God's book is a wonderful book. It is a concentrated essence of divine and human wisdom. A little goes a long way. It only needs to be mixed with devout meditation to reap the full benefit of any little we take.'' Mine eyes prevent the night watches, that I might meditate in Thy Word " (Ps. 119 :148), said the Psalmist of old; and, " Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all" (i Tim. 4:15), was the advice of Paul the aged to the youthful Timothy. In this chapter before us (Eccles. 9 :13-18) we have a miniature picture of human wisdom, penciled in such a way as to enable us to see Him who is "the wisdom of God," as well as "the power of God " (i Cor. i:24), but penciled in such a manner as to leave the unfilled outline ready for us to fill in when we have found the poor wise man, and learned to spell in the depth of our moral being that mystic name, JESUS.

A little city, with few inhabitants, and a great king with a besieging army investing it, leaving no way of escape, so that either fight or flight is impossible. Then a poor wise man is found in it- probably unnoticed and unknown before; and he, by his wisdom, does what all of them put together could not do, either by strength or strategy-he delivered the city. Such is the picture. How he managed it we are not told. How he was treated after it we are not allowed to forget; for it is recorded, to the everlasting shame of that city, that '' no man remembered that same poor man." Alas!

One thing we cannot help seeing, however-the poor man loved the people among whom he dwelt. He realized their danger, and set himself to deliver them. He could not buy that deliverance, for he was poor; but his wisdom devised a way to effect it, and "he delivered the city." Love guided by wisdom can do wonders; and it did it there, for it delivered them. As I have already said, we are not told how he did it; but the outline is sketched in such a way that we can fill in the how when we have found out who the poor wise man is, that was found in that "city of destruction," and the love that brought him in to get us out.

Now turn to 2 Samuel, chapter 20.There we get another picture, penciled with more detail, of a similar nature to this. This time it is "a wise woman." Another city is besieged, and the army is battering down the walls to reach the man who has dared to "lift up his hand against the king" (ver. 21). The city is in danger, but it is only one man they seek to reach:they want the offender; the rebel must die. And the city that shelters a rebel must suffer the rebel's fate, or show their loyalty and give him up.

The question is, Can that fate be averted and the city saved ? Surely it can ; and the wise woman finds out the way. As soon as she knows the reason for the siege, she at once meets the difficulty by taking off the offender's head and throwing it over the wall to the besiegers. It was a swift way of ending their danger, and "short shrift" for him who was the cause of it; but it was effectual. There was no love seen, however, in that act. It was cold, hard, unbending righteousness, though wise and needful if the city was to be saved.

It was a serious matter to lift up the hand against the king! How much worse-infinitely worse-to set oneself against God. It might have been possible to escape the king's wrath, but it is utterly impossible to escape God's wrath, by either human wisdom or strength. Like the rebel Sheba the son of Bichri, shut in and surrounded in the city of Abel; so sinful men, guilty and rebellious, are hemmed in on every side in this doomed world. There is no escape from "the King of Terrors"-no breaking through that cordon-no bribing that officer, nor release from meeting that appointment (Heb. 9:27) which brings the sinner face to face with an insulted God and eternal judgment.

How easy would it have been for God to act in righteousness and sweep the guilty rebel, man, from off the scene! He did it once before, and saved only a few in the ark. He could easily do so again, and save none. Ah, but He would not be God if He did that! There would be no love in that, and God is a God of love, as well as a holy and a righteous God. There was no love seen in throwing Sheba's head over the wall, however wise and righteous it may have been. It is only Divine wisdom that can devise means to combine both love and righteousness, and save the guilty rebel. Blessed be God, He has done that! The glorious gospel of the blessed God declares to us how He has done it. He has displayed Himself in the activities of His grace towards poor, guilty sinners, and now '' grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom. 5:21).

As I before remarked, we are not told how the poor wise man delivered the city; but when we have found Him, we soon find out how He did it. And who can answer to such a character and description but "the man Christ Jesus, God over all, blessed for ever"-"the Son of Man," yet God's Son, "made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons" (Gal. 4:4, 5); who, "though He was rich, yet for our sakes became poor, that we through His poverty might become rich":so poor that while foxes had holes, and birds of the air had their nests, "the Son of Man had not where to lay His head." What deep, deep poverty was His !

But He was wise, if poor; and the officers sent to take Him said, " Never man spake like this Man."
And "they wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth " (Luke 4). He was led as a lamb to the slaughter; and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so opened He not His mouth." He knew when to be silent, and when to speak. He knew the claims of God, and could meet them all. Is not this then the poor wise man ? Surely it is ! Well may we sing-

"Stricken, smitten, and afflicted,
See Him dying on the tree:
'Tis the Christ, by men rejected;
Yes, my soul, 'tis He, 'tis He."

How came He to be found in that city of destruction ? we might well ask. "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son," is the answer (Jno. 3:16). Wondrous grace indeed! Amazing love! The very God against whom we had sinned provided the substitute to bear the penalty which His righteousness demanded; and that substitute His own beloved Son become man. He was Divine, and could bear the judgment; He was human, and could die. Wonderful, divine and fathomless mystery! Jesus has died, "died for our sins according to the Scriptures " (i Cor. 15:3). " Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends " (John 15:13); but Jesus died for His enemies, for sinners-not His friends.

Is it not wonderful ! Divine love provided the Substitute; divine righteousness meted out the penalty which the Substitute bore; and now that it has all been borne, and God is satisfied, He has raised His Son from among the dead, and taken Him up into glory, and is now proclaiming salvation full and free to any and all who will receive it. "Whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3 :16). This is God's wisdom, to save men by the cross of His Son. He will reject and judge every man who refuses His Son. Men must agree with God as to the person and value of the work of His beloved Son.

When Joseph interpreted the butler's dream in the prison in Egypt, he said to him, "Think on me when it shall be well with thee"; but the butler "forgot him" (Gen. 40). How sad and how ungrateful and like the men of the city who forgot the poor wise man, though they enjoyed his deliverance! Jesus has made it "well," and well forever, for all who believe, and His loving request is, "Do this in remembrance of Me" (i Cor. 11). Shall we be ungrateful, unthankful, and forgetful ? Rather let us feel, and say, and act it out in our lives, for

"Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands our soul, our life, our all."

Wm. Easton