Day 170 — Ecclesiastes 7 – 10

The pointless meanderings and parallel structures that connect totally unrelated ideas show the damage that sin does to wisdom, even God-given wisdom. The wisdom of “the Preacher” is foolish! I have asked the Holy Spirit to remind each of us of that truth when the world ridicules God’s wisdom and dismisses us as idiots for choosing to believe it. Why should we be deceived or bullied into choosing to believe man’s wisdom, knowing that it is corrupted by sin?

Recall that this book is about man’s foolishness, and don’t be fooled into accepting some of its conclusions as truth. For example, his allusion in verse 7:28 to “one in a thousand men” implies a reference to one who is worthy, virtuous; such a man is rare, but there is no such woman. That is not consistent with Scripture and should be seen for the bitter foolishness of a man who had such a huge harem as Solomon and suffered some unpleasant consequences for it. Another example would be his lack of understanding about what happens to men after death. Although these are stated in Scripture as truth, recall their context and don’t be stumped when someone who wants to discredit God’s word presents them in support of their viewpoint.