Bible Synapse
Should we follow our own hearts and eyes, or not?
Hard question · Psalms, wisdom and the prophets · raised by 1 of the lists sceptics circulate
See the passages joined in the interactive mapThe passages
“Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth”, and “walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.”
Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.
Israel is to wear tassels to “remember all the commandments of the Lord, and do them; and that ye seek not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go a whoring”.
Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of the borders a ribband of blue: And it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the Lord, and do them; and that ye seek not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go a whoring: That ye may remember, and do all my commandments, and be holy unto your God.
“He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered.”
He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered.
The objection
Ecclesiastes tells the young man to “walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes”. But the law of Moses tells Israel to “seek not after your own heart and your own eyes”, and Proverbs says that whoever trusts his own heart is a fool. Should we follow our hearts and eyes or not?
The answer
The verse in Ecclesiastes carries its own limit, in the same sentence: “but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment” (11:9). The Preacher is not telling the young to do whatever they like. He is telling them to enjoy the good gifts of youth gladly, as gifts that must be answered for to God. The next lines go on in the same vein: “put away evil from thy flesh” (11:10) and “Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth” (12:1). The whole book ends: “Fear God, and keep his commandments” (12:13). Barnes’ Notes takes ‘the ways of thine heart’ here in an innocent sense, as in 2:10, where the Preacher says “my heart rejoiced in all my labour”.
Numbers 15:39 speaks of something else: following the heart and eyes against God’s commands. The tassels were to remind Israel to “remember all the commandments of the Lord, and do them”, and the desires they warn against are the ones “after which ye use to go a whoring”, the old picture of unfaithfulness to God, chiefly in idolatry. Proverbs 28:26 likewise condemns trusting one’s own heart in place of God’s wisdom: the contrast is “whoso walketh wisely”. So the passages agree. Enjoy life with a glad heart within God’s will, knowing that you will give account; do not let the heart’s desires overrule his commands.
Other answers Christians give
A warning in the form of permission
Some Jewish and Christian interpreters, among them Rashi and Ibn Ezra, read Ecclesiastes 11:9 as irony: ‘go your own way, then, but remember the judgement’, much as Micaiah told King Ahab, “Go, and prosper” (1 Kings 22:15). Gill says that most interpreters of his day took it so. On this reading the verse is itself a warning, and it agrees with Numbers and Proverbs even more plainly.
From the classic commentators
Ginsburg, Hengstenberg, and Zockler deem it an injunction to enjoy cheerfully the blessings of life, and, at the same time, to bear in mind man's accountability to the Giver of every good and perfect gift.J. W. Haley, Alleged Discrepancies (1874), p. 250