I'm amused by the number of inspirational and motivational posters that draw from Ecclesiastes. Sure, the wisest man in the world penned it. Yes, there are a number of poetic, memorable and seemingly inspirational quotes to pick from like those pictured above. But there are also these warm-and-fuzzy nuggets:
"For with much wisdom comes much sorrow;the more knowledge, the more grief.""And I declared that the dead,who had already died,are happier than the living,who are still alive.But better than bothis he who has not yet been,who has not seen the evilthat is done under the sun.""And I saw that all labor and achievement spring from man's envy of his neighbor.""If you see the poor oppressed in a district, and justice and rights denied, do not be surprised at such things...."Ecclesiastes 5:8 [And this from a wise king who, you'd think, had the power to do about it!]"I have seen another evil under the sun, and it weighs heavily on men: God gives a man wealth, possessions and honor, so that he lacks nothing his heart desires, but God does not enable him to enjoy them, and a stranger enjoys the instead. This is meaningless, a grievous evil.""There is something else meaningless that occurs on earth: righteous men who get what the wicked deserve, and wicked men who get what the righteous deserve. This too, I say is meaningless. So I commend the enjoyment of life, because nothing is better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad.""A man may have a hundred children and live many years; yet no matter how long he lives, if he cannot enjoy his prosperity and does not receive proper burial, I say that a still born child is better off than he. It comes without meaning, it departs in darkness, and in darkness its name is shrouded. Though it never saw the sun or knew anything, it has more rest than does that man -- even if he lives a thousand years twice over but fails to enjoy his prosperity. Do not all go to the same place?"Ecclesiastes 6:3-6 [Way to go Mister Positive.]"I found one upright man among a thousand,but not one upright woman among them all."Ecclesiastes 7:28 [Is Solomon sexist? A humorist? A better husband with a house full of contentious foreign wives? All of the above?]
So what do we do? Which Solomon, which passages, which "truths" do we listen to? Well, I think most of us (and I include myself in this) do what we do with most of the Bible - we pick and choose what we want to listen to, right?
I'm not entirely sure what I can believe coming out of Solomon's mouth. This is a man who at the writing of this book might be worshipping the "detestable Molech." Molech or Moloch was a god whose worship, some feel, involved the sacrificing of children. At any rate it was a god "detestable" to the Lord. This is a man who took many wives and some from cultures considered forbidden to the Jews. This is a man and a book that says everything is meaningless, that you can't know the future, that there is no justice, that the dead are better off than the living and all achievement comes from corrupt inspiration.
So what are we to think?
Just gaze loving at the lovely blooms on a body-strewn battlefield? What would Solomon do? I think he would have condemned such a selective, overly positive and optimistic view of his writing.
I don't trust the flowery, poetic gems punctuating the muddy field of nihilism presented by Solomon. In the end, all I walk away trusting Solomon on is what he says in the end and in his estimation the end of things:
"Now all has been heard;here is the conclusion of the matter:Fear God and keep his commandments,for that is the whole duty of man."
That's it. Lord knows.
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