Conclusions of Confusion

I have seen everything in this meaningless life, including the death of good young people and the long life of wicked people. So don’t be too good or too wise! Why destroy yourself? On the other hand, don’t be too wicked either. Don’t be a fool! Why die before your time? Pay attention to these instructions, for anyone who fears God will avoid both extremes. [Ecclesiastes 7.15-18]

You know what? I don't buy it. I don't buy what Solomon says here.

Solomon turned his back on God in uncontrolled lust for women whose worship of foreign gods polluted his good sense.

Some of the things Solomon says throughout Ecclesiastes are plainly contrary to God's Word. Deuteronomy 28  is not uncertain that blessings are the result of obedience and curses are the result of disobedience! Solomon's approach to life in Ecclesiastes 7.15-18 has nothing to do with God's demand for pure holiness:

For I, the LORD, am the one who brought you up from the land of Egypt, that I might be your God. Therefore, you must be holy because I am holy. [Leviticus 11.45]

If anything, the book of Ecclesiastes puts on display for all to see that knowledge without devotion to God may sound good, but it is dangerous.

It is worth considering what is recorded about Solomon here:

Now King Solomon loved many foreign women. Besides Pharaoh’s daughter, he married women from Moab, Ammon, Edom, Sidon, and from among the Hittites. The LORD had clearly instructed the people of Israel, “You must not marry them, because they will turn your hearts to their gods.” Yet Solomon insisted on loving them anyway. He had 700 wives of royal birth and 300 concubines. And in fact, they did turn his heart away from the LORD. In Solomon’s old age, they turned his heart to worship other gods instead of being completely faithful to the LORD his God, as his father, David, had been. Solomon worshiped Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech, the detestable god of the Ammonites. In this way, Solomon did what was evil in the LORD’s sight; he refused to follow the LORD completely, as his father, David, had done. On the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, he even built a pagan shrine for Chemosh, the detestable god of Moab, and another for Molech, the detestable god of the Ammonites. Solomon built such shrines for all his foreign wives to use for burning incense and sacrificing to their gods. The LORD was very angry with Solomon, for his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. He had warned Solomon specifically about worshiping other gods, but Solomon did not listen to the LORD’s command.  [1 Kings 11.1-10]

So, what is the book of Ecclesiastes? It is a book of futility - the futility of knowledge without God. Sure, some of it sounds good according to modern conclusions religion has made of God, but it does not stand the test of God's Law as seen above (ie. Leviticus 11.45).

So, here is my conclusion: I will understand Ecclesiastes only through the lens of God's Law. In other words, I will purposefully see that Solomon's "wisdom" clouded his obedience to God. I will furthermore read Ecclesiastes with great caution because man's knowledge combats God's true wisdom. The Apostle Paul said it like this:

We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ. [2 Corinthians 10.3-5]

Father, help me to rightly discern the error on display in Ecclesiastes. Help me to understand that knowledge without obedience leads to conclusions of confusion.