Ecclesiastes

Chapter 7

Solomon considers the better things in life.

Read 7:1-12-9

 Both prosperity and adversity can be mingled together by God to bring about His highest and best in our lives.

A good reputation is better than fine perfume. 7:1a Scripture

Ointment or Perfume is an analogy to HAPPINESS, PLEASURE, PROSPERITY. Those things are good but there is something better. A good name or reputation. When is a person's reputation most likely to be evaluated?

At DEATH: Hence, the day of one's death is better than the day of one's birth...
The day of death is better than the day of birth. 7:1b  Scripture 

It is better to come to the end of life with a good reputation than to have a celebrated and joyful birth.

It is better to go to a house of mourning Than to go to a house of feasting, Because that is the end of every man, And the living takes it to heart. Scripture 

We need to see and to determine the things that are better. To realize that many of the decisions we must make come at the end of a string of wrongs and a string of failures and do not have some chapter and verse to make our decision for us. We need to see the things that are better. The house of mourning is also the house of death. We mourn the death of those we know. In doing so we do not mourn for them but for us.

Note: The ones who have no hope are the UNBELIEVER who mourn for the one who has died because they see death as an end. We as believers mourn or grieve because of our loss, not the loss of the one who has died. The one who has died in Christ has nothing but gain. We grieve the loss of a friend, a child, a parent, a loved one. We will miss them, but they will not miss us.

Sorrow is better than laughter, For when a face is sad a heart may be happy. Scripture

Laughter, having a good time, occasional times of folly are great. But that is not our context. Solomon is saying that there are those who live foolishly and all they have is laughter. He deals with them in v 5-6 as he examines the vanity of foolishness. But here, the somber serious heart is better because it is causing a person to reflect.  We need time to reflect on our lives. To consider what is really important and what is not. To consider that God is in charge of our lives and that He gives and He takes away, and what ever He gives is good. For when a face is sad a heart may be happy.

Where is the mind going to be set?

The mind of the wise is in the house of mourning, While the mind of fools is in the house of pleasure. Scripture  We need reminders to number our days so that we might present to God a wise heart.

Criticism from a wise man is better than praise from a fool. Scripture  The principle is that there are times that a rebuke is better than a song. The theme of this passage is that there are times when God gives us prosperity and there are times that God gives us adversity and since He is good whatever He gives us is good.

The song of the fool is like the kindling, the rebuke of the wise man is the fire that burns well into the night.

The desire to have prosperity might even temp a wise man to take a bribe. Scripture  He may give in to the pressure of adversity-oppression and end up a fool or worse, a criminal who takes a bribe.

We all suffer the temptation of impatience. When in adversity we are impatient for it to end, and with prosperity we are impatient in wanting more and more. Scripture Patience is better...Haughtiness is not.

Another temptation is anger and bitterness. Anger can result from adversity but also in the midst of prosperity. Scripture The FOOL is the one who has anger on the inside. Just there, always under the surface, a life that is ready to explode.

Nearly 3000 years ago Solomon encountered those who like today long for the good old days. And the say the good old days were better . . .But were they, and even if they were we cannot turn back the clock. We are here today. Yesterday is gone. Scripture Luke 9:23 And He was saying to them all, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. We are to live for this day before the Lord, not tomorrow, and not yesterday.

PROSPERITY IS BENEFICIAL IF USED WISELY.  Scripture  For wisdom is protection just as money is protection. But the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the lives of its possessors.

TO HAVE ALL THE MONEY in the world with out wisdom is empty. Why do we know this? Because it is being stated by someone who lived that way for 15 years. Lots of money, no wisdom applied to self.

Can we straighten what God has bent? Of course not.  Scripture  We do not know what will happen after our lives are over. God does . . .God is the supreme being of the universe, the highest king. He is eternal, infinite, self-determining. God has absolute Will and does whatsoever he pleases.

The futility of Solomon's life seemed to last a life time and did cut his life short. Scripture  Righteous living is not a guarantee of long life nor is wicked living a guarantee of a short life. There are no guarantees because it is God who is sovereign and He calls the shots on life and death.

Being overly wise is put into context with excessive righteousness as a negative. Scripture God is never impressed with the extreme of legalism. Righteous living is of value in any society. But the person here is refereed to is self righteous and depending upon self wisdom.

The danger of rejecting legalism is to live lawlessly, so Solomon adds a warning.  Scripture  Excessive wickedness can result in a premature death. YOUR TIME is the time God has established for you to exit this life. But due to excessive wickedness this person's life is cut short.

Today, people who are involved in evil, sin, a wicked life stand a much greater chance of dying then those who do not. Drugs, alcohol abuses, venereal diseases, AIDS, violence...all these can effect a life and shorten it.

Today, people who are involved in evil, sin, a wicked life stand a much greater chance of dying then those who do not.

Drugs, alcohol abuses, venereal diseases, AIDS, violence...all these can effect a life and shorten it.

Today our law makers are very concerned with the effects of smoking and the fact that it can and does shorten life expectancy. Study shows it shortens life by anywhere from five to eight years.

But what if I told you there was a class of people whose life expectancy is shortened by fifteen to twenty years and yet this is a class that is being not only protected in their activity but promoted in their activity by the government? Know what that class is? Homosexuality...by class, homosexuals die on an average of 15 to 20 years earlier than heterosexuals. Yet our legislative body is going after Joe Camel and ignoring homosexuality as a problem. Bottom line, wickedness can shorten life. This is not what God does directly but it is what He permits under the Sun. GOD CAN DIRECTLY shorten life by the Sin Unto Death. WE CAN SHORTEN LIFE by wickedness, which is thus a type of self imposed sin unto death.

Scripture The two things that are held is the self righteousness of verse 16 and the wickedness of verse 17. Here man is told to hold onto both. The self righteous man lives divorced from the reality of the grace of God and his own sin. The wicked man lives divorced from the reality of a God who is righteous and just. We must hold onto both in the sense that we recognize that we are at times righteous and at times wicked.

Wisdom, not from ourselves but from God, allows us to understand that our purpose in life is to know Him.  Scripture Wisdom gives us greater strength. This verse is telling us that man may seek what is visible, what is considered strong by human standards. But that God has something for us that goes beyond human thinking and ideas, His Wisdom.

EVEN THE RIGHTEOUS MAN sins. Therefore, the conclusion is that our righteousness cannot be the basis upon which God will bless us.  Scripture  Romans 3:23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Our sin separates us from God and should teach us that we cannot expect God to bless us just because we have be cranking out good deeds.

Scripture  This looks at destructive and not constructive criticism. We need to listen to and consider the rebuke of the wise (Eccl. 7:5). But the words that are spoken in anger or is disgust, we let them go.

AND IN THE SAME WAY the words that endlessly praise, and pat us on the back too must be let go.

YOU SEE, GOD SAYS we are sinners, we are have in us some righteousness but also wickedness, if we know ourselves we are not going to let others define who we are.

So here he tried to approach wisdom on a human level. Scripture  Whenever we face our weakness we have an opportunity to seek and know God and His strength.

Why does this wisdom and its use seem so far away? Because Solomon is far away from God. Scripture

To draw near to God is done in attitude not mere actions. Isaiah 29:13 Then the Lord said, Because this people draw near with their words And honor Me with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote. NOTE: They learn by only by rote, facts with no relationship with God.

Solomon sought wisdom but he had forsaken God, so he ended up with a cistern that was empty, vain, of no value. Remember what Jesus said: John 7:37 If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. That is the only place to go for wisdom, to God and it begins with drawing near to Him.

 Solomon is stubborn, as are most of us, so he is going to try to figure these things out and come up with his own Wisdom Plan.  Scripture  He is directing His own mind. We so often make decisions which seem good in our own eyes. Proverbs 21:2 Every man's way is right in his own eyes, But the Lord weighs the hearts.

Scripture Pleasing God begins with an attitude and not with actions. Our obedience to God is of primary importance in pleasing Him. The Lord Jesus pleased the Father by His obedience.

John 8:29 And He who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him.

Solomon now adds some things up.

He adds his human wisdom and inability to figure out what God is doing to . . . Scripture  The character and essence of God verses the character of man.

With all his wisdom, position, power, he is still seeking. But as he previously stated, he cannot find because he has not first return to spirituality and then drawn near to God. Scripture  One man among a thousand means, as we might say, one in a million. Impossible odds, not really finding anyone. Then not one woman, again, a statement of the impossibility of finding any who are wise enough in their human wisdom to understand God and His plan for man. THE CONCLUSION THEN IS THAT Solomon found no one.

God made unique among creation. He made him upright. Scripture  God has made to be proper, fitting in his sight. To live unto Him and have His highest and best. But just like Solomon, man chooses to try to figure life out on his own. The conclusion then is that man is more often than not completely satisfied with his own devices or inventions.