Ecclesiastes - Eccl. 2:12-17 DailyBibleStudy.Org

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Ecclesiastes 2:12-17

Lesson # Eccl. 2:12-17
Study Material - Eccl. 2:12-17

You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source, of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth.

Eccl. 2:16-17

12 So I turned to consider wisdom, madness and folly, for what will the man do who will come after the king except what has already been done? 13 And I saw that wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness. 14 The wise man's eyes are in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. And yet I know that one fate befalls them both. 15 Then I said to myself, 'As is the fate of the fool, it will also befall me. Why then have I been extremely wise?' So I said to myself, 'This too is vanity.' 16 For there is no lasting remembrance of the wise man as with the fool, inasmuch as in the coming days all will be forgotten. And how the wise man and the fool alike die! 17 So I hated life, for the work which had been done under the sun was grievous to me; because everything is futility and striving after wind.

Solomon considers human knowledge once again. He considered it once before and concluded it to be worthless. Then he considered activities of entertainment and activities of construction and design, and even social interactions. Once again he concluded that they too did not give him any satisfaction, no permanent happiness, no contentment, certainly no eternal life.

So now it is back to the drawing board and the consideration of wisdom. But now it is compared to a fool. A wise man is one who, in this case is knowledgeable in the world and most probably educated. A fool is one who lacks knowledge. He may have a low IQ, or just be lazy and not interested in an education. Whatever the case both are negative toward God and prefer their chosen courses of knowledge or lack thereof.

One is said to be wise and the other a fool. So what have they done in their lives that hasn't been done before? Perhaps one generation made buggy whips and a subsequent generation makes computer chips. One generation road a horse, and the later generation rides a Rolls. So the technology is different but their souls are the same. They either think doctrine or they do not. Does the faster mode of transportation get you closer to heaven or contentment? No.

Does the more convenient technology help you achieve more in your spiritual life? No. Both persons, the wise and the fool, both generations regardless of their technological environment, end up in the same boat in the end. They both die. And after that what?

Reputation does not help. How many billions of peoples have lived on this planet since Adam? For the past 6000 years give or take a few people have been born, lived their lives and died. How many names can you remember? A very small percentage. Maybe you can remember a few hundred names from the history books. So where are all the other people who have lives on this earth? Where are those people whose names you can remember? Dead? Did their reputation help them? No.

No one remembers past generations, certainly not the many names that lived in earlier times. What does being wise gain one? What does being a fool hurt?. Both end up in the same boat. They all die.

So Solomon hated life. It gained him nothing. Being productive, being wise, being the life of the party, being wealthy. None of these gain the objectives of ones life. Speaking of which, what exactly are those objectives? Most people don't have a clue as to what they really want. Of course they have some idea kind of mixed in with the fog in their minds. We all want to be rich, happy, comfortable, secure, care free, loved, and so forth. But how to go about gaining these is the real question.

We have two choices in life. To study Bible doctrine and let God guide us to them, or we go about it in the same way that Solomon did. We hustle or use the talents we have to get ahead of the neighbors, only to find out that when we get there, we haven't arrived anywhere at all. We always want more. We aren't satisfied with what we do have exactly. So we try something different. And we continue the hustle in life, pursuing that elusive happiness concept, but never quite getting there.

Then we wake up one day and discover that years have gone by. Where has all that time gone to and what have we accomplished. The end of our life is nearing and the panic sets in, so we start going to church!!! Hummm. Maybe we missed something!!! Maybe we should pray a little more!!!

If we are lucky, then maybe God will provide exposure to some sound Bible study, and then we have the opportunity to do what we should have been doing all those wasted years. The question is, will we follow through with our Bible study?

Everything in life is futile when you have excluded God from your life. If you include God, then many of these things in life become enhancements to our lives, and not substitutes for our spiritual growth. With a sound spiritual life we become winners, as Paul describes it. Without a spiritual life, then we become losers as Solomon describes it.

Now is the time to post a prayer.

End Of Lesson

Study to show thyself approved (mature) unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing (studying/discerning), the Word of truth.

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