Original: October 17, 2007
McMinnville, OR
16 So I said, "Wisdom is better than strength." But the poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are no longer heeded. Ecclesiastes 9:16
I have a good friend who has guided others to nearly forty bull elk, including the 7x7 hanging in my home! He has taken one of the biggest bulls, as well as one of the biggest bucks, I have ever seen on the ground. He did it both times with his bow! He is an amazing elk caller and knows how to hunt big game better than most guys I know. The ranch he manages is segmented off by various fields of alfalfa, rye grass, hay and other various elk delicacies that he cleverly calls his “Green Magnets”! One day while visiting his ranch I counted over 350 elk and 80 deer in his fields!
He is at the point of his life where God has blessed him with the means to give generously to others, which he does faithfully, and go on magnum hunts with the comforts of a hotel, hot food and a warm shower. One day I was discussing my new passion for the wilderness and he said something that caught me off guard, "You can hunt harder or you can hunt smarter, but I choose to hunt smarter." That thought taught me an important life lesson.
"Wisdom is better than strength" (Ecclesiastes 9:16).
Solomon continues in this passage to say, "The words of the wise heard in quietness are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools” (17)!
How true that is.
It reminds me of being a youth pastor. No matter how hard you prepare, passionate you preach, or loud you scream, the foolishness of youth will often times do it anyway! My aging body cries injustice that the ages from13-19 have so much strength and energy, though it is during this time of life that we tend to waste precious strength on foolish desires and needless pursuits. Maybe that is why God gave youth a double portion of energy so they can do it right the second time around!
In this passage Solomon refers to 2 Samuel 20:13-22 when Joab was putting a stop to a revolt in the small town of Abel-Beth-Maacah. As they were tearing down the wall to find the rebels, a wise woman (16) came out and spoke to Joab; thus, ending the siege of the city. Interestingly enough, in Ecclesiasts 9:15 Solomon calls this person a "poor wise man"(NASB), not the "wise woman" that Samuel records in his account.
Why, I do not know.
Maybe it was because Solomon thought he had to change the gender of his “wise” person in order to reach a gender-biased culture. Maybe it is because the old cliché is correct that “behind every good man there is a good woman!”
All I know is this: If a man has to choose between wisdom and strength he should choose wisdom. Wisdom takes advantage of every ounce of strength where foolishness wastes it. Be strong if you can; if you are, but if you have to choose one or the other choose wisely.
