{"id":9655,"date":"2026-03-19T10:55:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T16:55:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/?p=9655"},"modified":"2026-03-23T11:11:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T17:11:13","slug":"ecclesiastes-715-19-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/?p=9655","title":{"rendered":"Ecclesiastes 7:15-19"},"content":{"rendered":"

15\u00a0<\/sup>I have seen everything in my days of vanity: t<\/span>here is a just man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man\u00a0who prolongs\u00a0life\u00a0in his wickedness.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

16\u00a0<\/sup>Do not be overly righteous, n<\/span>or be overly wise: w<\/span>hy should you destroy yourself?<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

17\u00a0<\/sup>Do not be overly wicked, n<\/span>or be foolish: w<\/span>hy should you die before your time?<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

18\u00a0<\/sup>It is good that you grasp this, a<\/span>nd also not remove your hand from the other; f<\/span>or he who fears God will escape them all.<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

19\u00a0<\/sup>Wisdom strengthens the wise m<\/span>ore than ten rulers of the city.<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

The prosperity of the wicked is a problem that continues to perplex us, but the answer lies in knowing the final outcome (Psalm 73:2-17<\/a><\/span>). \u2014 Grace, page 1176.<\/span><\/h3>\n

__________<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Another perplexing problem for the man who would earnestly serve God is that of the overly righteous. These are the persons Malachi complains about in Malachi 2:17 and 3:12-13, a people beyond repentance because they were so impressed with their works-righteousness. The wisdom Preacher counsels the avoidance of such a superficial view of righteousness, for it will most certainly lead its adherents to destruction. Some simpleton may gather from the Preachers\u2019 admonition against over-righteousness that the best course to pursue is one of open wickedness. He who makes such an assumption deserves the title\u00a0Kasak\u00a0(stupid fool). Like the over-righteous man, he too is the cause of his own destruction. In his case he is apt to end his life prematurely because of his wicked practices. The path to profit may only be kept by those men of wisdom who eschew overly righteous and overly wicked behavior and practice consistently the fear of God. \u2014 KJV Commentary, page 747.<\/span><\/h3>\n

__________<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

This verse (v.16) is probably the language of an ungodly man; to which Solomon answers, as in the following verse, \u201cDo not multiply wickedness; do not add direct opposition to godliness, to the rest of your crimes. Why should you provoke God to destroy you before your time? \u2014 Treasury, page 426.<\/span><\/h3>\n

this (v.18) \u2014 the instructions of verses 16-17.<\/h3>\n
\n

The instruction of verse 18 is: Take hold of these two facts, i.e., the certain doom that will overtake the self-righteous man on the one hand, and the profligate on the other; and learn that both extremes may be escaped from by \u201cfearing God,\u201d that is, by accepting His way of righteousness and life. \u2014Williams, page 444.<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

15\u00a0I have seen everything in my days of vanity: there is a just man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man\u00a0who prolongs\u00a0life\u00a0in his wickedness. 16\u00a0Do not be overly righteous, nor be overly wise: why should you … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ecclesiastes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9655"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9655\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9658,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9655\/revisions\/9658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}