Kohelet 10:6

6 Sekhel (folly) is set in great dignity, and the rich sit in low place.

Kohelet 10:6 Meaning and Commentary

Ecclesiastes 10:6

Folly is set in great dignity
Or "in great heights" F17; in high places of honour and truest; even foolish and wicked men; men of poor extraction, of low life, and of mean abilities and capacities; and, which is worse, men vile and vicious, as Doeg the Edomite, Haman the Amalekite, and others; and the rich sit in low places;
men not only of fortune and estates, and above doing mean and little actions, and so more fit for such high places; but men rich in wisdom and knowledge, of large capacities and of great endowments of mind, and so abundantly qualified for posts in the administration of government; and, above all, men rich in grace, fearing God, and hating coveteousness, as rulers ought to be, ( Exodus 18:21 ) ; and yet these sometimes are neglected, live in obscurity, who might otherwise be very useful in public life. The Targum interprets this and the following verse of the Israelites in exile and poverty among the Gentiles for their sins; so Jarchi.


FOOTNOTES:

F17 (Mybr Mymwrmb) (en uqesi megaloiv) , Sept. "in celsitudinibus amplis", Piscator, Amama, Gejerus; "in sublimitatibus amplis", Cocceius; "in altitudinibus magnis", Rambachius; "in great height", Broughton.

Kohelet 10:6 In-Context

4 If the ruach of the moshel rise up against thee, leave not thy mekom; for calmness pacifieth chata’im gedolim.
5 There is a ra’ah which I have seen under the shemesh, the sort of error which proceedeth from a shalit (ruler);
6 Sekhel (folly) is set in great dignity, and the rich sit in low place.
7 I have seen avadim (servants) upon susim, and sarim (princes) walking as avadim upon ha’aretz.
8 He that diggeth a gumatz (pit) shall fall into it; and whoso breaketh through a wall, a nachash shall bite him.
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