25/3/22. Study 19. Ecclesiastes 7:23-29

 ²³ All this I have tested by wisdom. I said, “I will be wise,” but it was far from me. ²⁴ That which has been is far off, and deep, very deep; who can find it out?

²⁵ I turned my heart to know and to search out and to seek wisdom and the scheme of things, and to know the wickedness of folly and the foolishness that is madness. ²⁶ And I find something more bitter than death: the woman whose heart is snares and nets, and whose hands are fetters. He who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is taken by her. ²⁷ Behold, this is what I found, says the Preacher, while adding one thing to another to find the scheme of things— ²⁸ which my soul has sought repeatedly, but I have not found. One man among a thousand I found, but a woman among all these I have not found. ²⁹ See, this alone I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes.

 

1. What is Qoheleth's conclusion about wisdom expressed in v.23-24?

"All this" = "all my observations" earlier in Chapter 7 (or maybe even including what he has said in earlier chapters). Even Qoheleth's great wisdom was 'far' from understanding and 'deep, very deep'. We cannot understand the world as God understands it. All the best of our intellect and philosophical endeavour will be limited in grasping the truth.

Does that mean then that we should give up the effort to be wise? I think there is a godly wisdom of living and a different but related worldly wisdom of understanding events and situations. We are responsible for the former, but not so much for the latter. (cf.  1 Chr 12:32 "Of Issachar, men who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do")

 

2. in v.25, Qoheleth says he 'turned his heart to know and search out...'. Where has he said this before?

• "I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven" (1:13)
• "I applied my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly." (1:17)

How is this quest the same or different from his previous quests?

• 1:12-17 The search for meaning in understanding the world (with its wisdom and foolishness) with wisdom - an intellectual quest. This is quite the same as his present quest. He found that wisdom and knowledge led to vexation and sorrow.
  
• 2:1-11 The search for meaning in self-indulgence  in pleasure, creativity and possessions. This did not satisfy him.
  
• 2:12-17 The search for meaning in living wisely. Though it was better to be wise than foolish, both the wise and foolish died and were forgotten.
  
• 2:18-26 The search for meaning in work. The fruit of labour had to be left behind to someone else who might be unworthy. Work as an end-point in itself caused sorrow and restlesness.
  

  His previous conclusions summarize the result of his search as"a striving after wind". So the conclusion is the same.

 3. Why does Qoheleth want to know somehting as negative as "the wickedness of folly and the foolishness that is madness"? What possible gain can there be from doing this?

 Rom 16:19 says, "but I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil." So it is never a good thing to sin in order to understand sin.

Qoheleth is probably talking about his observation of other people's sinful patterns of behaviour: their motivations and the consequences of their action. These should serve as negative examples to us. The Bible is full of negative examples that warn us and help us resist temptation.

4. What specific warning does Qoheleth give in v.26?

Perhaps he thinks of this particular type of woman among his many wives and concubines! There is a comment on the power of sexuality and love to influence us at very deep levels. There are people of the opposite sex who seek to entrap us in dysfunctional relationships for their own gain.

At another level, there is an allusion to the adulteress of Proverbs 7, as well as to Lady Folly in Proverbs 9:13-18. Sin is seductive precisely because it is pleasurable ("Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!” And to him who lacks sense she says,¹⁷ “Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”)

 

5. What does Qoheleth mean about his observation about 'finding' people and experiencing more difficulty finding women than men?

 Perhaps looking back at the wicked woman of v.26, The NIV unhelpfully ways that Qoheleth had a much harder time finding upright women than upright men. This is unwarranted. To 'find' carries the meaning of 'to find out/understand' (cf. vv. 14, 24).

So In his logical ("adding one thing to another") seach to understand how the world works, he has tried again and again ("repeatedly") to understand people. He cannot truly understand women at all, and he cannot truly understand almost every man. What he does understand about human nature is mentioned

 

6. What is Qoheleth's conclusion about his study of human nature. To what doctrine does this point us? 

God made man good {Gen 1:31), but Adam fell (Gen 3:1-24) and now all sin (1 Ki 8:46, Is 64:6, Rom 3:9-23).

"Original sin" refers to the innate corruption of our human nature because of the sin of Adam (Ps, 51:5, Rom 5:14), so that we are born guilty before God. We sin because we are sinners, bound to sin. It does not refer to the 'original' sin of Adam in eating of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil.

This is closely linked to the Calvinist idea of "total depravity", which does not mean that we are as bad as we possibly can be, but to the idea that there is no part of our body and mind that is not corrupted by sin (Rom 3, Rom 8:7). Total depravity implies a spiritual inability to believe God and to receive salvation (1 Co 2:14, Jn 3:3, Eph 2:1)