TEXT [Commentary]

black diamond   7.   Even political power lets you down (4:13-16)

13 It is better to be a poor but wise youth than an old and foolish king who refuses all advice. 14 Such a youth could rise from poverty and succeed. He might even become king, though he has been in prison. 15 But then everyone rushes to the side of yet another youth[*] who replaces him. 16 Endless crowds stand around him,[*] but then another generation grows up and rejects him, too. So it is all meaningless—like chasing the wind.

NOTES

4:13 better . . . than. The Teacher again uses a distinctive grammatical form (the better . . . than construction) in order to communicate his ideas concerning relative, though not ultimate, meaning in life (see Ogden 1977).

4:15 another youth. Lit., “second youth” (see NLT mg). There are some who believe this refers to the poor but wise youth already mentioned, and so understand second to mean second to the king (Ginsburg 1970:333). Rudman (1997) suggests that the phrase is to be translated “young lieutenant,” but his interpretation struggles with the fact that this person succeeds the king. I agree with Whybray (1982:90-91), Crenshaw (1987:113-114), and Fox (1989:207-208) that the second youth is a third character in the anecdote.

COMMENTARY [Text]

This unit gives us an anecdote that illustrates the advantages of wisdom over folly. It thus tells us a story that incarnates the principle enunciated in a passage like 2:12-17, which is that wisdom has a relative but not absolute value. Thus, it has only a distant connection with the immediately preceding sections that discuss social relationships (contra Ginsburg 1970:330).

Some of the details of this anecdote are confusing to the modern reader, but it is hard to say, along with Irwin (1944:255), whether this is a result of ambiguity in writing or distance from the original text. In either case, it is unclear whether there are two or three characters in the anecdote. I think the phrase translated as “another youth” in 4:15 suggests a third character, and my interpretation will proceed with that assumption.

As with the other anecdotes that the Teacher constructs (see 4:8-9 and 9:13-16), it is a little difficult to see whether he had specific people in mind behind the story. Some people see a connection between Joseph and the “poor but wise youth” who rises even from a prison to be king (see Ogden 1980). However, whether or not there is such historical specificity really does not affect our understanding of the passage.

The initial contrast is between a “poor but wise youth” and an “old and foolish king.” We see that three polarities are being contrasted here. In the first place, there is youth versus age. In an ancient Near Eastern context, age was considered an asset over youth. After all, an older person did have more experiences that would help them know how to navigate life. Then there is a contrast between “poor” and “king.” There are two contrasts hidden here, and they are related. First, there is an economic contrast. Kings, of course, were rich, and the youth is explicitly said to be poor. Then there is a social contrast between a king and a poor commoner (who at one point was even in prison). Needless to say, in an ancient, as well as a modern society, social status and wealth were considered more attractive than the low status of poverty. However, the anecdote judges the poor youth as better off than the rich, old king. Why? Because wisdom trumps everything! The king does not have wisdom, so he is not considered well-off, in spite of his riches and his power.

In the early part of his reign, Solomon got it exactly right (1 Kgs 3). Faced with an invitation from God to request and receive anything he wanted, Solomon asked for wisdom. God was pleased with his response, and gave him power and wealth in addition. Of course, his wisdom left him later in life when he very foolishly married foreign women who led him away from the exclusive worship of Yahweh, the God of Israel.

Returning to the Teacher’s anecdote, we observe first that wisdom has a definite advantage over foolishness, so much so that this youth might actually become king. However, it is a limited benefit, according to the second half of the story, for there is “another youth” (see note on 4:15) who replaces the first youth. Though the first youth was wise, his wisdom apparently is soon forgotten. The implication of the Teacher is that even this second youth will be forgotten; the cycle will continue on and on and on, so that “it is all meaningless—like chasing the wind” (4:16).