Ecclesiastes 9:13-18: a reflection

The Preacher tells of a poor wise man who, by his wisdom, delivered a small city from a great king who besieged it, and yet was forgotten afterward, his wisdom unremembered and unrewarded. There was a little city, and few men within it, he says; a great king besieged it, and a poor wise man delivered it by his wisdom; yet no one remembered that same poor man. The Preacher draws a lesson: wisdom is better than strength, better than weapons of war; and yet, he observes, the poor man's wisdom is despised and his words are not heard. Wisdom's real worth is often unrecognized and unrewarded by people, who overlook the poor and unimpressive; yet wisdom is genuinely better than strength, whatever its recognition. This shows that true wisdom's worth is real even when it goes unrecognized and unrewarded. Wisdom is better than strength, though often unrecognized. True wisdom's worth is real even when unrewarded. The poor man's wisdom saved the city, yet was forgotten. Wisdom's value does not depend on recognition.

Notice the double truth the Preacher observes. On one hand, wisdom is genuinely better than strength, better even than weapons of war; the poor wise man's wisdom did what an army might not have, delivering the city. On the other hand, this wisdom went unrecognized and unrewarded; the poor man was forgotten, his wisdom despised, his words not heard, because he was poor and unimpressive. The Preacher sees both the real worth of wisdom and the sad fact that people often fail to recognize or reward it, overlooking the humble and unimpressive. This speaks to us in two ways. First, it assures us that wisdom's worth is real, whatever its recognition; wisdom is genuinely better than strength and does real good, even when no one notices or rewards it. And second, it cautions us not to despise wisdom because it comes from an unimpressive source, not to overlook the humble wise, not to value only the loud and impressive. We do well to value wisdom for its real worth, and to listen to it even from humble and overlooked sources, rather than despising it. Wisdom's worth is real even when people fail to recognize it. Do not despise wisdom because it comes from an unimpressive source. Value wisdom for its worth, not for its recognition. Listen to wisdom even from the humble and overlooked.

That is worth taking to heart, for true wisdom's worth is real even when it goes unrecognized and unrewarded, and we do well to value it and listen to it even from humble sources. We can value only the loud and impressive, despising wisdom that comes from unimpressive people, and measure worth by recognition; but the Preacher saw that a poor man's wisdom saved a city, though he was forgotten, and concluded that wisdom is better than strength. Wisdom's worth does not depend on recognition. Do not despise wisdom for its humble source, nor measure its worth by whether it is recognized; value it and listen to it. Value wisdom for its real worth even when it goes unrecognized and unrewarded, and listen to it even from humble and overlooked sources, as the Preacher told of a poor wise man who by his wisdom delivered a little city from a great king yet was forgotten, his wisdom despised and his words not heard because he was poor, and concluded that wisdom is better than strength and better than weapons of war; for wisdom's real worth does not depend on people recognizing or rewarding it, and it does genuine good even when no one notices, yet people often fail to recognize or reward it, overlooking the humble and unimpressive and valuing only the loud, so that we do well both to trust that wisdom's worth is real whatever its recognition and to guard against despising wisdom because it comes from an unimpressive source, valuing it for its worth and listening to it even from the humble and overlooked.