the Third Sunday after Easter
Click here to join the effort!
Read the Bible
Bahasa Indonesia Sehari-hari
Pengkhotbah 4:13
Bible Study Resources
Concordances:
- Nave'sDictionaries:
- BridgewayEncyclopedias:
- InternationalDevotionals:
- EveryParallel Translations
Lebih baik seorang muda miskin tetapi berhikmat dari pada seorang raja tua tetapi bodoh, yang tak mau diberi peringatan lagi.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
is a poor: Ecclesiastes 9:15, Ecclesiastes 9:16, Genesis 37:2, Proverbs 19:1, Proverbs 28:6, Proverbs 28:15, Proverbs 28:16
will no more be: Heb. knoweth not to be, 1 Kings 22:8, 2 Chronicles 16:9, 2 Chronicles 16:10, 2 Chronicles 24:20-22, 2 Chronicles 25:16
Reciprocal: 2 Chronicles 30:2 - the king 2 Chronicles 34:1 - eight years Job 32:9 - neither Proverbs 12:15 - but Proverbs 16:31 - if Proverbs 17:2 - wise
Cross-References
He beleueth neuer to be deliuered out of darknesse: for the sworde is alwayes before his eyes.
And men boyled in great heate, and blasphemed the name of God whiche hath power ouer these plagues, & they repented not, to geue hym glorie.
And blasphemed the God of heauen for their sorowe, and for theirs sores, and repented not of their deedes.
And there fell a great hayle, as it had ben talentes, out of heauen vpon the men, and the men blasphemed God, because of the plague of the hayle: for the plague therof was exceadyng great.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
Better [is] a poor and a wise child than an old and foolish king,.... The wise man proceeds to show the vanity of worldly power and dignity, in the highest instance of it, which is kingly; and, in order to illustrate and exemplify this, he supposes, on the one hand, a person possessed of royal honour; who has long enjoyed it, is settled in his kingdom, and advanced in years; and who otherwise, for his gravity and dignity, would be venerable; but that he is foolish, a person of a mean genius and small capacity; has but little knowledge of government, or but little versed in the arts of it, though he has held the reins of it long in his hand; and, which is worst of all, is vicious and wicked: on the other hand, he supposes one that is in his tender years, not yet arrived to manhood; and so may be thought to be giddy and inexperienced, and therefore taken but little notice of; and especially being poor, becomes contemptible, as well as labours under the disadvantage of a poor education; his parents poor, and he not able to get books and masters to teach him knowledge; nor to travel abroad to see the world, and make his observations on men and things; and yet being wise, having a good genius, which he improves in the best manner he can, to his own profit, and to make himself useful in the world; and especially if he is wise and knowing in the best things, and fears God, and serves him; he is more happy, in his present state and circumstances, than the king before described is in his, and is fitter to take his place, and be a king, than he is; for though he is young, yet wise, and improving in knowledge, and willing to be advised and counselled by others, older and wiser than himself; he is much to be preferred to one that is old and foolish;
who will no more be admonished; or, "knows not to be admonished any more" d: he neither knows how to give nor take advice; he is impatient of all counsel; cannot bear any admonition; is stubborn and self-willed, and resolved to take his own way. The Jews, in their Midrash, Jarchi, and others, interpret it, allegorically, of the good and evil imagination in men, the principle of grace, and the corruption of nature; the one is the new man, the other the old man; the new man is better than old Adam: the Targum applies it to Abraham and Nimrod; the former is the poor and wise child, that feared God, and worshipped him early; the latter, the old and foolish king, who was an idolater, and refused to be admonished of his idolatry; and so the Midrash.
d לא ידע להזהר עוד "non novit moneri adhuc", Montanus; "nescit admoneri amplius", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Drusius, Rambachius.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
These verses set forth the vanity of earthly prosperity even on a throne. Opinion as to their application is chiefly divided between considering them a parable or fiction like that of the childless man in Ecclesiastes 4:8 : or as setting forth first the vicissitudes of royal life in two proverbial sayings Ecclesiastes 4:13-14, and then Ecclesiastes 4:15-16, the vicissitudes or procession of the whole human race, one generation giving place to another, Which in its turn will be forgotten by its successor. On the whole, the first appears to have the better claim.
Ecclesiastes 4:13
Child - Rather, young man.
Ecclesiastes 4:14
Rather: For out of the house of bondage he goes forth to be a king; although he was born poor in his kingdom, i. e., in the country over which he became king.
Ecclesiastes 4:15
I considered ... - literally, I saw “all the population of the young man’s kingdom.”
The second child - This second youth is generally understood to be identical with the one mentioned in Ecclesiastes 4:13.
Ecclesiastes 4:16
There is - Rather: There was.
That have been before them - Rather, before whom he was, i. e., at the head of whom the young king was. Compare Micah 2:13.
They also that ... him - i. e., The next generation shall forget this chosen king.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse 13. Better is a poor and a wise child — The Targum applies this to Abraham. "Abraham was a poor child of only three years of age; but he had the spirit of prophecy, and he refused to worship the idols which the old foolish king - Nimrod - had set up; therefore Nimrod cast him into a furnace of fire. But the Lord worked a miracle and delivered him. Yet here was no knowledge in Nimrod, and he would not be admonished." The Targum proceeds: