©Michael Player
Chapter 7:21-29 (ESV) - 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.
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?
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. 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.
Question to consider: What does Solomon mean that people have “sought out many schemes?”
Today we continue with the philosophical view of pragmatism. Solomon explored the idea that in this vain life, there are those who do good and die young and those who do evil and live to a ripe old age. If life is only measured by our time under the sun, the pragmatist would give himself license to cut a few moral corners if only to extend his days and enjoy them. While he may consider wisdom a good thing, the only conclusion one can have with this view is that, “Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.”
In other words, “Nobody’s perfect.” As an example, Solomon points out that you shouldn’t be surprised that someone is talking bad about you behind your back— especially knowing that we all do it to others. Gossip is wrong, but it is common to man. The command of God is to not bear false witness against our neighbor, but implied in this negative is the command to step in and protect the reputation of our neighbor when we hear him being slandered.
Looking to wisdom— the life measured beyond our time in the sun— Solomon strove to live according to the commands of God, but realized it was far from him. The apostle Paul expressed this plight in Romans 7:14-15, “For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.”
By the time Paul came on the scene, there had come to earth a righteous man “who does good and never sins.” Thus, Paul could proclaim a solution to this problem, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:24-25)
Aside from the premise that there was no one perfectly righteous on the earth, in Solomon’s search for wisdom, he found that the number of people who were not scheming against others for personal gain was few and far between. I’m sure women find it offensive that in his experience, he found none who were beyond manipulating or trapping people to get their way. He may have been speaking in hyperbole, but I would also consider the fact that he was a famous king with multiple wives so it is quite possible that all of the women he encountered wanted something from him. The point still remains that though God created us to be good, we all have a sin nature that drives us to scheme and manipulate others for personal gain.
Dear heavenly Father, thank You for sending Jesus into the world to be the perfectly righteous one to atone for our sin. Help us to see ourselves like Solomon and Paul and realize that we need a savior from this body of death in order to be reconciled with You and live. Amen.