While in Proverbs, Solomon is God’s man with God’s wisdom for God’s people, he does a 360-degree turn in Ecclesiastes, giving readers a first-hand account of his futile pursuit of human viewpoint and in trusting in his own skills of observation and experience.

Throughout the book, which is more of a personal journal, Solomon tells of all the places his heart goes in search of wisdom that turn out not to work, and by the last chapter, he concludes that wisdom can only be found in God’s commandments and in God’s Word.”

In Ecclesiastes 2, for example, Solomon recalls his party days, reflecting, “I said in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also is vanity.

[2] I said of laughter, It is mad: and of mirth, What doeth it?
[3] I sought in mine heart to give myself unto wine, yet acquainting mine heart with wisdom; and to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was that good for the sons of men, which they should do under the heaven all the days of their life . . .

[8] I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces: I gat me men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, as musical instruments, and that of all sorts.
[9] So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me.
[10] And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy . . .”

Jordan explains, “Solomon’s looking for the supreme good and he says, ‘I’ll go out in pleasure and the party of life,’ but then, when he sees the futility of that, he turns to wisdom and goes to the academia of the world, then to religion. Chapter 5 starts out, ‘Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil.’

“He’s saying, ‘I’ll consider religion.’ Imagine, here’s King Solomon whom God had already given all this wisdom to—he’s already written all these proverbs expounding on the value of wisdom and he’s had nine chapters (in Proverbs) that his daddy wrote him telling him how important wisdom was—and now he’s going to seek wisdom out there in the world as if he didn’t already have it in the Word of God!

“Now you can understand that, can’t you? You say, ‘Yeah, God, I know you said it, but I want to try . . .’ Most of us are not just satisfied to let the doctrine, let the verse . . . We want to go try it, experiment, and Solomon had the capacity that most of us don’t have and that is just to go everywhere and try everything.

“It’s like the old country song, ‘I’ve been everywhere, man, I’ve breathed the mountain air . . . ’ Solomon could say that and the conclusion he finally came to was, ‘You might as well throw dust in the air; it isn’t worth anything.’

“The book of Psalms says that ‘man in his best state is altogether vanity,’ and Solomon didn’t have to do all this stuff in Ecclesiastes to figure that out! The Bible already told him that if he would have just believed it!

“He didn’t believe it, though, or he quit believing it, and he got seduced by the wisdom of the world. Ecclesiastes demonstrates that all the places people seek wisdom apart from divine revelation are useless. Now, it’s fascinating that it’s that way, isn’t it?”

*****

For his brilliantly written summation, Solomon advises in Ecclesiastes 12, “Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;
[2] While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain:
[3] In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened,
[4] And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of musick shall be brought low;
[5] Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets:
[6] Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern.
[7] Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.
[8] Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all is vanity.
[9] And moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yea, he gave good heed, and sought out, and set in order many proverbs.
[10] The preacher sought to find out acceptable words: and that which was written was upright, even words of truth.
[11] The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd.
[12] And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.
[13] Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
[14] For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.”

Jordan explains, “Solomon’s warning is, ‘What you’re looking for ain’t out there! You’re going to find it from God!’ And when he says, ‘Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth,’ he’s not saying, ‘Be a creation scientist.’ You remember how God spoke to Job, saying, ‘Trust me as a faithful Creator. I made creation. Look at how I made it, Job. See what I did? I got a plan! Everything is done in a plan.’

“Solomon’s conclusion is that the wisdom of God is what you better remember and get involved in. And so he warns the people—those in Israel who have an ear to hear—‘This isn’t where wisdom is.’

“Now, the wise of the world have gone and taken out of his book all kinds of things and made hay with it, and the 10,000 greatest brains that ever lived have taken the wisdom of Solomon there—human viewpoint—and they’ve just made a dung heap.

“The wisdom of God’s in a Book and when Solomon gets through he says, ‘You know what you need to do—just go back to the Book and remember what God sent down off the drawing board of heaven and forget your own ideas.’ ”

(Editor’s Note: To be continued . . .)