Ecclesiastes 7-12

Solomon, the wisest man to ever live said there’s no such thing as a virtuous woman.  Hmmm.   Hearing that may make you want to keep reading, or to throw the book away….but keep reading, anyway.    There are some really valuable insights here.
 
What Solomon said about women is clearly an exaggeration.  But looking at it from his perspective it seemed true.   He married 700 royal women, and had 300 concubines on top of that, and the Bible tells us that his wives “turned his heart” away from full devotion to God.   Most of us probably don’t know 1,000 people, and Solomon had that many wives!     Now, one more thing:  As wise as he was, he didn’t choose his wives wisely:  I’m sure the 700 women that he married made perfect sense from a political standpoint, but it was in violation of God’s law.   Deuteronomy 17 says that the king “should not take many wives” and all Israelites understood that they should not intermarry with other cultures because of their pagan religious beliefs.    Solomon violated both of these commands, so his perspective on women becomes suspect.   Still, I think I will remember the verse and bring it up in a conversation with my wife sometime when I feel like causing problems.
 
The first several verses of Chapter 7 really grabbed me today.  At first glance it doesn’t seem to make sense that the day you die would be better than the day you are born…but when you are born you are corrupted…and if you accept Christ as your Savior, then your death means entrance into heaven…which makes it a better day.
 
7:16.   I wonder why he says “don’t be too wise”?   How can you be “too wise”?   Maybe he is saying that instead of spending all of our time in study, we should make time for fun.  Too much study could unbalance us, just like too much fun would.    Of course, there aren’t as many people who need the caution to “not study so much”.    It only applies to me if we are talking about working vs. playing.
 
Chapter 8:   It’s true that sometimes those who are dishonest are the ones who are “in favor” or most popular.  I’m not sure why, perhaps because they are good enough at deception to make everyone believe they are good, or maybe because people don’t care if they are dishonest, as long as they are good to them, or fun to be around.   Either way, the point here is that only those who are honest will see God, and be rewarded for their efforts.    It doesn’t matter how popular you are, or whether or not you are missed when you die.  What matters is what you did with the knowledge that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and is the only pathway to forgiveness of sins and entrance into heaven.    Don’t worry that you aren’t the most popular, or the smartest….Solomon himself says that those two things aren’t critical to being accepted by God, or being successful in life.    Now that I’ve said that, I have to follow it up by saying that it isn’t “wise” to avoid learning either.   I shouldn’t be proud of the fact that I’m ignorant…take steps to become wise.
 
I want to remember the end of Chapter 11 and all of Chapter 12 as good advice to young people.   When I was young I probably wouldn’t have listened, but we should tell them anyway.   There’s a greater chance that our teens will grow up to be successful and well balanced if we share this kind of information with them.
 
Well, there’s so much more…and I haven’t even scratched the surface today, but I am feeling under the weather, so I’m calling it quits for today,
 
Faithfully,
 
PR