Ecclesiastes 4:13

Better is a poor and a wise child Better, young man. The words are general enough but the ingenuity of commentators has sought for examples in history, which the writer, according to the varying theories as to his date, may have had in his thoughts. Such, e.g.as Abraham and Nimrod, Joseph and Pharaoh, David and Saul (all these are named in the Midrash Koheleth, see Introduction, ch. vi.), Joash and Amaziah, Cyrus and Astyages, the high priest Onias and his nephew Joseph (circ. b.c. 246 221, see Joseph. Ant. xii. 4, and Note on next verse), or Herod and his son Alexander. None of these identifications are altogether satisfactory, and it is quite possible that the writer may simply have uttered a general statement or may have had in view some events of which we have no record. In Wis 4:8-9 we have a more eloquent utterance of the same thought, "Honourable age is not that which standeth in length of time or that is measured by number of years, but wisdom is the grey hair unto men and unspotted life is old age." The word for "child" is used of Joseph at the age of 17 (Genesis 37:30; Genesis 42:20) and even of the companions of Rehoboam when the latter was over 40 (1 Kings 12:8).