Wisdom and Warnings
Eccl. 7:23-29
Introduction
We must hold on to Wisdom and righteousness and avoid wickedness and foolishness. Solomon
continues to share his experiences, his findings and his advices to his readers and hearers. It’s still
amazing that what is applicable, practical, and reliable precepts long time ago is still useful to us now
and to our future generation.
I. Limits of wisdom (Eccl. 7:23)
A. Everything we have talked earlier, riches, power, pleasure, knowledge, etc., have
been proven or tested by Solomon using his own wisdom
B. To have Godly wisdom is one of the best things in life but wisdom cannot prevent
believers in experiencing hard times, painful moments, and unfairness or injustices
in this life.
A. “I will be wise” (Eccl. 7:23) tells us about his determination and objective to be wise,
B. Solomon came to see that he could not know everything despite of all his
knowledge, and his own God given wisdom.
C. “That which is far off and exceeding deep” are things which has been done by God in
the past such as creation and providence, can never be understood or explained by
man. It is far beyond the comprehension of the wisest man who ever lived.
D. The term “I applied mine heart.” Is a symbolic term. In the OT the heart was the
organ for thinking, reasonings, and feelings. I would say he put his mind
“to know, to seek,” out wisdom. He wanted to understand, to give “an explanation
in order to know the reason (or cause) of folly’s wickedness, and the madness of
folly. Of course, he failed.
E. One of the main reasons why he failed to understand many things is his heart
condition. During that time, his relationship with the Lord is strained. He is more
focused on worldly things rather than Godly things. He should have walked closer to
the Lord and encouraged and taught the people of Israel to have a close and
deeper relationship with the Lord or Yahweh.
F. By this we can also conclude that there are questions wisdom can’t answer. No
matter how hard you try, some things are beyond our ability to know and find out.
Thus, it is written:
1. Ecclesiastes 3:11 He hath made everything beautiful in his time: also, he hath
set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God
maketh from the beginning to the end. (Eccl. 3:11)
2. Isaiah 55:8-9 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my
ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my
ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
G. With the limited wisdom we have we can still answer the most important question
we are facing today.
1. What must I do to be saved? The answer is “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and
thou shalt be saved, and thy house (Acts 16:30-31, see also Jn 1:12)
2. What will God do with my sins? When you repent from your sins (Lk. 13:3, 2 Pet.
3:9) He will forgive (Heb. 8:12, 10:17) you and “the blood of Jesus Christ his Son
cleanseth us from all sin. (1 Jn. 1:7)
Illustration 1: Watermelon
I have observed the power of the watermelon seed. It has the power of drawing from the ground
and through itself 200,000 times its weight. When you can tell me how it takes this material and out
of it colors an outside surface beyond the imitation of art, and then forms inside of it a white rind
and within that again a red heart, thickly inlaid with black seeds, each one of which in turn is capable
of drawing through itself 200,000 times its weight—when you can explain to me the mystery of a
watermelon, you can ask me to explain the mystery of God. (Source unknown)
Illustration 2: God Keeps Us Ignorant
1. Perhaps God keeps us ignorant because enlightenment might not help us.
2. Perhaps God keeps us ignorant because we are incapable of comprehending the answer. We
remain ignorant of many details, not because God enjoys keeping us in the dark, but because we
have not the faculties to absorb so much light. Faith means believing in advance what will only make
sense in reverse. (Disappointment with God, Philip Yancey, Zondervan, pp. 189)
II. Warnings about wicked and sinful woman. (Eccl. 7:26)
A. A wicked woman is certainly to be avoided
1. She is more bitter than death.
2. Proverbs 7:5-27 gives us a strong warning against strange and evil woman a
prostitute who traps men and leads them to death. (Prov. 2:16-19, 5:3-6, 6:24-26)
3. Solomon has 700 wives and 300 concubines. 1 Ki 11:1-3 says that his wives
turned away his heart. They made him commit sin against the Lord. (1 Kings
11:4-5 For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away
his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God,
as was the heart of David his father. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the
goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.)
4. What a tragedy in the life of the wisest man who ever lived. Well, by his
experience and mistake, he can tell us the best advice.
5. He who pleases God, he who fears the Lord, shall escape from her, but the
sinner shall be taken by her.
III. The sinfulness of humanity (Eccl. 27-29)
A. A good man is hard to find
1. In his search, he found only one in a thousand (Eccl. 7:27-28)
B. A good woman was even harder to find (Eccl. 7:28b).
1. We must not think that Solomon considers women as less intelligent than men,
because this is not so. Some women are smarter than men.
2. Solomon spoke highly of women in Prov. 12:4; 14:1; 18:22; 19:14; and 31:10
ff), Ecclesiastes (9:9), and in the Song of Solomon.
3. God’s wisdom is even presented as a beautiful woman in Prov. 1:20 ff; 8:1 ff; 9:1
ff). But keep in mind that women in that day had neither the freedom nor the
status that they have today, and it would be unusual for a woman to have
learning equal to that of a man.
C. Men and women are equally wise, and equally sinful. There are few wise people.
D. Of course, the problem is not with God. He made man upright – 7:29a, but they have
sought out many inventions.
1. Inventions here means speculations and thoughts which results in spiritual and
sometimes physical belief which is contrary to God’s Word and God’s will.
2. What he is telling us here is, man was made to walk with God, but he fell
because of sin. Without grace and truth (John 1:17) man continues to invent
pathways of departure from the presence of God.
3. Solomon’s conclusion here is, all have sinned. It was beautifully penned by Paul
in Romans 3:10-12. Romans 3:10-12 As it is written, There is none righteous, no,
not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there
is none that doeth good, no, not one. (see Romans 3:23 also.)
Illustration: Studies Support “Original Sin”
Ray Stedman wrote, “The clearest statement on original sin I have ever read comes from a report of
the Minnesota Crime Commission. In studying humanity, the commission came to this frightening
and factual conclusion:
” ‘Every baby starts life as a little savage. He is completely selfish and self-centred. He wants what he
wants when he wants it—his bottle, his mother’s attention, his playmate’s toy, his uncle’s watch.
Deny him these wants, and he seethes with rage and aggressiveness, which would be murderous,
were he not so helpless.
“He is dirty. He has no morals, no knowledge, no skills. This means that all children, not just certain
children, are born delinquent.
“If permitted to continue in the self-centred world of his fancy, given free rein to his impulsive
actions to satisfy his wants, every child would grow up a criminal, a thief, a killer, a rapist.’ ”
Encyclopedia of 15,000 Illustrations: Signs of the Times.
IV. Conclusion:
Wisdom has limitations though previously we have studied that it can make our lives
better and can help us survive hard times. We may not fully understand all that God is
doing, but we can still know how to be saved, that’s the most important thing. Repent
from your sins now and receive Him as your personal Saviour.
