The Solomon Project: Ecclesiastes 7:19-24

The purpose of this blog is to reflect upon the biblical book of Ecclesiastes as it relates to addiction and compulsivity. While I come at this exercise from an orthodox evangelical viewpoint it should not and hopefully does not deter the reader who holds a differing point of view religiously. Those who struggle with addictive and compulsive behaviors all share a common illness regardless of their religious belief. This blog attempts to see in what ways this ancient book can help us reflect on life in such a way as to change our outlook on life and thus enable a change in behavior as we seek to life successfully in recovery or make our way into that way of life.

The context of these verses especially through verse 22 have to do with the limitations of wisdom and righteousness. Verse 19 says: "Wisdom makes one wise man more powerful than ten rulers in a city." (Eccle 7:19) Pretty heady stuff huh? Wisdom has its advantages. Perhaps wisdom will work where righteousness won't. Strategic living certainly can provide the self counsel that can outthink ten rulers. Probably a hyperbole here. the number ten is used to make a point not be a direct numerical reference.

However verse 20 states: " There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins." (Eccle 7:20) Wisdom is needed because righteousness is never perfect. No one attains to perfection. This hearkens back to verses 16-17. Here the context will talk about the lack of righteousness in speech. Compare James 3:2 here. Interestingly enough he still calls him a righteous man even though he sins. The balancing of truth here where he presents a strong statement in the form of a Proverb and comes back in the following line and presents an alternate perspective is characteristic of the writer in this book.

Verse 21-22 says: "Do not pay attention to every word people say, or you may hear your servant cursing you--for you know in your heart that many times you yourself have cursed others" (Eccle 7:21-22) This is the application of the observation that the righteous never sin. Solomon is very penetrating here. He touches each one of us with this revealing statement. We tend to be judge and jury sometimes when people take a different point of view of do things that don't fit our viewpoint. I like the perspective caught in this quotation: "Seek to understand then be understood." Our words many times reveal who we are and what we think: Of ourselves of others and the world around us.

Verse 23 states: "All this I tested by wisdom and I said, "I am determined to be wise"--but this was beyond me." (Eccle 7:23) The "quest" motif arises here again. Solomon says that he has gone about gaining wisdom from wisdom's point of view, strategic living so to speak. This verse speaks of a focused decidedly determined search. But in the "atmosphere" of the book it evaporated just like life--elusive and fleeting.

Verse 24 says: "Whatever wisdom may be, it is far off and most profound--who can discover it?" (Eccle 7:24) These last two verses are a hinge between the preceding and following sections. The "all this" of verse 23 probably refers to the preceding sections hearkening all the way back to 1:12-18. Verse 24 is in some ways a parallelism with verse 23. The answer to the rhetorical question is given in verse 23 He can't find it and no one else will either.

These verses certainly present for us who struggle with addiction and compulsivity a tempered, and balanced frame of reference. Righteousness is never sure to bring prosperity or just treatment. Wisdom is not sufficient to ward off the inequities of life, even though it can be very powerful. The search for wisdom is never ending. In the midst of this fleeting, vaporous life it would be easy to suspend the search. The ramifications for recovery are great here. When dealing with addiction one must understand that we don't live life like other people. Rather than being omniscient and omnipotent, capable of wielding the world to our desires we understand that we are deficient in seeing the world as it is. Thus we of all people need what the author says he has searched out "with wisdom" and it is a never-ending search. Obtaining the all-important ability to live "strategically." We do not live in addiction and compulsivity but in recovery.

His points here concerning speech and cursing others is to the point. As addicts and compulsive people we can find almost anything and everything that we can disagree with to keep the walls impenetrable. We may have made statements such as "I don't see anyone here working on their stuff." Or perhaps, "They are all a bunch of hypocrites." Or how about "I'm not that bad!" These are all statements that reflect more on us than on those we are critiquing.

The recovery process will look different for each one who sets his mind and will to the task. Each one will have different things that must be assailed and conquered as he goes through it. Let us embrace their journey without judging.

Our time is up for today. I enjoy writing this blog. I hope that those who read it will benefit in some way. So until next week: "keep coming back it works if you work it and you're worth it!