Ecc 1:13 | KingComments | STEP | Solomon is now going to tell about his personal experiences. He also tells about the method he used for his research into everything under the sun: he has devoted himself with all of his heart to seek and explore everything by wisdom. He has tried a few ways to see if one of them would lead to the fervently desired happiness. He tried the way of “wisdom”, but it ended in “much grief” and “pain” ( ). He describes this way in Ecclesiastes 1 ( ). Then he followed the way of “pleasure,” but that way also ended very unsatisfactorily. He had to conclude that “all is vanity and striving after wind”. He describes this way in Ecclesiastes 2 ( ). His heart was sincere and serious ( ). The heart is opposite the outer appearance. It is the inner life, the center of all intellectual, emotional and spiritual abilities. He has devoted himself with all of his heart to his seeking, making use of the special wisdom given to him by God ( ). It shows that he was not a cold seeker who rationally explored the different ways of life of his days. On the contrary, he was really interested in man and society and tried to understand “everything that has been done under heaven” and to weigh its value. What he has done is seeking and exploring. Seeking is focused on the depth of a case, while exploring has more focus on the breadth or size of a case. Both activities together show that it was not a superficial, but a thorough and extensive research. The field of his seeking and exploring was “everything that has been done under heaven”. This shows that he did not exclude anything from his research and that his research was limited to the earth. He did not involve God in his research. Solomon wanted to know if he was able to understand and explain the world by his wisdom in order to discover a higher meaning of earthly life. To this end, he started several investigations, in which he examined the most diverse aspects of life. He came to the conclusion that this was “a grievous task” because not one of his investigations led to truly satisfactory results. It has become clear to him that God “has given this task to the sons of men to be afflicted with”. People may live on earth without any thought of God, but the problems they encounter are the result of sin. God has not taken away those consequences, but lets them exist. There is a curse on creation through sin that causes us to do a lot of work before we can reap any result, which actually gives no real satisfaction ( ). The heart of man is hungry and thirsty. This drives him to look for something that satisfies his hunger and quenches his thirst. If he cannot get to seek it ‘higher’, he will always seek refuge in the things of the earth that never give satisfaction. This will result in him having an unquenchable thirst forever. He will beg for a drop of water to cool his tongue, but no one will be able to give it to him because he has let the appointed time pass by ( ; ). He has rejected the invitation that sounds on the last page of the Bible: “Let he who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes, take the water of life without cost” ( ). Solomon was neither superficial nor did he operate on a random basis ( ). He did not take a sample from the big picture, but “he saw all the works which have been done under the sun”. The highest insight which he has reached after all his research and exploring is that “everything is vanity and striving after wind”, and that it always remains so. Striving after wind is a useless undertaking. The ambition to seize the elusive can only result in frustration. The Preacher observed regularity and order in creation ( ), but he also observed a disorder caused by sin. There are crooked things and things are lacking ( ). That goes for the thinking of man and for his ways and works, and also for nature. Whatever the thinker thinks, he is not able to explain the twists in life, let alone to eliminate them. He simply lacks too much knowledge about life. The Only One Who is able to straighten the crooked man and what has caused him to be crooked, is the Lord Jesus ( ; ). All science about how man should be is incapable of changing man. We never find out the cause of the crookedness of the human race if the most important information is missing. That information has to come from God. If He is kept out of observations, the crooked remains crooked and what is missing can never be counted. He cannot straighten the crookedness, he lacks the ability to do so; and he does not notice what is lacking, because he lacks the insight to do so. Whatever a thinker thinks, he can never think of a system in which life can be fathomed. The philosopher can sometimes give some help with his wisdom, but he can never solve the fundamental problem of life, because he keeps scribbling on the outside. He who, like the Preacher, has his eyes open, sees that man is crooked, while he should be noble, helpful and good. But nothing can enable him to be so. For he is part of “a crooked and perverse generation” ( ). Despite all the teaching to make man right, he remains crooked. All education courses are not able to change the character of man and to ennoble him. The most essential factor lacking to find out the meaning of life is enlightenment through the Spirit of God. “I said to myself” ( ) means ‘I consulted with myself’. That is the level of the book. Only he and his own heart are discussing. This shows that the source of his research, the level of it, lies in himself, a human being. He draws from his own heart. Therein dwells the most conceivable wisdom ( ) which is also “magnified and increased” by all his research and investigations, but it remains human wisdom. There is no other light shining around him than that of nature, there is no light from above. With “all who were over Jerusalem before me”, Solomon refers not only to David but probably also to the Canaanite kings who lived in Jerusalem before David captured the city. We can think of Melchizedek ( ) and Adoni-zedek ( ). We can add that also all philosophers after him – for example Aristotle (384-322 BC), Socrates (469-399 BC) and Plato (428-348 BC), who are considered the greatest philosophers of the ancient world – cannot be compared to him. After all his investigations and research, he can say that his heart has “observed a wealth of wisdom and knowledge”. He has been deeply engaged in all that is worthwhile to be involved with and has absorbed that into his heart and mind. What he has discovered is not a global impression, but has given him knowledge of the smallest details. The Preacher says that he set his mind “to know wisdom” ( ). All effort is a laudable striving after results, but is the same as trying to strive after wind. He also wanted “to know madness and folly” in order to learn about their deception and deceit and to preserve the knowledge to be kept from it. To see wisdom in those who do not use wisdom and to see folly in those who do not fight against deception and deceit is a torment for the mind. The only thing wisdom leads to is the discovery that “in much wisdom there is much grief” ( ). True wisdom acknowledges that the true satisfaction sought through wisdom is unattainable. The same goes for the knowledge we acquire. The more we know, the more we know that we know nothing. Our knowing is always only partial ( ). The expression ‘knowledge is power’ is an expression that only short-sighted people use. Real knowledge does not give someone power, but sadness. Real knowledge is more than factual knowledge. It is about understanding, about insight, about discovering the connection between certain things or events. We sense our incapacity and powerlessness better, and become sad as we discover more of the laws of nature and how God in His providence rules the world. Each discovery leads us to the conviction that much more remains hidden than we have never suspected before. Knowledge or science does not guarantee happiness. Attempts to fathom the meaning of life through wisdom and knowledge, and then acquire ultimate happiness, in fact increase the conviction of the meaninglessness of life. For those who know Christ, this is completely different. He who increases knowledge of Christ increases joy. Thus there is “knowledge of [the] salvation” ( ), knowledge “of the love of Christ” ( ), “the knowledge of His [God’s] will” ( ) and “the knowledge of God” ( ). One day “the earth … will be full of the knowledge of the LORD” ( ). That will be when Christ reigns on earth.

‏ Ecclesiastes 1:13

Wisdom Gives No Satisfaction

Solomon is now going to tell about his personal experiences. He also tells about the method he used for his research into everything under the sun: he has devoted himself with all of his heart to seek and explore everything by wisdom. He has tried a few ways to see if one of them would lead to the fervently desired happiness. He tried the way of “wisdom”, but it ended in “much grief” and “pain” (Ecc 1:18). He describes this way in Ecclesiastes 1 (Ecc 1:13-18). Then he followed the way of “pleasure,” but that way also ended very unsatisfactorily. He had to conclude that “all is vanity and striving after wind”. He describes this way in Ecclesiastes 2 (Ecc 2:1-11).

His heart was sincere and serious (Ecc 1:13). The heart is opposite the outer appearance. It is the inner life, the center of all intellectual, emotional and spiritual abilities. He has devoted himself with all of his heart to his seeking, making use of the special wisdom given to him by God (1Kgs 4:29). It shows that he was not a cold seeker who rationally explored the different ways of life of his days. On the contrary, he was really interested in man and society and tried to understand “everything that has been done under heaven” and to weigh its value.

What he has done is seeking and exploring. Seeking is focused on the depth of a case, while exploring has more focus on the breadth or size of a case. Both activities together show that it was not a superficial, but a thorough and extensive research. The field of his seeking and exploring was “everything that has been done under heaven”. This shows that he did not exclude anything from his research and that his research was limited to the earth. He did not involve God in his research.

Solomon wanted to know if he was able to understand and explain the world by his wisdom in order to discover a higher meaning of earthly life. To this end, he started several investigations, in which he examined the most diverse aspects of life. He came to the conclusion that this was “a grievous task” because not one of his investigations led to truly satisfactory results.

It has become clear to him that God “has given this task to the sons of men to be afflicted with”. People may live on earth without any thought of God, but the problems they encounter are the result of sin. God has not taken away those consequences, but lets them exist. There is a curse on creation through sin that causes us to do a lot of work before we can reap any result, which actually gives no real satisfaction (Gen 3:17).

The heart of man is hungry and thirsty. This drives him to look for something that satisfies his hunger and quenches his thirst. If he cannot get to seek it ‘higher’, he will always seek refuge in the things of the earth that never give satisfaction. This will result in him having an unquenchable thirst forever. He will beg for a drop of water to cool his tongue, but no one will be able to give it to him because he has let the appointed time pass by (Lk 16:24; Jer 46:17). He has rejected the invitation that sounds on the last page of the Bible: “Let he who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes, take the water of life without cost” (Rev 22:17).

Solomon was neither superficial nor did he operate on a random basis (Ecc 1:14). He did not take a sample from the big picture, but “he saw all the works which have been done under the sun”. The highest insight which he has reached after all his research and exploring is that “everything is vanity and striving after wind”, and that it always remains so. Striving after wind is a useless undertaking. The ambition to seize the elusive can only result in frustration.

The Preacher observed regularity and order in creation (Ecc 1:4-7), but he also observed a disorder caused by sin. There are crooked things and things are lacking (Ecc 1:15). That goes for the thinking of man and for his ways and works, and also for nature. Whatever the thinker thinks, he is not able to explain the twists in life, let alone to eliminate them. He simply lacks too much knowledge about life. The Only One Who is able to straighten the crooked man and what has caused him to be crooked, is the Lord Jesus (Isa 42:16; Lk 3:5).

All science about how man should be is incapable of changing man. We never find out the cause of the crookedness of the human race if the most important information is missing. That information has to come from God. If He is kept out of observations, the crooked remains crooked and what is missing can never be counted. He cannot straighten the crookedness, he lacks the ability to do so; and he does not notice what is lacking, because he lacks the insight to do so. Whatever a thinker thinks, he can never think of a system in which life can be fathomed. The philosopher can sometimes give some help with his wisdom, but he can never solve the fundamental problem of life, because he keeps scribbling on the outside.

He who, like the Preacher, has his eyes open, sees that man is crooked, while he should be noble, helpful and good. But nothing can enable him to be so. For he is part of “a crooked and perverse generation” (Phil 2:15). Despite all the teaching to make man right, he remains crooked. All education courses are not able to change the character of man and to ennoble him. The most essential factor lacking to find out the meaning of life is enlightenment through the Spirit of God.

“I said to myself” (Ecc 1:16) means ‘I consulted with myself’. That is the level of the book. Only he and his own heart are discussing. This shows that the source of his research, the level of it, lies in himself, a human being. He draws from his own heart. Therein dwells the most conceivable wisdom (1Kgs 4:29-34) which is also “magnified and increased” by all his research and investigations, but it remains human wisdom. There is no other light shining around him than that of nature, there is no light from above.

With “all who were over Jerusalem before me”, Solomon refers not only to David but probably also to the Canaanite kings who lived in Jerusalem before David captured the city. We can think of Melchizedek (Gen 14:18) and Adoni-zedek (Jos 10:1). We can add that also all philosophers after him – for example Aristotle (384-322 BC), Socrates (469-399 BC) and Plato (428-348 BC), who are considered the greatest philosophers of the ancient world – cannot be compared to him.

After all his investigations and research, he can say that his heart has “observed a wealth of wisdom and knowledge”. He has been deeply engaged in all that is worthwhile to be involved with and has absorbed that into his heart and mind. What he has discovered is not a global impression, but has given him knowledge of the smallest details.

The Preacher says that he set his mind “to know wisdom” (Ecc 1:17). All effort is a laudable striving after results, but is the same as trying to strive after wind. He also wanted “to know madness and folly” in order to learn about their deception and deceit and to preserve the knowledge to be kept from it. To see wisdom in those who do not use wisdom and to see folly in those who do not fight against deception and deceit is a torment for the mind.

The only thing wisdom leads to is the discovery that “in much wisdom there is much grief” (Ecc 1:18). True wisdom acknowledges that the true satisfaction sought through wisdom is unattainable. The same goes for the knowledge we acquire. The more we know, the more we know that we know nothing. Our knowing is always only partial (1Cor 13:12).

The expression ‘knowledge is power’ is an expression that only short-sighted people use. Real knowledge does not give someone power, but sadness. Real knowledge is more than factual knowledge. It is about understanding, about insight, about discovering the connection between certain things or events.

We sense our incapacity and powerlessness better, and become sad as we discover more of the laws of nature and how God in His providence rules the world. Each discovery leads us to the conviction that much more remains hidden than we have never suspected before. Knowledge or science does not guarantee happiness. Attempts to fathom the meaning of life through wisdom and knowledge, and then acquire ultimate happiness, in fact increase the conviction of the meaninglessness of life.

For those who know Christ, this is completely different. He who increases knowledge of Christ increases joy. Thus there is “knowledge of [the] salvation” (Lk 1:77), knowledge “of the love of Christ” (Eph 3:19), “the knowledge of His [God’s] will” (Col 1:9) and “the knowledge of God” (Rom 11:33). One day “the earth … will be full of the knowledge of the LORD” (Isa 11:9). That will be when Christ reigns on earth.