Bible Studies for Life
By James Riley Strange, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of New Testament, Samford University
The Problem with Wisdom
Ecclesiastes 2:12–17; 7:23–29
Last week the teacher (the narrator in Ecclesiastes) took the persona of Solomon and spoke of an experiment he conducted to learn if success in many areas would bring him pleasure. He built monumental projects in Jerusalem, amassed wealth, exploited human beings and indulged every appetite. And he found that he was partly right; accomplishing both great and base things did bring him pleasure. On the other hand the pleasure was fleeting and, contrary to appearances, “there was nothing to be gained under the sun” (2:11).
Today we learn of a second experiment: What is the value, the teacher asks, of amassing wisdom rather than pleasures?
Wisdom has its advantages, but by itself it is not enough. (2:12–17)
Only the king can do what the teacher describes in verses 1–11, but God’s wisdom is available to all. Verse 14 shows the teacher is familiar with the opinion that the wise prosper in this life whereas the foolish suffer; hence wisdom is better than folly. The teacher, however, has reached a different conclusion. Yes, “the wise have eyes in their head while fools walk in darkness,” but there is no worldly advantage to being wise, he says. All, whether wise or fools, suffer the same fate in death. Moreover all will be forgotten.
Here is another bit of irony. For 3,000 years people have celebrated Solomon’s buildings and wisdom. He has not been forgotten. Perhaps this is why the teacher will abandon this persona. His readers may be more sympathetic to hearing one of their own say such things as, “in the days to come all will have been long forgotten” (v. 16) and “so I hated life” (v. 17).
Read the rest of this chapter. Notice the shift here: the pleasure that he found in his toil (v. 10) has turned to loathing (v. 18). Both wise and foolish die and long after Solomon is gone, both wise and foolish will enjoy the buildings, gardens, parks and pools he ordered to be built. Both wise and foolish endure pain and suffer vexation. Both sleep restlessly.
Wisdom has its limits in our finite minds. (7:23–25)
After chapter 2 the teacher speaks no longer as Solomon but as a common Israelite.
“All this” in verse 23 refers to verses 15 through 22 in which the teacher talks about moderation. A person should seek to be neither too righteous nor too wicked. Avoidance of wickedness seems self-evident, but why eschew excess righteousness? The teacher is saying that no one can achieve perfection. While doing good, do not forget your capacity to sin. Starting in verse 23 he speaks of how elusive even that bit of wisdom is.
The wisdom we need comes from pursuing God and living righteously. (7:26–29)
In verse 26 the teacher is not disparaging women but speaking of folly as if it were a person. In Proverbs both wisdom and folly are personified as women who call out to people. Wisdom is a divine teacher (Prov. 8:1–36) whereas folly is a seductress (Prov. 7:1–27, 9:13–18). In verse 28, 1 in 1,000 is virtually equal to 0 in 1,000. The point comes in verse 29: human beings violate their God-given purpose.
For our conclusion let us return to verses 24–26. Given all he has said the teacher concludes wisdom is worthless, right? Certainly not. Even if it produces no lasting reward wisdom is of God.
Accordingly, the teacher says, rather than grand accomplishments and hedonistic indulgences let us enjoy the most basic of God’s gifts: to eat, drink and work shoulder to shoulder with our fellow Christian believers.
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