An intelligent & powerful man who lusted

Solomon had transcended his Jewish identity and had become a cosmopolitan leader. He was married to Pharaoh’s daughter. His fame had also spread far and wide to the point where dignitaries like The Queen of Sheba came to Solomon to learn from his wisdom. His ministry and effect was not confined within the borders of Israel.

A young vibrant Solomon, who had been just anointed king, prays for wisdom that will allow him to rule the great nation of Israel. This The Lord grants to him in abundance. How much understanding was he given? It must have been considerable[2]. There were 3000 proverbs and 1005 songs that he had authored and he had knowledge about animal and plant life or what we today would call things like the Biology of fauna and flora[3]What we have in proverbs is a collection of only part of Solomon’s brilliant mind given to him by God. The amount and range of this collection is considerable adding up to thirty-one chapters of godly sayings, advice and counsel that address and pertain to numerous crucial issues of life.

[1] C. Hassle Bullock, Poetic books, an introduction to OT. P. 172
[2] Ist Kings 4:29
[3] Ist Kings 4:32

The Aftermath of Failure

We will accept with tradition and Biblical scholarship that says that Solomon is indeed the author of this Ecclesiastics.
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Vanity of vanities all is vanity, begins Solomon…

It’s Motivation

4For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. [1]

This book, is believed to have been written during Solomon’s latter years. A Solomon well endowed in years begins to reflect at the ruins, ashes of his life and the one enduring eternal “Rock” who never fails. The sense of pathos starts from the beginning where one senses’ his regret. This is also why he must have needed to leave behind a recorded legacy of a partly wasted life that could have and should have been, lived better. One can speculate in this way when trying to narrow down Solomon’s motivation to write this book. He had indeed started well but did not finish as well as he would have liked so he, at least, tries to redeem the wastage by warning those who would live after him and would be confronted with similar choices. He can still get up, walk and pen words so he gets busy. He is not like the Rich man in hell whom Jesus talked about who is told its too late for him to warn his brothers. He writes an open letter to all those who would come after him to consider their ways.

Historical context: Solomon, Israel’s wise peace time ruler

Alas as it turns out a lot of the Israelite dynasty that continued after him had the same or worse problems but Solomon needed at least to give a warning to these subsequent leaders of Israel. What a well-lived life he had. Here was a man that had set his heart aright early on through the instruction of his father David and his mother Bethsheba[2]. He was a man who enjoyed world renown as a statesman of great wisdom. He had also enjoyed unprecedented wealth in a time of peace and prosperity. Israel was at the peak of her statehood with no enemies in sight.

9And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the Lord God of Israel, which had appeared unto him twice,

He was also spiritually blessed to have had no less than two visitations from the Lord[3] in which the Lord had appeared to him to grant him not just the wisdom he had asked for to govern but also prosperity as an added bonus. As the one commissioned with building the temple he witnessed an inauguration attended by the visible glory of God’s presence. What days those days must have been? It makes one realize why those who had returned from Babylonian captivity had wept remembering Solomon’s temple. All of this would end in a low note at the latter end of his life for having forsaken the ways of the lord and amassing inordinate number of wives and concubines from heathen nations of which he had been warned would turn his heart away from God[4]. The decline of Israel and the period of the divided kingdom begin as soon as he is gone.

The Message of Ecclesiastics

Speculations aside, what is he saying to us? There is a type of layered wisdom in the book of Ecclesiastics that is different from the concise advice in pill form found in proverbs. Vanity of vanities all is vanity, begins Solomon and starts on a down turn with a problem. He is not unlike other Old Testament prophets in this way, who spell out their society’s problems. However Solomon does not direct his outcry at a particular group of people but towards the world at large and to himself.

In The beginning chapters Solomon demonstrates the futility of life, wisdom and the pursuits of pleasure and the amassing of wealth. What an important message this is to every generation of people who have lived on this earth. Don’t get caught up in those things because they all turn out to be meaningless empty pursuits.

He does not speak this like a philosopher but like a scientist who had been in a libratory and had experimented with all these things and found them disappointing. It’s a difficult book in this way that it does not advocate abstaining but preaches from the hindsight of one who has partaken of all these things. It seems to say you need not make those same mistakes ‘I’ have made instead of delineating a line that must not be crossed. In contrast Jesus and the New Testament draw a line and command us, don’t do these but if you do and fail you have an advocate with the father. That is why The Lord is greater than Solomon and everyone else. We all preach from a lesson learned after failure like Solomon. We say, I backslid into drinking, or pornography but you shouldn’t do that to yourself. It useless vanity and only leads to greater disappointments!

While chapter one states the problems of excess. Chapter two shows us how to live a contented life with measure. This idea is also found in proverbs. Solomon continues by sharing with us the importance of timeliness. He says to us, one of the most quoted sayings from the Bible, “There is a time for everything”. This ties in to the excesses of the beginning chapter because we need not have all things right now, rather good things will come to us in their appointed time which The Lord has ordained. So here again he lets out the other secret of contentment, which is trusting the lord’s timing for our life. God’s sovereign rule over the earth is also developed in this chapter. Solomon develops the themes of ‘futile pursuits’ in the rest of the chapters.

What he failed to do in life he tries to set aright on paper to forewarn others and leave a legacy of remorse that says, “learn from my mistakes” Solomon continues to rummages through all the let down’s of life (like work, politics, family, religion etc) but concludes by putting us on a nice comfortable hill that we can hope and trust in, That of The Lord’s.

12:1Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;[5]

13Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. 14For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.[6]

What is the conclusion of a man whose life that had digressed on a tangent of amorous and greedy pursuits? Fear The Lord who will bring all to account!
[1] 1 Kings 11:4 (KJV)
[2] 1 Kings 11:9 (KJV)
[3] Ist Kings 11:9
[4] I kings 11:1-3
[5] Eccles. 12:1 (KJV)
[6] Eccles. 12:13-14 (KJV)