"I SAID TO MYSELF, 'COME NOW,. WILL TEST YOU WITH PLEASURE. SO ENJOY YOURSELF.' AND BEHOLD, IT TOO WAS FUTILITY."I SAID TO MYSELF" -like the rich man in Luke 12:19. This type of statement reveals something very important about human beings. We can talk to ourselves, we are very aware of the choices... [ Continue Reading ]
"I SAID OF LAUGHTER, 'IT IS MADNESS', AND OF PLEASURE, 'WHAT DOES IT ACCOMPLISH?'"IT IS MADNESS" -Solomon had realized that behind laughter can be. tremendous amount of pain, "Even in laughter the heart may be in pain" (Prov. Ecclesiastes 14:13). Most of us have ran into people who try to laugh ever... [ Continue Reading ]
"I EXPLORED WITH MY MIND HOW TO STIMULATE MY BODY WITH WINE WHILE MY MIND WAS GUIDING ME WISELY, AND HOW TO TAKE HOLD OF FOLLY, UNTIL. COULD SEE WHAT GOOD THERE IS FOR THE SONS OF MEN TO DO UNDER HEAVEN THE FEW YEARS OF THEIR LIVES."I EXPLORED WITH MY MIND" -Indicating shrew and prudent human wisdom... [ Continue Reading ]
"I ENLARGED MY WORKS;. BUILT HOUSES FOR MYSELF,. PLANTED VINEYARDS FOR MYSELF;... [ Continue Reading ]
"I MADE GARDENS AND PARKS FOR MYSELF, AND. PLANTED IN THEM ALL KINDS OF FRUIT TREES;... [ Continue Reading ]
"I MADE PONDS OF WATER FOR MYSELF FROM WHICH TO IRRIGATE. FOREST OF GROWING TREES." Points To Note: 1 Next, Solomon threw himself into the joys of creativity. Solomon is like many people, who in their teens or early twenties pursued pleasure and having. good time, in their later twenties and thirti... [ Continue Reading ]
"I BOUGHT MALE AND FEMALE SLAVES, AND. HAD HOME BORN SLAVES. ALSO. POSSESSED FLOCKS AND HERDS LARGER THAN ALL WHO PRECEDED ME IN JERUSALEM." Any big establishment requires "staff". Gardeners, cooks, butlers, hired hands, etc….So many people on. lesser scale have followed down the same track! How man... [ Continue Reading ]
"ALSO,. COLLECTED FOR MYSELF SILVER AND GOLD, AND THE TREASURE OF KINGS AND PROVINCES.. PROVIDED FOR MYSELF MALE AND FEMALE SINGERS AND THE PLEASURES OF MEN-MANY CONCUBINES." Solomon possessed wealth which only kings are enabled to acquire (see. Chron. Ecclesiastes 1:15; Ecclesiastes 9:20 "silver wa... [ Continue Reading ]
"THEN. BECAME GREAT AND INCREASED MORE THAN ALL WHO PRECEDED ME IN JERUSALEM. MY WISDOM ALSO STOOD BY ME."MY WISDOM ALSO STOOD BY ME" -that earthly common sense, self-restraint and prudence. The best human wisdom that man can have. Kidner notes, "He has had the sense, for all this, to avoid the rich... [ Continue Reading ]
"AND ALL THAT MY EYES DESIRED. DID NOT REFUSE THEM.. DID NOT WITHHOLD MY HEART FROM ANY PLEASURE, FOR MY HEART WAS PLEASED BECAUSE OF ALL MY LABOR AND THIS WAS MY REWARD FOR ALL MY LABOR."ALL THAT MY EYES DESIRED" -lest anyone try to argue that his search wasn't thorough or extensive. His search was... [ Continue Reading ]
"THUS. CONSIDERED ALL MY ACTIVITIES WHICH MY HANDS HAD DONE AND THE LABOR WHICH. HAD EXERTED, AND BEHOLD ALL WAS VANITY AND STRIVING AFTER WIND AND THERE WAS NO PROFIT UNDER THE SUN."ALL MY ACTIVITIES…ALL WAS VANITY" -A lesser man would have argued otherwise. "A less exacting mind than Qoheleth's wo... [ Continue Reading ]
"SO. TURNED TO CONSIDER WISDOM, MADNESS AND FOLLY, FOR WHAT WILL THE MAN DO WHO WILL COME AFTER THE KING EXCEPT WHAT HAS ALREADY BEEN DONE?"WISDOM, MADNESS AND FOLLY" -What is the relative worth of wisdom in contrast to folly and madness? Which is more profitable? It is better to go through life ser... [ Continue Reading ]
"AND. SAW THAT WISDOM EXCELS FOLLY AS LIGHT EXCELS DARKNESS." Yes, prudence, caution, common-sense, wise planning and so on has its advantages (but for how long?).... [ Continue Reading ]
"THE WISE MAN'S EYES ARE IN HIS HEAD, BUT THE FOOL WALKS IN DARKNESS. AND YET. KNOW THAT ONE FATE BEFALLS THEM BOTH." Points To Note: 1 "A wise man has the foresight to avoid danger while. fool gets into trouble as though he stumbles around in the dark (cf. Prov. Ecclesiastes 4:18-19)" (Bible Know... [ Continue Reading ]
"THEN. SAID TO MYSELF, 'AS IS THE FATE OF THE FOOL, IT WILL ALSO BEFALL ME. WHY THEN HAVE. BEEN EXTREMELY WISE?' SO. SAID TO MYSELF, 'THIS TOO IS VANITY'"."IT WILL ALSO BEFALL ME" -I wonder how many successful people, how many really famous people have thought the same thing? If this life is really... [ Continue Reading ]
"FOR THERE IS NO LASTING REMEMBRANCE OF THE WISE MAN AS WITH THE FOOL, INASMUCH AS IN THE COMING DAYS ALL WILL BE FORGOTTEN. AND HOW THE WISE MAN AND THE FOOL ALIKE DIE!"THERE IS NO LASTING REMEMBRANCE OF THE WISE MAN" -Now some will disagree with this statement, "In our society we remember 'great m... [ Continue Reading ]
"SO. HATED LIFE, FOR THE WORK WHICH HAD BEEN DONE UNDER THE SUN WAS GRIEVOUS TO ME; BECAUSE EVERYTHING IS FUTILITY AND STRIVING AFTER WIND"."SO. HATED LIFE" -Here is why some people end up old and grumpy. For. while Solomon was disgusted with life. "If, as we might put it, every card in our hand wil... [ Continue Reading ]
"THUS. HATED ALL THE FRUIT OF MY LABOR FOR WHICH. HAD LABORED UNDER THE SUN, FOR. MUST LEAVE IT TO THE MAN WHO WILL COME AFTER ME."ALL THE FRUIT OF MY LABOR" -not only did life lose its meaning, but all the "things" in Ecclesiastes 2:1-10 had lost their appeal to Solomon. Solomon grows bitter and cy... [ Continue Reading ]
"AND WHO KNOWS WHETHER HE WILL BE. WISE MAN OR. FOOL? YET HE WILL HAVE CONTROL OVER ALL THE FRUIT OF MY LABOR FOR WHICH. HAVE LABORED BY ACTING WISELY UNDER THE SUN. THIS TOO IS VANITY."WHO KNOWS" -There isn't any guarantee! And this person will have complete control over everything which. have work... [ Continue Reading ]
"THEREFORE. COMPLETELY DESPAIRED OF ALL THE FRUIT OF MY LABOR FOR WHICH. HAD LABORED UNDER THE SUN."COMPLETELY DESPAIRED" -You can see why people without God commit suicide.. get depressed by just reading this section! Even wealthy people who seemingly have everything to live for (from. human perspe... [ Continue Reading ]
"WHEN THERE IS. MAN WHO HAS LABORED WITH WISDOM, KNOWLEDGE AND SKILL, THEN HE GIVES HIS LEGACY TO ONE WHO HAS NOT LABORED WITH THEM. THIS TOO IS VANITY AND. GREAT EVIL."WHEN THERE IS. MAN" -This verse describes the intense effort and devotion that Solomon had put into his projects. He had worked har... [ Continue Reading ]
"FOR WHAT DOES. MAN GET IN ALL HIS LABOR AND IN HIS STRIVING WITH WHICH HE LABORS UNDER THE SUN?"WHAT DOES. MAN GET" -If this life is all there is, then in the final analysis, all that really results, even from the most prosperous lifestyle imaginable, is. whole lot of painful labor and restless act... [ Continue Reading ]
"BECAUSE ALL HIS DAYS HIS TASK IS PAINFUL AND GRIEVOUS; EVEN AT NIGHT HIS MIND DOES NOT REST. THIS TOO IS VANITY." This is what many "driven" people have found at the end of the road. "The compulsive worker….overloading his days with toil and his nights with worry, has missed the simple joys that G... [ Continue Reading ]
"THERE IS NOTHING BETTER FOR. MAN THAN TO EAT AND DRINK AND TELL HIMSELF THAT HIS LABOR IS GOOD. THIS ALSO. HAVE SEEN, THAT IT IS FROM THE HAND OF GOD." Points To Note: 1 Solomon isn't saying, "Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die". For he includes God in this statement. 2. The idea of telli... [ Continue Reading ]
"FOR WHO CAN EAT AND WHO CAN HAVE ENJOYMENT WITHOUT HIM?" I can't truly enjoy the things "under the sun" until my mind is set on things above the sun (Colossians 3:1-2; Philippians 4:11ff). God has enabled me to be freed from my demand that physical things make me happy. No longer do. expect or dem... [ Continue Reading ]
"FOR TO. PERSON WHO IS GOOD IN HIS SIGHT HE HAS GIVEN WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE AND JOY, WHILE TO THE SINNER HE HAS GIVEN THE TASK OF GATHERING AND COLLECTING SO THAT HE MAY GIVE TO ONE WHO IS GOOD IN GOD'S SIGHT. THIS TOO IS VANITY AND STRIVING AFTER WIND." For. moment we are allowed to look above the... [ Continue Reading ]