Ecclesiastes 7:16

Be not righteous over much,.... This is not meant of true and real righteousness, even moral righteousness, a man cannot be too holy or too righteous; but of a show and ostentation of righteousness,

Be not righteous over much; neither make thyself over wise: why shouldest thou destroy thyself?

This verse and the next have a manifest reference to , being two inferences drawn from the two clauses of the observation there recorded. And this verse was delivered by Solomon, either, 1. In the name and person of an ungodly man, who taketh occasion to dissuade men from the practice of righteousness and true wisdom, because of the danger which attends it, and is expressed in the middle of the former, and the end of this verse. Therefore, saith he, it is not good to be more nice than wise, take heed of strictness, zeal, and forwardness in religion. And then the next verse contains an antidote to this poisonous suggestion; yea, rather, saith he, be not wicked or foolish over-much; for that will not preserve thee, as thou mayst imagine from the last clause of , but will occasion and hasten thy ruin. But seeing these words are very capable of another sense, and there is no proof or evidence of this sense in them, as there is in all other places where Solomon speaks in the person of an epicure, this interpretation may seem to be dangerous, and liable to misconstruction. Or, 2. In his own person. And so these words are a caution to prevent, as far as may be, that destruction which oft attends upon righteous men, as was observed, . Be not righteous over-much; either, 1. By being too severe in observing, censuring, and punishing the faults of others beyond the rules of equity, without giving any allowance for human infirmity, extraordinary temptations, the state of times, and other circumstances. Or, 2. By being more just than God requires, either laying those yokes and burdens upon a man’ s self or others which God hath not imposed upon him, and which are too heavy for him, of which see on , or condemning or avoiding those things as sinful which God hath not forbidden, which really is superstition, but is here called righteousness abusively, because it is so in appearance, and in the opinion of such persons. So he gives them the name, but by adding over-much, denies the thing, because righteousness, as well as other virtues, avoids both the extremes, the excess as well as the deficit. Or, 3. By an imprudent and unseasonable ostentation or exercise of righteousness where it is not necessary, as if a protestant travelling in a popish country should publicly profess his religion to all whom he meets with, or when a man casts the pearl of reproof before swine, against that caution, . So this is a precept that men should manage their zeal with godly wisdom, and with condescension to others, as far as may be. But this is not to be understood, either, 1. Of such prudence as keeps a man from the practice of his duty, but only of that prudence which directs him in ordering the time, manner, and other circumstances of it. Or, 2.

Ecclesiastes 7:16 Be not righteous over much; neither make thyself over wise: why shouldest thou destroy thyself?Ver. 16. Be not righteous over much, neither make, &c.] Virtue consists in a mediocrity. Omne quod est nimium vertitur in vitium. A rigid severity may mar all. "Let your moderation, τοετιεκες, be known to all men"; prefer equity before extremity: utmost right may be utmost wrong. He is righteous over much that will remit nothing of his right, but exercise great censures for light offences; this is, as one said, to kill a fly upon a man’ s forehead with a beetle. Justice, if not mixed with mercy, degenerates into cruelty. Again, he is righteous more than is meet that maketh sins where God hath made none, as those superstitiostdi of old, and the Papists to this day do with their "Touch not, taste not, handle not: which things have indeed a show of wisdom in will worship," &c. Will worshippers are usually over wise, i.e., overweening, and also too well conceited of their own wisdom and worth. Hence it is that they cannot do, but they must overdo, till "wearied in the greatness of their way," they see and say that it had been best to have held the king’ s highway, chalked out unto them by the "royal law," that "perfect law of liberty." Via regis temperata est, nec plus in se habens, nec minus; the middle way is the way of God, neither having too much, nor yet too little. True it is, saith the heathen orator, that nemo pius est qui pistatem caret, no man is godly, that is afraid of being so. But then it is no less true, and the same author speaks it, Modum esse religionis, nimium esse superstitiosum non oportere; that there is a reason in being religious, and that men must see they be not superstitious. Solomon saith, that he that wrings his nose overhard, brings blood out of it. Pliny saith, he that tills his land too much, doth it to his loss. Apelles said those painters were to blame, qui non sentirent quid esset satis, that could not see when they had done sufficient. It is reported of the river Nile, that if it either exceed or be defective in its due overflowings of the land of Egypt, it causeth famine. The planet Jupiter, situated between cold Saturn and hot Mars, Ex utroque temperatus est, et saluteris, saith Pliny, partakes of both, and is benign and wholesome to the sublunary creatures. Est modus in rebus. Quisquis plus iusto non sapit, ille sapit. - Mart. Hieron. in cap. 57 Isa. Cic. 2, de Finib. Cic. pro Dom. sua. Nihil minus expedit, quam agrum optime colere. - Plin. Cic. de Orat. Jul. Polyb. c. 45. Lib. ii. c. 8.

(16) Righteous over – much.—The caution is against morbid scrupulosity and over-rigorism. We may illustrate by the case of the Jews, who refused to defend themselves against their enemies on the Sabbath day. The next verse is a necessary corrective to this: “Yet be cautious how thou disregardest the restraints of Law.”

Verse 16. Why shouldest thou destroy thyself?] תשומם tishshomem, make thyself desolate, so that thou shalt be obliged to stand alone; neither make thyself over-wise, תתחכם tithchaccam, do not pretend to abundance of wisdom. Why shouldest thou be so singular? In other words, and in modern language, "There is no need of all this watching, fasting, praying, self-denial, &c., you carry things to extremes. Why should you wish to be reputed singular and precise?" To this the man of God answers:

16. Be not righteous over much] Here again we have a distinct reproduction of one of the current maxims of Greek thought, Μηδὲνἀγὰν (Ne quid nimis—Nothing in excess) of Theognis 402, and of Chilon (Diog. Laert. i. 1, § 41). Even in that which is in itself good, virtue lies, as Aristotle had taught (Eth. Nicom. ii. 6. 7), in a mean between opposite extremes. Popular language has embodied the thought in the proverb, Summum jus, summa injuria. Even in the other sense of “righteousness,” as meaning personal integrity, personal religion, there might be, as in the ideal of the Pharisees and Essenes and Stoics, the “vaulting ambition” that o’erleaps itself.” And “what was true of righteousness was true also of speculative philosophy. The wisdom that will not be content to rest in ignorance of the unknowable is indeed unwisdom, and “fools rush in where angels fear to tread.” why shouldest thou destroy thyself?] The primary meaning of the verb in the form used here is that of “being amazed, stunned, astonished,” and may have been chosen to express the besotted and bedazed spiritual pride which St Paul paints by the participle “puffed up” (τυφωθεὶς) in 1 Timothy 3:5, and which was but too commonly the accompaniment of fancied excellence in knowledge or in conduct.

16. Be not righteous overmuch — The Hebrew is very deficient in the little words that guide thoughts and make transitions easy, such as, “also,” “therefore,” “moreover,” etc.