Solomon's Pride & Insecurity in Pursuit of Philosophy (Studying Ecclesiastes 1:12-18) - Part 1

Thinking Scripturally While Reacting Culturally

Prideful? Can it be? The one who wrote in Proverbs things like: “Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall” (Prov. 16:18), and of seven things the Lord hates, one of them being “a proud look” (Prov. 6:16-17).

Well, remember that even though Solomon was the wisest man of the east, he wasn’t always prudent.

So yes, what we will study now not only will allude to Solomon’s pride, but his insecurities as well.

“Don’t You Forget It” — Verse 12

I can picture Solomon perhaps saying something along these lines as he utters the words of verse 12:

“I, the Preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem.”

What comes along with being king? Riches. Wives. Influence. Power. And in Solomon’s case, wisdom. Solomon had it all.

Solomon (like all kings through the ages) was probably familiar with the saying: “Your wish is my command.”

So why was he so depressed, as we will continually see in Ecclesiastes?

In the subsequent verses, we will see that even the pursuit of wisdom (if pursued for the wrong reasons) will not bring any lasting happiness.

Philosophy (“Loving Wisdom”) would not Bring Solomon Happiness — Verses 13-18

“And I set my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven; this burdensome task God has given to the sons of man, by which they may be exercised” (verse 13).

While there is certainly nothing wrong with wisdom in and of itself, one must be careful to pursue the RIGHT KIND OF WISDOM, and wisdom for THE RIGHT REASONS.

• Two New Testament passages come to mind that show conflicting types of wisdom:

• The wisdom of this world versus the wisdom of God.

• See 1 Corinthians 1:18-31 compared with James 3:13-18.

In the Bible, we are taught to ask God for wisdom, just like Solomon did (See James 1:5-6).

But we should not be pursuing wisdom FOR ITS OWN SAKE alone.

This seems to be what Solomon got caught up in. It is as if he “couldn’t see the forest for the trees.” In his pursuit of wisdom, he missed the point that true wisdom conveys (fearing God and keeping His commandments), and instead got bogged down with trying to figure out the inner workings of everything he could imagine.

This is why Solomon writes at the end of verse 13: “This burdensome task God has given to the sons of man, by which they may be exercised.” “Exercised” might be translated alternatively “afflicted.” In other words, Solomon became OBSSESSED with pursuing wisdom for the benefit of its own glory — a pride problem in this author’s opinion — and this afflicted or tortured him.

“I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind. What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be numbered” (verses 14-15).

In other words, there are some things that man is just not meant to know. Solomon in all of his wisdom was never satisfied with his knowledge — He always wanted to know more. He always wanted to figure out how things work. But in that pursuit, he came to realize that there are some things even he — even “the Preacher … king over Israel in Jerusalem” — would just never be able to know.

It must have been a sobering realization. Perhaps you, like me and presumably like Solomon, are a wonderer — a deep thinker — or maybe a dreamer? Or maybe you are the type who just '“HAS to read one more book,” only to decide, “just kidding, maybe just one more.”

There must come a point in human humility where we have to be okay with realizing that there are some things that man just isn’t meant to know. Psalm 139:6 comes to mind: “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is high, I cannot attain it.” Likewise, I think of Deuteronomy 29:29 — “The secret things belong to the Lord.”

I remember an incident that happened in our house earlier this year. I had sort of flung out my footrest on our reclinable couch in our living room, unwittingly causing damage to the mechanism that allowed it to go in and out when the lever for the recliner was pulled. I flipped that couch over thinking: “This shouldn’t be too difficult to fix.”

In what seemed like an hour later, I finally gave up: “There’s no way I’m fixing this.” To this day, my seat on the couch no longer reclines! Solomon’s words, “what is crooked cannot be made straight,” come to mind. In humility, I must realize that there are some things I just cannot do. Similarly, I believe this section shows Solomon coming to a humbling realization.

Next time, we will finish up part 2 of this section looking at verses 16-18.

With love always,

Chase

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.