Ecclesiastes 2:14 The wise man's eyes are in his head; but the fool walks in darkness: and I myself perceived also that one event happens to them all. Wisdom possesses the same advantage over folly that sight does over blindness. The man of wisdom, having all his wits about him, in the full possession and the appropriate exercise of all his faculties, "guides his affairs with discretion," looks before him, thinks maturely of what he is doing, and by his knowledge of men and things, is directed to the adoption of plans which promise to be profitable, and to the prudent and successful prosecution of them. He "foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself." He aims at worthy ends, and employs suitable means for their accomplishment. But the fool — the ignorant, and inconsiderate, and improvident man — is continually in danger of stumbling, or of going astray, like a person overtaken by darkness, who "knoweth not whither he goeth." He is ever prone to run blindly and heedlessly into absurd and injurious projects, or to destroy such as are in themselves good, by blundering in the execution of them. The fool's eyes, it is elsewhere said, are "in the ends of the earth," roaming vainly and idly abroad, without serving his present and needful purposes; gazing, as the organs of a vacant mind, on far-off objects, and allowing him to stumble over what is immediately in his way. Without foresight to anticipate probable evils, without even sagacity to avoid such as are present, the fool is in perpetual hazard of iniuring and ruining both himself and all who are so unfortunate as to stand connected with him, or to be exposed to his influence. (R. Wardlaw, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: The wise man's eyes are in his head; but the fool walketh in darkness: and I myself perceived also that one event happeneth to them all. |
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