Solomon
knows that the world
and people can be dangerous and that we need wisdom to guide us. Yet he also
realizes that God’s so much greater than we are and his plans are often hard
for us to understand, especially during difficult times and he seems to be
quiet. Wisdom’s often in short supply today, just look at our culture. There’s
a lot of finger-pointing and talking down people who disagree with each other. There’s
little patience for engaging in meaningful conversations with those we disagree
with, there’s little careful reflection, or the willingness to learn and
change. It’s “us” or “them.” This leaves us unable to learn from
people we disagree with. Wisdom looks like building relationships with people
who see the world differently and be humble enough to admit that they may know
things we don’t.
Our
culture values youth and beauty over wisdom. We honour people who become wealthy
and successful while still young. We’re obsessed with beauty. But the young haven’t
always learned wisdom yet, and beauty fades quickly. Meanwhile, those who’ve
lived many years and bear scars often have deep wisdom to offer, if we’re
willing to listen. Wisdom looks like building friendships and relationships
with older members of our congregation. They may not be able to tell you how to
navigate social media, but they can share how to be kind and grace-filled and
live in a healthy way that builds your souls. How we communicate may change,
but people don’t, whether we relate through a screen or face-to-face.
In
verses 2-5,
Solomon urges his readers to use wisdom when in dangerous situations,
especially when serving in the king’s court. In middle eastern courts, kings
were seen as God-like, but were very unpredictable because of their immense
power. Solomon calls his readers to obey the king because of the oaths they
made before God. He tells his readers to not be in
a hurry to leave the king’s presence. Another translation of the Hebrew is
“do not be terrified to walk from the king’s
presence.” Fear can cause us to react in foolish ways, when things get
unpleasant, because the king’s going to do what he wants anyway, don’t argue
with the king, quietly leave. The wise person will know the proper time to
speak up and when to be silent, and how to speak into unfairness and injustice.
Solomon calls us to use wisdom to survive in a dangerous world. This echoes the
wisdom of Daniel and his three friends later in Babylon, as well as Queen
Esther.
Jesus
used such wisdom to get himself out of tricky, and even dangerous situations. The
Pharisees often tried to trap Jesus into saying things that would turn the
people against him. The Jews hated paying taxes to Rome, so one time the
Pharisees asked Jesus, “Is it lawful to pay taxes
to Caesar, or not?” No matter what Jesus answered, he’d get in trouble,
if he said “Pay your taxes,” then the Jews would hate him, and if he
said “No,” the Romans would charge him with rebellion. Matthew 22, “Show me the coin used
for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, and he asked them, “Whose
image is this? And whose inscription?” “Caesar’s,” they
replied. Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to
God what is God’s.”
When things would get tense, Jesus
would avoid confrontation by going back to Galilee or into the mountains with
his disciples for a time. Jesus often warned his disciples that things would
get dangerous for them because they chose to follow him, telling them in
Matthew 10, “See, I am sending you out like sheep
into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.”
In Acts, Luke shares stories of the apostles being arrested, being persecuted
and beaten, and even dying like Stephen for their faith in Jesus. Persecution
and injustice still happen today; the call of Jesus is still for us to “be wise.”
Solomon
writes that “the wise heart will know the proper
time and procedure,” and yet our wisdom and knowledge is limited because we
don’t always understand God’s ways. Verses 6-8 remind us that we don’t know the
future; there’s a proper time and way for everything, but no one has power over
the time of their death, or every event in their lives, it’s all in God’s hands
and timing. Isaiah 55:8–9 says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your
ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so
are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Ultimately, God’s in
control, not us, or even the most powerful ruler. Solomon knew that God’s the
king of Israel, Solomon and all the other kings were only representatives of
God, called to be obedient to the High King. The kings of Israel were called to
protect and to provide for the people, representing God’s relationship and
commitments to his people.
In
verses 9-14, Solomon talks about injustice, wickedness, and how some wicked
prosper while righteous people suffer; it seems unfair and meaningless, and
hard to understand. If there’s no God, no one to hold the wicked accountable,
then life’s meaningless and there’s no reason not to be wicked and selfish and take
whatever you want. From our perspective under the sun, justice often doesn’t
come quickly or easily, or even when we look at it from God’s perspective. As
Solomon writes,
“All this I saw, as I applied my mind to
everything done under the sun. There is a time when a man lords it over others
to his own hurt. Then too, I saw the wicked buried—those who used to come and
go from the holy place and receive praise in the city where they did this. This
too is meaningless.” Solomon’s successor was his son
Rehoboam who didn’t take his older advisor’s advice on how to treat the people,
1 Kings 12:10–11,
“The young men who had grown up with him
replied, “These people have said to you, ‘Your father put a heavy yoke on us,
but make our yoke lighter.’ Now tell them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my
father’s waist. My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even
heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.’” This advice tore Israel apart.
What
Solomon knows goes against what he sees. Solomon sees how wicked people can be part of
the temple, and in their death be honoured by the people. A person’s
wickedness will come to an end one day when they die, but there are always
other wicked people who will rise up in their place. Injustice undealt with,
creates more trouble; at some point, even good people become self-centered and
scheme to get what they believe is their fair share. Injustice leads to a
desire for vengeance, for taking justice into their own hands. This allows
wicked people to become even more wicked. Jesus comes to satisfy God’s justice
by taking our sin on himself to the cross, this is part of what the Lord’s
Supper reminds us of, but under the sun, we
still experience much injustice.
Wickedness can gain wealth and power for the sinner, but can’t deliver him from death. Even if wicked people live long lives, they
still have to stand before God’s judgment. This gives those who have suffered
injustice hope knowing that the wicked will be held to account. God’s a God of
justice, but we don’t understand why it takes so long for some to face justice.
Solomon sees all that God has done, but acknowledges that our understanding is
limited. As God tells Job, Job 11, “Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can
you probe the limits of the Almighty? They are higher than the heavens
above—what can you do? They are deeper than the depths below—what can you know?”
It takes faith and trust that God is true to his people, that he hears our
cries.
Those
who experience injustice with no accountability find it impacts their
relationship with the Lord, tempting them to reject the Lord, or to allow
bitterness to settle into their heart and soul. I’ve walked alongside those
who’ve been abused and seen the justice system fail them, whether in the
courts, or even within the church, creating doubt about God’s justice and
compassion. The pain of their abuse settles in deep when justice isn’t carried
out. Wisdom calls us to not stand up for a bad cause, to call our leaders and
each other to honesty, justice, and good ruling. Embrace God’s values and
morals, strive after justice and righteousness, speak out against wickedness,
and stand with those impacted by injustice. But we do so with respect, with
persistence, with reason, and with wisdom rather than shouting in fear and
anger.
God patiently
waits until death when the wicked move from being under the power and protection
of Satan into God’s hands and accountability. The
wicked may live a long time here, yet we have eternity in our hearts, the days
here under the sun are limited. We need to
look past the days under the sun to the days
that are coming when Jesus returns, and death is defeated, and eternity with
God stretches out before us. We will face justice before Jesus who is the King
of kings. Belief in God’s judgement is the ultimate grounds for hope. Every
false charge will be dropped and every wrongful conviction will be overturned.
Meaninglessness will come to an end. This is never spelled out in Ecclesiastes;
it’s in the rest of Scripture where we see how God’s plan of redemption and
restoration play out in the coming of Jesus.
The
best Solomon can offer under the sun is to keep going back to his advice to enjoy life, to eat, drink, and be glad. Paul
understands where Solomon’s coming from, without Jesus, we have nothing left, in
1 Corinthians 15:32 he writes, “If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus with no more than
human hopes, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and
drink, for tomorrow we die.” Our hope lies in
knowing that in a dangerous and often unjust world, that Jesus is coming to
bring new life, hope, and the kingdom of heaven marked by justice and
righteousness, a place of safety where we can live into our potential with a
joy that rests in a God of eternity who truly loves you.
