The Limits of Human Wisdom
The Teacher has seen righteous people perish and wicked people prolong their lives, so simplistic moral formulas do not hold. Because of that, he warns against destructive extremes of pretended righteousness, self-display, wickedness, and folly, saying that the one who fears God will heed both warnings and walk with humble balance.
I15n my futile life I have seen both of these: 16Do not be overly righteous, and do not make yourself too wise. Why should you destroy yourself? 17Do not be excessively wicked, and do not be a fool. Why should you die before your time? 18It is good to grasp the one and not let the other slip from your hand. For he who fears God will follow both warnings.
Wisdom gives strength beyond that of rulers in a city, yet even the wise must remember that no one on earth always does good without sinning. That realism should also temper how one hears criticism, since anyone offended by every word may soon remember how often he himself has spoken against others.
19Wisdom makes the wise man 20Surely there is no righteous man on earth 21Do not pay attention to every word that is spoken, or you may hear your servant cursing you. 22For you know in your heart that many times you yourself have cursed others.
The Teacher says he tested all this by wisdom, but the explanation he sought remained beyond his reach because reality is deep and difficult to fathom. His searching into wickedness, folly, and human entanglement ends not in full mastery but in a final diagnosis: God made humanity upright, yet people have sought out many schemes that deform what he made good.
23All this I tested by wisdom, saying, “I resolve to be wise.” But it was beyond me. 24What exists is out of reach and very deep. Who can fathom it? 25I directed my mind to understand, to explore, to search out wisdom and explanations, and to understand the stupidity of wickedness and the folly of madness. 26And I find more bitter than death the woman who is a snare, whose heart is a net, and whose hands are chains. The man who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is ensnared. 27“Behold,” says the Teacher, “I have discovered this by adding one thing to another to find an explanation. 28While my soul was still searching but not finding, among a thousand I have found one upright man, but among all these I have not found one such woman. 29Only this have I found: I have discovered that God made mankind upright, but they have sought out many schemes.”