Solomon’s Final Conclusion
Ecclesiastes 9:1 - 12:14
“Keep this in mind: The Teacher was considered wise, and he taught the people everything he knew. He listened carefully to many proverbs, studying, and classifying them. The Teacher sought to find just the right words to express truths clearly.”- Ecclesiastes 12:9-10 NLT
The ‘Teacher’ is Solomon himself. Though he was gifted with superior wisdom he got caught up in worldly endeavors and as a result had numerous failings in his life. This portion of scripture, from verse 9 thru verse 12 shows us that in spite of his human failings he still retained the wisdom he had asked God for. Throughout the book he is able to discern and thus point out to his readers the meaningless of life. Though he doesn’t specifically designate this life as with or without God, his point is taken, nonetheless.
In verse 12 he states that too much writing and studying wears you out. A piece of advice that undoubtedly came from his own experience. There is also the tendency for wise individuals to acquire an inflated ego, thinking that their words are equally or perhaps even more important that the God they are serving. Having said that I don’t believe Solomon had this problem, though he recognized the potential for it and advised his readers to be wary of it.
Throughout this entire book Solomon was leading his readers to his “final conclusion”. Exactly how long he dabbled in worldly endeavors is unclear from this writing, but it usually doesn’t take all that long to realize when you’ve made a wrong turn somewhere along the road. Things look foreign to you, and you get an uncomfortable feeling that something’s not right.
The phrase “everything is meaningless” appears in Ecclesiastes 38 times, so Solomon was making a strong point that anything apart from God is without merit or meaning, though he doesn’t mention God specifically. My next writing from Ecclesiastes will sum everything up to its obvious conclusion. Knowing what we know about Solomon, God, and scripture in general it certainly isn’t hard to see. Until next time, walk with the King and be a blessing.
In His Name & for His Glory,
Richard Keller
Bread of Life Ministries
No comments:
Post a Comment