Get Wisdom
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Ecclesiastes 1:12-18
Ecclesiastes 1:12-18
I, the Preacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem.
And I set my mind to seek and explore by wisdom about everything that has been done under heaven. It is a sorry task with which God has given the sons of mankind to be troubled.
I have seen all the works which have been done under the sun, and behold, all is futility and striving after wind.
What is crooked cannot be straightened, and what is lacking cannot be counted.
I said to myself, “Behold, I have magnified and increased wisdom more than all who were over Jerusalem before me; and my mind has observed a wealth of wisdom and knowledge.”
And I applied my mind to know wisdom and to know insanity and foolishness; I realized that this also is striving after wind.
Because in much wisdom there is much grief; and increasing knowledge results in increasing pain.
"Get Wisdom!”
Get wisdom; get insight; do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth.
Do not forsake her, and she will keep you; love her, and she will guard you.
The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight.
Prize her highly, and she will exalt you; she will honor you if you embrace her.
She will place on your head a graceful garland; she will bestow on you a beautiful crown.”
Solomon, the wisest king to ever walk the earth—blessed by God with a depth of understanding no one before or after could match—offered the world a glimpse into divine wisdom. He didn't hoard what God bestowed upon him. Instead, he picked up his quill, dipped it in ink, and wrote. What he placed on parchment wasn’t just advice or clever sayings—it was truth, eternal and weighty. It was wisdom from God, passed through the hands of a man, a king, Qohelet, and gifted to the hearts of all humanity.
“Get Wisdom”
It is important that you acquire wisdom. Wisdom is a wreath around your head. Wisdom from God, the Creator of the universe, has all knowledge and wisdom and if you could have but a drop of that, you would understand had to live in this world.
God’s wisdom is rooted in reverence for God, humility, and eternal truth.
World’s wisdom is often based on pragmatism, self-interest, and human reasoning
Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.
For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom;
but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness,
but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
2. Filter the World’s Wisdom through God’s Truth
You don’t have to reject all worldly wisdom (e.g., scientific, psychological, or practical knowledge), but it must be tested against Scripture.
But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good;
3. Use Common Grace as a Bridge
God grants wisdom to all people (common grace), so some worldly insights (like good leadership principles or medical advice) reflect God’s design and can be harmonized with biblical wisdom.
4. Prioritize God’s Wisdom when They Clash
When there's a conflict, God’s wisdom must win.
For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,”
5. Be Humble and Discerning
Live with intellectual humility, always learning but constantly discerning.
Example:
World’s wisdom may say, “Look out for number one.”
God’s wisdom says, Philippians 2:3
Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility consider one another as more important than yourselves;
Solomon was an example of this at times, and at others he was not.
Ecclesiastes 1:12
Qohelet is the Preacher, Teacher, and King of Israel.
At his time all of Israel is under the kingship of Solomon.
(Map)
After Solomon died (after 40 years of rule) two of his sons ruled in his stead. Jeroboam in the North (Israel). Rehoboam in the South (Judah and Benjamin).
(Map)
What we have here, Solomon announced to everyone, that he is the author of what is contained in this book. This is his wisdom, his experience, his travails and joyous moments, on the journey that would lead him to the same conclusion he began with.
Ecclesiastes 12:13-14
“The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.”
Solomon used the point “fear God” 5 times in his treatise on existentialism. (The meaning of life).
Solomon recieved the nickname Qohelet. How did he acquire that name?
Some scholars, such as Tremper Longman III, Michael V. Fox, and others note Solomon was given the title “Qohelet” by the people.
God's Divinely Created Order
Ecclesiastes 1:13
To seek and explore:
A double expression, here meaning to get to the heart of the matter and to investigate.
Solomon used the wisdom he had been blessed with to discover everything that had been done by God (Elohim).
This is “under heaven.”
Which is one possibility, but it can include what man has done as well. Which would seem an arduous task for man.
That is a large task, can one explore everything that God has done? Would you not run out of time? Did he start and then stop?
Under heaven is the work with which God has been concerned. Everything is under His Sovereign rule.
Now God gave Solomon wisdom and very great discernment and breadth of mind, like the sand that is on the seashore.
Solomon’s wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the people of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt.
For he was wiser than all other people, more than Ethan the Ezrahite, Heman, Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol; and his fame was known in all the surrounding nations.
He also told three thousand proverbs, and his songs numbered 1,005.
He told of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon even to the hyssop that grows on the wall; he told also of animals, birds, crawling things, and fish.
People came from all the nations to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom.
Why is it a sorry (evil) task?
Some versions say, “burdensome” or “heavy burden” or “grievous” (task) which has been given to mankind.
The NET says it keeps man occupied, exploring all that God has done under heaven.
Is Solomon arguing we concern ourselves with the matters of Creation too much? That we try and explore all that God has done. This is perhaps one aspect. However, I think learning about God’creation is a noble task.
We ought to be thankful, grateful, knowing He created it all, however, we ought to prioritize focusing on the people around us. Can we discover all that God has done? Are we so consumed with the how and the why that we lose sight of our true calling in life?
“And his observation upon the whole is...he found by experience it was a heavy task, which God had put upon the children of men, to get wisdom and knowledge in the way it was to be gotten; which was very burdensome and, wearisome to the flesh; nay, he found it was an evil business.” - John Gill
Man cannot know the depths of God and how He accomplishes His work. We cannot know how God made created things into being. We cannot know the mind of God.
What did Isaiah say?
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares 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.
What did Solomon say?
The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person.
What did Paul say?
that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;
for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
If you remember nothing else from this sermon, remember these things.
Man's Striving after the Wind
Ecclesiastes 1:14
Notice Solomon did not say what was done under heaven, which God has tasked man to understand, is futility and striving after wind.
What has been done under the sun, that is hevel and chasing after the wind. The works of man, how he chases wisdom in the world. How he chases after the ins and outs of living without God. A life without God is futile.
Put things in perspective, what is it all for?
Ecclesiastes 1:4
Why do we struggle so much each day just trying to live? Just trying to get through each day without stress, without anxiety, without pain.
What did Jesus say?
“But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
“So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
All that has been done on the earth is hevel and striving after wind. You cannot chase wind, you cannot catch it, you cannot know how and when it will blow. It changes direction on its time. It gusts when it chooses.
What are we chasing?
“The world hangs on nothing; but faith cannot hang upon itself.” - Charles Spurgeon
God loves you and send His Son, Jesus, to die for you. Why? So you would stop striving after the wind.
Sin, in your life, makes you strive after wind and focuss on the wisdom of self and the world.
But, thanks be to God who loved you so much He offered you a way out of the arduous task of doing things under the sun.
Ecclesiastes 1:15
“The thrust of the verse is that there is something fundamentally wrong with life on earth, and, since the world as it is has come about as a result of God’s will (v. 13), there is absolutely nothing that humans can do about it.” - Tremper Longman III
“Some problems cannot be solved, and some information we can never find.” - Duane Garrett
(With man this is impossible)
Crooked is the sense to falsify, morally pervert. It cannot become straight. What is evil is evil. Its being evil, by nature cannot be considered good or righteous. There is injustice in the world and wisdom can not right it. All the wisdom in the world cannot straighten what is crooked. Any turning of the straight line, kinks it, breaks it, bents it, it is no longer straight.
Man strives after wind thinking he is in control and can straighten what is crooked, or count what is not there.
It is only the blood of Christ and what He has done that covers sin, through faith. God, elohim, is sovereign and in control.
If I sin, the sinful action cannot be right, ever. The act of crookedness is, by definition unable to be straightened.
I can only begin a straight line, through Jesus Christ. But mark my words, the only straight line which exists is Jesus Christ. When you follow His objective good moral law, than you are walking on the straight path.
Let your eyes look directly ahead And let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you.
Watch the path of your feet And all your ways will be established.
Do not turn to the right nor to the left; Turn your foot from evil.
Ecclesiastes 1:16
Solomon is merely pointing to the enormity of his wisdom.
So King Solomon became greater than all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom.
Devote yourself to the perfection of whatever it is you pursue.
Proverbs on applying your all.
Qohelet saw that not matter what you do (this is key) it ultimately is hevel. Doing does not = being. You are not what you do. You are who you are.
Rene Descartes, a Christian, sought to understand who he was in this world. He came up with the famous Latin phrase, cogito ergo sum, “I think, therefore I am.” This existential realization into self, showed that we are not merely nothing and have no purpose in this life. If we were just evolutionary beings, there would be no true existing or thinking of self.
Could you think, reason, deduce, without God?
If evolution were true, it would have to answer the question of meaning and purpose. Thinking, Reason itself is enough to disprove evolution.
Humans have been given knowledge and wisdom to discern and make deductions based on truth, logic and experience.
What did Solomon say in verse 17?
Ecclesiastes 1:17
Whom did Solomon receive wisdom from? Elohim, God.
So why search to know it? This is the task of man when God is not looked to first.
Solomon followed both paths, to compare. He sought both wisdom and insanity and foolishness. Seeking wisdom is striving after wind.
I turned my heart to know and to search out and to seek wisdom and the scheme of things, and to know the wickedness of folly and the foolishness that is madness.
Ecclesiastes 1:18
Solomon is not stating not to Get Wisdom, he is merely stating a fact.
It may be better to be more simple minded. Do not make it overly complicated.
“To see through all things is the same as not to see.” - C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed
This quote echoes Ecclesiastes' theme—too much analytical vision can actually blind us to joy and contentment.
"He that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow—because he sees more to mourn over. The more we understand of God’s law, the more we see our sin. The more we know of men, the more we sorrow over their folly and wickedness." - C. H. Spurgeon
“He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.” - Friedrich Nietzsche
A counterbalance to Ecclesiastes—Nietzsche suggests meaning gives endurance, but without it, even knowledge becomes unbearable.
Because all his days his activity is painful and irritating; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is futility.
A mind at rest sleeps well. I mind full of thoughts and analytics, the whys and hows, never sleeps well.
“Get Wisdom from God!” and “Fear God and Keep His Commandments.”
