Walking Thru Ecclesiastes

Solomon’s personal experiences - Part 2

Ecclesiastes 1:1 thru 2:26.

 

            Continuing on with Solomon’s experiences, we see first off that he this writing was done late in his life, after he was King. Verse 12 specifically says: “I, the Teacher, was king of Israel, and lived in Jerusalem.” “Was” & “lived” … Past tense. Verse 14 reveals that Solomon had observed all things going on under the sun. He had determined that all things are meaningless, in that the chasing after them is like chasing after the wind. Think about that. We can’t see the wind … we can see the effects of the wind, but not the wind itself. It is impossible to catch with your bare hands. It’s a vain endeavor … a colossal waste of time.

            In verse 18 Solomon acknowledges that “The greater my wisdom, the greater my grief. To increase knowledge only increases sorrow.” He highlights two types of wisdom: human wisdom thru reasoning & the wisdom that comes from God. Solomon found that pursuing human wisdom was again, like chasing after the wind. In his quest to find happiness he sought to either have built or acquire whatever his heart desired. Ecc. 2:10 is a telling statement: “Anything I wanted; I would take. I denied myself no pleasure.” This is what pursuing worldly wisdom gets you … ultimately just a whole lot of worthless nothing. Temporal things that bring temporary pleasure and happiness. While there is nothing intrinsically wrong with the pursue of these this, when it is done to the exclusion of the pursuit of God, misery is sure to follow at some point. 

            Solomon decided to compare the wise to the foolish. After comparing the two, realized that a wise man will be remembered no longer than the foolish man. In reality, he said that in time neither will even be remembered. Solomon became angry at this silly life and began to hate it because of all the trouble it caused him. It was then that he again muttered his famous line: “Everything is meaningless - like chasing the wind.” As you can see, he is building his case for devoting your life solely to God. Until next time, walk with the King and be a blessing.

Richard Keller

Bread of Life Ministries