To search out a matter

"Ecclesiastes is a fascinating book because it's written by the wisest man who ever lived who had it all. He was a political leader. He was the king over the most important nation on the earth, the nation Israel. He was wealthy beyond man's imagination. He was wise because he was given wisdom by God. He was musically talented; he had men singers and women singers. He wrote over 1,000 psalms. He recorded proverbs. He had vineyards . . .

"In other words, take every aspect of human endeavor, whether it's arts, or culture, or finance, or politics, he excelled in all of them. And what did he conclude? Well, life on earth is vanity under the sun. Apart from God, life has no point," explains Columbus, Ohio Preacher David Reid

"So what is the whole duty of man? It's simple and it applies to all mankind. 'Fear God and keep His commandments.' Do what God would have you to do. Remember thy creator in the days of thy youth.

"Ecclesiastes is a cautionary tale because the wisest man who lived, who had everything, made his life a mess because he didn't keep the first thing the first thing. He got away from the Word of God. He wasn't reading, studying, obeying the Word and the end result was, 'Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher, all is vanity.'

"Solomon writes in Ecclesiastes 12:9, [9] And moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yea, he gave good heed, and sought out, and set in order many proverbs.

"As the author of Ecclesiastes, Solomon describes himself as wise, and despite concluding that nearly all of life is vanity, the best thing he could find to do was to try to teach people knowledge and identify proverbs about life that are accurate.

*****

"What's fascinating when you read the Book of Proverbs is most of the book is Solomon's work. The author was the son of David, king in Jerusalem. Of all the things Solomon did, and with the wealth he had, what he views as most enduring it seems is his work on Proverbs.

"Proverbs 25 begins, [1] These are also proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied out. [2] It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter.

"Hezekiah's reign was 200 years after Solomon's death so the proverbs were being copied even then. That's instructive because, do you know what the average shelf life of a book is?  Really, until a book endures 100 years . . . it seems to me you're better off reading the books that have stood the test of time.

"Ecclesiastes 12:10: [10] The preacher sought to find out acceptable words: and that which was written was upright, even words of truth.

"What Solomon did was he searched and he searched and he then wrote out the proverbs that were true. 

"Verse 11: [11] The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd.

"The idea there is simply the importance of wisdom. Proverbs 4:7: [7] Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.

"What happens with a lot of life is it is an effort to acquire things. For example, a house, or a nicer house, or a car, or a nicer car, or a computer, or a better computer, or more money, more clothes, more jewelry. It's often physical things. Mankind is very carnal so he desires and he values physical things.

"The proverb says with all thy getting, with all the stuff we spend our time accumulating, what should we really get? We should get understanding. Wisdom is the most important thing.

"Let's say you get all the riches in all the world, what's going to happen to it? Well, what's going to happen to the earth itself? 'The elements shall melt with fervent heat.' Fascinating that he uses the word elements. In high school you learned the periodic table. Hydrogen, helium, lithium. The basic building blocks that make up physical life.

"According to II Peter 3, the elements themselves, the very building blocks of all of creation, will melt with fervent heat. So how much good does it do someone to acquire lots of physical stuff? Well, it has a pleasure for a season. There's some benefit to it, but it's not enduring; it's not long-lasting in any meaningful sense. 

"Ecclesiastes 12:12: [12] And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

"Is there an end to the books that can be written? There's not. He's telling the reader to be admonished by the words of the wise; the counsel of Scripture. In other words, don't get distracted by other books.

"If you've read all the great literature of humanity--Shakespeare, Hawthorne, all of the great novels--and if you've read them for the culture, but you haven't read the Bible . . . If you haven't studied the Bible then you're greatly lacking in your understanding.

"John 17:17 says, 'Thy word is truth,' but if you spend your time with the writings of man, you will learn things about the human condition and man's wisdom, but to acquire true wisdom? There is no substitute for the knowledge of God's Book.

"Verse 13: [13] Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.

"After exploring all the things Solomon's explored in the previous 12 chapters, he's going to bring this to a conclusion. What has he arrived at? What has he landed on as the sum of all of his investigation, all of his study?

"He tells us in 12 chapters of all of his labors and the things he did and he's able to sum it up into a verse: 'Fear God, and keep his commandments.'

"All of Solomon's wisdom, all of his investigations leads to that simple conclusion. If you think you're going to find something deeper than that, if you think you're going to sort of find the secret meaning of life, it's nowhere else to be found. It is right there in that verse.

"God created us to have a relationship with Him, and so what is expected of us is to fear God, to have due regard for Him, and to do what? Keep His commandments. We know God is going to bring everything into judgment so we should keep His commandments so that that judgment is not as bad as it would otherwise be.

"Verse 14: [14] For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.

"Think through this with me. Solomon was the wisest man who ever lived. Nonetheless, Solomon made some grave mistakes. Go to Deuteronomy 17:14: [14] When thou art come unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me;

"In Deuteronomy, the Scriptures predict exactly what Israel's going to do. They're going to come into the land and say, 'We want a king just like all the other nations.' Huge mistake, but that's what they do.

"Verse 15: [15] Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the LORD thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother.

"In other words, God realizes, 'I'm going to bring you into the land with me as your king, but what you're going to say is you want a human king.' So He says, 'Here's what you need to do, given that you want a king, which you shouldn't, but here's the best way to handle it to minimize your problems.'

"Verse 16: [16] But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the LORD hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way. Solomon did exactly that.

"Verse 17: [17] Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold. Solomon did that, didn't he? And he had hundreds and Scripture says that his wives 'turned his heart away.' 

"Just in those two verses, Deuteronomy says that when you choose this king, he's not to multiply horses, he shouldn't multiply wives and he shouldn't multiply gold and silver. It's all very simple and clear, but you know what Solomon does? He does those three things.

"Notice verses 18-20: [18] And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites:

[19] And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them:
[20] That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel.

"What happens when the king comes to the throne? What is he supposed to do? He's supposed to write for himself a copy of this law in a book and read it. 

"What I want you to get is this. Solomon is the wisest man who ever lived. Just in Deuteronomy 17:14-20, the verses are absolutely clear in their application to the king of Israel.

"Solomon was doing all these things in the world and what does he find? It's all vanity. He pursues all these things and determines them to be worthless. What he needed to be doing was obeying the Scriptures that were addressed particularly to the king of Israel and he just didn't do it."

*****

Hymn by Isaac Watt, "Let Him embrace my soul, and prove," based on Song of Solomon:

Let him embrace my soul, and prove

Mine interest in his heav'nly love;
The voice that tells me, "Thou art mine,"
Exceeds the blessings of the vine.

On thee th' anointing Spirit came,
And spreads the savor of thy name;
That oil of gladness and of grace
Draws virgin souls to meet thy face.

Jesus, allure me by thy charms,
My soul shall fly into thine arms!
Our wand'ring feet thy favors bring
To the fair chambers of the King.

[Wonder and pleasure tune our voice
To speak thy praises and our joys;
Our memory keeps this love of thine
Beyond the taste of richest wine.]

Though in ourselves deformed we are,
And black as Kedar's tents appear,
Yet, when we put thy beauties on,
Fair as the courts of Solomon.

[While at his table sits the King,
He loves to see us smile and sing;
Our graces are our best perfume,
And breathe like spikenard round the room.]

As myrrh new bleeding from the tree,
Such is a dying Christ to ine
And while he makes my soul his guest,
My bosom, Lord, shall be thy rest.

[No beams of cedar or of fir
Can with thy courts on earth compare;
And here we wait, until thy love
Raise us to nobler seats above.]

(new article tomorrow)