EcclesiastesIntroductionTo: Ecclesiastes Main MenuTo: Grace Notes Home Page Fes-to Ki-ven-gere, a leading African Christian, told of his experience as follows: "My life was like a spinning top. I worked, I played, I worked. The cycle went around, and the more humdrum it became, the speedier it got - spinning like atop. You know the problem of a spinning top - it has a very big head and a very thin base. It can't stand up unless it's spinning. And a top just spins around itself - that's all, it goes no where. My life was exactly like that. I was just running faster and faster, thinking that the faster I ran the more lively life would become. How wrong! Then something wonderful happened to that African leader. A friend who was a new Christian told him the story of salvation and how his sins could be forgiven. Ki-ven-gere said, That day God smashed my heart open and introduced me to the living reality of Jesus Christ. My top stopped spinning, and He gave me direction that lasts through eternity. A spinning top has no direction." We are going to begin a study of the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes. It is book that defies human authorship alone. It is unusual and unique. It is not the kid of book man would write if he could or could write if he would. It tells the story of Solomon, a spinning top. The uniqueness of this book is found in the parallel tracks upon which the story unfolds: 1. The first track is that of wisdom and both secular wisdom is dealt with along with God's divine wisdom. At time the passages almost seem to contradict one another as they develop these two spheres of wisdom. Why these contradictions, why this approach? Well, the answered is found in the author, Solomon. Solomon writes this book towards the end of his life looking back about fifteen to twenty years, from the time he was 40 to a time near his death at 60. He evaluates what he went through as he strayed from the truth of God. So while at one time we read of the hopelessness he sensed at other times we read of the hope he now knows he could have had. THE SAD COMMENTARY THAT ENDS THIS BOOK IS THAT all the hoplessness was unnecessary. And so this book comes to us and teaches us that we do not have to join in the chorus of those who would say Vanity of vanities, Vanity of vanities! All is vanity. NOW TO UNDERSTAND THE BOOK AND SENSE THE full weight of its arguments we need to understand the writer. THE REIGN OF SOLOMON: The reign of Solomon sees Israel in its golden age. All the tribes of Israel were united. Peace and prosperity were the rule rather than the exception in the land. But, nothing ever remains the same, it would not last. Solomon reigned for forty years (from 970 to 930 bc). He was the hand picked and divinely picked successor to his father David. He began his reign at the age of 20 and ended it at the age of 60. At the end of his 40 year reign the nation divided, and remained divided until its destruction. The world will not know a united Israel again until the millennial reign of Jesus Christ. 1 Kings 3 describes the beginning of the reign of Solomon. 1 Kings 3:1 "Then Solomon formed a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh's daughter and brought her to the city of David, until he had finished building his own house and the house of the Lord and the wall around Jerusalem. "After which time he built her own palace (I Kings 7:8) Solomon is going to end up with a lot of wives, but this particular marriage is legitimate. Genesis 24:3 prohibited Israelites from marry Canaanites, but there was no prohibition in marrying Egyptians. Joseph was married to an Egyptian, the daughter of a priest of the sun worship (Genesis 46:20) When Israel came out of bondage in Egypt, may Egyptians came with them also. Many men had married Egyptian women. So there is no problem in this marriage. We do see that there is going to be a very different approach during the reign of Solomon. David conquered his adversaries by force and war, Solomon used romance and marriage. 1 Kings 3:2 The people were still sacrificing on the high places, because there was no house built for the name of the Lord until those days.Since the days of the Judges, Israel had adopted the Canaanite custom of offering sacrifices on high hills or plateaus. Although this was prohibited in the Mosaic Law (Leviticus 17:3-4), it was common practiced by the time of Solomon. 1 Kings 3:3 Now Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of his father David, except he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.As Solomon begins his reign he is said to walk in the statutes of his father. This was, for the most part, true for twenty years of his 40 year reign. But here we see one of the small problem: He, along with the people sacrificed and burned incense of the high places. 1 Kings 3:4 The most important of these High places was at Gibeon, about five miles north of Jerusalem.It is here that Solomon chose to offer the 1000 burnt offerings. And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place; Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. 1 Kings 3:5 It was also at Gibeon that the Lord revealed himself to Solomon in a dream at night.While there appears to be a cause-effect relationship between the sacrifices and God appearing to Solomon, there need not be. REMEMBER: God is not impressed with the offering, he is only impressed by the attitude: I Samuel 15:22 And Samuel said (to Saul), Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices As in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams. Psalm 51:16-17 For Thou dost not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; Thou art not pleased with burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise. Because of Solomon's heart God came to him at night as said, ask what you will, and I will do it. Solomon's first thoughts are about his father: 1 Kings 3:6 Then Solomon said, Thou hast shown great lovingkindness to Thy servant David my father, according as he walked before Thee in truth and righteousness and uprightness of heart toward Thee; and Thou hast reserved for him this great lovingkindness, that Thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day.1 Kings 3:7-9, Solomon's prayer for wisdom. An understanding heart to judge the people, to discern between good and evil. Solomon already proved that he was very wise. Refer to the scheme of Adonijah in I Kings 2:13-25. Although Bathsheba did not see the evil plot developing, Solomon did. Bathsheba may have been blinded by jealousy over Abishag who cared for David in his dying days. This was wisdom acquired from the teaching of the Word by his father and mother and by observation of his father as King of Israel. But while Solomon showed that he was wise, he asks for even more wisdom. Solomon put the good of the people above his own personal interests: Philippians 2:3-4 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself; do not {merely} look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. 1 Kings 3:10-15 The promise of God to fulfill the request and more: v 10 God was pleased with the request. We can please God with our prayers Solomon goes from the high place to the right place, the Tabernacle. "Then Solomon awoke, and behold, it was a dream. And he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and made peace offerings, and made a feast for all his servants. " Solomon was not a priest so this means he stood in the fore court of the Tabernacle. A burnt offering was an offering of dedication. The feast made for the servants looks at blessing by association. SO WE SEE THAT SOLOMON STARTED OFF GREAT . . . BUT LET'S JUMP AHEAD 20 YEARS: I Kings 11:9-10 Now the Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not observe what the Lord had commanded. Somthing went wrong. The one who started out so well, now finds himself at the wrong end of God's anger. What happened in these twenty years to cause such a change. To go from success to failure? WELL, FOUR THINGS HAPPENED: 1. He loved God but worshipped God in the wrong way: II Chronicles 1:14-17 "And Solomon amassed chariots and horsemen. He had 1,400 chariots, and 12,000 horsemen, and he stationed them in the chariot cities and with the king at Jerusalem. And the king made silver and gold as plentiful in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedars as plentiful as sycamores in the lowland. And Solomon's horses were imported from Egypt and from Kue; the king's traders procured them from Kue for a price. And they imported chariots from Egypt for 600 shekels of silver apiece, and horses for 150 apiece, and by the same means they exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Aram. " Let's see some of Solomon's other forms of greed: I Kings 9:11-14 Solomon cheated Hiram yet Hiram was gracious to Solomon. I Kings 9:26-28 That is 16 tons of gold I Kings 10:1-10 The gift of the Queen of Sheba was 4.5 tons of gold, just a little trinket. I Kings 10:14 In one year alone, 25.5 tons of Gold I Kings 10:16 Shields of gold are very impractical in battle I Kings 10:22 He had so much gold that silver was devalued I Kings 10:18 An ivory throne but covered the ivory with gold I Kings 10:22 More gold, silver, ivory and apes and peacocks (nasty animals, nothing like a loyal dog). I Kings 10:28-29 Horses and chariots from Egypt Remember Deuteronomy 17:15-17 "You shall surely set a king over you whom the Lord your God chooses, one from among your countrymen you shall set as king over yourselves; you may not put a foreigner over yourselves who is not your countryman. Moreover, he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor shall he cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, since the Lord has said to you, You shall never again return that way. Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself." WHAT WENT WRONG? Solomon carried with himself four fatal flaws that he would not abandon for the greater promises of the plan of God. He did many things God's way but there was some leaven in the loaf of his service as King. And eventually this leaven brought him down. Remember the added promise of I Kings 3, the thing that Solomon did not ask for but that God promised him? I Kings 3:14 And if you walk in My ways, keeping My statutes and commandments, as your father David walked, then I will prolong your days. Psalm 90:10 As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years, Or if due to strength, eighty years. away. Now it doesn't take a lot of math to take Solomon's age at the beginning of his reign, age twenty, add it to a 40 year reign, and come up with 60 years, at the time of his death. And he was promised a prolonging of days, but that did not occur did it? And the last twenty years of his reign, the major portion of the last twenty of his life are lived out in the contradictions of the book of Ecclesiastes.. There is no charge for Grace Notes Materials. You can help further this work by your prayer and by sending a contribution to: Grace Notes 1705 Aggie Lane Austin, Texas 78757 wdoud@bga.com Grace Notes Web site: http://www.realtime.net/~wdoud/ Anonymous FTP site: ftp://ftp.bga.com/vendors/wdoud/ Grace Notes is a ministry of Village Missions International. |
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