The Book Of Ecclesiastes Pt. 2 Seeking Wisdom Is Hard Work.

The "Preacher" who wrote the book of Ecclesiastes is King Solomon, son of King David. He is telling us what life without God is like. Solomon describes a bleak and dreary way of life for someone who does not know God, or chooses to ignore Him. 

Ecclesiastes 1:12-13 I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13)  And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith. 

The overall scope of Solomon was stated in the earlier verses that introduced this book of wisdom. The remainder of the book is filled with drilling down into the details of life without God and the interim conclusions that the Preacher makes along the way.

King Solomon started very well by loving God. 

1 Kings 3:3  And Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of David his father: only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places. 

King Solomon started off well as Israel's monarch. He loved Jehovah and he walked in the ways of God that his father David taught him. He offered sacrifices for his sins according to all that King David had done. 

Jehovah's gracious offer to King Solomon. 

1 Kings 3:4-5  And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for that was the great high place: a thousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar. 5)  In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall give thee. 

While offering sacrifices at a place called Gibeon, Jehovah appeared to Solomon in a dream, and offered to supply the young king whatever he asked for.

Solomon's unselfish request.

1 Kings 3:6-9  And Solomon said, Thou hast shewed unto thy servant David my father great mercy, according as he walked before thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with thee; and thou hast kept for him this great kindness, that thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. 7)  And now, O LORD my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father: and I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in. 8)  And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude. 9)  Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people? 

Solomon praised God for His tender mercy extended to his father, King David. He thanked Jehovah for conferring many spiritual blessings upon David, and for being taught these truths by his father.

Solomon told Jehovah that he was like a little child in comparison to his father, King David. David reigned many years and survived many political intrigues and evil plots. Young Solomon lacked the wisdom that only life experiences can bring. 

The idea of not knowing how to go out and come in, is connected with general leadership skills and for those times when he must lead his armies into battle, and successfully return from the conflict. 

In addition, Solomon praised God for making His people as numerous as the sands of the seashore. 

Solomon's request of God was to be granted righteous wisdom, in order to conduct himself as king, and in order to rightly judge the people.

God was pleased and granted Solomon's petition. 

1 Kings 3:10-12  And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. 11)  And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies; but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment; 12)  Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee. 

King Solomon's request was pleasing to God, for he did not ask for great wealth, or fame. Solomon asked for something that would benefit all Israel: Wisdom from God. 

Therefore, in addition to granting Solomon's request, Jehovah also promised to bless him with wealth and honor, such that no other king would measure up to King Solomon. 

If that was not enough, God tells Solomon He would bless the king with a long life, as long as he walked in the holy ways of God (1 Kings 3:13-14).

The fame of Solomon spread near and wide. 

1 Kings 4:29-34  And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore. 30)  And Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt. 31)  For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and his fame was in all nations round about. 32)  And he spake three thousand proverbs: and his songs were a thousand and five. 33)  And he spake of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall: he spake also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes. 34)  And there came of all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, which had heard of his wisdom. 

Here is the culmination of the gifts God gave Solomon. He imparted Divine wisdom to the young king, along with a rich understanding of the application of these truths. 

"Largeness" of heart refers to Solomon's love for God and His people. It also refers to the king's mental and spiritual capacities to learn and retain wisdom from God.

King Solomon was wiser that the wisest of men who lived at that time. All nations heard of his wisdom and many sent ambassadors with questions, seeking wisdom from Solomon. 

King Solomon was the author of 3,000 proverbs and 1,500 songs. 

This context of Solomon's life prior to writing Ecclesiastes, is important for us to see before we dig too deeply into this wonderful book of wisdom. 

The Book of Ecclesiastes was written later in King Solomon's life, after his heart had been turned away from Jehovah, because he had many strange wives. 

We sense a certain amount of fatalism or cynicism because in turning from God, Solomon forfeited the great and rich blessings God have given to him. He learned that the way of transgressors is hard.

Ecclesiastes 1:12-13 I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13)  And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith. 

Now, we can look at the main text for this post. King Solomon dedicated his energies and skills to seeking and searching out wisdom. 

While Solomon was faithful to God, he diligently cultivated his mind. He studied natural history, philosophy, poetry, and such wisdom as the world had to offer. He had a capacity to obtain every kind of knowledge useful to man.

"Seeking" is a word that is connected to grinding, testing and thoroughly investigating an object. The word "searching" is moving round about an object, taking a general survey of it.

Wisdom was the means or instrument by which Solomon carried on his research. His inquiries were focused on collecting facts, and investigating the causes and conditions of things. 

King Solomon called his scientific investigations "sore travail." The word translated "travail" is only used 8 times in the Bible, and all are found in Ecclesiastes. 

The idea of sore travail is that seeking and searching out wisdom is hard work, that does not come easy for anyone. Learning is also a process that must be undertaken by each generation. 

Every child must learn colors, shapes, numbers, letters before progressing on to other subjects. Each child must learn moral lessons as well, because sinning has consequences. 

Why is it so hard? Because it is a consequence of man's fall into sin. We must labor and sweat in order to provide for our needs and thrive in life.

James 3:14-16  But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. 15)  This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. 16)  For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. 

The apostle James described the world's wisdom as that which causes envy, strife, contention, confusion and evil works. 

Worldly wisdom causes us to work hard to obtain it, but God will freely give us His wisdom. 

James 3:17-18  But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. 18)  And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace. 

Wisdom from heaven is quite different. It is pure, gentle, full of peace, mercy and the fruit of the Spirit. 

Heavenly wisdom does not have hypocrisy nor is it infected with prejudice. Wisdom from God reflects His righteousness. 

1 Corinthians 1:20  Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 

Solomon is laboring under the hard work of seeking and searching out all the wisdom under heaven. We sense that he knows such hard work does not pay off big dividends. 

Why? Because God has turned the world's wisdom into foolishness. 

Thoughts to Ponder...

Our culture places a premium on getting as much education as you can obtain. Yet, education is much like the struggle Solomon tells us about. It is hard work, and sometimes the benefits are not like we expected. 

We do have to learn various truths about the world we live in, in order to survive and thrive. 

Let each Christian seek that beautiful pure wisdom from God, for His wisdom will transform us into the image of Jesus Christ. This is something the world's wisdom cannot do.

Bob