“Who is like a wise man?” I hope I would be…
“And who knows the interpretation of a thing?” I hope I would…
“A man’s wisdom makes his face shine, and the sternness of his face is changed.” I hope this would be true of me…
Wait a minute! What does this have to do with anything? Let’s take a look at the context. The context is talking about being obedient to the king and trusting him.
“One man among a thousand I have found, But a woman among all these I have not found.”
Solomon has looked and looked and sought and truth, and here is his conclusion about the upright man or woman. They are both extremely rare. As to why this is true, he is still unable to understand, but either way, what he does know is quite distressing.
“I applied my heart to know, to search out wisdom and the reason of things, to know the wickedness of folly, even of foolishness and madness. And I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets, whose hands are fetters. He who pleases God shall escape from her, but the sinner shall be trapped by her.”
Searching for the truth behind wisdom and foolishness, Solomon examines his own life in which he fulfilled to the utmost his lustly flesh by gathering to himself wife after wife and concubine after concubine. What does he conclude? “I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets, whose hands are fetters.”
His desires pulled him down, turned his heart away from God, and led him down a path of destruction. Yes, this was the wisest man in the world.
How much more possible is it for me today to be ensnared by these same desires? How much more possible is it for men and women today to succumb to their flesh?
What is Solomon’s conclusion? “He who pleases God shall escape from her, but the sinner shall be trapped by her.”
May I be one of those who “pleases God” in this way.
Solomon said, “I will be wise,” but even as wise as he was, he could not understand everything. “I said, ‘I will be wise’; but it was far from me. As for that which is far off and exceedingly deep, who can find it out?”
About two-thirds of the way through Ecclesiastes, Solomon concedes that some things in life just cannot be understood, no matter how hard someone strives to learn them. Up to this point, Solomon has spoken about the vanity of life and offered some general principles about life just as he did in Proverbs. He now reminds his readers that he doesn’t know everything, and he also gives a preview of the book’s conclusion…too much study is wearisome to the flesh.
Shame on us if we ever underestimate the power of words, whether spoken, inscribed, texted, or typed. But we often forget how significant words are until they effect us. It’s easy to speak an idle word or give a command with far-reaching implications, but when an idle word or command (or any other category of words) impacts me, that’s when I begin to understand it.
What should I write about next? Are there issues that you are facing or that the church is facing today that need to be addressed? Take 15 seconds to let me know!
