Lesson #40
Ecclesiastes
The Things That Don't
Work!
Chapter Twelve
12:8
Gives the conclusion of the natural unregenerate or
flagrantly negative Believers view of life.
"Vanity of vanities," says the
Preacher, "all is vanity!"
-
The compounding of the vanity - emptiness; shows the complete and utter failure
of human efforts and human wisdom as Solomon has so clearly shown through out
the book to prepare man for life.
Eve
named one of her sons Abel, for vanity, for by then
she realized that the full extent of the fall had manifested itself in her
generation. And so when Solomon uses
this word, as we saw before, there are two connotations to this word.
One
is that it is in a very unsubstantial nature.
In other words, it’s like a vapor and we could literally translate it by
“vapor” if we wanted to, for that’s really what it means;
And then the second
meaning that usually accompanies this word falls out logically from the first
meaning and that is that it’s temporary, or passing.
Solomon's authority and
justification for writing this book. 12:9-12
This section is
often taken as the input of a 'disciple' of Solomon or even as a later
redactor, some scribe adding to the text. I don't believe so.
I believe this
designation here is a technical one marking him as a member of the wise to whom
God gave wisdom, just as the priest had the Law and the prophet had the Word.
So the claim here
shows us that the wisdom in Eccl. came from God in a revelation, just as the
prophet's Word was also given by divine inspiration.
12:9 In
addition to being a wise man, (saw from 1
Kg
- He communicated
intensely (piel) his knowledge, the divine vpt wisdom
to others, after he got himself back on track spiritually, and he pondered, searched
out and arranged many proverbs.
- pondered =
'atzan; to weigh, evaluate, and analyze what is heard
- searched out
= chaqar; to search, examine, explore
- arranged = taqan, to set in order, to arrange categorically
-
even though he often had to communicate tough hard hitting messages he did so
in words easy to understand, easy to grasp without sacrificing or compromising
the truth of the message.
-
words of truth jasher straight,
upright i.e. consistent with righteousness
Or just as
prevalent today the verbiage we get from bureaucratic organizations in an
attempt to obscure what they're really doing.
- the
imagery is taken from farming - the pastoral life
The words of wise men are like goads,
- goad is a stick usually with an iron
point used to prod the oxen
-
So Words of truth are motivating words
and
masters of these collections are like well-driven nails;
-
well-driven or firmly planted nails refers to the pegs
used to secure the tents of the shepherds.
-
The masters of these collections, indicates the collected sayings of wisdom,
not just Solomon's writings but includes other written words that have divine
authority as does Solomon's.
they
are given by one Shepherd.
Note: This statement
does something important for this book, although it’s considered heretical in
many ways, by many down through the centuries it was admitted to the canon of
Scripture as written under the ministry of the Holy Spirit because of this
verse.
So therefore what it’s saying is that God has inspired all of this literature,
“The words of the wise.”
-
So there is ONE true shepherd who cares for the sheep, that is Jesus Christ,
ultimately the Words of wisdom are the Words of Christ committed to and
communicated through 'under shepherds'.
Observations:
1.
Qohelet's
words of wisdom, as are all scripture, are designed to prod, to goad, the
sluggish into action - action within the parameters God has established for us,
for our benefit.
2.
Those words of wisdom are also to be
"nails" to firmly plant the believer, to give him anchorage,
stability and perspective in life.
But beyond this, my son, be warned:
-
beyond this - the truth given in scripture - DVPT
wisdom - the collections of canonical works.
THE WARNING:
the
writing of many books is endless,
and excessive devotion to books is wearying to the
body.
Observations:
1.
When he says be warned (niphal imp - pass tzahar),
he's saying take my
advice as the spokesman from God if you desire to prosper spiritually.
2. Don't seek God's wisdom in the many books that are out there.
3.
Excessive devotion indicates there is no balance in the pursuit and it leads to
weariness.
4.
Good example of what Solomon motivation for writing is seen in Prov.
22:17-21.
12:13-14 Final exhortation and conclusion
The conclusion, when all has been heard, is:
The only conclusion
that you can logically come to when you examine all that he has presented in this book now
follows.
fear
God and keep His commandments, - this is the chief purpose of man.
-
fear yare'
arey" - to reverence God, to take His word seriously means you recognize its
importance for you as a BEL'r.
“…the
commandments,” its a plural noun which speaks of a
verbal revelation, authoritative declarations from God, the first time it’s
been mentioned in this entire book.
-
you can no more as a believer do with out God's word as the std of your vpt and
life than you can physically do with out
air.
-
our duty, our responsibility as Believers here then is
to hear His word and obey it!!
because
this applies to every person.
- LIT. because this is the 'mannishness' of a man; and the
womanliness of a woman.
For God will bring every act to judgment, everything
which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.
-
Every work, every act of every person will be judged (mishphat)
by the justice of God.
What does all this
say about God's dealing with man. He created mankind as responsible beings, in
His image, Men are not as brutes, the product of time
& chance.
Throughout the book
Solomon has shown us that all that man can devise through his own wisdom apart
from God, under the sun, was meaningless it all added up to no profit for time
or eternity.