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| “In this meaningless life of mine I have seen both of these: the righteous perishing in their righteousness, and the wicked living long in their wickedness.” |
| —Ecclesiastes 7:15 |
“Why have you spent time blogging about the Book of Ecclesiastes? It appears that you are championing the wisdom of King Solomon. I don’t like him. He had 700 wives and 300 concubines, including many foreign women. He also set up idols to worship false gods. Jehovah God became very angry with Solomon. How could someone so disrespectful of God and of women be worth my time?”
The essence of this question came to me from a very dear friend who loves God and is a devoted follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. One of the things I admire most about her is that she is never hesitant to share her opinion or voice her concern. That forthrightness is a wonderful quality to have. I appreciate her comments and her concern very much.
Nevertheless, because I believe that every word in the Bible has come to us as inspired by God, I thought it would be a good thing to examine this particular Book of Ecclesiastes. It contains Scripture generally of little note. And, because a recent most excellent speaker at my church preached a four-Sunday series on this Book, stating that King Solomon’s examination of life without God pointed directly to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 states:
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
If this pronouncement of the Apostle Paul is true—and I most certainly believe that it is—then we can find value in our spiritual formation from the Book of Ecclesiastes, the author of which is none other than King Solomon.
In today’s passage, Solomon tackles the dilemma he sees in observing the life of humans without God and those who live in the midst of a relationship with God. Notice what Solomon writes in Ecclesiastes 7:15-22:
In this meaningless life of mine I have seen both of these: the righteous perishing in their righteousness, and the wicked living long in their wickedness.
Do not be overrighteous, neither be overwise—why destroy yourself? Do not be overwicked, and do not be a fool—why die before your time? It is good to grasp the one and not let go of the other. Whoever fears God will avoid all extremes.
Wisdom makes one wise person more powerful than ten rulers in a city. Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous, no one who does what is right and never sins.
Do not pay attention to every word people say, or you may hear your servant cursing you—for you know in your heart that many times you yourself have cursed others.
Here, Solomon challenges his readers to follow a pathway of moderation. He also proclaims the same truth that the Apostle Paul declares—quoting Psalm 14, Psalm 53, and this very passage (above) from Ecclesiastes 7:20—in Romans 3:10-12:
As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”
This declaration of the Apostle Paul paves the way for this familiar statement found just a few verses later, in Romans 3:21-26:
But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
As to King Solomon’s behavior throughout his life, we need only read the account found in the first eleven chapters of 1 Kings. There we will see certain excesses. But, we will also see one who ruled in honor and in obedience to God in spite of failings in consistency toward the end of his life. So, in the final analysis, I do not have any difficulty in carefully studying what King Solomon wrote, whether I find those words in Ecclesiastes, Proverbs, or the Song of Songs.
I commend to you, at the beginning of this new day, the following key sentence: “It is wise for devoted followers of Jesus to study the whole of Scripture, in order to better understand and serve God.”
