Category: Ecclesiastes

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Day 171 — Ecclesiastes 11-12 & II Chronicles 9

Were you impressed with much of what you heard in Ecclesiastes? “Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where it falls, there it will lie.” If you take that statement at face value, it’s ridiculous. (Pa Grape says in an observation more profound than “The Preacher’s”, “Why even bring it up?!”) If there is a deeper meaning to it, he could at least have given us a clue to what it is. That he didn’t, leaves us with nothing more than the face-value option. Even though he repeatedly mentioned how wise he was and called himself the Preacher, I’m not fooled into thinking that his meaning is so profound that I have failed to fathom it.

I believe that one of the reasons this book has been preserved as part of God’s word to us is that its conclusion refers to the best truth man can apprehend: revere God. Man can speak or write many words of his wisdom, even impressive words, but there is no wisdom that matters more than the wisdom that directs us to God. That may be ridiculously simple wisdom, so simple that it is rejected as wisdom, but wisdom doesn’t need to be more profound than that.

How do we reconcile the impressive credentials of Solomon with the mostly rather lame observations of Ecclesiastes? Until Solomon became corrupted by sin, his wisdom was impressive and established his reputation. Some of his insights likely continued to teach and impress others even as he grew more foolish. Likely also, seekers were so impressed with his reputation that they assumed his babblings had some deeper meaning that they couldn’t comprehend. The god of this age blinded the minds of unbelievers even then, and some probably were deceived into thinking that his wisdom was profound because he spoke it with such authority. He spoke truly that there is nothing new under the sun. People get deceived in the same way even today. Let this book be our lesson and reminder to seek God’s wisdom so that we are not foolish.

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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.

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Day 169 — Ecclesiastes 3 – 6

 

Do you hear regret in Solomon’s words? Wise as he was, he made poor choices and paid the price for it. Some people think Ecclesiastes is a book of wisdom so profound that we people of average intelligence can’t fathom its depths, when it is mostly a windbag spouting man’s foolishness-posing-as-wisdom. Again, the key to understanding the book is to see most of it for the foolishness it is. The wisest man in the world could not make man’s wisdom truly wise, and is exposed as a fool to exercise man’s wisdom instead of the wisdom of God. Just because the author hits the nail on the head with a few obvious observations doesn’t make his ideas wise. So why is this book part of God’s word? One reason is that it does remind us of man’s need for Messiah’s transforming power. We’ll cover more possible reasons in the next two days.

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Day 168 — Proverbs 31 & Ecclesiastes 1 – 2

Who is King Lemuel? We don’t know, but scholars generally agree that the writer is most likely Solomon, and he is referring to himself by another name as he did in his introduction to Ecclesiastes.

Proverbs 31 is generally remembered for its description of the characteristics of a desirable wife, but there are other profound ideas in this chapter. For example, when he advises the reader to speak up for the mute, we don’t have to take that as someone who is literally mute, but can include anyone who is unheard because they are devalued as so insignificant as to have no voice. Do you know of someone like that on whose behalf you should speak?

A lot of what made the wife of Solomon’s day an asset to her husband is not valued by husbands today. But think about what each statement said about the woman of that day, and how that could meaningfully translate into the activities of modern women. For example, the image of merchant ships conveys that she is enterprising in finding sources for what she needs. Her household doesn’t go without because something it needs isn’t readily available; rather, she finds a way to provide and perhaps add value to the family finances in doing so. The image of a lamp that doesn’t go out at night doesn’t mean that she works all night. Rather, in a day when lights weren’t turned on with a switch, they needed a source of ignition for the oil they burned in their lamps if the lamp went out. The most efficient and effective way to take care of that need was to keep a small lamp burning as an ignition source. So the image conveys one who takes care of the needs of her areas of responsibility and isn’t negligent.

Ecclesiastes is a book that requires much care in understanding. These ideas are the musings of the best wisdom man has to offer – but it is still man’s wisdom. What does the best of man’s wisdom offer? Meaninglessness. If you isolate the ideas in this book from their context, you will likely misunderstand them. People who want to discredit Scripture often quote passages from Ecclesiastes out of context.

Solomon had the resources to live at the peak of human experience in virtually every pleasure in which man can indulge. He indulged himself to the extreme and yet found nothing in his indulgences to satisfy. If any man could possibly find meaning and true satisfaction in anything this world has to offer, it would be Solomon with his endless resources. Yet he found no meaning, for sin and its effects have robbed human experience of satisfaction. Messiah is all over this book by His very absence. Without His redeeming work, nothing in this life has meaning or lasting satisfaction because the ultimate effect of sin has robbed our every effort of lasting value. How desperate our need for a rescuer from death is demonstrated in the writings of this man who was in a position to know.