Ecclesiastes 7:15-29

Ecclesiastes 7:15-29

15

Ecclesiastes 7:15 “In my vain life I have seen everything. There is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his evildoing.”

The mention of vain here in the beginning of verse 15 is not to be taken as conceited, but brief or short. Solomon says that in his short life he has seen it all. And what has he seen? Sometimes the good die young and the evil live too long. In our limited view, vain, brief, time on this earth it may seem to us that the righteous man is cut short, think of those who were martyred for Christ, but evil and corrupt people cling to their evil ways and never seem to get what they deserve, in our minds and in our brief perspective. But lets remember what we have already gone over in Ecclesiastes 3:17 “I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time for every matter and for every work.” Our time scale is practically non-existent when compared to God’s eternal, omniscient Godliness. The good as well as the bad were and are here on earth for exactly how long that God deemed it and all evil and sin will be paid for, either by Christ on the cross or by the sinner in Hell forever.

16-18

Ecclesiastes 7:16–18 “Be not overly righteous, and do not make yourself too wise. Why should you destroy yourself? Be not overly wicked, neither be a fool. Why should you die before your time? It is good that you should take hold of this, and from that withhold not your hand, for the one who fears God shall come out from both of them.”

At first verses 16 and 17 may seem like it is saying don’t be too good, don’t bee to bad either, and also don’t be a fool. First verse 16, the overly righteous is not meaning don’t be too good, or don’t try and be too much like Jesus, the overly righteous are those who think that they themselves can do all things through their own power and their own will. Do not be self righteous and think that you yourself have everything figured out and are wise. Those who think they can pull themselves up to heaven by their own boot-straps do nothing but condemn themselves to eternal damnation, they destroy themselves. Bryan Chapell, a Presbyterian pastor who was the Stated Clerk of the Presbyterian Church of America until 2025, calls these overly righteous ones, sola bootsrapa, with their own boot-straps alone.

Verse 17 is the other bookend of verse 16, don’t be Hitler either. There are people in this world that their entire essence and world view is to do evil and harm. And for goodness sake don’t be a fool.

Verse 18, “take hold of this” remember this, trust in this, cling to this, the one who fears God, the one who repents and trust in Jesus Christ as our only path to salvation through His righteousness imputed on us will come out from both of them, will succeed where the others fail, or will be the ones in heaven.

If verses 16-18 say the world is filled with crooked people, those who are self righteous, and those who are wholly bent to do evil, this next section, verses 19-24 adds to it saying it is also filled with sinners, even those who claim to be wise.

19-20

Ecclesiastes 7:19–20 “Wisdom gives strength to the wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city. Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.”

We start off giving praise to being wise, it is better to be full of Godly wisdom than ten rulers in a city, or to have a full compliment of rulers, ruling over the city, think perfect ten out of ten. But then we are hit with verse 20 there is no one on earth that has never sinned, even the righteous ones. Paul may have had this verse in mind in Romans 3:10 “as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;” We are all sinners, from Adam onward we have all failed to live up to the way God created us, very good. Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” There is no one who has not failed God through their inheritance of Adam and through their own thoughts or deeds, no not one who is man alone. Give thanks and all glory to God for Jesus Christ being fully man and fully God, being tempted by sin but never failing so he could be the bearer of the punishment for others.

21-22

Ecclesiastes 7:21–22 “Do not take to heart all the things that people say, lest you hear your servant cursing you. Your heart knows that many times you yourself have cursed others.”

We are all sinners, so we can’t be surprised when others sin. Saying something negative about someone, even those in our own household is easy for our sinful flesh to do, we all get annoyed, mad, or upset at one time or another and thing or say mean and hurtful things behind their backs. So if we are guilty of this sin so can and will others. Forgive quickly those who have sinned against you and pray that others can forgive your trespasses just as quickly, remember Ecclesiastes 7:9 “Be not quick in your spirit to become angry, for anger lodges in the heart of fools.”

23-24

Ecclesiastes 7:23–24 “All this I have tested by wisdom. I said, “I will be wise,” but it was far from me. That which has been is far off, and deep, very deep; who can find it out?”

Solomon was blessed by God with great wisdom and sought to become even more wise perhaps even as wise as God. But he realized that the gap in wisdom between even the wisest man who has been blessed with an abundance of wisdom from God himself and the wisdom OF God is a distance that is far, far away from each other. Incredibly, impossibly far apart and unimaginably deep. We cannot even know what we don’t know, the width and the length and the depth of the wisdom of God is something our created fallen minds can’t comprehend. He is the creator, we are the creation, we are fallen and so very sinful, He is holy and perfect, God has graciously given us a drop of wisdom from his eternal never ending sized ocean of his wisdom. Wisdom is good and Godly wisdom is found in fearing God, but trusting in our own wisdom is folly while trusting in God and Jesus Christ as our savior has eternal rewards.

This next section, verses 25-29 add on to the previous two and adds that not only the wise are sinners, but also the fools and the foolish.

25-26

Ecclesiastes 7:25–26 “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. And I find something more bitter than death: the woman whose heart is snares and nets, and whose hands are fetters. He who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is taken by her.”

Solomon wanted to gain more and more wisdom and sought after it, even the knowledge and “wisdom” found in it’s opposite, the schemes of man, wickedness and foolish madness. But in that he found something worse than death, eternal damnation and separation from God’s will and commands. In proverbs there are two types of “women” that are often refenced, one that can be called Lady Wisdom:

Proverbs 1:20–33 “Wisdom cries aloud in the street, in the markets she raises her voice; at the head of the noisy streets she cries out; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks: “How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge? If you turn at my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit to you; I will make my words known to you. Because I have called and you refused to listen, have stretched out my hand and no one has heeded, because you have ignored all my counsel and would have none of my reproof, I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when terror strikes you, when terror strikes you like a storm and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you. Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently but will not find me. Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord, would have none of my counsel and despised all my reproof, therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way, and have their fill of their own devices. For the simple are killed by their turning away, and the complacency of fools destroys them; but whoever listens to me will dwell secure and will be at ease, without dread of disaster.””

The other can be called Lady Folly:

Proverbs 7:5 “to keep you from the forbidden woman, from the adulteress with her smooth words.”

Proverbs 7:11 “She is loud and wayward; her feet do not stay at home;”

Proverbs 7:21 “With much seductive speech she persuades him; with her smooth talk she compels him.”

Lady Folly, and Solomon’s own 1000 wives and concubines, that were from other nations and worshiped other gods, can be seen as the source of verses 26 and 28.

This type of woman that worships other gods, with smooth words, does not stay at home, she is not a one man woman, is the something more bitter than death. One can also say this just as easily from the female perspective, there are most certainly men who have smooth words, is not a one woman man and worships other Gods. To generalize, the desires of the flesh manifested in a potential mate. Those who do not have a strong faith and lean on and trust in God can be taken by her, but the one who pleases God, one who is strong in their faith and trusts God to provide the helpmeet God has for us, or does not have for us if that is God’s will and plan for you, by being this one that pleases God you will escape this bitterness and unequal yoking.

2 Corinthians 6:14 “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?”

27-29

Ecclesiastes 7:27–29 “Behold, this is what I found, says the Preacher, while adding one thing to another to find the scheme of things— which my soul has sought repeatedly, but I have not found. One man among a thousand I found, but a woman among all these I have not found. See, this alone I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes.”

This conclusion is what he as found from his own search for more and more knowledge and wisdom, even searching the depths of folly and madness. He has put all his experience together and seen the schemes, the selfish, sinful plans of man to find that what he seeks, and what he seeks he has not found. Maybe because he is looking in the wrong places? Delving into the folly and madness not following God’s commands and statutes will get you what you don’t want. Let’s keep in mind Solomon’s own experience in mind, he had 1000 wives and concubines, from foreign lands, women that did not server the one true God. One man in 1000 he has found, but from his experience none of the 1000 women were. He is a quote from Douglass O’Donnell, “What is Solomon saying here? Is he a sexist and misogynist? I will try not to be politically correct, just correct. The answer is “no.” Sure, Solomon doesn’t think too highly of women, but he doesn’t think too highly of men either” He hasn’t found one good Godly woman yet, and it’s his own fault for taking so many foreign wives, but also a good man is one in a million, to use today’s more popular scarcity number.

But what he has found is that in the beginning God made man upright, He made man very good, but it was man that sinned and fell and plunged all of creation down with him. God did not make a sinful man, God made a sin free man with a will, and that will led man to sin and only seek after sinful schemes. But we can rejoice that God did not leave it at that, and the fall of man did not surprise God, it was his plan and his will from the beginning for Christ to come into the world to be our savior and Lord, and it is in this knowledge and with this faith that we have our hope.