Comparing The Book Of Proverbs And Ecclesiastes

Philosophers are known to question, analyze and evaluate everything but do not always end with concrete conclusions. Plato’s Euthyphro and Apology, to no surprise, highlight one of such debate: the human characteristics of wisdom. Though Plato was one of the earliest philosophers, the topic of wisdom is still debated by modern philosophers today, contemplating questions such as “What are the classifications of ‘wisdom’?” According to Plato’s two dialogues, the characteristics of wisdom have a strong correlation with the characteristics of “being a good person”. This concept highlights the values of virtue and selflessness and at the same time juxtapose views on virtue while taking into account the different forms of rationality. In this paper, I will highlight how Plato uses his two dialogues to enforce his own opinion about the relationship between being wise and being a good person, and evaluate the inconsistencies within this claim.

Additionally, Qoheleth’s message in the book of Ecclesiastes can be simply summarized as life is hard and humankind will never understand the fulfillment of life regardless of where they chose to seek happiness whether it is in work, pleasure, wisdom, wealth, and status (Longman, 2009). Moreover, the author is portraying humankind does not have a chance to understand the vanities of life before their death (Longman, 2009). Next, as we continue to understand the word vanity within the book of Ecclesiastes, many Christians interpret Qoheleth’s emphasis on vanity or meaninglessness as a conclusion about a life without a God (Ortlund, 2013). Thus, Qoheleth’s usage of the word vanity is synonymous with how he portrays life as under the sun and human accomplishment; therefore, no matter how hard we work the impact of lives dies with us in our grave (Ortlund,

The Epistles talk about wisdom in other ways too. In the letters to the Corinthians we lean much about wisdom and knowledge. They say the wisdom of God is a mystery. It being so great that man cannot understand the amount. It tells us to be wise in the knowledge of God's word because Satan will take advantage of our ignorance of his ways. If a foolish

1. Why does the author advise us to listen to wise people? From Proverbs 22: 17-18, the author advises us to listen to wise people because, sometimes we do not have all the answers to either simple or challenging situations we might face. Moreover, the benefit of listening to wise people sometimes outweigh the consequences. For example, listening to wise people is a benefit by the means of understanding that there is individuals who probably faced similar situations, in which you faced and wise people are often more willing to provide individuals with advice and/or guidance.

Chaerephon went to the delphicorecal(a place where you went to talk to God/Apollo), and asked God “Who is the wisest?” God answered back “Socrates.” Chaerephon ran to Socrates and told him the news, but Socrates didn't want to believe him. He didn't want to doubt God, but surely there was someone wiser than he. In order to prove it he began spending all of his time questioning all of the people thought to be the “wisest.”

In interviewing all these people, he came to the conclusion that none were wise, and that the greater the reputation they had for being wise, the less wise they were. He believed this because there were many things that these people did not know, yet thought they knew. He realized that he was wiser than they because he knew that he did not know them. His examinations caused many people to dislike him and be hostile towards him, because as he proved other people unwise, they thought that he was saying that he was wise. For this reason, he believes it is his divine duty to teach all who think that they are wise but are not, that they are not.

Proverbs 14:8 The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way: but the folly of fools is deceit.

In order to do this, he goes about Athens questioning those he believes to be wiser than him, including politicians, poets, and craftsmen. Upon this questioning, he discovers that even those perceived as the wisest actually know far less than one would expect. Even the craftsmen, who have much practical wisdom in their respective fields, see their success as merely a tribute to their vast knowledge of many subjects. This, Socrates claims, is not true wisdom. Human wisdom can be described as the acknowledgement and acceptance that one does not know everything, nor is one capable of knowing everything. This, however, does not mean that people should sit idly by, never pursuing wisdom, for it is still vital to the attainment of a good life, which should be the ultimate goal of mankind.

The book of Proverbs is a collection of proverbs, poems, and parables written by King Solomon in efforts to teach wisdom to God’s people. Although I would not deem myself to be an extremely religious person, I believe I identify with with Proverbs the most because whether you are religious or not this book of biblical wisdom teaches many moral lessons that can be applied for a better life and connect with many contemporary issues. This is important on a grander scale as well because as many people of my generation see the Bible as something that should only be read and applied to your life if you believe in God, but these verses reveal that they can used to teach you how to live a good life in this day of age regardless of religious background by looking at the Bible as a literary source instead of solely just a religious one.

In Ecclesiastes, the Teacher believes that wisdom is as meaningless as everything else in the end while in Agamemnon, it is because of wisdom that Cassandra was able to walk to her death with dignity. The Teacher continually reminds his audience that wisdom is meaningless because everyone dies, regardless of how wise or foolish they are. The Teacher understands that wisdom can be used in everyday life but he does not believe that it can do anything to protect you for “like the fool, the wise man too must die!" (2:16).

Furthermore, to have wisdom and knowledge, righteousness allows one to opt for what is right or wrong. The act of being morally aware shapes an individual's character for the future. Therefore, having wisdom is all about having righteousness. To begin with, righteousness is a decision made individually of principles, without being influenced by outsiders. When Socrates comments about his sentencing, he says, "The difficulty, my friends, is not in avoiding death, but in avoiding unrighteousness; for that runs faster than death."

know how to handle it we can always pray to God for help, instead of

The two words, wisdom, and folly are inseparable; they cannot be away from each other. Folly is the act of having the knowledge of the benefits of making a good choice, but rather choosing the wrong or foolish decision. Diligence is the act of being aware of something. Therefore, one who often postpones activities and comes up with excuses is lazy (Hindson & Yates, 2012). The Hebrew wisdom books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Songs of Songs, and Psalms covers teachings on diligence, folly, wisdom, and laziness. Proverbs explains the differences between wisdom and folly as well as diligence and laziness clearly.

“For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength. Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, in order that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 1:25-31

Ecclesiastes 2:1-26 says that pleasures and wisdom are meaningless, because everything is meaningless without Christ in our lives. Solomon tried to pursue fulfillment through pleasure, wealth, and fame. He was letting his own interests control him, not doing what God has planned for him. Using only our human wisdom wouldn’t get us far in life; we would only come across more obstacles that we can’t overcome on our own. Without God’s guidance and wisdom, we would live an interest-centered life that only fulfills our personal interests, unlike a Christ-centered life. In a Christ-centered life, we put our faith in God and trust that He knows what is best for us, and therefore do everything according to His plan. Solomon felt that pleasure, wisdom, folly, foil, and everything is meaningless because he didn’t put God first. He put his interests first and could only fulfill his As he attempted to draw satisfaction purely out of his pleasure, he realized that without God nothing can be fulfilled, and experienced many obstacles on his way.