Ecclesiastes 7:16-17 Be not righteous over much; neither make yourself over wise: why should you destroy yourself ?… In considering the text we may, I apprehend, at once, with perfect safety, decide what cannot be the true meaning of the inspired writer. It cannot, in the first place, be his design to imply that our feelings of piety and devotion towards God can strike into our hearts with too deep a root, or can press upon us with too close and powerful an influence. In the second place, it cannot be his intention to convey the idea that the sincere endeavour of any human beings to secure the eternal salvation of their souls can be too strong, too constant, or too earnest. Neither, in the third place, can we possibly err, on the side of a faulty excess, in scrupulously endeavouring to discharge all the duties of morality. If we love God, we must keep His commandments. We cannot be too watchful against temptations, too guarded against the seductions of sinful pleasure, too careful to check every intemperate and irregular desire. Neither can we be too anxious to perform our duties towards our fellow-creatures; too kind, beneficent, and merciful, too just or honest in our dealings. It must, therefore, be perfectly clear that, when we are cautioned against "being righteous overmuch," as well as against making ourselves "over-wise," we are cautioned, not against extremes in respect to true righteousness, or true wisdom, but against mistakes in the pursuit of both these excellencies, and false pretensions to them. A person may be said to "make himself over-wise" when he mistakes the ends of true wisdom, or when he follows false wisdom instead of true, or when he pretends to possess it in matters where he is really deficient. And so, in a corresponding sense, he may become "righteous overmuch," when he professes to be more righteous than others, and really is not so, wearing his religion merely on the outside, and not inwardly in the heart; or when he mistakes the means of righteousness for the end; or when, in some manner or other, he follows and exhibits a false kind of righteousness instead of that which the Word of God, rightly understood, prescribes and enjoins. (G. D'Oyly, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Be not righteous over much; neither make thyself over wise: why shouldest thou destroy thyself?WEB: Don't be overly righteous, neither make yourself overly wise. Why should you destroy yourself? |
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