Ecclesiastes 8:1

Who is as the wise [man]?.... Who is as the first man, that was made upright, and was a wise man? not one of his sons. Or who is as the wise man, meaning himself?

Who is as the wise man? and who knoweth the interpretation of a thing? a man's wisdom maketh his face to shine, and the boldness of his face shall be changed. Who is the wise men?

CHAPTER 8 Kings to be greatly respected, . Our times uncertain; death not to be resisted, . An evil magistrate buried and forgot, ,10. Men hardened in sin, because not presently punished; but they shall not escape, but it shall go ill with them, ; as it doth also sometimes with the righteous, whilst the wicked prosper, . Mirth therefore, and a contented enjoyment of God’ s gifts, preferable to immoderate care and search, . God’ s work herein past finding out, ,17. Who is as the wise man? who is to be compared with a wise man? He is incomparably the most excellent man in the world. Or rather, who is truly wise? the particle as being here not a note of similitude, but of reality, as it is , and in many other places, as hath been noted. There are very few or no truly wise men in this world. This seems best to agree with the next clause, which is not, who is as he that knoweth, but who knoweth, &c. Who knoweth the interpretation of a thing? how few are there who understand the reasons of things, and can rightly expound the word and works of God, and instruct and satisfy himself and others in all the doubtful and difficult cases of human actions! A man’ s wisdom maketh his face to shine; maketh a man illustrious and venerable, cheerful, and mild, and amiable in his carriage to others. The face is put for the mind or inward frame, because the mind discovers itself in the countenance. The boldness of his face; the roughness or fierceness, the pride or impudence of his disposition, as this phrase is used, 21:29 ; shall be changed into gentleness and humility.

Ecclesiastes 8:1 Who [is] as the wise [man]? and who knoweth the interpretation of a thing? a man’ s wisdom maketh his face to shine, and the boldness of his face shall be changed.Ver. 1. Who is as the wise man?] q.d., He is a matchless man, a peerless paragon, outshining others as much as the moon doth the lesser stars. Plato could say that no gold or precious stone doth glister so gloriously, ωσπεραγαθωνανδρωννοοςσυμφραδμων, as the prudent spirit of a good man. "Thou art a prince of God amongst us," said the Hittites to Abraham. "Can we find such a man as this Joseph, in whom the Spirit of God is?" said Pharaoh to his counsellors. "Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth?" "My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all my house," and shall be of my cabinet council. To him God said, Tu vero hic sta mecum, "But do thou stand here by me." Sapiens Dei comes est, saith Philo. Look how kings have their favourites, whom they call comites, their cousins and companions; so hath God. Nay, the righteous are "princes in all lands," kings in righteousness; the "excellent ones of the earth," the worthies of the world, fitter to be set as stars in heaven, and to be continually before the throne of God. Chrysostom calls some holy men of his time, αγγελους, earthly angels; and speaking of Babylac the martyr, he saith of him, Magnus atque admirabilis vir, He was an excellent and an admirable man, &c. And Tertullian, writing to some of the martyrs, says, Non tantus sum ut vos alloquar, I am not good enough to speak unto you. Oh that my life, and a thousand such wretches more, might go for yours! Oh, why doth God suffer me and other such caterpillars to live, saith John Careless, martyr, in a letter to that angel of God, Mr Bradford, as Dr Taylor called him, that can do nothing but consume the alms of the Church, and take away you, so worthy a workman and labourer in the Lord’ s vineyard. And who knoweth the interpretation of a thing?] Wise a man may be, and yet not so apt and able to wise others. Those wise ones that can wise others, so as to "turn them to righteousness, shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, yea, as the stars"; they do so while upon earth. Wisdom makes their very faces to shine, as St Stephen’ s did, and as holy Job’ s, while he was in a prosperous condition. Jobab he was then (the same, some think, that is mentioned Genesis 36:33), as when in distress his name was contracted into Job.

VIII. (1) This verse in praise of wisdom can be connected either with what precedes or what follows. (See Hosea 14:9.) Interpretation.—The word occurs elsewhere in the Chaldee parts of Daniel. Boldness.—Impudence is removed from the countenance. See Proverbs 7:13; Proverbs 21:29; Sir 13:25.

CHAPTER VIII A man's wisdom makes his face shine, 1. Kings are to be greatly respected, 2-4. Of him who keeps the commandment; of the misery of man; of the certainty of death, 5-8. Of him that rules another to his own hurt, 9. The end of the wicked, 10. God's longsuffering, 11, 12. It shall be ill with wicked men, 13. Strange events in the course of Providence, 14, 15. God's works cannot be found out, 16, 17. NOTES ON CHAP. VIII Verse 1. Who knoweth the interpretation] פשר pesher, a pure Chaldee word, found nowhere else in the Bible but in the Chaldee parts of Daniel. "A man's wisdom maketh his face to shine." Every state of the heart shines through the countenance; but there is such an evidence of the contented, happy, pure, benevolent state of the soul in the face of a truly pious man, that it must be observed, and cannot be mistaken. In the Hebrew the former clause of this verse ends the preceding chapter. Who has ever been deceived in the appearance of the face that belonged to a savage heart? Those who represent, by painting or otherwise, a wise man, with a gravely sour face, striking awe and forbidding approach, have either mistaken the man, or are unacquainted with some essential principles of their art. The boldness of his face shall be changed.] Instead of ישנא yeshunne, which signifies shall be hated, many of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS. have ישנה yeshunneh, shall be changed or doubled. Hence the verse might be read, "The wisdom of a man shall illuminate his face; and the strength of his countenance shall be doubled." He shall speak with full confidence and conviction on a subject which he perfectly understands, and all will feel the weight of his observations.

1. Who is as the wise man?] The question comes in abruptly as from a teacher who calls the attention of his scholars to things that are φωνήεντασυνέτοισιν (“significant to those who understand”) and remind us of the “He that hath ears to hear let him hear” in our Lord’s teaching (Matthew 11:15; Matthew 13:9; Mark 4:9). Something there was in what he is about to add, to be read between the lines. It required a α man to “know the interpretation” (the noun is Chaldaean and is found, with a slight variation, as the prominent word in Daniel 4:5; Daniel 4:7) of the “thing” or better, “of the word.” We find the probable explanation of this suggestive question in the fact that the writer veils a protest against despotism in the garb of the maxims of servility. a man’s wisdom maketh his face to shine] Literally, illuminates his face. The word paints with a wonderful vividness the almost trans-figuring effect of the “sweetness and light” of a serene wisdom, or of the joy that brightens a man’s countenance when he utters his Eureka over the solution of a long-pondered problem. the boldness of his face shall be changed] Literally, the strength of face, i.e. its sternness. The words have been very variously translated, (1) as in the LXX. “his shameless face shall be hated,” (2) as by Ewald “the brightness of his countenance shall be doubled.” There is no ground, however, for rejecting the Authorised Version. The “boldness of the face” is, as in the “fierce countenance” of Deuteronomy 28:50; Daniel 8:23, the “impudent face” of Proverbs 7:13, the coarse ferocity of ignorance, and this is transformed by culture. The maxim is like that of the familiar lines of Ovid, “Adde quod ingenuas didicisse fideliter artes,Emollit mores nec sinit esse feros.”“To learn in truth the nobler arts of life,Makes manners gentle, rescues them from strife.”Epp. ex Ponto ii. 9. 47.

And who - Rather, and as he who knoweth. The possessor of wisdom excels other people: it imparts serenity to his countenance, and removes the expression of gloom or fierceness (see the marginal reference).

1. Who… the wise — Wisdom makes a man superior to other men. Whatever may be the wise man’s condition, he is by virtue of his character a nobleman in his own right.