Ecclesiastes 4:13-16

Chapter 4 of Ecclesiastes, verses 13 through 16 for our text and study this evening. Better is a poor and a wise child than an old and foolish king, who will no more be admonished. For out of prison he cometh to reign, whereas also he that is, born in his kingdom, becomeeth poor. I considered all the living which walk under the sun with the second child that shall come up in his stead. There’s no end of all the people, even of all that have been before them. They also that come after shall not rejoice in him. surely this also is vanity and vexation of spirit. May God bless to us His sacred and holy word this evening. In the book of Isaiah, we hear the prophet speaking of the pride of the king of Assyria in Isaiah chapter 10. Now the king of Assyria was riding high on his conquest of all the other nations around him. He boasted that by the strength of his hand, and by his wisdom, he had subdued many nations. God says, however, he is like an axe bolsting itself against the man who’s using it. In Isaiah 10, 15, as if the axe itself had chopped down all these nations alone. And he didn’t realize that God had wielded him to do this very thing. And so while the king of Assyria basked in the glory of all his achievements and his exalted position, the Lord pronounced a judgment against him. In verse 16. of Isaiah 10. Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of Host, you have a mighty army? I have one too. The Lord of Host said leanness and under his glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire. Leanness here is either some type of wasting disease or weakness, something that consumes. This is the fly. This is the fly in the ointment that’s going to spoil all the pomp and glory of the king of the Syriath. God says, I’m going to set a fire under you and burn you up. The king and the nation is going to be utterly consumed. Now, you’ll recall, as Isaiah goes on, and he relates to us a story that we also find in the historical books, how God punished the king of Assyria when he was surrounding the city of Jerusalem and threatening to capture it. And overnight God sent his angels and wiped out the whole army of the Assyrians. When the Israelites woke up, they were all dead. And the king of Assyria, ashamed, heads back home. And when he gets back home, he gets assassinated, he gets assassinated. by two of his sons. And the next thing we know is Babylon conquers Assyria, and he loses everything. So he went from the top position, if you would, down to nothing in a very short period of time. How quickly one can go from a position of glory and exaltation to nothing at all. It’s a position of glory and exaltation to nothing at all. common theme that we find in scripture. And it is a theme that we find here in our text tonight in the book of Ecclesiastes. It seems that the best of things can be blighted by an unexpected turn of events, and this is the way life is. Solomon is still acting as the philosopher here, dealing with the various philosophies of life, what makes a man tick, what motivates a person. Last week he talked about the miser who keeps working for wealth and he’s seeking wealth, but he has no one to give it to. He has no wife. He has no family, no heir. He pointed out the benefits of a balanced life, a fellowship with God as you go through this life. He also spoke of the blessings. of companionship as we go through life. But there are two other areas that he feels necessary to talk about. And one is that a position, and one is that of popularity. Sometimes they are intertwined these two things. You might think, well, if I just had a better social position in life, I’d be happy. Maybe. Maybe. If I could gain power and authority, have political clout, or people respected me. If I was just popular, I’d be content. If everybody liked me and I was famous and I had the applause of men, maybe then I’d be happy. Is this where satisfaction lies? Solomon says this is also a bankrupt philosophy of life. We see the vanity of position and popularity from this text tonight. Now you should recognize the vanity of position. Let’s look at verses 13 and 14. Better is a poor and a wise child than an old and foolish king who will no more be admonished. For out of prison he cometh to reign. Whereas also he that is born in his kingdom. them become poor. You’re obtaining mere position as vanity, Solomon says here. Now Solomon is a man who occupies the highest position in the land, very highly respected by the nations around him. He has tremendous authority. And he speaks here of a specific example of an old and and foolish king being superseded by a poor, younger man, a youth, who starts out in prison and ends up gaining power and the old and foolish king loses his power. He’s really unfit for the office of king. He just happened to have the right pedigree. Maybe he was born. under royalty and then he slipped in but not very wise now it’s interesting that rea-o-bole-oam solomon’s son fits this perfectly not that he was in prison but he was born a king but he was too foolish to hold the position and he loses ten of the tribes remember because he is he didn’t follow the wise counselors of his father he decided to go with the younger ones who certainly must have known better. Well, they didn’t. Here is a king who has this power and position, but he is feebleness of mind, stubbornness of will, and he doesn’t really know how to lead an action. Position and honor cannot bring satisfaction unless you possess the wisdom to use your authority properly. The truly wise person, and that’s a child of God, a truly wise person is often in a low state in the nation, while the ungodly, who have no real wisdom, somehow or other, they end up in a position to rule over everyone else, and they make foolish decisions. One could think about King Saul and his foolishness compared to David. and the wisdom that God gave him. And yet one is an outcast running for his life, another is just a pompous fool who doesn’t know how to rule. We will not follow God’s principles. We all know what it’s like to have a governor or a president who is foolish and you want to get them removed from office as quick as possible. And the people just get to the point they’re just like, when can we get rid of this guy? When can we vote him out of office? But we can talk about any position here. It does talk about the highest position of king, but think about this. Suppose you work for a foolish business owner, or a foolish boss, or fully you were under a foolish church leader, or maybe you were a foolish husband. they all would fit the same kind of category here. They have power, but they don’t know how to use it in a proper manner. How can you be happy with your position if you were despised by others and considered a complete fool? Position and authority, here isn’t everything. It isn’t. So mere position is vanity. Now, wisdom and you, usefulness are essential if you’re going to obtain a position in this life. Solomon draws a contraster between the rich king and a poor commoner. An old man and a younger child. A foolish person and a wise person. Everything favors the younger person here. And you’re taught in this text not to despise youth, or the poor. Remember what Paul told Timothy, let no man despise by youth. You know, be an example under the believers. Don’t let them despise you because you’re young. And James tells us, hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him. Don’t dote on the rich. The poor people may be poor, but they’re rich in faith. they’re truly the wise, not the people that are holding back wages and cheating the worker out of his money. Real worth is determined not by position or external pomp and show, but by usefulness. It’s better to be poor and wise than to be a role of a royalty and foolish. Wisdom allows the youth here to overcome all overcome all. all the disadvantages, even from being in prison here, to rise to the throne. The wise pauper becomes then the prince of the land. And the foolish king loses his position and his power and his authority. Becomes a beggar who dies in obscured. We don’t know why God puts people in such a position that they might be in prison. But there are times where God’s people have been in prison. It’s a hard life to be in there. But maybe there is learning to be done. Maybe there’s something to learn from the hardness that you endure as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. And therefore, when you come out of that situation, you’re much better than someone who has had a royal birth and had it easy all his life and has no clue about ruling and about governing people. Now, we can’t. read this passage without thinking about Joseph rising the power from prison to be second in command in Egypt. And he was given divine wisdom to rule. David’s selection to replace foolish King Saul. And what do we read about David? He knew the Lord and behaved himself wisely. Or Daniel’s ascendancy during the time of King Nebuchadnezzar, who was a captive and taken away to Babylon, but granted divine wisdom and rises to the top position of First President under Darias eventually. But he was exalted under Nebuchadnezzar as well. So the more important thing here was not positioned to start with. But wisdom, usefulness. Now lack of wisdom will cause your demise no matter what kind of pedigree you have. Wisdom brings about your elevation, even if you begin in the lowest position possible, prison. So Solomon himself is a man who has been born in a royal family. But it’s interesting if you read Proverbs, his father tells him my son, you know, seek wisdom, get wisdom. And so when he has an opportunity to rule, what does he pray? Early on in this rule, Lord, give me wisdom to roll this nation. And God gave him wisdom and much more besides. prestige, honor, his enemies being defeated before. and so forth. God took care of him because he showed some wisdom in asking for wisdom, if you would. That was a good thing to ask for. He got his dad must have got through to him and his training of him and telling him about getting wisdom. First Kings chapter 3, 6 to 12 tells us about him asking for wisdom to rule. So he should realize the vanity of here. Secondly, he should recognize the vanity of popularity. Versus 15 and 16. He says, I considered all the living which walk under the sun with the second child that shall stand up in his stead. And the child that takes the foolish king’s place. There is no end of all the people, even of all that have been before them, They also that come after shall not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and vexation of spirit. Now, he tells us here that people are fickled. Think about that a minute. You would think that this wise youth has everything going for him. He has it made in life. And I guess if we had stopped with verse 14, we would think, well, everybody lived happily ever after. We’ve now got a wise king in place and everything’s going to be great. Solomon says, not so fast. Not so fast. Here is a young person who’s well liked by the masses. He’s popular. He’s well received. He’s the darling of the nation. And you might look at himself, if only I could be like him, I’d be happy. If only think he’s a person, if only things, people like me. I’d be the center of attention. So this man has it all. He’s popular. He’s wise. He’s ruling over the nation. However, the preacher’s not done with his lesson. And now he turns to the people of the nation. He says, you know, there’s no end to all the people that are going to be coming up and they’re going to be fickled. The masses are unpredictable. And they foolishly want change. And so after a while, the wise youth has been king for a bit. Maybe he has a son. And that son begins to grow up and everybody dotes on the sun. They want him to be king rather than the king that they have right now. So the wise son begins to gain the attention of the masses as the one who is going to inherit the throne. And soon the same the same. citizens become disquintent with the old order, now wise youth. And his son becomes the darling who captures the attention of the people. And guess what? For you know, if they oust the one, put the other one into power. This love of change is a dominant principle in the selfishness of people. The grass is always greener somewhere else. We’re always craving for something better. You remember the story of Joseph and how he came from the Egyptian prison to interpret the dream of Pharaoh? And by God’s providence, he gained the wisdom that elevated him to second in command. And he carefully prepared, remember, for the years of famine, during the years of plenty. And he stored up grain to where he couldn’t even count at all. stored up. And when the famine came, the people from the surrounding nations came to Joseph and he took care of them. And he provided for the people of Egypt. And Joseph guided the nation of Egypt through those terrible seven years of famine. And they were indeed very grateful. You saved our lives, they said. And they confessed this to, and they confessed. And they confessed Pharaoh and to Joseph. So Pharaoh is very pleased with how all this turned out, how well Joseph did. So Genesis ends with Joseph family down in Egypt and Goshen, the best land, and he’s taking care of him down there, and everything seems to be good, and he’s ruling right alongside of Pharaoh himself. And then Exodus comes and opens with the death. of Joseph. And in those ominous words, there rose a new king over Egypt which knew not Joseph. And all the past was forgotten. And soon all the Israelites are enslaved. And thrown into a position where they have to labor for the Egyptians. They’re not the darlings anymore. They’re not the special people anymore. They’re not, you know, Joseph’s brother and who saved us. Solomon witnessed firsthand something like this in his life. And I might say he did it twice in his life. First, you might recall the story of Absalom. We read it tonight. Russell read it in our scripture reading. And that’s a great. example of the multitude casting off the wise ruler for the son, who we find out is quite foolish. David was so easily cast aside as dispensable by the masses, and they rallied around Absalom, and he had won over the hearts of the people. If I were king, I’d make sure you got just treatment. How he, you know, kissed them and won them over. And then he tried to steal the kingdom from David. And the masses went along with him. And then later on, before Saul and became king, you remember, there was another son of David. Adonaja. David here is the most beloved king. that Israel had. The sweet psalmist of Israel, he conquered Israel’s enemies, defeated Goliath, remember? And yet when he grows older and he’s feeble and his bedridden, Adonogun brazenly went ahead and pronounced himself king. He had lots of followers. Joab, the army commander, joined with him. And so did O’Brien. Biathar, the high priest. Very prominent men joined in with him. Adonogne had this huge celebration at Enrogle, where he was crowned king in the presence of a joyous multitude of people. Solomon was certainly to be killed, so that it would be no rival to the throne. And because Adonah Dugnew of the Lord’s prime, promise to David to make Solomon king after him, he was sure that he was going to prevent that from that. Only God’s intervention by Nathan the prophet and by Benaya, the commander of the king’s bodyguard, and by Bashsheva, the mother of Solomon herself, prevented a complete disaster on this occasion, and prevented Adonaja from. stealing the throne. He went from the darlings of the people all of a sudden to persona non grata that noblem wanted to be around because they’d have their heads chopped off because King David publicly announced that Solomon was going to be king, gave him the throne. And they scattered away from Adonaja like rats in a drowning ship. The whole event, both of these events, probably made a deep impression upon Solomon when he saw how quickly people could turn away from his father. So he knows how the winds of popularity can blow one way and then quickly turn and blow another. People were fickle. Now you should be aware of this universal principle. Solomon here looks at generation after generation that’s going to come. He says, I see the same thing happening each time. All have the same character, he declares. Everything follows the same pattern. This is the fate of rulers. They get into power. Their popularity wanes and someone else grabs the attention of the masses. So if you think popularity is the key to happiness and satisfaction, you are going to be sadly disappointed. How long did it take the multitudes who were rejoicing over Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem to turn against him and cry out for his crucifixion? A week? It didn’t take long, did it? Those who sang his praises, those who were laying the palm branches in the way of the donkey that he was riding on. The red carpet treatment he received on the way of the into Jerusalem. All of a sudden people were crying out away with him, crucified. Now we have somewhat relative tranquility in our Western democracies where elections are held rather in military coups replacing leadership. But that seems like it’s about to change. Political longevity is at the mercy of the multitudes. You may win the election by a landslide and four years later be gone. He cast aside. You go from the new political Messiah to the bum who needs to be thrown out of office. That’s what happens. It’s vain to think then that public acclaim is lasting. Think about this. Today’s hot new star is tomorrow’s has been entertaining. You know, child stars who get a lot of popularity as they are growing up, as they mature, they lose that popularity. Pop stars, maybe they have one-hit wonder. They got the number one hit song or something like that. Next thing you know, they fade off into the sunset and you never hear about them again. Sports stars. You could be the quarterback of a team for a number of years. and get booed off the field because they want the backup quarterback to come in and take your place. He was a younger guy. So, Solomon would have you wake up to the real world. This is how it is. It’s cold, it’s fickled, it’s very arbitrary, you can be loved today and hated tomorrow. Now you should seek God’s favor rather than man’s. Saul is about to turn your attention to God in Chapter 5. in more detail. Cease from man whose breath is in his nostrils. He’s going to soon die. Isaiah 222. We talked about this before, so I’ll be brief here. It is the relationship with the Lord that makes life worth living. If we don’t have that, none of these other things are going to help us. Whether we have money, popularity, power, doesn’t matter. God is entitled to a problem. our undying, supreme, and devoted love, and there should be no fickleness on your part with regard to him. Everything you possess comes from him. And to find satisfaction and the gifts with God grants, we have to embrace the giver himself. And that’s the real rub for the secular, under the sun, man and woman. Because God is not in all their thoughts. thoughts, and therefore, man’s acclaim is more important than the dogs. Let me just briefly mention three thoughts tonight as we close. One is this. Pursue divine wisdom. It’s useful and beneficial in all positions of life. Whether you’re in a political office, whether you are running a company, whether you are running a company, whether you are a company, an overseer in the church, or whether you are leading the family. You need wisdom in all these areas. Here’s what Proverbs 4, 7 and 8 says. Wisdom is the principal thing. Therefore, get wisdom. And with all thy getting, get understanding, exalt her, and she shall promote thee and shall bring thee to honor. Get wisdom. That’s the key thing. Secondly. how thankful we should be that we belong to a kingdom that can never be moved or shaken. That we have a king who will never disappoint us. The more you know about this king, our king, the more you love this king. The Lord Jesus Christ. Third thought is this. You have been brought out from Satan’s prison house. and you have been exalted through Jesus Christ to a position of kingship so that you rule and reign with the Lord. Never forget your humble beginnings and who it was who lifted you up. I think these things we can take from this passage of scripture tonight. Let’s close with the word of prayer. give you thanks for the teaching of your word tonight. I’m afraid, Father, we are often foolish in our thinking. We often imbibe the world’s thinking. But let us think, your thoughts after you. Let us ponder what Solomon has to say here that we may do what’s pleasing and right before you. And your blessing may rest upon us. Bless your people tonight. Let this word be enriching to us. We ask these things in Jesus’ precious name with Thanksgiving. Let’s stand for the benediction.