The Solomon Project--Ecclelsiastes 2:15-19

For those of you who follow this blog. This is the first year of a multi year plan to comment and apply wisdom literature from the Bible's Old Testament to those who suffer from addiction and compulsivity. The aim is to present broad based applications the will be usable in whatever religious orientation you find yourself. Skillful living, that is what wisdom is about, Can be applied in all contexts.

Ecclesiastes 2:14 ended with the conclusion that the same fate happens to both the wise and the fool. Verse 15 of Chapter 2 presents the rhetorical question by the author "Then why did I become so wise?!" Solomon, who I believe wrote the book, comes to see even wisdom as temporal. While wisdom can have an advantage here on earth, remember we are talking about "under the sun," It ultimately ends with the finality of death. I have been brought up short once again with mortality. One of my favorite professors from Dallas Seminary passed away Thursday of this last week. Why? Why did the Lord call him home at this time? He was not only a highly intelligent man but a wise man as well. These questions ultimately become meaningless questions because we will not know the answers here on earth. I could say more, much more but must move on.

Ecclesiastes 2:16 does not present a comforting picture of our memory after we are gone. The author says we are not remembered for very long. True. We are temporal, being limited by time and space. We can have memories but when there is not sense stimulation to build memory with they are not continuous or repetitious. He finally comes to the point where he says what he has been hinting at--death.

In verse 17 Solomon says the loathes life because of this. It is a sad thing to realize that all the benefits of wisdom cannot save you from the finality of death. Even the gaining of wisdom is futile the chasing after wind.

Solomon then changes his train of thought in verse 18 of chapter 2. Earlier in the chapter he has told us of all his accomplishments and that they were a joy to him. Now he loathes them. Death separates him from that joy. This certainly makes existentialism attractive if it can be. We act to become. The despair and anxiety of nothingness should drive us to act to become what we can be. To this existential conclusion Solomon would nod his head in assent. This is all there is. Some would say that until we can truly embrace death or come to terms with it we can't truly embrace life. This is where Solomon finds himself. Embracing the realities of death.

Verse 2:19 continues on in this vein. The author talks about who his successor may be and what will happen to all that he inherits. Kings think about these things. He had a huge kingdom and extreme wealth. What would happen to it all? He faces the fact that his heir may not be as wise as he. He may be a fool. The implication which he will delve into here and later is that it will literally be futile and a chasing after wind because it will literally be gone. Have you ever known of those who have inherited large estates only to have them evaporate? Or who doesn't recognize the name Carnegie, Hilton or Sam Walton. These are names of people and their families who have used their inheritance wisely.

Some of you reading this may be at the end of life and are saddened because you know you leave a sizable inheritance to a child or children who will not manage it wisely. This is a deep vexation. Some of you reading this will hopefully take this to heart and attempt to live out the wishes of the person leaving the inheritance behind. Some of you reading this may have already lost an inheritance through unwise management. Addiction and compulsivity will do that. When life is out of control it spills over into other things. This too will be a deep vexation. Remorse. Addiction, in whatever form it takes, is a yawing grave camouflaged as satisfaction and satiation. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Living wisely is not the same as gathering knowledge. Solomon did that as well. Some of you will literally be a walking compendium of recovery and sobriety language. A storehouse not of material wealth but intellectual wealth. But does it permeate you? Solomon says that even wisdom has its limitations. It can't keep you from death. Let me ask you--Are you ready to die. Has life been lived in such a way that it has been lived as skillfully as possible. What changes do you need to make today. As the big book says abandon yourself to God and see how you can help those who are behind you. This is the ultimate way to happiness on this earth--"under the sun."

Our time is up for today so until next week: "Keep coming back it works if you work it and you're worth it."