Then I said in my heart, “What happens to the fool will happen to me also. Why then have I been so very wise? And I said in my heart that this also is vanity. For of the wise as of the fool there is no enduring remembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How the wise dies just like the fool! So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after wind. (Ecclesiastes 2.15-17). Rejoice, O young man [or woman], in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment (Ecclesiastes 11.9).
In addition to my general daily reading of the Bible, I almost always spend time reading and meditating on the poetic / wisdom literature. I approach these books by reading every day from the Psalms and I combine that with reading progressively through Job, Ecclesiastes and Proverbs. When I finish, I go back and start again. I find these books provide a lens that helps me read and understand the rest of the Bible. Of course, all of Scripture points to Christ and that keeps me in the Gospels. The big questions in life concern origin, destiny, purpose, and the problem of good and evil. And the theme of Solomon’s probing questions in Ecclesiastes regarding the wise and the foolish is woven throughout this book.
The big problem with life is that it comes to an end – generally before you are ready for the final curtain. On the one hand, as a young person you have the potential pleasures of life spread out before you, and there may be little thought about them ever ending. On the other hand, you have little life experience, and your education is in its nascent stage. You are making life-shaping decisions. At this point your choices may seem boundless. The decisions you make will, to one degree or another, shape your life’s course. As you age and continue down life’s path, your options become fewer until you end as you began; someone else is changing your nappies until death finally swallows up whatever remains of you. Why doesn’t the wise man end up in a better place than the fool?
Like the Preacher (Qoheleth) in Ecclesiastes, Job struggles with what seems to be the inconsistency of the unjust (or the fool) prospering and the good and wise suffering. Near the beginning of his book, Job laments, Let the day perish on which I was born, and the night that said, a man is conceived. Let that day be darkness! May God above not seek it, nor light shine upon it. Let gloom and deep darkness claim it. Let clouds dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it. … why did I not die at birth, come out from the womb and expire? (Job 3.1ff). But Job, like Solomon, finds that faith often reaches its greatest expression in the midst of its greatest trials. Again in despair, Job moans his complaint: Surely now God has worn me out; he has made desolate all my company. And he has shriveled me up, which is a witness against me, and my leanness has risen up against me; it testifies to my face. He has torn me in his wrath and hated me (Job 16.6ff). Yet it is in the context of his suffering that he speaks words of hope: There is no arbiter between us, who might lay his hand on us both. Let him take his rod away from me and let not dread of him terrify me. Then I would speak without fear of him, for I am not so in myself (Job 9.33-35). Job’s prescient longing foreshadows the coming of the great intercessor Jesus. It is in the agony of despair that Job’s testimony of faith gives heart to all the saints who suffer: Though he slay me, I will hope in him; yet I will argue my ways to his face. This will be my salvation, that the godless shall not come before him (13.15-16). And again: For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me! (19.25-27).
Think of the similarities between Paul’s suffering for the sake of the gospel (Acts 9.15-16) or Jesus himself when He echoes the prophetic words of the Psalmist (Psalm 22.1). Observe that the Preacher says he hates life – NOT God. All of the comments of the Preacher are uttered from the central thesis: The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man (Ecclesiastes 12.13). As Zack Eswine observes, “Over thirty times in these twelve chapters, the Preacher exalts God and our Creator, gift-giver, enjoyment-provider, life-sustainer, wisdom-teacher, Redeemer, and judge” (cf. Recovering Eden, p.83). An honest relationship with God requires honest language. Such language about life’s exigencies speaks openly about weakness, hunger, sin, disappointments, frustrations, confusion, and even anger. God knows all these things, and you may be confident he will not reject you for speaking your heart (cf. Psalms 18.6; 44; 88). The question is how to hate wisely. King David, speaking of his relationship with God wrote: Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? I hate them with complete hatred; I count them my enemies (Psalm 139.21-22). What David was expressing in strong poetic language is a heart that is utterly devoted to God.
The Preacher looks at the apparent state of things under the sun and sees it all coming to an inglorious end. In chapter three he says plainly there is a time to love and there is a time to hate (3.8). However, he hates not what is good, but that distortion of goodness – we, along with the Preacher, mourn the loss of Eden. The fool hates people and opposes God. Folly encourages you to embrace bitter jealousy, selfish ambitions, and partiality (cf. James 3.14-16 & 1 John 2.15-16). The fool despises wisdom; the wise redeem the time because they know the days are evil (Ephesians 5.15-16).
The Preacher asks what is the point of being wise? He answers the question in chapters 8 and 9. Rain falls on the wise (just) and the fool (unjust); that is, blessings and hardships come to all. However, the pursuit of wisdom is better than the pursuit of pleasure, not because the wise will placate God and win favors from him, but because it is right, and in the end its fruit is pleasant. The taste of it enriches the spirit.
The big problem with life is that it comes to an end – generally before you are ready for the final curtain. On the one hand, as a young person you have the potential pleasures of life spread out before you, and there may be little thought about them ever ending. On the other hand, you have little life experience, and your education is in its nascent stage. You are making life-shaping decisions. At this point your choices may seem boundless. The decisions you make will, to one degree or another, shape your life’s course. As you age and continue down life’s path, your options become fewer until you end as you began; someone else is changing your nappies until death finally swallows up whatever remains of you. Why doesn’t the wise man end up in a better place than the fool?
Like the Preacher (Qoheleth) in Ecclesiastes, Job struggles with what seems to be the inconsistency of the unjust (or the fool) prospering and the good and wise suffering. Near the beginning of his book, Job laments, Let the day perish on which I was born, and the night that said, a man is conceived. Let that day be darkness! May God above not seek it, nor light shine upon it. Let gloom and deep darkness claim it. Let clouds dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it. … why did I not die at birth, come out from the womb and expire? (Job 3.1ff). But Job, like Solomon, finds that faith often reaches its greatest expression in the midst of its greatest trials. Again in despair, Job moans his complaint: Surely now God has worn me out; he has made desolate all my company. And he has shriveled me up, which is a witness against me, and my leanness has risen up against me; it testifies to my face. He has torn me in his wrath and hated me (Job 16.6ff). Yet it is in the context of his suffering that he speaks words of hope: There is no arbiter between us, who might lay his hand on us both. Let him take his rod away from me and let not dread of him terrify me. Then I would speak without fear of him, for I am not so in myself (Job 9.33-35). Job’s prescient longing foreshadows the coming of the great intercessor Jesus. It is in the agony of despair that Job’s testimony of faith gives heart to all the saints who suffer: Though he slay me, I will hope in him; yet I will argue my ways to his face. This will be my salvation, that the godless shall not come before him (13.15-16). And again: For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me! (19.25-27).
Think of the similarities between Paul’s suffering for the sake of the gospel (Acts 9.15-16) or Jesus himself when He echoes the prophetic words of the Psalmist (Psalm 22.1). Observe that the Preacher says he hates life – NOT God. All of the comments of the Preacher are uttered from the central thesis: The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man (Ecclesiastes 12.13). As Zack Eswine observes, “Over thirty times in these twelve chapters, the Preacher exalts God and our Creator, gift-giver, enjoyment-provider, life-sustainer, wisdom-teacher, Redeemer, and judge” (cf. Recovering Eden, p.83). An honest relationship with God requires honest language. Such language about life’s exigencies speaks openly about weakness, hunger, sin, disappointments, frustrations, confusion, and even anger. God knows all these things, and you may be confident he will not reject you for speaking your heart (cf. Psalms 18.6; 44; 88). The question is how to hate wisely. King David, speaking of his relationship with God wrote: Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? I hate them with complete hatred; I count them my enemies (Psalm 139.21-22). What David was expressing in strong poetic language is a heart that is utterly devoted to God.
The Preacher looks at the apparent state of things under the sun and sees it all coming to an inglorious end. In chapter three he says plainly there is a time to love and there is a time to hate (3.8). However, he hates not what is good, but that distortion of goodness – we, along with the Preacher, mourn the loss of Eden. The fool hates people and opposes God. Folly encourages you to embrace bitter jealousy, selfish ambitions, and partiality (cf. James 3.14-16 & 1 John 2.15-16). The fool despises wisdom; the wise redeem the time because they know the days are evil (Ephesians 5.15-16).
The Preacher asks what is the point of being wise? He answers the question in chapters 8 and 9. Rain falls on the wise (just) and the fool (unjust); that is, blessings and hardships come to all. However, the pursuit of wisdom is better than the pursuit of pleasure, not because the wise will placate God and win favors from him, but because it is right, and in the end its fruit is pleasant. The taste of it enriches the spirit.
- Wisdom, by its very nature is good and it alone brings us closer to the gain that we need (Ecclesiastes 2.13-14). It is the right thing to do whether or not it brings honor in life.
- Though wisdom may not change the world, it will change you and that is a good thing.
- Wisdom testifies to the character of God.
- Wisdom is good for the people around you (Ecclesiastes 9.16-18).
- God loves wisdom (Ecclesiastes 8.12-13). Folly’s victory is short-lived.
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