The wisdom of the needy one is despised, and his words are not listened to (Ecclesiastes 9:13–16)

7 min readAug 1, 2024

“Also this I saw as respects wisdom under the sun — and it was great to me: There was a little city, and the men in it were few; and there came to it a great king, and he surrounded it and built against it great strongholds. And there was found in it a man, needy [but] wise, and that one provided escape for the city by his wisdom. But no man remembered that needy man. And I myself said: “Wisdom is better than mightiness; yet the wisdom of the needy one is despised, and his words are not listened to”” (Ecclesiastes 9:13–16)

The current observation is: people very rarely ask the point of view of a needy one, even if he is a very wise one. On the other hand, we often see very rich people, without any instruction, sometimes until stupid, to whom they ask for their point of view, until to give advice to the people.

The wisdom given by God

In Proverbs 2:7 there is the expression “practical wisdom” as the practice of “knowledge”. Indeed, Jesus Christ associated wisdom with the practice of biblical knowledge, in contrast with the foolish man who, having this knowledge, does not take it into account: “Therefore everyone that hears these sayings of mine and does them will be likened to a discreet man, who built his house upon the rock-mass. And the rain poured down and the floods came and the winds blew and lashed against that house, but it did not cave in, for it had been founded upon the rock-mass. Furthermore, everyone hearing these sayings of mine and not doing them will be likened to a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand. And the rain poured down and the floods came and the winds blew and struck against that house and it caved in, and its collapse was great” (Matthew 7:24–27).

Nevertheless, given the general context of the Bible, one realizes that wisdom has a heavenly spiritual dimension that is not necessarily the result of the practice of an acquired knowledge, but rather a direct divine gift. Moreover, in Proverbs 2:6 it is written, “Jehovah himself gives wisdom” (Compare with Exodus 36:1–4 “Bezalel and Oholiab”). If indeed Jehovah’s wisdom flows from the biblical deposit of knowledge, by putting it into practice, there are situations that require this heavenly divine flash of wisdom. Let’s take two examples: Jesus Christ and king Salomon.

In a certain circumstance, king Solomon found himself in a human situation without solution, here is the biblical account: “ At that time two prostitutes came in to the king and stood before him. The first woman said: “Please, my lord, this woman and I live in one house, and I gave birth while she was in the house. On the third day after I gave birth, this woman also gave birth. We were together, just the two of us; there was no one else with us in the house. During the night this woman’s son died, because she lay on him. So she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while your slave girl was asleep and laid him in her arms, and she laid her dead son in my arms. When I got up in the morning to nurse my son, I saw that he was dead. So I examined him closely in the morning and saw that it was not my son whom I had given birth to.” But the other woman said: “No, my son is the living one, and your son is the dead one!” But the first woman was saying: “No, your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one.” That is how they argued before the king. Finally the king said: “This one says, ‘This is my son, the living one, and your son is the dead one!’ and that one says, ‘No, your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one!’” The king said: “Bring me a sword.” So they brought a sword to the king. The king then said: “Cut the living child in two, and give half to one woman and half to the other.” At once the woman whose son was the living one pleaded with the king, for her compassions were stirred toward her son. She said: “Please, my lord! You should give her the living child! By no means put him to death!” But the other woman was saying: “He will be neither mine nor yours! Let them cut him in two!” At that the king answered: “Give the living child to the first woman! By no means put him to death, for she is his mother.” So all Israel heard about the judgment that the king had handed down, and they were in awe of the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was with him to execute justice” (1 Kings 3:16–28).

This narrative and its conclusion, are the demonstration that the wisdom of God is not only the putting into practice of the biblical knowledge, but it has also a spiritual heavenly dimension, like a divine lightning, without knowing how, Jehovah God gives the miraculous solution, that no human on earth would have thought. This wisdom is not the result of a long career as a judge with a long history of judicial deliberations. Thanks to divine wisdom of God, the young king Solomon, in a flash, knew what decision to take to deliberate between these two women. This miraculous wisdom of this judicial decision, inspired by a completely heavenly wisdom, has plunged an entire nation of several millions of inhabitants into a reverential fear of this king. And we talk about it thousands of years later.

It is also interesting to note that when Jehovah gives a gift of wisdom to a human, as long as he remains faithful to Him, he does not take this gift from him, it is permanent. Thus, in this specific case, beyond the spectacular judicial decision of Solomon, God continued to give him this wisdom in abundance, in the continuation of his reign: “And God continued giving Solʹo·mon wisdom and understanding in very great measure and a broadness of heart, like the sand that is upon the seashore. And Solʹo·mon’s wisdom was vaster than the wisdom of all the Orientals and than all the wisdom of Egypt. And he was wiser than any other man, than Eʹthan the Ezʹra·hite and Heʹman and Calʹcol and Darʹda the sons of Maʹhol; and his fame came to be in all the nations all around. And he could speak three thousand proverbs, and his songs came to be a thousand and five. And he would speak about the trees, from the cedar that is in Lebʹa·non to the hyssop that is coming forth on the wall; and he would speak about the beasts and about the flying creatures and about the moving things and about the fishes. And they kept coming from all the peoples to hear Solʹo·mon’s wisdom, even from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom” (1 Kings 4:29–34). When Jehovah gives wisdom, he gives it abundantly and permanently.

Jesus Christ, on earth, had a power of wisdom directly divine and not always directly connected with the written deposit of the Bible, here is an example: “The scribes and the chief priests then sought to get their hands on him in that very hour, but they feared the people, for they realized that he told this illustration with them in mind. And after observing him closely, they sent men whom they had secretly hired to pretend that they were righteous in order to catch him in his speech, so as to turn him over to the government and to the authority of the governor. And they questioned him, saying: “Teacher, we know you speak and teach correctly and show no partiality, but you teach the way of God in line with truth: Is it lawful for us to pay head tax to Caesar or not?” But he detected their cunning and said to them: “Show me a de·narʹi·us. Whose image and inscription does it have?” They said: “Caesar’s.” He said to them: “By all means, then, pay back Caesar’s things to Caesar but God’s things to God.” Well, they were not able to trap him in his speech before the people, but amazed at his answer, they became silent” (Luke 20:19–26).

Christ’s answer came directly from the heavenly wisdom of which his Father had endowed him. There are many other examples that show that the wisdom of God is a gift that is not systematically in connection with the knowledge and the understanding of the Holy Scriptures. Moreover, in a certain circumstance Jesus Christ said to his disciples: “And when they are taking you to hand you over, do not be anxious beforehand about what to say; but whatever is given you in that hour, say this, for you are not the ones speaking, but the holy spirit is” (Mark 13:11). The active force of God, the Holy Spirit, was to be the energy of divine wisdom power for the disciples.

Therefore, if we want to acquire wisdom, we must ask for it by prayer and put into practice in our life, the Word of God the Bible: “But his delight is in the law of Jehovah, And he reads His law in an undertone day and night. He will be like a tree planted by streams of water, A tree that produces fruit in its season, The foliage of which does not wither. And everything he does will succeed” (Psalms 1:2,3).

THE SPIRITUAL MAN (Existential meditation on the biblical book of Ecclesiastes):

English: http://www.yomelyah.com/435966902

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The Promise of God. The complete explanation of Genesis 3:15.

English: http://www.yomelyah.com/439659476

Portuguese: http://www.yomelias.com/435612656

Spanish: http://www.yomeliah.com/441564813

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Catalan: http://www.yomeliah.com/441436117

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