folly is set in great dignities, but the rich sit in a low place.
Solomon names a sight anyone who watches public life will know: fools in the top posts, worthy men at the bottom. He does not blame chance; he traces it to a mistake by the man in charge.
One writer joins this verse with the next one. He calls both sights as odd as snow in summer.
There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, says the royal preacher (Ecclesiastes 10:6-7), as a mistake that comes from a ruler. Folly is set in many high places, and the rich sit in a low place. I have seen slaves on horses, and princes walking on the ground like slaves. Both sights are out of place, as strange as snow in summer or rain in harvest.
The "rich" here stand with the princes of the next verse: the worthy men, put at the bottom. Someone with power put them there. The same writer says the sight is an old one, and hard even for those best able to bear it.
And what the great king saw is a common sight in every age, and hard even for the wise and meek — the ruler's mistake, which lifts up the unworthy and puts down the worthy. But wisdom can bow and wait without a fight, and a fight would not cure the evil but add another.
Protest does not undo the first wrong. It only adds a second.
In the Bible the word points to an attitude, not a level of intelligence. Pharaoh is the example.
The basic character of a fool in the Scriptural sense is that of leaving God out of his calculations... A man like this is completely out of place when he receives honours; he is worthy only of dishonour and contempt. Only faith can keep up what truly fits any position... Pharaoh held the highest place of honour in Egypt, yet he openly defied God: "Who is the Lord?" "I know not the Lord" (Exodus 5:2). What a repulsive contrast to the noble dignity of a king!
Wisdom lets a man see what is wrong. It does not give him the power to put it right.
How often justice is twisted now! The righteous suffer and the guilty go free. Folly is set in many high places, and the rich sit in a low place... So wisdom may show a man what is wrong, and make him feel how bitter it is. All the while he knows he has no power to correct it... The wise man sees clearly the evil, knows what ought to be, but learns he cannot do it.
The root goes deeper than one bad appointment. One writer starts with the servant who rules, and ends with the throne that belongs to God alone.
The rule of a servant is usually unbearable. Pride swells him, he glories in his authority, and misrule and oppression follow. But in the fullest sense all men are servants: the place of reigning belongs to God alone. Every king of Judah and of Israel has proved that man cannot reign as he should; all failed in the end... Only the reign of the Lord Jesus Christ will answer this unrest and agitation.
Today's rankings are not the last word. God scorns the scorners, and He will reverse the honours men hand out now.
"He indeed scorns the scorners," as surely as "He gives grace to the lowly." The wise will understand, as Daniel promises. And more: "the wise shall inherit glory," while "shame shall be the promotion of the foolish." That holds however much present appearances deceive, and however much people trust them. "Judge not according to sight," said the Lord, "but judge righteous judgment."
- Wrong place — the ruler's mistake lifts the unworthy and lowers the worthy. The result is as odd as snow in summer.
- The fool's place — a fool leaves God out of his sums. Honour never fits him, however high the office.
- Your place — wisdom can bow and wait. A fight adds a second evil; it does not remove the first.
- God's place — reigning belongs to God alone. Every human ruler has failed, and only Christ's reign answers the unrest.
- The last place — appearances deceive. Shame will be the promotion of fools, and the wise will inherit glory. Do not judge by sight.
I have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking as servants upon the earth.
The Preacher has just named an evil he watched under the sun, and here he draws it: the saddle and the road have changed places. Can a wise man do anything about a world where honour lands on the wrong heads?
The reversal is not random bad luck. One commentator names where the disorder starts, and what both halves of the picture have in common.
There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, says the royal preacher (Ecclesiastes 10:6-7) — an error that comes from a ruler: folly is set in high places, but the rich sit in a low place. I have seen slaves on horses, and princes walking on the ground like slaves. But both sights are out of place, as odd as snow in summer or rain in harvest.
Snow in summer is not just unpleasant. It is out of season — and so is a slave in the saddle while a prince walks.
So what does a wise man do when he sees it? The answer is not to storm out, and not to fight.
The ruler's proud spirit provokes you. But wisdom strengthens the sense of what is proper: to keep your place as a subject, and, if an answer is needed, to give a soft one. Simply being in the right never puts a wrong straight; the grace that gives up self and serves does. And what the great king saw is not a rare sight in any age, and hard enough even for the wise and gentle: the error that comes from the ruler, lifting up the unworthy and bringing down the worthy. But wisdom can bow and wait without a fight, which would not cure the evil but only add another.
Being in the right is not the same as being able to set things right. Protest would leave the first evil standing and plant a second beside it.
There is a reason the man on the horse is worth watching. A writer sets the fool's comfort beside something worse.
Luxury is good for no one; but it is worst of all in the fool who makes it his pleasure and his god. The wise man was led to add that it is worse still for a servant to rule over princes. Who is so proud and cruel?
This is where the book's honesty bites. The wise man's wisdom is real, and that is what makes the sight unbearable. It can see everything and mend nothing.
Only another arm can hold back the lawless. Only another mind than any of Adam's fallen children can work out the cure. The day of the Son of Man must dawn before One is found on earth who is able to put things straight. How often justice is twisted now! The righteous suffer, and the guilty go free... So wisdom may show the man who has it what is wrong, and make him feel how bitter it is, while he knows all the time that he is powerless to put it right. To know good and evil was the bait the serpent held out, to be just like God. The wise man sees the evil clearly, and knows what ought to be, but learns that he cannot do it.
One writer pushes the thought past politics.
The rule of a servant is usually unbearable. Pride puffs him up, he glories in his authority, and the result is bad government and oppression. But in the fullest and truest sense, all men are servants: the place of reigning belongs to God alone... And the earth has known no rest under any reign of man. Only the reign of the Lord Jesus Christ will answer this state of unrest and agitation.
Read this way, the verse is not a complaint about one bad appointment. Every ruler in history has been a servant on a horse, and the whole world waits for its rightful King.
- The error. This upside-down world starts with a mistake in the ruler. He lifts up the unworthy and pushes down the worthy.
- The offence. Both sights are wrong, as out of season as snow in summer or rain in harvest. A servant set over princes turns proud and cruel.
- The limit. Wisdom can expose the wrong and make you feel its bitterness, but it cannot cure it. To know good and evil was the serpent's old bait: sight without strength.
- The posture. Keep your place as a subject. Being in the right never puts a wrong straight; the grace that gives up self and serves does. Wisdom bows and waits, because a fight only adds a second evil to the first.
- The remedy. All men are servants; the place of reigning belongs to God alone. Every human reign has left the earth unsettled, and only the reign of the Lord Jesus Christ will answer it.