Ecclesiastes

I have often heard it said: "It is better to learn from someone else's mistakes than from your own". King Solomon has done modern man the favour of making the mistakes we should avoid if we don't want to end our lives with the conclusion that "Everything is pointless". In this book the wisest king who ever reigned calls himself the "preacher".

He set himself the task of finding out what God intended humans to do "under the sun". He found that nothing he did gave him the satisfaction he deeply craved. First of all he explored pleasure including cheering himself up with wine, women and song. He endeavoured to learn as much as he could about nature and human behaviour. This he put to good use by undertaking building projects as well as pursuits in agriculture. He found it all meaningless and his "heart began to despair" because all his "toilsome labour under the sun" might not be appreciated by his successor.

To understand the context of the book it is revealing to read about the "Law of the king" as outlined in Deuteronomy 17:14-20. He was not supposed to get horses from Egypt, accumulate much gold or marry many wives. He was to read and obey the commandments of the Torah (first five books of the Bible, written by Moses). But Solomon had more gold than any other king, he imported horses from Egypt and elsewhere (12000) and had 700 wives plus 300 concubines. On top of that he angered the Lord by erecting idols for his foreign wives (1 Kings 10:23-11:10).

Solomon must have known what Moses taught. His father David was very familiar with it and undoubtedly brought him up according to the dictates of the Torah. But, understandably, he wanted to learn for himself what life was about. Not all of us are granted the freedom to explore life in all its facets like he was. But the "Law of the king" was written for a reason. We should not forget that the first sins were committed in Paradise. At the end of his life Solomon concluded that all his energies were spent on that which did not have eternal value, although God had "put eternity in the human heart".

If the successful young man who enquired about eternal life had grasped Solomon's dilemma he might have chosen the "treasure in heaven" above earthly riches (Matthew 19:16-22; Mark 10:17-22; Luke 18:18-23).