Ecclesiastes 1:13-18

b. Wisdom is used exploring all that is done under heaven. Ecclesiastes 1:13-18

TEXT 1:13-18

13

And I set my mind to seek and explore by wisdom concerning all that has been done under heaven. It is a grievous task which God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with.

14

I have seen all the works which have been done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and striving after wind.

15

What is crooked cannot be straightened, and what is lacking cannot be counted.

16

I said to myself, Behold, I have magnified and increased wisdom more than all who were over Jerusalem before me; and my mind has observed a wealth of wisdom and knowledge.

17

And I set my mind to know wisdom and to know madness and folly; I realized that this also is striving after wind.

18

Because in much wisdom there is much grief, and increasing knowledge results in increasing pain.

THOUGHT QUESTIONS 1:13-18

19.

What is Solomon now determined to do?

21.

What tool will he use with which to explore?

23.

What is it that he wishes to explore?

24.

What does he call the task?

25.

Who gives such a task to men?

26.

Once he had explored all the works, what conclusion did he reach?

27.

Mention some things in life which are crooked.

28.

What are some things which are lacking?

29.

Who could be compared to Solomon in regards to his increased wisdom?

30.

In addition to observing wisdom, what other two things did he study?

31.

Upon examining these things, what conclusion did he reach?

32.

When one increases wisdom and knowledge under the sun what will he receive in return?

PARAPHRASE 1:13-18

I was determined, assessing all my resources, employing all my energies, and guided by my mind, to ferret out and examine the roots, turning everything from side to side, until through wisdom I had explored all that has been done within the limits of the world. To examine and explore all things is a longing placed in man's heart by God Himself. However, it is a grievous, unrewarding task because what is discovered does not bring satisfaction or reward to man's mind. Everything the sun shines upon, I have seen. The conclusion I have reached is the same: nothing discovered upon the earth will fully satisfy man's longings; everything is as filling as feasting on the wind! Let me illustrate what I have just said: man tries to bring harmony to the overwhelming chaos of past and present events, but he despairs because it is a futile effort. Also, there are so many things lacking among the pieces of life that one cannot even count them, let alone find them! Speaking to myself I said, Your effort was successful in that you expanded your wisdom far beyond that possessed by any who have ever ruled in Jerusalem. Your unlimited resources made it possible that you could examine heretofore unexplored areas of wisdom and knowledge. Certainly it is no secret to myself that I explored every facet of life. I was determined to learn about the disorder of proper thoughts and subsequent consequences. I was determined to learn about evil and wickedness as they are entreated by others. Once again, I concluded that such knowledge is as satisfying as feasting on the wind! As I expanded my understanding of the various aspects of wisdom and knowledge, I discovered that my capacity to suffer grief and pain had also been increased. Not only is this true, but the increased information actually increased my sorrow.

COMMENT 1:13-18

Ecclesiastes 1:13-18 Solomon's purpose is clearly defined. He wants to explore all that is done under heaven. He will do it with his mind guided by wisdom. He sees it as a grievous task, vain and futile.

The term mind in Ecclesiastes 1:3 is a much better translation than heart which appears in the King James Version. Almost without exception the use of heart in the Old Testament should be thought of as the mental faculties. The idea here is to convey the fact that it is to be a mental procedure. He restates his determination to study and to know in Ecclesiastes 1:17 when he says, I set my mind. He does not bring a bias to his work. Neither is he interested in simply accumulating facts. He desires to see the nature of why and how things work.

Seek and explore are not synonymous. Seek carries the idea of studying that which is near at hand while explore suggests taking a comprehensive overview of something at a greater distance. Or, as Barton has stated it: -Search-' means to investigate the roots of a matter; -explore-' to explore the subject on all sides.[9] He does not leave a stone unturned in his quest to discover all that has been done under heaven. He is dealing, however, with that which has felt the blow of Adam's fall. He explores everything that comes within his power to see or hear. He is faced with endless observations but his conclusion is that all of it is afflicted with the mark of the vanity of this world. He calls it a grievous task and striving after wind.

[9] Leupold, op. cit., p. 52.

Since the task is grievous and drives one to despair, why say that God has given this task to man?
That is just the point! God has not given it to other than man. Nothing in all of God's creation, except man, concerns itself with the why of the activities of our world. Man, however, is restless until he discovers the why. Augustine's admission to God was that men are restless until they find their rest in Him. This quest for God in all the things around us is a futile pursuit. The reason it is unfulfilling is that it is directed toward God's creation, and not toward the mind of God which interprets God's creation. In Jesus-' day the mind of God was revealed to man in the fullest sense. It was under these circumstances that Jesus said, privately to his disciples, Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see, for I say to you, that many prophets and kings wished to see the things which you see, and did not see them, and to hear the things which you hear, and did not hear them (Luke 10:23-24).

False gods are worshipped throughout the world. False idols are established in every land. Why? Because these are expressions of man's frustrations and despair. He is searching in harmony with the grievous task in his mind, yet his results are inconsistent and unrewarding. His ultimate frustration is depicted by the Athenians in their erecting an altar to an unknown god! We hear Solomon say that God has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end (Ecclesiastes 3:11). It is an affliction because man is honest enough to admit that God is only longed for, not discovered. He must also admit, as Solomon does, that the mark of sin is so heavy upon both man and his world that nothing can really be changed, and that which is lacking in man and nature is still lacking. Man is not capable of remaking his world or himself. Cracks can be plastered, and cosmetically treated, but not healed. On our own, we can be pretenders and mask wearers, but we really can-'t make the crooked straight or add to man's account in order to make him acceptable before God.

Man is crooked and lacking, but God is not responsible for this. It was man who violated God's order, and thus suffers the consequences of sin. He and his world stand out of joint and in debt before God. God placed the curse upon both man and the world because of sin. In a sense it can be said that God bends things and people out of shape. But it is only in the sense that God made the righteous rules which were violated by men, and God placed the subsequent punishments upon that which violates the rules. It is in the light of this truth that Solomon admonishes us, consider the work of God. Who is able to straighten what he has bent? (Ecclesiastes 7:13). Man is in debt to God. Solomon in all his wisdom cannot help. Paul goes a step further and declares that even the world cannot help. Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through wisdom did not come to know God, God was well pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. we preach Christ crucified. because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men (1 Corinthians 1:20-25).

Another reason why the task is grievous has to do with the accomplishment of the very thing he started out to do. He wanted to explore all that had been done on the earth. He wanted to increase his wisdom and knowledge. He states that he accomplished this task to the degree that he (1) magnified and increased his wisdom more than any who had ruled over Jerusalem before him, and (2) his mind had observed a wealth of wisdom and knowledge. It is grievous because he admits that the more he learns, the greater his pain and grief. The deeper one penetrates the true nature of man, and the more knowledge one has concerning the inequities of life's struggle, the more disappointed he is with what he learns. His grief is actually compounded when he discovers that although he is a wise man, in this case greater than any who have lived before him, that he is still helpless and unable to bring justice to his own affairs. In addition, he is unable to correct the anomalies in the affairs of those about him.

In Ecclesiastes 1:17, he decides that he will also observe all he can concerning madness and folly. These words are usually associated with wickedness and improprieties. He contrasts these with wisdom which he actually employs in his pursuit. One example of Solomon's observation of madness and folly is found in Ecclesiastes 10:12-13 where it is stated, the lips of the fool consume him; the beginning of his talking is folly, and the end of it is wicked madness. He associates folly and madness with the fool not the wise man. It is one thing to share in something, and something else to know of it through observation. It appears that Solomon is observing it rather than experiencing it. We read Ecclesiastes 7:25, I directed my mind to know. the evil of folly and the foolishness of madness. Cf. Ecclesiastes 2:12.

Solomon's experiment was a success. That is, if he wanted merely to seek and explore by wisdom all that has been done under heaven. It was not successful if its objective was to bring him peace and satisfaction. His observations concerning it are (1) it is grievous, (2) it is an affliction, (3) it is vanity and striving after wind, (4) it increased my grief and my pain.

FACT QUESTIONS 1:13-18

38.

What is the goal of Solomon's first experiment?

39.

Why is mind a better translation than heart (Ecclesiastes 1:13)?

40.

What evidence is there that Solomon was determined?

41.

What is the difference between seek and explore?

42.

What happened in the world that makes the study of it a grievous task?

43.

Why say that God gave this grievous task to man?

44.

Idols and gods are evidence of what within man?

45.

Give evidence from Ecclesiastes that God does not intend for man to find out His work from observations under the sun.

46.

What does crooked and lacking mean?

47.

In what sense is God responsible for it?

48.

Why was Solomon's increased wisdom also a matter of grief?

49.

Why was his grief compounded?

50.

What words are associated with madness and folly?

51.

In what way was Solomon's first experiment a success?

52.

In what way was it a failure?