Chapter 54: The Books of Wisdom

In this chapter of my forthcoming book “Priests of the Bible”, I consider the importance of wisdom and what the books of Job, Psalms, Song of Solomon, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes has to say on the subject:

Before we get going on the rationale behind this chapter, and then to follow it up with content, we begin by quoting some Bible verses that have an important bearing on this subject of wisdom:

“Doth not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her voice? She standeth in the top of high places, by the way in the places of the paths. She crieth at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors. Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of man. O ye simple, understand wisdom: and, ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart. Hear; for I will speak of excellent things; and the opening of my lips shall be right things. For my mouth shall speak truth; and wickedness is an abomination to my lips. All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing froward or perverse in them” Proverbs 8:1-8

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding” Proverbs 9:10

“And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith” Ecclesiastes 1:13

“And he said to the human race, “The fear of the Lord – that is wisdom, and to shun evil is       understanding” Job 28:28

… followed by some definitions …

Fear (Hebrew: yare) can be translated by anything from respect to dread but commonly understood by learned commentators to mean reverence and awe.

Knowledge (Hebrew: yada) goes beyond being intellectually informed and includes notions of perceiving, learning, understanding, performing, and experiencing.

Understanding (Hebrew: binah) relates to comprehension, discernment, apprehension, realization, grasp, savvy, wit etc.

Wisdom (Hebrew: chokmah) enables us to skilfully apply knowledge gained, to understand life from God’s perspective and having the ability to do the right thing at the right time.

In the Christian Bible, the Old Testament is often seen in four sections: Law, History, Prophets and Poetry (which comprise the Books of Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon). The Jewish Bible comprises three sections: Law, Prophets and Writings. A central theme of the Poetry / Writings books is wisdom, often coupled with the fear of the Lord. It has been said: the wisdom of Proverbs describes how godly character generally leads to success. Ecclesiastes tempers this by warning rewards are not guaranteed, as a kind of “crookedness” has come into our world. The book of Job goes further, exploring how righteous people may suffer for no obvious reason. But all three agree – getting wisdom along with knowledge and understanding must be a priority for the godly and it begins with the fear of God. While wisdom may not be the main themes of Song of Solomon and Psalms, it is still important when we consider the notion of “love as strong as death” (Song of Solomon) and the praise of the one who is truly worthy of praise – the Lord God of Israel (Psalms).

What I would like to do, with reader forbearance, is to consider the Wisdom books in the order Job, Psalms, Song of Solomon, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. There is much that can be said about each of these books. Psalms is probably the book where most can be said and if one were to write on the Psalms, it would warrant a whole long book with sections dedicated to each of the 150 Psalms – but I am going to say relatively little, even though I have often quoted from the Psalms in this book – and for good reasons. In 2021, I produced my “Song of Songs, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes – Meditations from Solomon’s three books” where I gave a more in-depth exposition on each of those books. Along with Job and Psalms, much can be said about these three books, but we will keep it short.

Since I could easily stray from the main themes of this book, I will be mindful of these when I am tempted to stray and reflect on the notion if we are to be a priestly people then gaining wisdom is very important. Part 3 of this book is about how a priestly people should conduct themselves in the light of what we learn in Part 1 about the priesthood and Part 2 about priests. In Part 3, we consider three of the more neglected books of the Bible: Leviticus, Chronicles and Hebrews. Besides going some way to redress that imbalance, each of those books has a lot to say about priests and the priesthood and warrant further consideration for that reason alone. As for Genesis, which arguably, besides Melchizedek, has not much to say about priests, a brief consideration of its contents is worth having as it provides the seedbed for the rest of the Bible and gives us insights into the conflicts and background in which priests operated: God versus Satan, good versus evil, light versus darkness.

Job

Dominating the Book of Job are discourses of a more philosophical nature, especially concerning suffering, between Job and his “friends”, all enshrined in beautiful poetry. Other than the prologue and epilogue (which is prose), the rest of the book is poetry, with vivid imagery, deep reflection and debate on points made. I don’t recall preachers preaching much on those middle chapters, at least in terms of verse-by-verse exposition. What is more common is to hear sermons based on how we may come to terms with the reality of innocent suffering and some stand out verses from the book, such as “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him” (Job 13:15) and “For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth” (Job 19:25). I suspect few readers can give more than basic account of the differing often subtle arguments of Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar (Job’s three friends, known as Job’s comforters) and the young chap who pops up toward the end, Elihu, who disagreed with all of them, along with the unanswered questions asked by Job, on how these players interacted and how the arguments are developed throughout the three rounds of discourse.

Job is an unusual book of the Bible for many reasons. Firstly, it is one of oldest, even though in it, Job and his friends identifies the one who is undeniably the God of the Bible, despite likely predating even Moses and the Exodus. Secondly, it is not a Jewish book per se, and is possibly the only Old Testament book that isn’t, which is apt since it deals with themes that have been raised by all humankind ever since the beginning of time. Thirdly, while not overtly so, it touches on New Testament themes, such as the Sermon of the Mount and the afterlife, and other themes, like that of wisdom, as developed in Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, and elements of the Torah, including the notion of blessings following the righteous and cursing the wicked, a central theme that Job and his three friends debated throughout their exchanges. Then there is a key underlying theme of the Bible, we get glimpses of here – the plans of God and Satan’s attempts to thwart them, something that, even when all is restored to him, Job is barely aware of. As for whether the events and dialogue in the book really happened, notwithstanding poetic license, my belief is that they really did!

Job complements the other wisdom literature and helps us to make sense of all sorts of modern-day craziness. One stand out theme among many is there is a redeemer, ever ready to plead the cause of those who He has redeemed. Job’s friends have been given a bad press and at the end were rebuked by God for not speaking rightly concerning Job. But they did sit with Job during his suffering, when others ignored or turned against him. Most of what they said was true and they only spoke in response to what Job said first. Besides not the way one should speak to someone who is suffering, they fell into the all too familiar trap of dogmatism. Even if the rule is God blesses the righteous (which Job was in God’s eyes) and He punishes the unrighteous, there are exceptions, something that Job noted as in his turmoil he tried to figure out. It not only covers “why me”, who despite what friends said had lived a good life and his appearance of being a righteous person was in fact the reality, but included why bad people get away with being bad rather than being dealt with as they deserve and why good people do not always get rewarded and are even penalized for their attempts to do good, and the question that has long vexed many: why do the innocent suffer?

There are all sorts of contradictions in the world we might want to identify, along with all sorts of injustices, including good and innocent people suffering, but it is good to know as we begin our journey with the first of our wisdom books that these questions have already been asked and, while not always fully answered, we do well to apply God’s rebuke of Job to ourselves: “Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?” Job 38:2. As for what had been happening in Job’s case, there was a perspective that overrode any other and this was missed by all parties – that of the unseen God. We do well to recognize such is the case as we look around with consternation seeing every day cases of evil rewarded and good not so; the innocent suffering and the guilty prospering.

Part of the big unseen picture was there was, in effect, a wager made between God and Satan to prove whether or not Job revered etc. God, merely because he had been blessed by God and that is why Job had prospered – a wager that God won! If there is a lesson we can take away from the story of Job, it is God knows and does what is best, despite how dire things appear. True wisdom is highly desirable and something that we do well to seek after. It is not something that can be found through the natural world or in searching out the hidden depths of the earth where much that is of value can be found. It begins with the fear of God and in humbly recognising how little we truly know.

Psalms

It is a quite remarkable fact that right across the ecclesiological spectrum Psalms will feature in Christian worship, if for no other reason its words and sentiments are conducive and relevant. The first thing worth pointing out is just as Psalms continue to be read (and sometimes sung) and be pondered on in Christian worship and teaching, this was also the case in Jewish worship, whether in the Temple or the synagogue. We believe half of the Psalms were penned by David and some were written with the express intention they should be sung in Temple worship. It is likely the Psalms were penned over a longish period exceeding a century but before the time we get to the period of the New Testament it was agreed what to include, which the Christians were happy to go along with.   

Before we continue with the Psalms, it is well to reflect on the author of half of them – David. The most well-known of his Psalms is 23, which begins “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want” 23:1, where, as in many of his psalms, David was writing from personal experience. He was a shepherd boy who became a warrior king, Israel’s greatest king, with which kings that came after him were compared. He was also an accomplished musician and poet, as evidenced in his psalms. He wasn’t without faults and when he sinned he did so big time. But he was also a man after God’s own heart.

Regarding the purpose of the Psalms, its primary one was to support worship, something the people of God are encouraged to do, irrespective of their circumstances in life and their mental and spiritual state, which could be anything between despondency and jubilation. While the Psalms were written in quite different times to what we find now, the Psalmist experience is not dissimilar. God is worth worshipping simply because He is God and, ever since the Psalms appeared, before the Christian era, the Psalms have been used to support that very purpose. I am sure far more lucid explanations can be given on why study the Psalms that what I am about to give, but the fact that I quote from the Psalms throughout this book and its companion before that to do with Prophets at least shows how significant I find Psalms to be, not least the number that we regard as messianic (e.g. 2, 22, 45 and 110) that tell as much about the coming Messiah, which we find fulfilled in the New Testament.

What also stands out is the Psalms reflect every aspect of the human experience, even to the extent that the Psalmist may argue with God on subjects such as why the baddies do come off better than the goodies, e.g. “Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb. Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass” Psalm 37:1-5.  The Psalms are brutally honest when it comes to the struggles and conundrums often faced, but also in terms of living as God requires. Yet invariably the Psalmist comes round to seeing things from God’s perspective, realising He is in control and does all things well and all the Psalmist has to do is fall in line with God’s plans and purposes, and be blessed.

I will resist the temptation of quoting too much from the Psalms here but, like many who read this, will be able to cite Psalms that have blessed and challenged me; so let me share from just four.

“The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple. For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock” 27:1-5.

“I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad. O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.  They looked unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed” 34:1-5.

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah. There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early” 46:1-5.

“Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;  Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s” 103:1-5.

While what the Psalms say about priests and the priesthood is limited, it often harks back to the Law, the very thing priests were required to teach and be exemplars of (e.g. “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple” (19:7) and “Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord. Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart. They also do no iniquity: they walk in his ways” 119:1-3) the Psalms are full of wisdom on how a priestly people should live in what are often tumultuous times, including God being utterly trustworthy and how blessed we are to be His people. When it comes to wisdom, the Psalmist emphasis that true wisdom should result in the wise trusting the Lord, honouring Him and worshiping Him is good reason why Psalms should be used in praise and prayer, meditated on and memorised, forming a basis for individual and congregational worship.

Song of Solomon

I confess – the Song of Solomon has been, for me, perhaps the book of the Bible that has intrigued me most during my Christian life. Harking back as a teenager joining a traditional Brethren Breaking of Bread meeting, where the focus was on Christ and especially His atoning death, I recall many a meditation shared from this sublime song, all of which having to do with the glories of Christ. I agree with the Rabbi who declared: “Heaven forbid any man in Israel ever disputed that the Song of Songs is holy. For the whole world is not worth the day on which the Song of Songs was given to Israel, for all the Writings are holy and the Song of Songs is holy of holies” Rabbi Akiba (circa 100AD).

I came to learn there were other views of the Song, besides those expressed by my early Brethren mentors. Like many in the church down the ages, they saw it more in terms of a picture of Christ and His Church, just as Jewish folk before then may have seen it in terms of YHWH and Israel. Other commentators, especially the modern ones, often see it as a poem mostly to do with sexual ethics, not so dissimilar to the sort of love poetry that had been written outside Israel three thousand years ago when the Solomon wrote his Song and often dismiss claims it is depicting the love that ought to be present (if God has His way) in the divine / human relation. I have no problem with the notion that sex is good if done God’s way and God wants us to know that by inspiring the writer of the Song (that I take to be Solomon, David’s son), just as I do Proverbs (mostly) and Ecclesiastes (which we will get to), such that we can learn a lot from it, just like we can with the other 65 books of the Bible.

I have come to a view (and not one I wish to impose on readers but rather share here by way of  food for thoughts) that, when it comes to interpreting the Song, we can incorporate notions of it being both a holy sex manual and a beautiful love story of how it can be with any one of us and our blessed Lord Jesus Christ, with real life experiences including the many of the ups and downs, joys and sorrows, triumphs and disasters, we see in a lasting marriage relationship, written about in the Song explicitly and such that this can be seen both in an enduring relationship between a man and his wife, which God had always intended since declaring: “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh” Genesis 2:24, that relates to a man / woman with his / her wife / husband, as well as that with his / her heavenly spouse.  

When it comes to controversial books of the Bible, where even the holy and learned see things often very differently, the Song of Solomon could well match that we find with the Book of Revelation. This is perhaps understandable given the Song is so rich in imagery, which may be best understood in terms of the Hebrew culture and mindset relating to the times when the Song was written. One area of contention has been the identity of the main characters. I am happy to accept the lover as being Solomon, albeit in a shepherd’s disguise and his beloved was a simple village girl he met and fell in love with when visiting his kingdom perhaps far away from where he resided, and perhaps she was his one true love (he did write 1005 songs maybe one for each wife – but this was his Song of songs), noting that Solomon eventually ended up as having had 700 wives and 300 concubines.

I would like to end this section on the Song of Solomon with a few of its stand out verses that have blessed me, all of which I have meditated on in my “Solomon” book, referred to above:

• “He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love.” (2:4)
• “The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.” (2:8)
• “My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.” (2:10)
• “Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.” (2:15)
• “My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies.” (2:16)
• “Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck.” (4:9)
• “Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits.” (4:16)
• “My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand.” (5:10)
• “I am my beloved’s, and his desire is toward me.” (7:10)
• “Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame.” (8:6)
• “Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned.”  (8:7)
• “Make haste, my beloved, and be thou like to a roe or to a young hart upon the mountains of spices.” (8:14)

Proverbs

We come now to “The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel” (1:1). Some, maybe most, of the proverbs were known before Solomon, and Solomon merely did a sifting job to make these available to those who would read them later. While in writing Proverbs Solomon may have had his sons in mind (who may have largely later ignored their father’s counsel) and paid particular attention to things like avoiding loose women and not getting drunk, the book is rich with wisdom such that now in my dotage I can reflect “what if” (I had taken this seriously throughout my life).  

Some proverbs are referred to as the sayings of the wise (22-24), suggesting these at least were not originated by him. Not known of course, but it would be interesting to know how many of “three thousand proverbs” 1 Kings 4:32 Solomon wrote ended up in the Book of Proverbs. Some 350 years later, in the reign of King Hezekiah (715 to 686 BC), others did a further editing and compiling job, perhaps removing some of the inevitable repetition Solomon had introduced in order to make what we now see set before us all the more readable. Some, maybe many, proverbs were known already in the ancient world and originated by those who were from outside of Israel, e.g. Egypt, including followers of gods, other than YHWH. It is perhaps a good example of common grace, that wisdom can come from unlikely sources. One may infer that part of Solomon’s wisdom was to recognise the wisdom in others. We know of two named persons who contributed: Agur and Lemuel.

We also read from the outset the purpose of writing: “To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding; To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity; To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion. A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels: To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings” (1:2-6). To complete the prologue, it is worth mentioning a statement that is central to the whole book, as it introduces two themes we do well to apply in our own lives repeatedly referred to in Proverbs: wisdom is better than foolishness and that the fear of the Lord is that which should govern our lives: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction” (1:7).

A lot of the Book of Proverbs is pretty down to earth and, as one friend put it, “downright obvious”. It covers all sorts of subjects, often very practical and matter of fact, and is good sound common-sense advice to help us follow the way of wisdom. Refreshingly, while God features big time, it is not particularly religious (which some find quite appealing) and covers all sorts of topics that could raise the eyebrows of those who are. It can be seen as advice parents (mother as well as father) would want their sons to take heed of, which given universal experience does not always happen, as lessons are often learned from the mistakes made by not taking heed of what one is taught. Proverbs was directed at men rather than women, because men were looked upon as the ones taking the lead, including in the family, although what is advised applies to us all, even today, three thousand years later, irrespective of all the cultural differences we now see. One amusing thought concerns the duties of a good wife (31:10-31) – I don’t know any who does all that is written here.

Interestingly, sayings from the Proverbs are not just often quoted in the New Testament but many find themselves being referred to in everyday life. My own experience as a preacher and hearer of many sermons is that, unlike Solomon’s other books, Proverbs does not usually feature in the sermon title but specific examples are often referred to. Not only that, but in real life application, including what people write on social media, by some who are unaware they are quoting from the Bible. The English translators of Proverbs have done a creditable job given the limitations of translating breath-taking Hebrew poetry into a form that modern readers can easily identify with.

What is so thrilling is the practicality of what is said by one who has lived long enough to have experienced life in the raw, yet given wisdom from on High to make some sort of sense of it, whether disciplining children, the value of hard work, the art of the deal, how to treat women, being honest in business, the power of the tongue, maintaining one’s own counsel – and so much more. To cite my NIV Study Bible: these proverbs range widely across the broad spectrum of human situations, relationships and responsibilities; offering insights, warnings, instructions and counsels, along with frequent motivations to heed them.

In a variety of situations and relationships, the reader is exhorted to honesty, integrity, diligence, kindness, generosity, readiness to forgive, truthfulness, patience, humility, cheerfulness, loyalty, temperance, self-control and the prudent consideration of consequences that flow from attitudes, choices and/or actions. Anger should be held in check, violence and quarrelsomeness shunned, gossip avoided, arrogance repudiated. Drunkenness, gluttony, envy and greed should all be renounced. The poor are not to be exploited, the courts are not to be unjustly manipulated, legitimate authorities are to be honoured. Parents should care for the proper instruction and discipline of their children, and children should duly honour their parents and bring no disgrace on them. Human observation and experience have taught the wise that a certain order is in place in God’s creation. To honour it leads to known positive effects; to defy it leads only to unhappy consequences. Life should be lived in conscious awareness of the unfailing scrutiny of the Lord and in reliance on His generous providence. All good reasons to study the Book of Proverbs!

Ecclesiastes

Ecclesiastes should be seen as a book for all ages – for the older generation making sense out of this world and having learned from the school of hard knocks what it says makes sense; for the younger, as a sober warning of what is to come and why they should “remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth”, as well as the in-betweeners, being a useful foil to Proverbs with its hopeful message of the way of wisdom, and to Song of Songs with its recurring theme of love that conquers all. The main thrust of Ecclesiastes is the meaninglessness of “life under the sun”, ideally complementing that of the importance of the way of wisdom (Proverbs) and the power of love (Song of Songs). The notions of vanity (or pointlessness), referred to 29 times in Ecclesiastes, and of life under the sun, 31 times, is indicative of the author’s central themes. Vanity (Hebrew: hebel – vapor, breath) well sums up what life under the sun is like. Realising this helps us to make sense of life.

No doubt the position Solomon found himself in (having time, power, wealth etc.) as well as wisdom from above, gave him ample opportunity to reflect as he did. One can’t help wondering, though, why this same person, who began his reign so well, with every good intention, ended it so badly, by not practising what he preached. One of the good things to come out of his falling away toward the end is that Solomon better understood the consequences of where such actions might lead. If there is a salutary lesson here – we can be cynical and correct but it makes little difference to how we live. The whole point of getting the brutal truth as we do here is we can then respond appropriately.

Reading through Ecclesiastes leaves us in little doubt the author had lived a long and full life, experiencing for himself and seeing it in others – highs and lows, triumphs and disasters, joy and sorrow, justice and injustice; from the very good to the very bad etc., suggesting by the time he got to write he was getting old. Reading Ecclesiastes leaves one with the impression that here was someone who had experienced many aspects of life but now he could no longer summon up much enthusiasm, being unimpressed, having seen it all, along with a sense of world weariness. If we are to come up with an alternative, Ecclesiastes could show the way how “life under the sun” could be.

What the Preacher has learned includes:

1. Humans cannot by all their striving achieve anything of ultimate or enduring significance. Nothing appears to be going anywhere (1:5-11), and people cannot by all their efforts break out of this caged treadmill (1:2-4; 2:1-11); they cannot fundamentally change anything (1:12-15; 6:10; 7:13). Hence, they often toil foolishly (4:4,7-8; 5:10-17; 6:7-9). All their striving “under the sun” (1:3) after unreal goals leads only to disillusionment.
2. Wisdom is better than folly (2:13-14; 7:1-6,11-12,19; 8:1,5; 9:17-18; 10:1-3,12-15; 12:11) – it is God’s gift to those who please him (2:26). But it is unwarranted to expect too much from having such wisdom – to expect that human wisdom is capable of solving all problems (1:16-18) or of securing for itself enduring rewards or advantages (2:12-17; 4:13-16; 9:13-16).
3. Experience confronts humans with many apparent disharmonies and anomalies that wisdom cannot unravel. Of these, the greatest is human life, which comes to the same end as that of the animals – death (2:15; 3:16-17; 7:15; 8:14; 9:1-3; 10:5-7).
4. Although God made humankind upright, people have gone in search of many “schemes” (to get ahead by taking advantage of others; see 7:29; cf. Psalm 10:2; 36:4; 140:2). So even humans are a disappointment (7:24-29).
5. People cannot know or control what will come after them, or even what lies in the more immediate future. Therefore, all their efforts remain balanced on the razor’s edge of uncertainty (2:18; 6:12; 7:14; 9:2).
6. God keeps humans in their place (3:16-22).
7. God has ordered all things (3:1-15; 5:19; 6:1-6; 9:1), and a human being cannot change God’s appointments or fully understand them or anticipate them (3:1; 7; 11:1-6). But the world is not fundamentally chaotic or irrational. It is ordered by God, and it is for humans to accept matters as they are by God’s appointments, including their own limitations. Everything has its “time” and is good in its time.

He therefore counsels:

1. Accept the human state, as it is shaped by God’s appointments and enjoy the life you have been given as fully as you can.
2. Don’t trouble yourself with unrealistic goals – know the measure of your human capabilities.
3. Be prudent in all your ways – follow wisdom’s leading.
4. “Fear God and keep his commandments” (12:13), beginning in your youth before the fleeting days of life’s enjoyments are gone and “the days of trouble” (12:1) come when infirmities of advanced age vex you and hinder you from tasting, seeing and feeling the good things of life. While no kill joy, the Preacher stresses the need to fear God and to start young.
5. Ecclesiastes provides plentiful instruction on how to live meaningfully, purposefully and joyfully within the theocratic arrangement – primarily by placing God at the centre of one’s life, work and activities, by contentedly accepting one’s divinely appointed lot in life, by making sound life decisions and by reverently trusting in and obeying the Creator-King.

Finally

With these thoughts in mind, we complete our short consideration of the five books of Wisdom, and hope this has whetted the appetite of the reader to check these out and do the very things that the texts we cited at the start of the chapter have encouraged we, who are “A Priestly People”, to do. We end with two hymns, pertinent to this chapter and both concern the importance of wisdom and, given wisdom is a subject that interests New Testament writers, some thoughts of the Apostle Paul, for wisdom is a subject that should interest followers of the New Covenant, as it should have the old:

Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;

naught be all else to me, save that thou art.

Thou my best thought, by day or by night,

waking or sleeping, thy presence my light.

Be thou my wisdom, be thou my true word;

I ever with thee, and thou with me, Lord.

Born of thy love, thy child may I be,

thou in me dwelling and I one with thee.

Be thou my buckler, my sword for the fight.

Be thou my dignity, thou my delight,

thou my soul’s shelter, thou my high tow’r.

Raise thou me heav’nward, O Pow’r of my pow’r.

Riches I heed not, nor vain empty praise;

thou mine inheritance, now and always.

Thou and thou only, first in my heart,

Ruler of heaven, my treasure thou art.

True Light of heaven, when vict’ry is won

may I reach heaven’s joys, O bright heav’n’s Sun!

Heart of my heart, whatever befall,

still be my vision, O Ruler of all.

High King of heaven, my victory won

May I reach heaven’s joys, O bright heaven’s sun

Heart of my own heart, whatever befall

Still be my vision, O ruler of all

And

Immortal, invisible, God only wise,

In light inaccessible hid from our eyes,

Most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,

Almighty, victorious, Thy great name we praise.

Unresting, unhasting, and silent as light,

Nor wanting, nor wasting, Thou rulest in might;

Thy justice like mountains high soaring above

Thy clouds which are fountains of goodness and love.

To all life Thou givest, to both great and small;

In all life Thou livest, the true life of all;

We blossom and flourish as leaves on the tree,

And wither and perish, but nought changeth Thee.

Great Father of Glory, pure Father of Light

Thine angels adore Thee, all veiling their sight;

All laud we would render, O help us to see:

’Tis only the splendor of light hideth Thee.

“For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; But unto them which are 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. For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:  That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord” 1 Corinthians 1:18-31.