Death Renders Wisdom and Folly Pointless
Ecclesiastes 2: 11-17
Death renders wisdom pointless DIG: Does either wisdom or foolishness have an answer to the search for something final? What paradox does the Teacher find in pleasure? What great projects does he undertake? What desires were they mean to satisfy? During these projects, what was the Teacher’s relation to wisdom? Was it under the sun or over the sun?
REFLECT: What is the most important project you have undertaken in the last year? How do you measure your success in that? Do you regard death as the final tragedy or the final triumph? Is the death of the fool different than the wise? How can you prepare yourslef for your death? How does this passage help you to focus on the truly important things in life?
Solomon recognized, at long last, that the only life worth living is a life above the sun.
With the characteristic phrase: I decided to look more carefully, the Teacher changes the subject. He turns from the topic of pleasure to the topic of wisdom and foolishness once again (to see link click Ce – Wisdom is Pointless). He claims that if he, the king, could not find meaning or significance in life under the sun, then no one could. For what can the man who succeeds the king do, except what has already been done (2:11-12)?
Solomon’s initial impression is not surprising for a Hebrew wisdom teacher: I saw that wisdom is more useful than foolishness, just as light is more useful than darkness. This seems obvious, but the Teacher is setting his reader up for a surprising reversal that takes place in the verses that follow. The wise man has eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness (2:13-14a). Wise people walk around with a clear head in a supposedly well-lit room; but fools walk around as if blind. The analogy is to life. Wise people can function in the world, but the fool keeps stumbling over obstacles.
The second half of the verse introduces a surprising reversal. So far, the Teacher has said nothing startling, but now he introduces the idea of a common destiny: Yet the same fate awaits them all (2:14b). That fate is death, and it comes to the wise and the fool alike, thus rendering wisdom pointless in the long run.254
The inevitability of death makes the quest for wisdom seem pointless, for death is the great leveler. So I said to myself, “If the same thing happens to the fool as to me, then what did I gain by being wise?” and I thought to myself, “This too is pointless (2:15). It is important to understand that the Teacher realized this after his pursuit for wisdom, not before. The grass looks greener from the other side of the fence.255 Thus, the comparison of wisdom and foolishness is simple, but the final assessement is shattering.
Dear Heavenly Father, Praise You for Your great love that not only paid our penalty for sin, but also rewards those who love You with eternal joy and peace! With an attitude to glorify God in our life, all of life’s problems and trials can be seen as helping us being conformed into Your likeness. The problems of earth will soon be over and if we live for You God, loving You and desiring to please You in all we do, then soon will come the joy of an eternal home in heaven with You. Therefore we do not lose heart. Though our outward man is decaying, yet our inward man is renewed day by day. For our trouble, light and momentary, is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, as we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen. For what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal (Second Corinthians 4:16-18). It is a joy to lift our eyes to You and focus on how to please You. In Yeshua’s holy name and power of His resurrection. Amen
For the first time in the book, but by no means the last, the fact of death brings Solomon’s quest to a screeching halt. For the wise man, like the fool, will not be long remembered, inasmuch as in the times to come, everything will long ago have been forgotten. The wise man, no less than the fool, must die” (2:16). Everything in our being may tell us that wisdom is not equal with folly, nor goodness with evil; but no matter. If death is the end of the road, the contention that there is nothing to choose between them will get the last word. The choices that we positively know to be significant will be brushed aside as finally irrelevant.256
The Teacher drew a tragic conclusion from what he had seen. So I hated life, suggesting that everyone’s life is worth hating. Solomon wasn’t the first person to express such despair in the TaNaKh (see 2 Samuel 17:23, and Ahithophel’s suicide). It should be noted that this section simply says that life is better than death, no one is suggesting that the king goes so far as to advocate suicide. But as he looked back on his life, Solomon concluded that the work done under the sun caused me only sorrow, everything seems so pointless.257 If, he concluded, it doesn’t ultimately make any difference how one lives and if there is nothing ultimately worthwhile to do, then all of life and its accomplishments are pointless, like chasing the wind (2:17).
At the end of his life, King Solomon realized that living life under the sun, cutting God out of the picture, in his own wisdom and in his foolishness, was utterly pointless. In a sense, it wasn’t really a life worth living, a life squandered chasing after the wind; because he recognized, at long last, that the only life worth living is a life over the sun. A life dedicated to ADONAI. And if Paul was going to be a fool, it would be a fool for the LORD.
Many people boast in a worldly way, under the sun, the way of human achievement, the way of power and prestige, and even spiritual experiences, in terms which do not take into account what is pleasing to God. It was because Paul’s opponents in Corinth had boasted in a worldly way, and because his converts had been won over by such boasting, that Paul felt it necessary to indulge in it also for their sakes, saying: I too will boast this way (2 Cor 11:18), even though he was painfully aware that such boasting was pure folly.258
If the Corinthians would not put up with Paul when he was wise and spoke according to the Lord, then, Paul scoffed, perhaps they would listen to him when he acted the fool and boasted in the same manner as the false apostles they so admired. Ironically he appealed to their extraordinary tolerance, saying: For since you yourselves are so wise, you gladly put up with fools (2 Cor 11:19)! That statement is similar to First Corinthians 4:10a, where he said: We are weak in Messiah, but you are strong! Things haven’t changed much in Corinth since Paul wrote those words. But neither had God’s response to the wisdom of the world. He will destroy the wisdom of the wise and make the wisdom of the world look foolish. Here, Paul destroys the so-called wisdom of the wise by embracing it himself and in that process, showing it to be the folly of a fool. But even after Paul descended to the level of his rivals in boasting, he transcended them. He would boast about visible things. What was visible, however, pointed to his weaknesses – part of the problem as far as the Corinthians were concerned. But, boasting in his weakness allowed him to talk about God’s grace.259
Though the grace of ADONAI is evident throughout our whole lives as believers, it is especially so when we come to die. Faith has its great work to do last, to help believers finish well, to die to the Lord, so as to honor Him, by patience, hope and joy – so as to leave a witness of the truth of God’s Word and the excellency of His ways behind us. God is glorified when His people leave this world with their flag flying at full mast. If anyone should die triumphantly it should be the believer. When the Ruach triumphs over the flesh, when this world is consciously and gladly left behind for heaven, when there’s anticipation in the soul and the glory in the eyes as we enter into the presence of the Lord – then we’re dying as pleasing unto Him.
Leave A Comment