us to weigh such unintended consequences now before it is too late. 

            No matter what we are pursuing in this world, the end result is always the same.  We might be awed and impressed by what seems so glorious and gratifying in the beginning but in the end, it will bring nothing but grave disappointment and bitter taste in our mouth.    

            In the end, the once wise young king has now become the old foolish king like his predecessor.  This is the fascinating observation made by Solomon.  The old foolish king was once the wise young successor himself.  There is no assurance that we would not follow the same glide path in our own lives. 

            We would look at those who cherish their wealth and social status with some disdain only to become them, ourselves, the very ones with wealth and social status who are no longer teachable in the ways of our Lord.  That is a scary and fearful thing. 

            Ultimately, Solomon would conclude that all this is too meaningless or chasing after the wind.  As we continue to look around us, we realize the frailty of life in general and its transient attraction that will not last.  It is sad to observe how we are so vulnerable to this well known scheme played by the world.  We are willing to trade our youth, energy and all that God has given us to live for His glory for temporary gratification represented in worldly success and advancement.  The world is willing to give us from this world everything we want since it is going up inflame someday anyway for our soul.  Are we willing to make this trade?  Are we willing to sell our soul for what will eventually burn?

            As we continue to age physically, we want to remember our days of youth when we were teachable and tender in our heart to avail ourselves to the work of the Holy Spirit in coming to acknowledge ourselves as sinners before God and receiving Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.  We want to remind ourselves that even as we grow older and become more engaged in our world, that we would not forget this important lesson that our world is only temporary and will someday go up in smoke. 

            All that this world has to offer us is not worth our life that God has given us as precious gift for His glory.  When we live in this world recognizing that all that we see is ultimately meaningless, we would not lose our bearing in sea of life but journey with our eyes lifted up to Heaven even as we travel on God’s earth.