GOD’S WORD FOR DECEMBER 16 ~ ~ “Psalm 119:136 ~ ~ “Rivers of water run down from my eyes, Because men do not keep Your law.”

We’re on Chapter 9 of How To Read The Bible by Dr. Michael Youssef

Section:  The Inspired Book of Error

In Ecclesiastes 7:19, Solomon tells us, “Wisdom makes one wise person more powerful than ten rulers in a city.”  In this world, we face many decisions involving insoluble problems.  We face temptation, seduction, and deception from Satan and the sinful influences of this world.  People seek to manipulate us and control our beliefs through advertising, social media, and political rhetoric.

If we want to have the power to make good decisions, think for ourselves, and keep this fallen world from squeezing us into its mold, we need wisdom from God’s word.  Godly wisdom gives us power to discern Satan’s traps and defeat his schemes.

From a human perspective, Solomon viewed wisdom as immensely valuable and worthy of seeking, yet beyond the reach of his intellect.  He wrote:

“All this I tested by wisdom and I said, “I am determined to be wise” – but this was beyond me.  Whatever exists is far off and most profound – who can discover it?  So I turned my  mind to understand, to investigate and to search out wisdom and the scheme of things and to understand the stupidity of wickedness and the madness of folly.” (Ecclesiastes 7:23-25)

Solomon is writing here from the perspective of fallen humanity, not from God’s infinite and omniscient perspective.  He concludes that in his fallen state, wisdom is “beyond me” –unattainable. And it is true that, for a fallen human being, apart from the enlightenment of the Holy spirit, it is.  The reason Solomon seems to despair of ever finding true wisdom is that Ecclesiastes, although inspired by God, stands alone among all the books of the Bible in reflecting a purely human point of view, not the perspective of God Himself.

Ecclesiastes is frequently misquoted and misused.  In fact, when I was a boy, I twisted a verse from it myself when I wanted to get out of doing my homework.  I said, “Well, Mom and Dad, don’t you know that all this schoolwork and study is bad for me?  Ecclesiastes 1:18 says, “For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief.”  Of course, my parents replied, “The only grief you’re going to get is if you don’t finish your homework!”

One of my early mentors, Bible teacher Ray Stedman, called Ecclesiastes “the inspired book of error.”  In ADVENTURING THROUGH THE BIBLE, he wrote:

“This book is filled with error, yet it is wholly inspired.  This may confuse some people because many feel that inspiration is a guarantee of truth.  This is not necessarily so.  Inspiration merely guarantees accuracy from a particular point of view:  if it is God’s point of view, it is true; if it is a human point of view, it may or may not be true …

Because Ecclesiastes reflects a human, rather than a divine, point of view, it is often misused and twisted out of context by the enemies of God’s Word.  Ecclesiastes is the favorite book of atheists and agnostics.  Many cults love to quote this book’s erroneous viewpoints and give the impression that these are scriptural, divine words of God concerning life.

In order to come to such a conclusion, however, one has to ignore what Ecclesiastes clearly states at the outset and repeats throughout the book:  It draws its conclusion from appearances, from looking at the world from a human perspective.  Every aspect of life this book examines is seen as ‘under the sun.’”

That phrase “under the sun” is the key to accurately interpreting the book of Ecclesiastes.  It appears twenty-seven times.  What does Solomon mean by “under the sun”?  He is speaking specifically of life as it is experienced on the surface of the earth, “under the sun.”

The book of Ecclesiastes is unflinchingly honest in its diagnosis of the human condition.  That’s why it seems so bleak.

The book opens with these words (in the New International Version):  “The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem.”  Other translations say, “The words of the Preacher.”  The Message says, “These are the words of the Quester.”  The original Hebrew word is QOHELET, which means more than merely a preacher or teacher, but has the sense of a searcher or inquirer or investigator – a person who searches deeply into a matter, then comes back and reports what he has found.

The book of Ecclesiastes is the result of King Solomon’s long search for meaning and truth.

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psalm 119:105

Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

*Psalm 37:23

The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and He delights in his way.

*Psalm 32:8

I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you shalt go:  I will guide you with my eye.

*Psalm 23:3

He restores my soul: he leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

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