Ecclesiastes 4:13 - Exposition

Better is a poor and wise child than an old and foolish king. The word translated "child" ( yeled ), is used sometimes of one beyond childhood (see Genesis 30:26 ; Genesis 37:30 ; 1 Kings 12:8 ), so here it may be rendered "youth." Misken , πενὴς , pauper (Vulgate), "poor," is found also at Ecclesiastes 9:15 , Ecclesiastes 9:16 , and nowhere else; but the root, with an analogous signification, occurs at Deuteronomy 8:9 and Isaiah 40:20 . The clause says that a youth who is clever and adroit, though sprung from a sordid origin, is better off than a king who has not learned wisdom with his years, and who, it is afterwards implied, is dethroned by this young man. Who will no more be admonished ; better, as in the Revised Version, who knoweth not how to receive admonition any more . Age has only fossilized his self-will and obstinacy; and though he was once open to advice and hearkened to reproof, he now bears no contradiction and takes no counsel. Septuagint, ὅς οὐκ ἔγνω τοῦ προέχειν ἔτι , "Who knows not how to take heed any longer;" which is perhaps similar to the Vulgate, Qui nescit praevidere in posterum , "Who knows not how to look forward to the future." The words will bear this translation, and it accords with one view of the author's meaning (see below); but that given above is more suitable to the interpretation of the paragraph which approves itself to us. The sentence is of general import, and may be illustrated by a passage from the Book of Wisdom (Wis. 4:8, 9), "Honorable age is not that which standeth in length of time, nor that is measured by length of years. But wisdom is the grey hair unto men, and an unspotted life is old age." So Cicero, 'De Senect.,' 18.62, "Non cant nee rugae repente auctoritatem arripere possunt, sod honeste acta superior aetas fructus capit aactoritatis extremes." Some have thought that Solomon is here speaking of himself, avowing his folly and expressing his contrition, in view of his knowledge of Jeroboam's delegation to the kingdom—the crafty youth of poor estate ( 1 Kings 11:26 , etc.), whom the Prophet Ahijah had warned of approaching greatness. But there is nothing in the recorded history of Solomon to make probable such expression of self-abasement, and our author could never have so completely misrepresented him. Here, too, is another proof that Ecclesiastes is not written by Solomon himself.