Lesson 7
Ecclesiastes
The Things That Don't
Work!
INTRO: In the next two paragraphs Solomon gives us a more
in-depth analysis of the experiments he has already performed. (2:12-17;
What he gives us is a true analysis, a true appraisal of his
experience of the ultimate and the best of life, the value of life apart from God’s
revealed grace resources and what it can offer the natural unregenerate person
or the revernsionistic believer.
to consider
wisdom, madness and folly;
- makes a mental comparison - which is the best course to
pursue in life.
for what will the man do who will come after
the king except what has already been done?
His conclusions:
The
analogy he gives shows the breadth of the difference between the two!
as light excels darkness.
- the wise person goes thru life with their eyes wide open –
using clear thinking, discernment, while
the fool operates as if in a dark room....no clue as to what is coming next.
-
shows discernment and recognizes the pitfalls of life
but the fool walks
in darkness.
- the fool has no discernment
And yet
I know that one fate befalls them both.
- the implication is that he is not the first to come to this
conclusion.
- The question he raises here is where is the long term
advantage to having wisdom? - The answer is there is none!
So I said to myself, "This
too is vanity." (HEBEL)
futility – here
with the idea of being senseless, makes no sense to man that
both have the same end.
OBSERVATIONS:
1. Apart from DVPT - wisdom alone is unfulfilling.
- He
fails to see God's purpose in anything – even His control of history.
2. Solomon has left out the true basis of evaluation in his
analysis, the
Word of God.. which
sheds light on every human endeavor.
For there is no lasting remembrance of the wise man as
with the fool, inasmuch as in the coming days all will be forgotten.
** Solomon says to us don't build your happiness on a straw
hope, that is that you'll long be remembered, you won't - neither will I.
So I hated life, (word for hate sane' – strongest word for rejection, here
describes an emotional attitude towards things or people one is opposed to,
detests or despises;
Next he explains why he despised and detested life.
for the work which
had been done under the sun was grievous to me;
because everything is
futility and striving after wind.
2:18-21 Question of one’s
legacy
His
view point expressed in this section is that perhaps my perspective will change
if I build a great estate to leave to my heirs - maybe that
will give satisfaction.
- This is the where the futility lay - in not knowing
whether his heir would be a wise man or a fool.
Yet he will have control (rule, mastery) over all the fruit of my labor for
which I have labored by acting wisely under the sun.
This too is vanity.
(hebel)
- The thought of turning all of his possessions over to
someone else -
put him into depression; word is ya'sh - (piel very intense)
Even
though he didn't live to see the results he must have had some clues as to the
outcome.
- great evil = ra’ah h['r' - evil, misery, distress (