The wisdom of the poor in spirit
[Ecclesiastes 4:13-16]
Last week during the Saturday morning prayer, we meditated on Exodus 36:1-7 and prayed to God for 3 things regarding serving the Lord’s church. Those 3 prayer requests were (1) ‘God, give us wisdom and intelligence to us.’, (2) ‘God, give us volunteer hearts’, and (3) ‘God, please remove covetousness from our hearts.’ Among these 3 prayer requests, the reason why we prayed for the first prayer request, that is ‘God, give us wisdom and skills’, was so that we may be able to understand God’s will and to know how to fulfill his will. That was what God did to the Israelites when they were building a tabernacle. Not only that God gave them wisdom and skill, he taught them exactly what to do and how to build the tabernacle. Likewise, we asked God to give us wisdom and skills so that we may know how to build the Lord’s church according to His will. Therefore, we must serve His church with God’s given wisdom.
Today, as I was meditating on Ecclesiastes 4: 13-16, especially the words "poor" in verse 13 and "poverty" in verse 14 came to my attention. And these two words reminded me Matthew 5:3 – “Blessed are the poor in spirit ….” So I thought about the wisdom of the poor. Of course, the poverty and the poor in today's passage speak more of the poor in physical side than the spiritual side. But I spiritualized the physical poverty and thought about the wisdom of the poor in spirit. The reason was I thought there is some connection between actual poverty and the poor in spirit. I believe that the basis of the connection is Matthew 5: 3, "Blessed are the poor in spirit ….” Of course, I think there are a lot of true godly believers who are actually wealthy and poor in spirit. And I think that there are more believers who are not poor in spirit and they are actually poor too. The important thing is not to be really poor or to be rich, but our spirit should always be poor. The reason is because God gives the blessing to those who are poor in spirit. And one of those blessings is "wisdom."
So today, as we mediated on Ecclesiastes 4:13-16, under the heading “The wisdom of the poor in spirit”, I want to think about three things as to what the wisdom of the poor is.
First, the wisdom of the poor in spirit knows how to take warning.
Look at Ecclesiastes 4:13 today: “Better a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer knows how to take warning.” Here we can see the Teacher King King Solomon comparing three things: "boy" and "king”, wisdom and dullness, and poverty and wealth. When we compare these comparisons in one, King Solomon is comparing the poor but wise boy and the old and dull king. What is the point of this comparison? It is not the poor and the wealth, the young, the old, the boy or the king that is important here, but the wisdom. And King Solomon says that the wise man knows how to receive warning. But the dull and the fool do not receive warning. So King Solomon says in the verse 13 that the old and dull king does not know how to receive warning.
When I meditated on this word, one question came to my mind. The question is, "Did the old and dull king, who did not listen to advice, was like that when he was young?" Maybe this old and dull king humbly listen to the advises that surround beloved people gave to him when he was young (maybe before he became king). If that was true, I wondered what made him dull king who didn’t listen to the advice and take warning. I think it may had to with his wealth or his power which made him proud and dull. This is what Dr. Park Yun-sun said: ‘The old and dull king in the throne who became proud did not receive warning and this shows how unfortunate he was.’ A proud person never hears the right advice. He doesn’t have ears and heart to listen to warning. But a wise man listens to the advice and warning. Look at Proverbs 12:15 – “The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice.” When Solomon was about to become a king, he asked God for ‘a wise heart’. The reason was so that he could discern good and evil when he judged God’s people (1 Kgs. 3:9). What is interesting is that the Hebrew word that was used here for the ‘wise’ is 'shemea' which means ‘hearing’. This means that King Solomon had an humble attitude in his heart that whatever God said he was willing to listen and obey. In fact, he had an attitude of submission (Internet). So he says in Proverbs 19:20, “Listen to advice and accept instruction, and in the end you will be wise.” Hopefully you and I have the wisdom of the poor so that we may listen to the right advice and warning.
Second, the wisdom of the poor in spirit how to exalt the Lord.
Look at Ecclesiastes 4:14 – “The youth may have come from prison to the kingship, or he may have been born in poverty within his kingdom.” Here King Solomon explains why the wise boy who is poor is better than the old and dull king who didn’t listen to the warning . The reason is that even though the wise boy was born in a poor house in that country and was imprisoned, eventually he was saved from prison and became king in that country. This doesn’t mean that there was another king besides the old and dull king who did not listen to the warning in that county where a poor wise boy lived. This means that the old and dull king withdrew from power, and then his successor, this wise poor boy, became king. When you hear these words, who comes to you mind among the Bible characters? Do you not remember Joseph in Genesis? Of course, Joseph didn’t become the king of Egypt. However, when I think of "a wise young man" who is "a poor man who came out of the prison and became a king" in Ecclesiastes 4: 13-14, Joseph came in to my mind because he was in prison and interpreted the dream of Pharaoh king of Egypt with the wisdom God gave him and he became the prime minister of Egypt. Although he was hated by his old brothers and almost about to get slain but was sold as a slave in Egypt and became poor. But because God loved and was with him, God made him prosperous. Also God gave him wisdom so that he was able to interpret the dream of the cup-bearer of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. Eventually Joseph was able to interpret the dream of Pharaoh, so he was not only saved from prison, but also he became the prime minister of Egypt.
The lesson we learn here is that God exalts the poor in spirit, the humble ones. The Bible says a lot about this truth here and there. Among them I am capturing the words of 1 Peter 5:5-6 which the apostle Peter exhorted to the young men: “Young men, in the same way be submissive to those who are older. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble’. Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.” Also, this is what the Bible James 4:10 says:”"Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.” The Bible tells us that when we are humble before the Lord, He will exalts us. Do you believe this promise of God?
Why does the poor in spirit force to humble himself before the Lord? The reason is because Jesus, our Lord, humbled himself. To what extent did Jesus humble? When we look at Philippians 2: 6-8, this is what the Bible says: “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross!” “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (vv. 9-11). Let us humble ourselves as Jesus did. Let us humble ourselves before the Lord. Then God will surely exalt us in his time.
Third, the wisdom of the poor in spirit knows that the glory of this world is in vain.
Look at Ecclesiastes 4:15-16: “I saw that all who lived and walked under the sun followed the youth, the king's successor. 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 wise King Solomon saw under the sun a poor and wise young man (v. 13). Even though he was born poor, when he came out of prison and became king (v. 14). And when the young king ruled over the country, his people like him ans were please with him. But eventually, when the young king was old (when he became dull?), the generations of those innumerable people were not pleased with the old king. Therefore, King Solomon said, “This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind” (v. 16). In one word, it is the glory of this world that King Solomon says it is meaningless and chasing after the wind (vv. 15-16).
I sometimes have this kind of thought when I see the presidential elections in Korea or the US: “Why are they trying to become a president? If they become the president, it must be hard to be in charge of a country.” What do you think is the reason why they want to be president? Is it because they want to take power? Perhaps some presidents of some countries are going to take the power by raising a coup. But I think not only they want power but also glory. If so, I ask this question: "What is the glory of the world?". What I felt through a movie that I saw was that some marines, like the Marine Corps, live for honor and die for honor. But I ask this question, “What is the benefit of the glory of this world when we see it in the sight of God or from an eternal point of view?” What do you think is the benefit of the world's glory when you think of it from an eternal perspective?
Do you think that the king that King Solomon mentioned in Ecclesiastes 4:15-16 enjoyed all the glory of the world like King Solomon did? I do not think so. I don’t think he did enjoy glory like King Solomon did. Maybe there was not a King who enjoyed the glory of the world as King Solomon did through the Old and New Testaments. But he says in the text today that the world's glory is vain, and pursuing the glory of the glory of in this world is to catch the wind. In a word, King Solomon is saying that the world's glory is of no benefit. This truth is known to the poor in spirit. Anyone who has the wisdom that God has given knows that it is vain to follow the glory in this world. Therefore, they pursue the glory of God rather than seeking the glory of the world. In other words, those who are poor in spirit do not live for the glory of the world that is no benefit, but for the glory of God that has eternal value. Because they hear the advice that the Lord gives through the Word, they live a life that pleases God by humbling themselves before the Lord, and obey the Word of God.
I hope that you and I seek the wisdom of the poor in spirit so that we may not only listen to the advice of the Lord but also the advises from the people around us. I also pray that we can humble ourselves before the Lord and live a humble life knowing that the Lord will surely exalt us in his time. I pray in the name of Jesus that we all become the poor wise men and women of God who live for the glory of God, rather than pursuing the vain glory of this world.