Today in God's Word—July 2023
East Tallassee Church of Christ
July 19, Ecclesiastes 7
Wisdom is good with an inheritance, an advantage to those who see the sun. For the protection of wisdom is like the protection of money, and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of him who has it.
- Ecclesiastes 7:11-12
In Chapter 7, Solomon wrote about the superiority of wisdom over folly. He dealt with that subject in several ways, making statements that sound very much like some of his proverbs in the book of Proverbs. All these are connected to Solomon's quest for meaning. He said he learned these things while trying to make life meaningful “under the sun.” without acknowledging God.
Some of the findings Solomon reported are true. He laid down some general rules that are accurate, but do not apply to all situations. Remember, a proverb is a condensed, distilled expression of some subject. It can be generally true without being absolutely true and applicable to all situations and cases.
Take, for instance, the idea that the day of one's death is better than the day of one's birth. Yes, Paul expressed his desire to depart and be with the Lord, saying it was far better. But it is not the case for the ungodly and evil who die in their unrepentant state and go out into an eternity far different from the “better" one that Paul anticipated. A good name is generally better than precious ointment or perfume. It’s true if "good name" is about a man or woman's true character. But it’s not necessarily so about one’s “good name” if we mean his reputation. A good name in the court of popular opinion may or may not be accurate or better. The only perfect One who ever lived was despised and rejected, by men, but approved by his Father in heaven. The best name we can possibly have is to have our names written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Jesus told the disciples to rejoice most of all that their names were written in heaven. If our names are in his book, what others think of us will matter very little.
Solomon said the house of mourning was better than the house of feasting. That is wise and true because a funeral makes us face the reality of our own mortality. A party is a pleasant diversion from ordinary, everyday routine. But the sobering universal fact of an appointment with death is driven home by a funeral. It expresses wisdom that we will never learn from a celebration. It has become fashionable and preferable to some people to call funerals and memorial services "celebrations of life." It is fine to enjoy and remember a life well-lived and what the person who died meant to us. But calling a funeral a celebration in no way alters the pointed message that death is real, and coming to us all. It is not morbid, but wise to remember that.
Solomon addressed the danger of anger, the folly of short-sighted nostalgia and some other topics in true Proverbs style. But they were all related to the overarching theme of wisdom and its superiority to folly. It is wise to consider that God made both the days of prosperity and adversity in our lives. It is wise to avoid extremes. An all-consuming self-righteousness is as dangerous as a reckless pursuit of evil. It is wise to disregard some things that are said, realizing that we have done the same thing.
Solomon said he learned these things by his pursuit of wisdom. But he could have learned much of what he reported by reading the king’s copy of God’s word, instead of having to test it for himself. His concluding summary of all his findings was that God made humans upright, but they departed from God by their own schemes. The opening chapters of the first book of the Bible teach that explicitly. Maybe Solomon was like many of us. We tend to learn more by painful experience than wise counsel.
Copyright © 2023 by Michael B. McElroy. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Comentários