The Limits of Wisdom

Ecclesiastes Study, 2024

Series Title: Ecclesiastes: The Pursuit of Purpose

Message #5

Ecclesiastes 2:12-17.

ETS: Solomon realized the limitation of wisdom in coming short of providing any genuine purpose for the human life.

ESS: Our purpose is found in fearing God.

OSS: [Devotional] {I want the hearers to seek God wholeheartedly to find their purpose.}

PQ:

What are the reflections of Solomon in this passage?

UW: Reflections

Intro.: [AGS]: Corrie Ten Boom, Holocaust survivor, is famously quoted for the following statements: “If you look at the world, you’ll be distressed. If you look within, you’ll be depressed. If you look at God, you’ll be at rest.” [TS]: As we study Ecclesiastes, the wrestling with an endless, vicious cycle of pursuing purpose becomes more evident and obvious. Natural rhythms…nope; human parallels of those natural rhythms…nope; wisdom…nope; pleasures and possessions…nope; What about wisdom again? Do you notice the constant wrestling— the back and forth— desperately grasping at straws to find some sense of reasoning to provide purpose and meaning to the human life, the work and labor done on the earth— the reason for their existence. [RS]: What about the patterns of your life? If you were to carefully examine the patterns of your life— what would they reveal? Are you wrestling in the same ways that Solomon wrestled? Have you found your purpose?

TS: Let us examine together a few reflections of Solomon, now.

What about those who come after me? [vv. 12-14a]

Paraphrase: “Turning again to all I have pursued and experienced— wisdom, madness, and folly (both the right and wrong ways of living)— what will the person to come be like? Regarding these same things I have faced— he will face— will he be a wise person or a fool? Is there preference to wisdom or folly?”

Solomon concludes there there is an advantage to wisdom:

Like light over darkness

Like having eyes to see

The comparison of light/darkness; eyes/no eyes functions to explain the advantage of wisdom: it helps guide the person throughout life as they navigate these various experiences. (Akin, Ecc. 2:12-17)

What is the limit of wisdom? [vv. 14b-17]

Death is the leveling ground for both the wise and foolish person.

The question, then, exemplifies the wrestling with why regarding the effort to maintain wisdom rather than folly. “What is the use in exerting all of this energy to be wise if this world is all there is and we all end up as worm food int he end? Why deny myself the seeming fun of the foolish life and work hard to be wise when we all end up the same? Death makes meaningless even trying to live the right kind of life in this world.” (Akin, Ecc. 2:12-17)

Wisdom, as a guide on the earth, does have value as exemplified in other verses in Ecclesiastes:

Success (10:10)

Preserve life and protect (7:12)

Strength (7:19)

Joy (8:1)

Better than mere brute strength (9:16)

Man is:

Guided by it (2:3)

Toils by it (2:21)

Tests and weighs experiences by it (7:23)

(From Eaton, 81)

Thus, as Michael Eaton commented, it is important to expound clearly— “The Preacher’s critique is not of wisdom in every respect, but as the ultimate source of reliance.” (Eaton, 81) He admitted the value of wisdom, but he also acknowledged the relative value of it.

As such, the limit of wisdom is that already mentioned:

To guide the person as he navigates life

Wisdom alone is insufficient to provide any meaning, purpose, or satisfaction beyond the human life on earth. Both the wise and the fool die the same physical death.

Conclusive thoughts:

As mentioned before, Solomon is wrestling with his life and purpose— the meaning of the human life, if that is all there is. From such perspective, he conclusively stated that he hated his life because everything was empty, void of purpose, and an endless cycle of never reaching satisfaction.

What do we do with this?

We begin thinking about life beyond the here and now committing our lives to things that matter beyond our lives on earth.

How?

Ecclesiastes 12:13 gives instruction to answer the question. “13 When all has been heard, the conclusion of the matter is this: fear God and keep his commands, because this is for all humanity.”

Solomon defines wisdom in Proverbs 1:7 as the beginning of knowledge (wisdom).

Thus, follow with me the sequence:

If upon reading these reflections of Solomon we realize our need to think about life beyond the here and now— and we do that by fearing God and keeping His commands— and fearing God is defined by Solomon elsewhere as the beginning of wisdom or knowledge— then guess what?

To be wise in this respect is to fear God...

To fear God is to keep his commands..

To keep his commands is to know God...

To know God is to live for God...

To live for God is to know purpose beyond life on the earth...

The questions, then, are these:

What is my purpose beyond the here and now?

How am I doing with this?