Day 171 (Ecclesiastes 7-12) - Year 7
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Hey, Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for The Bible Recap. Today we finished our 14th book of the Bible. Congratulations! And this is the last we'll see of possibly Solomon's wisdom. Let's look at what the preacher had to say to us today. In chapter 7, he urges his readers to take life and death seriously and to let sadness do its job.

Even though life is fleeting, there's still weight to the human experience and value in the emotions that come with it. He encourages us to wait on God's timing as we walk through life. Pride and patience are at odds. Waiting requires humility. And in the same way that we shouldn't look forward longingly, we also shouldn't look backward longingly. In verse 10, he says it like this,

Say not, Why were the former days better than these? For it is not from wisdom that you ask this. Trusting God means we live in contentment in the now. In verse 16, he seems to frown on wisdom and righteousness, but that feels contradictory to everything else he said. So what do we make of this verse? It says, Be not overly righteous, and do not make yourself too wise. Why should you destroy yourself?

The word righteous here isn't referring to morality. It's a word used most often in terms of a judicial system. Given the context and word choice here, it almost seems like the preacher is saying, don't puff yourself up. Don't be the person who always has to be right and have all the answers. That's arrogant and ultimately keeps you from being the kind of person you're trying to portray yourself as.

At the end of chapter 7, the preacher laments how challenging human relationships can be. He warns that a manipulative, needy woman is worse than death. And try as he may, with all his wisdom, he can't seem to comprehend women at all. But men, you aren't off the hook here because he can only understand one of you, and it probably isn't you specifically. Humans are just complex creatures, and connecting is hard.

In chapter 8, he gives some advice to the king's counselor. He basically says, look, you're dealing with a man who has almost no restraint on his power. You're going to need a lot of wisdom to know when to speak up, when to keep quiet. He's going to try to abuse his authority, and you're going to have to know exactly how to approach him to rein him in sometimes. But even in this, the preacher realizes that the impact this can have is fleeting. It's just another aspect of how we can spin our wheels trying to control things. We can't determine the outcome.

By the way, this is especially interesting if Solomon is the author because he was the king. In chapter 9, he reminds us again that we're all going to die. He never lets us forget this for very long. He reminds us to enjoy our days while we have them. In verse 10, he says something that we'll continue to unpack more as we keep reading, but I just want to touch on it briefly for now.

He says,

God will continue to reveal information to His people about this, but we're not there yet, so hang in there. Moving on to chapters 10 and 11, the preacher moves back into straight-up Solomon-style proverbs. He reminds us that even a little foolishness can lead to ruin and that we should guard our thoughts as much as our words. And I'd be remiss not to point out that 11.5 talks about how God gives life in the womb. And it's remarkable that this passage was written long before 4D ultrasounds ever existed—

The verse says, In the final chapter of the book, he calls the reader to remember God, especially in youth.

This isn't to say we should forget him when we're old. It's just pointing out that it can be easy to forget him when we're young and haven't yet gained the wisdom of years that might cause a person to reflect on the brevity of life. He strings together a bunch of weird phrases that, if you read them closely, are describing the failing body of an old man. The strong men are bent refers to his bones and joints decaying. The grinders cease because they are few refers to the way he has to stop eating because his teeth have fallen out.

Then verse 7 says, He wraps up his whole experiment with this conclusion. We'll see pain and joy in our lives, but our job is to enjoy and obey God regardless. Your perspective on this book, whether it was encouraging, depressing, refreshing, it probably has a lot to do with what you were looking for in it. If you were looking for a path to success or the good life, it probably made you despair.

But if you were looking for God, what did you see about Him today? My God shot was in 8.12, which also felt like a perfect summary for the whole book. It says, This verse points out that there's no formula for a long and happy life. Living righteously doesn't mean you'll live longer than those who aren't walking with God.

The only thing we can do is delight in God and obey Him and trust Him with the outcome. And that, in itself, is what it looks like for things to go well, regardless what actually happens. Isn't that what you're really after anyway? A heart at peace? And haven't you seen time and again how getting the thing you want doesn't actually achieve that for you? And how striving after it actually produces the opposite of a heart at peace?

The preacher has had palaces and parties and concerts and concubines and money in amounts you and I will never be able to touch. And he says, none of it brings the kind of peace and joy that comes from humbly walking with God. The preacher knows he's where the joy is. ♪

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