Time and Chance
11 I returned and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all. 12 For man also doesn’t know his time. As the fish that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare, even so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falls suddenly on them. 13 I have also seen wisdom under the sun in this way, and it seemed great to me. 14 There was a little city, and few men within it; and a great king came against it, besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it. 15 Now a poor wise man was found in it, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same poor man. 16 Then I said, “Wisdom is better than strength.” Nevertheless the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard. 17 The words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the cry of him who rules among fools. 18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war; but one sinner destroys much good.
Five reliable advantages are listed and all five are shown to fail, and then a real case makes the abstraction concrete.
Verse 11 is built as a list of upsets. The race not to the swift, the battle not to the strong, bread not to the wise, riches not to men of understanding, favor not to men of skill — five advantages, each the obvious predictor of its own outcome, and each denied.
The conclusion is not that the advantages are worthless. Wisdom still excels folly Ecclesiastes 2:13 and still preserves life Ecclesiastes 7:12. What the verse denies is reliability: time and chance happen to them all.
Verse 12 gives the images, and both are of creatures caught while doing nothing wrong. Fish in a net, birds in a snare — feeding, moving, unaware — and snared in an evil time, when it falls suddenly on them. No warning was available, so no precaution was possible.
Then verses 14 and 15 make it a story, told in five clauses. A little city. Few men in it. A great king besieging it with siege works. A poor wise man in it. He by his wisdom delivered the city.
That is the best outcome wisdom achieves anywhere in the book — a city saved against a besieging army by one man with no resources. And the next clause is yet no man remembered that same poor man.
Verse 16 draws the conclusion and refuses to round it off. Wisdom is better than strength — the case just proved it — nevertheless the poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard. Both halves are true, and the second is the one that governs how he was treated.
And verse 18 states the asymmetry the chapter has been circling: wisdom is better than weapons of war; but one sinner destroys much good. Building takes a city's worth of wisdom; ruining it takes one person.
settled What this mark means