Ecclesiastes 2: Trying to Find Fulfillment in Worldly Ways

Ecclesiastes is a very difficult book, but this is what Chapter 2 said to me.

Solomon has come to the conclusion that all earthly things that man does is vanity and vexation of spirit. Chapter 1 ended with Solomon recognizing that in much wisdom, and Solomon received from the LORD God more wisdom than anyone, there is much grief.  In knowing and discerning everything around him, this brought much sorrow."

 Chapter 2 Solomon embarks on worldly pleasures and labours but finds that all are vanity.  Mirth, laughter, "what doeth it?"  What good does it do?  No good at all.  Solomon in V3 "I sought in mine heart to give myself unto wine, and to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was that good for the sons of men, which they should do under the heaven all the days of their life."

V4-10 Solomon lists all the things that he did: He made great works; he built houses, he planted vineyards.  He made gardens and orchards.  He made pools of water.  He got servants and maidens for his house.  He had great possessions of great and small cattle above all that were in Jerusalem.  He gathered silver and gold, and other treasures.  He got men and women singers to entertain him, and musical instruments.  He was great and increased in goods more than all that were before him.  And his wisdom remained with him.  He did not keep anything from him that his eyes desired, he did not withhold himself from any joy.   But then the reality came to him - V11 "Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was  vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun."  

Seriousness is Better Than a Good Laugh

Ecclesiastes 7:1-4

These words in the book of Ecclesiastes were written by a man of whom God says was the wisest man who ever lived.  He was a king, one of the greatest kings in world history.  He was rich, so rich that his riches are beyond description.  He had 700 wives, and 300 concubines.   He experienced all the pleasure he ever wanted, he was looked up to by surrounding kings and queens who paid homage to him.  No kingdom in the history of the world was equal to the glory of King Solomon and his kingdom.  But King Solomon fell.  The bible tells us that his wives turned his heart away from God 1 Kings 11:3-4 "...and his wives turned away his heart.  For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God..." and King Solomon built temples to false gods and he began to live only for pleasure and feasting and he made God angry with him and God punished him.  It was after Solomon's fall when he saw his great failings and he turned back to God in his old age that he wrote the Proverbs and the book of Ecclesiastes.  It was after all his experience of life that he wrote these words:

  Eccle 7:1-4 "A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one's birth.  It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart.  Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better.  The heart of the wise in in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth."
 
When Solomon wrote those words he was inspired by God the Holy Spirit, this is the teaching of God.  The message can be summed up in one sentence.  Seriousness is better than frivolity.  Here is a paragraph of relevance to our entertainment-crazed generation.  The four verses are  a series of paradoxes, apparent contradictions, they state the complete opposite of what the majority opinion is in this world.  That is to be expected because when it comes to the real meaning of life and real life values, the world is always wrong because the unsaved world does not know the author of life.  They do knot know the one who came to give us life in all its fullness so therefore its obvious that they are going to be wrong in their view of life.

Bible Women: Bathsheba

Bible Women:  Bathsheba

2 Samuel 11:1-5 "And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah.  But David tarried still at Jerusalem.  And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king's house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.  And David sent and enquired after the woman.  And one said Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?  And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her; for she was purified from her uncleanness: and she returned unto her house.  And the woman conceived, and sent and told David, and said, I am with child."

Bathsheba, mother of Solomon, named in the genealogy of our Lord Jesus Christ as "her that had been the wife of Uriah" (Matthew 1:6) inferring adultery.  Bathsheba has been portrayed as a temptress, but what is the truth of what really happened?

Bathsheba is introduced at a time when King David should have been to battle, but he sent Joab instead. (V1)  On an evening when he could not sleep, for V2 tells us "David arose from off his bed", he went to the roof of the king's house, "and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon." A temptation of the flesh, but one in the foreknowledge of God, who works all things together for  good. Here is the beginning of events that will bring sorrow to David for many years to come. Matthew 5:28 "But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart".