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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Ecclesiastes 1:12 - 1:18
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The Unreliability of Earthly Wisdom
v. 12. I, the Preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem, over the entire nation, as Solomon states in looking back over his long reign.
v. 13. And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom, applying the wisdom given him by the Lord with all zeal, concerning all things that are done under heaven, the motives, acts, and lives of men everywhere; this sore travail, namely, the zealous searching, the steady and ceaseless endeavor to inquire into the works of men, hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith, it is a part of the labor laid upon mankind by the Lord, the acquiring of knowledge is a difficult task. Now Solomon states the result of his studies;
v. 14. I have seen all the works that are done under the sun, in a careful observation of the ways of men; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit, efforts which bring about no lasting good, for all the affliction of mind with which men strive to go forward cannot bring them lasting good fortune and true happiness. What this world only has to offer will always fall short of the mark.
v. 15. That which is crooked cannot be made straight, human beings cannot alter what has been determined by God, even as they cannot, by their own reason and strength, change their sinful hearts to such as are well-pleasing to God; and that which is wanting cannot be numbered, if it is missing, it cannot be accounted for, what is wholly defective cannot be supplied.
v. 16. I communed with mine own heart, in a careful contemplation or consideration of the difficulty presented, saying, Lo, I am come to great estate, being possessed of incalculable wealth, and have gotten more wisdom than all they that have been before me in Jerusalem, for the Lord had conferred upon Solomon a most extraordinary amount of wisdom, 2Ch_1:12; yea, my heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge, he not only possessed a great measure of wisdom from the beginning, but he also grew in circumspection and caution from day to day and from year to year.
v. 17. And I gave my heart to know wisdom, on its positive side, and to know madness and folly, the error and foolishness of men, to estimate it properly; I perceived that this also, namely, the activity of striving after such knowledge, is vexation of spirit, a miserable and troublesome exertion.
v. 18. For in much wisdom is much grief, lack of knowledge or deliberate ignorance saving a person many a disagreeable meditation on the weakness and meanness of human nature; and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow, for he will have an understanding of conditions as they actually exist, he will be able to judge things as they are, and the realities of this world, due to sin, are always disagreeable and vexatious. It takes much trust in the Lord to overcome the offense of this world.