Ecclesiastes 2:12-14
So I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly. For what can the man do who comes after the king? Only what has already been done. Then I saw that there is more gain in wisdom than in folly, as there is more gain in light than in darkness. The wise person has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. And yet I perceived that the same event happens to all of them.
Tag: Wisdom Trumps Folly
Before you read or comment on a position of the book of Ecclesiastes you have to always have a statement as to the purpose of the book and the point of the book. Solomon is attempting to live, study and analyze all portions of life: ALL! He is going on a quest, having been granted all wisdom, by God, to study all cycles and aspects of life. In the above passage he applies his wisdom to know “folly.” (Folly is doing anything without the honor of God at the center.) After Solomon’s “study” he concludes that wisdom far outweighs folly; as much as light far outweighs darkness. Light dispels and chases darkness away. Solomon’s illustration is the thought by saying having wisdom is like having eyes in your head, while folly is like walking in blindness. That is the awesome contrast between the two. He will go on to say that death happens to both, so that is the great equalizer. However, his point is not that either are no good, since we all die, but only that in light of the equalizer of death as our most certain end, it is far, far better to pursue wisdom than folly. But, you can’t tell that to the world. They want to pursue folly ... it is in their nature. Only God, by His grace, can provide wisdom to us. God is the one who makes life rich and rewarding by providing wisdom. Wisdom enables us to make choices that are pleasing to God vs choices pleasing to ourselves (which is the “core” of folly). Wisdom gives life, while folly produces death, before we die. Wisdom gives us light on the issues of life, while folly closes our eyes to life. Wisdom is far better than folly.
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