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Don`t be overly righteous, neither make yourself overly wise. Why should you destroy yourself?
Verse Takeaways
1
Avoid Performative Piety
Commentators are unanimous that this verse is not a warning against genuine holiness, but against a showy, self-righteous piety. Scholars describe this as avoiding 'morbid scrupulosity' and 'over-rigorism.' It cautions against being so legalistic, censorious of others, or focused on external acts (like extreme fasting) that you become conceited and judgmental, which is a distortion of true righteousness.
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Book Overview
Ecclesiastes
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4
18th Century
Presbyterian
The days of my vanity - This does not imply that those days of vanity were ended (see Ecclesiastes 1:12 note).
The meaning may be bes…
19th Century
Anglican
Righteous over much– The caution is against morbid scrupulosity and over-rigorism. We may illustrate by the case of the Jews, who …
17th Century
Reformed Baptist
Be not righteous over much
This is not meant of true and real righteousness, even moral righteousness; a man canno…
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Wisdom is as good as an inheritance, indeed better. It shelters from the storms and scorching heat of trouble. Wealth will not prolong the natural …
