80 - Solomon’s Glory Fades and Solomon’s Conclusion to the Meaning of Life
– Ecclesiastes; I Kings 11; II Chron 9:29-31 May 31
Unfortunately, the wisest man to have lived up to that time (and maybe ever, besides
Jesus) couldn’t keep things together in his own life. He didn’t apply his own Proverbial
wisdom to himself nor the commandments from the Law of Moses about kings’
behaviour. This is a study of letting your heart get worn down so that you are NO
LONGER WHOLEHEARTED for God. This entry, two days of reading, also looks at the
MEANINGLESSNESS OF WORLDLY PURSUITS and focuses on what really matter.
I Kings 11 Apparently God was ready to overlook Solomon’s marriage to the daughter of
the king of Egypt, although I am not sure on what grounds. However, Solomon wasn’t
satisfied with that, and the bible says here that he had 700 royal wives and also had 300
concubines (for the nights he was lonely??? Perhaps he received some of the concubines
as gifts, as disgusting as that sounds to us…who knows?!!) Not surprisingly, these
foreign women led him astray. He was worn down by his wives and his heart eventually
followed other gods. His father, David, had followed WHOLE HEARTEDLY whereas
Solomon didn’t.
The prophecy in verses 9-13 is a sad revelation of Solomon’s legacy, which was so
different from what God had originally planned for him and his family. However, it is
also a testimony to David’s life that God would keep a tribe safe just for his sake.
The story of Hadad is interesting – it tells us that God will put people in our lives to get
us to repent, to help us rely on Him more, or to just plain oppose us when we are proud!
The third adversary to Solomon ended up being Jeroboam, the man who was a servant
who became a king, and the man who tore the kingdom away from Solomon’s son in
future times. But more on that in a future entry. Look for now at how God called
Jeroboam – he told him through a prophet that he would rule Israel, and he told Jeroboam
that he would keep the kingdom IF “you walk in my ways”…etc. That’s all God ever
wanted, was for the rulers and the people to love him and follow him with all their heart,
which is, of course, the same thing he wants from us today!!
THE BOOK OF ECCLESIASTES
The following is a quote from F. LaGard Smith’s narration in the chapter before
Ecclesiastes.
Despite his great sin – or because of it – Solomon may ultimately have gained the most
valuable wisdom of all: a full appreciation of the emptiness of all that he had – even his
own wisdom – when compared to things eternal. The book traditionally known as
Ecclesiastes, meaning the Preacher or the Teacher, may have been written either
personally by King Solomon or sometime later by a scribe in Solomon’s honour as the
patron of the wisdom movement. In either case, Solomon appears to be the Teacher, and
the observations about life which are the basis for the writing seem to be drawn from
Solomon’s own experiences.
Ecclesiastes is a critical essay about the meaning of life. For purposes of this
presentation, the book has been organized according to topics in order to highlight the
obvious themes of the Teacher.
1) THE SEARCH FOR MEANING Eccles1:1-11; 6:10-12
A – The Ultimate Question – We have probably all asked ourselves something like,
“What is the meaning of life?”, “Why am I alive?”, “Does my life matter?”, “Why am I
here?”, “Is there such a thing as ‘true happiness’ in life?”. It is testimony to the
universality of man that Solomon, the wisest man and most powerful king of his time,
asked the same questions! If you think about these questions long enough, from a
worldly, humanistic point of view, the answer can only be the same that Solomon came
up with – “Everything is meaningless!”
B – The Cyclical Nature of Life – Moaning about how there is nothing new and how
everything repeats itself. Perhaps today we say, “What goes round comes round.”
C – Man’s Search for Meaning – Who can tell what will happen? Obviously no one
except for God. But I am jumping ahead <smile>. As a very worldly teenager, I had no
such thoughts on my mind (I was more worried about who my next date would be or how
to cover up my latest nefarious act) until one day something dawned on me and I asked
myself, “Is this all there is to life?” It took me over a year to figure out that the answer
had to do with God.
2) THE IMPORTANCE OF FINDING MEANING Ec 3:18-22; 2:12-16; 9:1-12; 8:16-17
A – Mortality of Animals and Man – No one knows where you go when you die except
by faith according to God’s word.
B – Mortality of Foolish and Wise – “wisdom is better than folly…but the same fate
overtakes them both.” So how? (That’s a Singlish expression meaning, “So now what
should I do??!!)
C – Mortality of Righteous and Wicked – Everyone experiences good and bad times, pain
and suffering, and death.
D – Importance of the Present – Suicide isn’t the answer cause you can’t do anything if
you are dead!
E – The “Unexpectancy” of Death – Input doesn’t always equal output. We don’t always
get what we so-called “deserve”. It works both ways. “Time and chance happen to them
all.” This reminds me of a study on suffering that I did years ago. I found five kinds of
suffering in the bible (there may be more): i-suffering for being a Christian; ii-suffering
the consequences of your actions, iii-suffering the consequences of others’ actions, ivsuffering the generic sufferings of life that happen to everyone based on time and chance,
and v-suffering the inevitable, like death of a loved one or your own death. John always
says that the difference between i- and ii- is that the first one is being a fool for Christ and
the second one is being a plain old fool! See 1 Peter 4 for more on this.
F – Life’s Meaning Inscrutable – That’s why the bible is “the Philosopher’s Dream”.
3) THE MEANINGLESSNESS AND EMPTINESS OF HUMAN PURSUITS Ecc 1:1218; 2:1-3; 2:4-11; 2:17-26; 4:1-16; 5:1-20; 6:1-9; 7:13-14; 8:2-15; 9:13-18
A – Emptiness of Human Wisdom 1:12-18
Solomon knew that he was the wisest man, but he discovered that wisdom on its own,
without God, is completely useless. (If you doubt this, ask yourself how many truly
happy university professors and philosophers you have met!) This reminds me of a
message a friend of mine left on his answering machine once, “The more you study, the
more you learn; the more you learn, the more you know; the more you know, the more
you forget; so why study?” Not quite what God had in mind here, but makes me smile to
think about it!
B – Emptiness of Pleasure 2:1-3
Fun, laughter, pleasure in any package, which Solomon admitted included wine tasting
and drunkenness. Nowadays we could add movie going, discos, drug taking, video
games, cruises with midnight buffets, etc. All emptiness! Attend an open Alcoholics
Anonymous meeting to see more proof, if you need it.
C – Emptiness of Achievement 2:4-11
“If I have the best of everything, I’ll be happy!” we tell ourselves. At least that’s what I
thought when I was 15 years old. I had already drawn plans for my mansion, and I had
cut out a picture from a magazine of a Russian sable fur coat (cost in 1978 was over
US$100,000)! Luckily, I soon realized that “things” wouldn’t make anyone happy.
But Solomon truly tried everything: beautiful parks around his luxurious palace with all
kinds of water falls, flowers and fruit trees, hundreds if not thousands of slaves and
servants to fulfil his every whim, Bill Gates-style business success and bank accounts,
treasures from all over the world, a personal choir, a harem for sexual pleasure and
companionship (was he referring to his wives or concubines or another group???). He
literally denied himself no pleasure (reminds me of the movie stars that experiment with
all kinds of sexual dalliances, drugs and religions). I was a pleasure seeker and had tried
many things by the age of 17, but obviously no where near Solomon. I am grateful I
learned my lesson at an earlier age! Saved me a lot of pain.
D – Emptiness of Labour 2:17-26
The king realized that work without God is also meaningless, and he started getting
cynical during his search.
E – Emptiness of Human Condition 4:1-3
If all that counts is worldly gain, then better to have never been born.
F – Emptiness of Accumulation 4:4-6
Now if this isn’t true of Singaporeans, what is??? People see what others have and want
more so they work harder – “Better one handful with tranquillity than two handfuls with
toil and chasing after the wind.”
G – Emptiness of Unshared Lives 4:7-12
This is the famous passage written on marriage invitations about two being better than
one. What Solomon recognized here is that loving and being loved is one of God’s most
precious gifts! (Not necessarily only in marriage but with family and friends as well).
H – Emptiness of Politics 4:13-16
During Rick Warren’s stopover in Asia several years ago, he said that governments are
not the answer to the world’s problems – the only answer is Christians imitating Jesus
through the power of Jesus.
I – Emptiness of False Worship 5:1-7
Don’t be rash in your worship, don’t be a “good intention Christian”, remember who God
is and Stand in awe of God!!
J – Emptiness of Wealth 5:8-20
Read this section carefully – there are some precious words of wisdom for us in
Singapore. The main messages are that greed causes people to never be satisfied and that
we shouldn’t be surprised when we see injustice, greed and corruption because they are
as old as man. The positive conclusion is that when you work hard with God and for God,
you will have serenity and happiness.
K – Emptiness of Materialism 6:1-9
Similarly to what is above, Solomon noticed that if you are working hard enough to
accumulate, you hardly have time to enjoy things (unless you are a tai-tai) and yet your
appetites will never be satisfied. More emptiness! Recent surveys in Asia have shown
that the richest countries come up last when questioned about personal happiness and
satisfaction in life, while the poorer nations come up on top! Go figure!
L – Emptiness of Prosperity 7:13-14
More of the same.
M – Emptiness of Defiance 8:2-6
This is an interesting comment.
N – Emptiness of Wickedness 8:7-13
A man may get away with being a wicked hypocrite on earth, but even Solomon knows
that the God-fearing man is better off.
O – Emptiness of Injustice 8:14-15
And since there is so much injustice, better make sure you enjoy your life when you are
able!
P – Emptiness of Strength 9:13-18
Again, without God, our lives don’t mean much.
4) THE VALUE OF WISDOM Ecc 12:9-10; 7:7-12; 7:19-26; 10:1-20; 11:1-6; 12:11-12;
7:1-6; 7:15-18, 7:27-29; 8:1
A – Various Proverbs
These are more proverbs, similar to the ones written in the book of Proverbs
I personally like this verse about finishing strong, “The end of a matter is better than its
beginning, and patience is better than pride.” There are great verses on not constantly
thinking about the good ole days, controlling your temper, gossip, favouritism,
consequences, diplomatic speech, self-control, generosity, and laziness.
B – Wisdom Comes from Sorrow
More proverbs, but these were written on one of Solomon’s down days!
C – Danger of Extremism
“The man who fears God will avoid all extremes.” Wise words from a wise man.
A note I wrote to myself years back says, “My interpretation of this passage is, ‘Don’t be
a self-righteous busy-body who takes yourself too seriously, is uptight, never has any fun,
and doesn’t easily give grace to others!’”
D – Few Choose Wisdom
Enough said.
E – Enriching Nature of Wisdom
Wisdom is a natural anti-aging application: “Wisdom brightens a man’s face and changes
its hard appearance.”
5) LIFE’S TRUE MEANING Ec 3:1-17; 11:7-10; 12:1-8; 12:13-14
A – Purpose and Balance in Life
This is the poetic passage which begins with, “There is a time for everything…”
For those of us who are considered “ancient”, we may remember the song based on
Ecclesiastes 3 made famous by the Byrds (if you don’t know who they are, then you
don’t qualify as “ancient”)!
Lyrics from the Byrds song, “To Everything There Is a Season”:
To everything - turn, turn, turn
There is a season - turn, turn, turn
And a time for every purpose under heaven
A time to be born, a time to die
A time to plant, a time to reap
A time to kill, a time to heal
A time to laugh, a time to weep
To everything - turn, turn, turn
There is a season - turn, turn, turn
And a time for every purpose under heaven
A time to build up, a time to break down
A time to dance, a time to mourn
A time to cast away stones
A time to gather stones together
To everything - turn, turn, turn
There is a season - turn, turn, turn
And a time for every purpose under heaven
A time of war, a time of peace
A time of love, a time of hate
A time you may embrace
A time to refrain from embracing
To everything - turn, turn, turn
There is a season - turn, turn, turn
And a time for every purpose under heaven
A time to gain, a time to lose
A time to rend, a time to sew
A time to love, a time to hate
A time of peace, I swear it's not too late!
Sorry, but I just had an attack of nostalgia.
Be sure to focus on verse 11 about God setting eternity in the hearts of men. A note I
wrote in my bible says, “That explains why we all have a God-shaped vacuum in our
hearts!” And speaking of that, listen to the pod-cast sermons on the Singapore church
website for Wee Keong’s incredible sermon on March 30, 2008 about heaven and hell.
Amazing!!! www.seachurches.org
B – Advice to Young People
Solomon ends his heavy recollections with a plea for young people to enjoy life but to
fear God, and to not put off finding God until it is too late. This passage includes a
beautiful and poetic set of verses on growing old.
C – Where Life Finds Its Meaning
The famous last words of someone who learned everything the hard way:
“Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing,
Whether it is good or evil.”
Wow!!!
This is amazing! What a wonderful book! Aren’t we glad that we don’t have to learn
everything the hard way but that we can profit from Solomon’s writings and can use them
to help our friends who have not yet become Christians??!! Amen!! Thanks, God, for
including this book in your Holy Bible!!
THE END OF SOLOMON’S REIGN – I Kings 11:41-43; II Chronicles 9:29-31
Solomon, after reigning in Jerusalem for 40 years, finally succumbed to the “same
destiny which overtakes all men,” and the end of his life is recorded briefly in the verses
above. His son Rehoboam succeeded him, and he will be the subject of our next entry.
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