But They Pursued Many Schemes – Ecclesiastes 5-8

Joy: You’re listening to Season 2 of the Lifting Her Voice podcast.  This is Episode #206 & today we’ll read Ecclesiastes 5-8 together.  Solomon discovered that God made people upright, but they pursued many schemes.

Welcome

Welcome to the Lifting Her Voice podcast, Season 2!  I’m your host, Joy Miller, and I invite you to grab your Bible and join me – from the beginning – simply reading God’s word together.  We built some spiritual muscles in 2020 with just the New Testament.  But this year we’re going all out, cover-to-cover, Old Testament and New.  So, whether with your first cup in the morning, your commute to work, or as the last thing on your mind before sleep, God’s Word will equip you for every good work.  I’m really glad you’re here!

Ecclesiastes 5

Caution in God’s Presence

Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Better to approach in obedience than to offer the sacrifice as fools do, for they ignorantly do wrong. Do not be hasty to speak, and do not be impulsive to make a speech before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few. Just as dreams accompany much labor, so also a fool’s voice comes with many words.

When you make a vow to God, don’t delay fulfilling it, because he does not delight in fools. Fulfill what you vow. Better that you do not vow than that you vow and not fulfill it. Do not let your mouth bring guilt on you, and do not say in the presence of the messenger that it was a mistake. Why should God be angry with your words and destroy the work of your hands? For many dreams bring futility; so do many words. Therefore, fear God.

The Realities of Wealth

If you see oppression of the poor and perversion of justice and righteousness in the province, don’t be astonished at the situation, because one official protects another official, and higher officials protect them. The profit from the land is taken by all; the king is served by the field.

The one who loves silver is never satisfied with silver, and whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with income. This too is futile. When good things increase, the ones who consume them multiply; what, then, is the profit to the owner, except to gaze at them with his eyes? The sleep of the worker is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of the rich permits him no sleep.

There is a sickening tragedy I have seen under the sun: wealth kept by its owner to his harm. That wealth was lost in a bad venture, so when he fathered a son, he was empty-handed. As he came from his mother’s womb, so he will go again, naked as he came; he will take nothing for his efforts that he can carry in his hands. This too is a sickening tragedy: exactly as he comes, so he will go. What does the one gain who struggles for the wind? What is more, he eats in darkness all his days, with much frustration, sickness, and anger.

That is His Reward

Here is what I have seen to be good: It is appropriate to eat, drink, and experience good in all the labor one does under the sun during the few days of his life God has given him, because that is his reward. Furthermore, everyone to whom God has given riches and wealth, he has also allowed him to enjoy them, take his reward, and rejoice in his labor. This is a gift of God, for he does not often consider the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with the joy of his heart.

Ecclesiastes 6

Here is a tragedy I have observed under the sun, and it weighs heavily on humanity:

God gives a person riches, wealth, and honor so that he lacks nothing of all he desires for himself, but God does not allow him to enjoy them. Instead, a stranger will enjoy them. This is futile and a sickening tragedy. A man may father a hundred children and live many years. No matter how long he lives, if he is not satisfied by good things and does not even have a proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he. For he comes in futility and he goes in darkness, and his name is shrouded in darkness. Though a stillborn child does not see the sun and is not conscious, it has more rest than he. And if a person lives a thousand years twice, but does not experience happiness, do not both go to the same place?

All of a person’s labor is for his stomach,

yet the appetite is never satisfied.

What advantage then does the wise person have over the fool? What advantage is there for the poor person who knows how to conduct himself before others? Better what the eyes see than wandering desire. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

Whatever exists was given its name long ago, and it is known what mankind is. But he is not able to contend with the one stronger than he. For when there are many words, they increase futility. What is the advantage for mankind? For who knows what is good for anyone in life, in the few days of his futile life that he spends like a shadow? Who can tell anyone what will happen after him under the sun?

Ecclesiastes 7

Wise Sayings

A good name is better than fine perfume,

and the day of one’s death is better than the day of one’s birth.

It is better to go to a house of mourning

than to go to a house of feasting,

since that is the end of all mankind,

and the living should take it to heart.

Grief is better than laughter,

for when a face is sad, a heart may be glad.

The heart of the wise is in a house of mourning,

but the heart of fools is in a house of pleasure.

It is better to listen to rebuke from a wise person

than to listen to the song of fools,

for like the crackling of burning thorns under the pot,

so is the laughter of the fool.

This too is futile.

Surely, the practice of extortion turns a wise person into a fool,

and a bribe corrupts the mind.

The end of a matter is better than its beginning;

a patient spirit is better than a proud spirit.

Don’t let your spirit rush to be angry,

for anger abides in the heart of fools.

Don’t say, “Why were the former days better than these?”

since it is not wise of you to ask this.

Wisdom is as good as an inheritance

and an advantage to those who see the sun,

because wisdom is protection as silver is protection;

but the advantage of knowledge

is that wisdom preserves the life of its owner.

Consider the work of God,

for who can straighten out

what he has made crooked?

In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity, consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that no one can discover anything that will come after him.

Avoiding Extremes

In my futile life I have seen everything: someone righteous perishes in spite of his righteousness, and someone wicked lives long in spite of his evil. Don’t be excessively righteous, and don’t be overly wise. Why should you destroy yourself? Don’t be excessively wicked, and don’t be foolish. Why should you die before your time? It is good that you grasp the one and do not let the other slip from your hand. For the one who fears God will end up with both of them.

Wisdom makes the wise person stronger

than ten rulers of a city.

There is certainly no one righteous on the earth

who does good and never sins.

Don’t pay attention to everything people say, or you may hear your servant cursing you, for in your heart you know that many times you yourself have cursed others.

What the Teacher Found

I have tested all this by wisdom. I resolved, “I will be wise,” but it was beyond me. What exists is beyond reach and very deep. Who can discover it? I turned my thoughts to know, explore, and examine wisdom and an explanation for things, and to know that wickedness is stupidity and folly is madness. And I find more bitter than death the woman who is a trap: her heart a net and her hands chains. The one who pleases God will escape her, but the sinner will be captured by her. “Look,” says the Teacher, “I have discovered this by adding one thing to another to find out the explanation, which my soul continually searches for but does not find: I found one person in a thousand, but none of those was a woman.

Only see this: I have discovered that God made people upright, but they pursued many schemes.”

Ecclesiastes 8

Wisdom, Authorities, and Inequities

Who is like the wise person, and who knows the interpretation of a matter? A person’s wisdom brightens his face, and the sternness of his face is changed.

Keep the king’s command because of your oath made before God. Do not be in a hurry; leave his presence, and don’t persist in a bad cause, since he will do whatever he wants. For the king’s word is authoritative, and who can say to him, “What are you doing?” The one who keeps a command will not experience anything harmful, and a wise heart knows the right time and procedure. For every activity there is a right time and procedure, even though a person’s troubles are heavy on him. Yet no one knows what will happen because who can tell him what will happen? No one has authority over the wind to restrain it, and there is no authority over the day of death; no one is discharged during battle, and wickedness will not allow those who practice it to escape.

All this I have seen, applying my mind to all the work that is done under the sun, at a time when one person has authority over another to his harm.

Reverent Before Him

In such circumstances, I saw the wicked buried. They came and went from the holy place, and they were praised in the city where they did those things. This too is futile. Because the sentence against an evil act is not carried out quickly, the heart of people is filled with the desire to commit evil. Although a sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs his life, I also know that it will go well with God-fearing people, for they are reverent before him. However, it will not go well with the wicked, and they will not lengthen their days like a shadow, for they are not reverent before God.

There is a futility that is done on the earth: there are righteous people who get what the actions of the wicked deserve, and there are wicked people who get what the actions of the righteous deserve. I say that this too is futile. So I commended enjoyment because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat, drink, and enjoy himself, for this will accompany him in his labor during the days of his life that God gives him under the sun.

When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe the activity that is done on the earth (even though one’s eyes do not close in sleep day or night), I observed all the work of God and concluded that a person is unable to discover the work that is done under the sun. Even though a person labors hard to explore it, he cannot find it; even if a wise person claims to know it, he is unable to discover it.

Close

Okay, I’m just going to zero in on Chapter 7, verse 28.  I didn’t get it.  As a matter of fact, I got a little huffy.  I mean, I’m no dyed-in-the-wool feminist, but I got my hackles up a little at Solomon’s seeming dismissal of the righteousness of women.  Then I remembered that he had 300 wives and 700 concubines.  

Let’s revisit the verse real quick.  I’m going to include the two verses before and the verse after, which is always advisable for getting the context.  Read this out loud with me:  And I find more bitter than death the woman who is a trap: her heart a net and her hands chains. The one who pleases God will escape her, but the sinner will be captured by her. “Look,” says the Teacher, “I have discovered this by adding one thing to another to find out the explanation, which my soul continually searches for but does not find: I found one person in a thousand, but none of those was a woman. Only see this: I have discovered that God made people upright, but they pursued many schemes.”

Solomon’s Lament

This is what I see going on.  As we’ve noted, Solomon had a weakness for women, to the tune of 1000 of them.  We also now know the description of the wife of noble character.  We read in that article by Ms. Segal that one of those characteristics is a constant pursuit of her husband’s trust. She also fears God.  Would you think that either of those qualities apply to a woman who would consent to being one of a thousand?  Isn’t it a stretch to imagine that most of those women entered Solomon’s lavish house with love and devotion on her mind?  Is it more likely that they met at a party and Solomon fancied her?  Then he invited her home and took care of her because he had the money to do it?  

I think we are witnessing Solomon’s lament here.  He knew that this was not God’s intention for man and woman.  But sadly, he had missed that boat of intimacy because he allowed his appetite to prevail over pleasing God.  And ultimately his own satisfaction.  

And then, as an extension of his own self-deprecation, he sees mankind as a whole, none of us measuring up.  It was not God’s intent; it never was for us to sin.  But He loves us.  Oh, how He loves us.  He cannot deny Himself.  So, He made a way.  This Godly sorrow points to Jesus, the antidote to all of our regrets.  

Admittedly, I am no longer offended by Solomon’s statement.  I too fall so short of a noble character, so short.  And I praise God for His Provision, where would I be without it?  What do you think?  Please share with me at Lifting Her Voice.com, Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.

See You Tomorrow!

Thank you for joining me here today.  I pray that by spending time in His Word every day, you will by changed.  Visit me at Lifting Her Voice.com with your comments and questions.  And don’t forget to visit the Blog page while you’re there.  If you like the podcast, it would be great if you’d give it a five-star review and share it with everyone you know.  Don’t forget to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.  See you tomorrow!

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Christian Standard Bible(r), Copyright (c) 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible(r) and CSB(r) are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.