”If the anger of the ruler rises against you, do not leave your place, for calmness will lay great offenses to rest.“
”There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, as it were an error proceeding from the ruler: folly is set in many high places, and the rich sit in a low place. I have seen slaves on horses, and princes walking on the ground like slaves.“
Ecclesiastes 10:4-7 ESV
Whenever we see evil, especially in high places – government and big business, for example – we should remember that God is the Creator and Satan is the counterfeiter. Evil creates nothing. Evil produces nothing. It’s a twisting of good things, created by God for His glory and our joy, into things to serve the creature rather than the Creator. Sin turns things inside out and backwards. It promotes perversion and lust, not biblical marriage and sexual purity. It promotes greed and self-centeredness on the one hand and then political tyranny on the other. It promotes personal anarchy (Judges 21:25) and then cries out because of the rising lawlessness.
Israel would have understood this verse in a very personal way. They were the “princes” walking on the ground, trudging through the hard miles of life under the scorching sun, while the “slaves” – those pagan nations around them – often rode horses like rulers. As God’s chosen people they knew so many verses of Scripture that conveyed the great theme of Israel’s unique position. For example:
”The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.“
Genesis 49:10 ESV
”and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”
Exodus 19:6 ESV
”Happy are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord, the shield of your help, and the sword of your triumph! Your enemies shall come fawning to you, and you shall tread upon their backs.”
Deuteronomy 33:29 ESV
But, of course, it’s not as though she (Israel) wasn’t warned that faithfulness brought blessing and idolatry/sin, ruin. Consider:
”And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, being careful to do them, and if you do not turn aside from any of the words that I command you today, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them. “But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you. Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field. Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Cursed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.” Deuteronomy 28:13-19
The situation is still with us. As God’s people we often struggle while we watch – at least from our perspective – sin being rewarded, and folly in triumph over wisdom. Why have we kept ourselves from sin in a world that treats unrighteousness as good and righteousness as evil? The Preacher, as always, is trying to help us by preparing us to live in the real world and understanding the context of the time (Ecclesiastes 3:1). But, as noted above, Christians must remain humble in the Lord lest we grow arrogant and begin to perceive our lofty position as His people as due to works rather than grace. In assessing the evils around us, that abound in this fallen, wretched world, we must not lose sight of the great beauty of our salvation by faith alone.
Observing and experiencing life’s many evils – especially when that putrid finger of iniquity touches us personally, often leaving ugly scars – can lead us to bitterness or despair. But we must know that God is patient and is always working. The defeat of sin and death is assured by the resurrection of Christ! It’s the knowledge and the preaching of this that makes straight our paths.
Do we see fools and knaves in positions of power? Does the mismanagement of our country and schools by brazen fools cause our blood to boil? The Preacher tells us to stay calm. Derek Kidner comments that it’s always better to have only one angry person rather than two. We’ll never regret staying calm under pressure. Indeed, bless those who persecute you! Phillip Ryken said:
“The way to deal with foolish anger is not to be intimidated by it or to respond in kind but to keep calm, which we can only do by the power of the Holy Spirit. When someone gets angry, it is tempting to say, “I’m not going to take this anymore!” Admittedly, there are times when Christians are called to leave a bad work situation, or when we have Biblical grounds for separation and divorce, or when we need to hold an angry person accountable so that the poor fool can get the help he or she needs. But even then we should act calmly and carefully rather than angrily and hastily. Usually the wisest thing for us to do is to remain in the situation. Staying calm is part of God’s winning strategy for dealing with foolish anger.”
”Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor. Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.“
1 Peter 2:13-25 ESV
Where is the logic in this? It’s okay to ask. Really. How does it make sense that we’re to endure this upside down world in a quiet and Christ-like manner when it seems, at first glance, to make more sense to make war on it? Well, the answer is so simple that it falls out of our head! The answer is that the cross is the defeat of sin that’s the source of all this folly!
”For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
1 Corinthians 1:18-31 ESV
We only appear to be sheep to be slaughtered when, in fact, by preaching the gospel we’re actually wielding the sword of swords! We aren’t to be overcome by evil, but to overcome evil with good (Romans 12:21). How do we do that exactly? By true knowledge. By knowing the facts of life, so to say. It’s just another folly to fight the folly of the world as if it can be fixed by human exertions. All foolishness is due to man’s crazed insistence upon suppressing the truth about God. All the craziness, literally all of it, proceeds from that putrid pool of humanistic water.
”For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.”
Romans 1:18-23 ESV
So, when we see all these upside down things, all these perversions of justice and logic, we know that it’s the outworking of man’s refusal to acknowledge God and give thanks to Him. In all this, in our war against Him and our insistence on going our own way, we exchange the truth for a lie. And we turn everything inside out. That’s the root of the foolishness in this world.
Thus, to live wisely is to live in Christ.
To live foolishly is to reject Him.
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