Ecclesiastes 4:13-15

The Young Men And The Foolish King.

We are now provided with a further example of folly, the folly of seeking a position of power and authority which will only in the end result in disappointment. (Better far to simply receive from God's hand what He provides).

Ecclesiastes 4:13

‘Better is a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king, who does not know how to receive admonition any more. For out of prison he came forth to be king. Yes, even in his kingdom he was born poor. I saw all the living who walk under the sun, that they were with the youth, the second, who stood up in his stead. There was no end of the all the people, even all those over whom he was. Yet those who come after him will not enthuse about him. Surely this also is vanity and a striving after wind.'

The description here is a little complicated. Probably only two people are in mind, the poor and wise youth and the king. ‘The second' probably means the second in the sense that the young man followed the first king to the throne as the second king. ‘Who stood up in his stead' probably means that the young man stood up in the stead of the old king. However, some see it as referring to a line of kings. Whichever way we see it, the significance is the same. They are all soon forgotten.

The first lesson is that although the young man was poor, and an ex-prisoner, and had been born poor, he would make a better king because he was wise and was willing to learn. Whereas the old king, unwilling to take advice or be quietly rebuked, would be a tyrant. And indeed this was recognised, for the young man had full support from the people. All the living who walked under the sun supported him. They were so many that there was no end of them. And he was over them all. He was a huge success.

But the second and main lesson is that he was soon forgotten. For all his success, once he was replaced nobody enthused about him any more. Thus his whole success was in the long run simply meaningless. His aim to be remembered as a huge success came to nothing. It was a striving after the unobtainable. It was not lasting. (This is even more evidenced by the fact that today we have no idea who he was, or whether he was just a parabolic figure).

We must remind ourselves again that The Preacher is not thinking in terms of present usefulness and benefit, but of ultimate meaning. In the long run the reign of this successful young man was irrelevant, as everything before has been irrelevant.