Rare coins are an intrigue, aren’t they? The Australian 1930 Penny is highly sort after, and sells for more than just a ‘pretty penny’. Further down, but in the queue, is the 1966 “20 cent wavy” – a coin that has a slightly curved upper edge on the horizontal line of the “2”. It’s not an error, but a unique feature of the mint where it was produced; and now being a rarity, can fetch up to at least $500 for an ordinary specimen. But that’s where the value lies. In rarity.

Which is what the writer of Ecclesiastes laments in the field of human conduct. “Look,” says the Teacher, “Adding one thing to another to discover the scheme of things – while I was still searching but not finding – I found one upright man among a thousand, but not one upright woman among them all. This only have I found: God created mankind upright, but they have gone in search of many schemes.”

I don’t think we’re to read the text misogynistically, with all the sensitivities of modern ears. But rather humbly. The author is being poetic, and is lamenting the state of the human heart. What a rarity, he says, to find a person of integrity, male or female. Unfortunately, the statement can stand. But can also, if we can accept it, lead us to the One who was perfectly upright in heart, and in whom there is salvation. But that is just my twenty-cents worth.