There is no doubt that wisdom is such a key component in life if we are to live effectively in this fallen world. In Solomon’s search for wisdom, he wants to understand the profound mystery and the intricacies that regulate human circumstances. This kind of wisdom seems hard to come by. So, in verse 23 he expresses his disquiet saying, “All this I have tested by wisdom. I said, ‘I will be wise,” but it was far from me.’” Just like Job of old, Solomon realizes that his finite mind couldn’t fathom the deep things of God. There are deep things of the Lord that are difficult to grasp with our limited mind. Deuteronomy 29:29 puts it so aptly. The secret things, the deep, very deep things Solomon talks about in Ecclesiastes 7:23, belong to God. So, he had to concede, saying, “Who can find it?”
It’s true that many of the secret things known to God are simply unfathomable. We must thank God that He has graciously made known to us by the Spirit, according to Paul in 1 Corinthians 2:9-10. “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him. For to us, God revealed them through the Spirit….”
In verse 23, Solomon confessed that he tried to fathom the ultimate perplexities of the universe and the deep mysteries known only to God. He had to concede frustratingly and reluctantly that they are so elusive. They seemed so far from him. So, in verse 25 he re-directed his attention back to understanding the problem of life. So, he said, “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.” Leaving the theoretical, he now returned to something down to earth. He was bent on finding the difference between the ways of wisdom and folly. And in his quest, he discovered that the human heart is so wicked and depraved. It is bitterer than death. Of course, this he finally suggested, can be traced to sin. The root problem of life is sin and has always been sin. Verses 29 says that though God had made man upright, yet they have sought out many schemes. This verse puts in a different way what Isaiah 53:6 tells us. It says, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned - every one - to his own way.”
When Solomon followed the trial of folly and madness of men exhaustively, he found one particularly troublesome issue – man’s susceptibility to the seductive “woman.” This word “woman” can mean three things - firstly any woman, secondly a particular seductive woman or thirdly, the personification of folly such as false philosophy, worldly perspective etc. He was most likely referring to a seductress. We can be sure that he was not denigrating the female gender in general. He was talking particularly about one kind of women, the seductress. He qualified it by saying that their “heart is snares and nets, and whose hands are fetters.” The seductress just schemes in her heart to trap and hold down her victims. She would resort to enticing words to capture the foolish. The embrace she gives with her hands is like strong fetter that binds one down. Solomon points out that there is only one hope to escape such a seductive danger – i.e. to seek, act and move in tandem with God. It is to relate with Him and seek to live a life pleasing to Him. But sinners who have no regards for God’s way will be taken and attracted by the enticement and ensnared.
Take a word from the wise, flee temptation, don’t dilly dally around to be lured in by sinful desire. Remember that every seduction is a trap. If you give in to it once, you will find it easier to rationalize and give the reason for why it is okay to succumb to the enticement again. Verse 26 minced no word. He blatantly tells us that the end result of succumbing to enticement is bitterer than death. This soul-destructive sin is not worth it. It takes away our capacity to be the person God has called us to be. Solomon had plenty of experiences. And he shared it from observation as well as his experience.
Verses 28-29 pose some difficulties if we conclude that Solomon is talking about all the men and women throughout the world. For me, it is safe to conclude that Solomon was being hyperbolic in his presentation. He probably concluded this from his experience with the people in his sphere of influence. There were probably very few godly men he encountered and among his harem of women and concubines he had difficulty finding even one who was God-fearing. He wasn’t generalizing but narrating his experience. However, think about what Solomon had said in a more serious way. There is indeed only one sinless man. He is none other than Christ Jesus. And we are not talking about just one in a thousand, but the only one in the world. But the same cannot be said of any woman. At best like any man who embraces Christ, when a woman does the same she is justified in Him. Remember 1 Timothy 2:5-6, “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time”. We are thankful to God for giving us Christ Jesus as our Mediator. Glory be to God!
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