Lesson 32

Ecclesiastes

The Things That Don't Work!

Chapter Nine

Review:

9:7-9 Enjoy life while you have it!

We must learn to enjoy God's grace provisions without abusing them.

Living with the empowering of Holy Spirit, and enjoying the grace provisions available is the key to maximum enjoyment of life.

What's he saying with vs:10?

The time to labor for God is while we are still on this side of the grave, for when death comes, the day of opportunity will have passed.

Solomon supports the argument of vs:10 in these next two verses.

His supporting argument can be summarized by three proverbs:

It is not in a man who walks to direct his steps. Jer 10:23b

the LORD is not restrained to save by many or by few. 1 Sam 14:6

Time and events come to all. Eccl 9:11

All the advantages and resources that man may bring to a situation means very little if God is not in them or with the individual.

9:11 I again saw under the sun

- In quick succession Solomon ticks off five assets that are enjoyed by mankind who would appear because of these assets to be the most likely to succeed.

that the race is not to the swift,

and the battle is not to the warriors

- The last three relate to the wise person

and neither is bread to the wise nor wealth to the discerning nor favor to men of ability;

for time and chance overtake them all.

- There will be circumstances faced, CHP’s that if not oriented to will impact your life and change it tremendously.

9:12 Moreover, man does not know his time: like fish caught in a treacherous net and birds trapped in a snare, so the sons of men are ensnared at an evil time when it suddenly falls on them.

OBSERVATIONS

1. In the divine plan of God the race belongs to the one who runs in the strength of God.

- strength that comes from having spiritual muscle in the soul

2. Grace is not impressed with or function on your or my human ability.

3. Know that the strength, wisdom, speed, discernment and skills one has God can and will use as we operate within His will, committed to serve Him.

4. Illustration of what is in view is given in Zech 4:6

- Word of the Lord was given to Zerubbabel by an angel who told him that great military strength or great manpower alone would not be able to rebuild the temple but that Spiritually empowered workers under his leadership would get the job done and they did.

This temple would stand until Herod began building the great temple which began in 19 BC. Main section took 10 years to build work continued on different projects until 64AD - 6 years before Titus' armies came in and destroyed it.

5. It is a vain thing to trust in human qualities rather than in the living God. Human ability no matter how great will not guarantee success. Prov. 21:30; 1 Sam 17:45-47;

6. Must be careful not to get sucked into the philosophy of the day which will convince us that if we're going to make it we've got to run faster, be stronger, be more competitive, and more clever, even more manipulative. If we're not we won't make it.

7. The point is that if you're a believer and you have His vpt in your soul you have the God of the universe on your side (same as David did) and your assets what ever they are will be used to your greatest benefit.

- He will fill in for our inadequacies and weaknesses.

- 1 Cor 1:18-25 contrasts human vpt with divine viewpoint

8. In 9:12 Solomon reminds us that we don't know how long our allotment of time is.

9. Times of misfortune will occur and he compares them to a net and a snare by which fish and birds are caught.

10. Point is that the misfortunes will come suddenly without warning and when they do they nullify your human abilities no matter how great.

11. We must diligently work with all our might for the glory of God in every aspect of life, for the night is coming when the opportunity will be lost and all of life will be reviewed by the God.

9:13 - 18 INTRO:

- This last section of ch:9 begins with an intro in vs:13 where Solomon tells us he observed something that impressed him.

- In vs:14-16 he presents the details of the incident

- In vs:17-18 He draws some conclusions from it and gives us some DVPT.

9:13 Also this I came to see as wisdom under the sun, and it impressed me. lit it became great (gadol)

9:14 There was a small city with few men in it and a great king came to it, surrounded it and constructed large siegeworks against it.

9:15 But there was found in it a poor wise man and he delivered the city by his wisdom. Yet no one remembered that poor man.

- doesn't give us the details of this poor man's plan that delivered the city but we can conclude from his status as a the poor man it had nothing to do with the things man usually looks to for deliverance just as we saw in vs:11

9:16 So I said, "Wisdom is better than strength." But the wisdom of the poor man is despised and his words are not heeded.

- There was no wealth - no regard for him as a result of what he had done.

- There is no known account in the historical books of an event that completely fits the account here. Reason many take it to be a parable – a technique which Solomon often uses to teach principles.

- There are a couple of similar types of incidents:

Senacharib king of Assyria surrounded and besieged Jerusalem under the reign of Hezekiah.

Complete account is found in Isa 37-38; 2 Chr 32; 2 Kings 19

Hezekiah went to the Temple to pray - not to save his bacon 2 Kg 19:15-19;

God gave His answer - 2 Kg 19:32-34

The result - 2 Kg 19:35

- Another occurred during the reign of David - 2 Sam 20

Joab finally tracked Sheba down 20:14-22

OBSERVATIONS

1. All these accounts point out the importance of using - applying wisdom in a time of great testing or pressure not human resources for deliverance.

2. If we look at this passage as a parable (designed to teach some spiritual prin's - truth), then the city would represent in the analogy a life under pressure - could be a believer of any generation.

- that is people like you and me that realize that there is a great spiritual battle on going

- that we have a very powerful enemy who is real, whose desire can be summed up in two objectives

#1 - to initially to seduce us - into rejecting God's way, God's wisdom

#2 - ultimately to destroy us spiritually. - 1 Pet 5:8

3. People are often quick to reject the wisdom that would deliver them.

- vs:16 his words (wisdom) are not heeded.

- usually done on an emotional basis > need to remember that emotion is never an interpreter of truth or the will of God

Rem: Martin Luther's observation:

Feelings come and feelings go and feelings are deceiving;

My warrant is the Word of God, Nothing else is worth believing.

4. Wisdom (which comes from a knowledge of the Word of God) is a greater asset than strength yet despised and left unheeded by the majority in any generation.

5. Wisdom often comes thru humble circumstances, not thru humanly impressive means. (great media extravaganzas).

- human strength is more impressive but not as effective as wisdom.

- chakmah is better than strength (vs:11)

6. The wisdom of the poor man is despised and his words are not heeded.

- Wise counsel is never popular, rarely obeyed and seldom remembered.