Ecc 7:23 | KingComments | STEP | The Preacher admits that his wisdom has failed him to become wise. He honestly acknowledges it: the search for true wisdom has yielded nothing. With all his wisdom – he is the wisest man on earth – he “tested all this” ( ; ). “All this” is all that he has shared with us in the previous section (Ecclesiastes 2:1-7:22). His research was aimed at gaining insight into the true meaning and determining the permanent value of all mankind’s labor on earth. He has only been able to discover in his wisdom that the world is full of vanity and that this knowledge does not give his heart peace and joy. He has not come any further. True wisdom, he realizes, has remained far beyond his reach. Many people do not look for wisdom because they are not wise. That is why they never become wise. Solomon is wise and has searched for it, profound and broad, but he has not found it either. Wisdom lies far beyond the knowledge of man. “What has been” ( ), is not only what exists, but also the way something has been formed by God. Who was present at the creation? Who can comprehend what God has caused to exist and who can understand how He sustains all things that He has created? Man cannot gain insight in this by human research, for the wisdom that lies in all things that God has created, is “exceedingly mysterious”, or in other words unfathomably deep. Every honest philosopher and scientist will admit that no one can “discover it”. The Preacher could not reach wisdom. He comes to the conclusion that he knows nothing and that the more he knows what there is to know, the more aware he is of how little he knows. He is confronted with the mysteries of God. They are unfathomable ( ). God tells us what “has been remote”, in a distant past, when He created heaven and earth. He tells us that in His Word. There we can “find it” ( ; ) and not with the scientists who want to make us believe that they have found the solution in the evolution theory. For us it is true that the Word is near ( ) and that the Spirit explains it to us ( ). Yet, at the same time a lot of things remain inconceivable to us, for who can fully verify God ( )? The Preacher has not only desired to become wise ( ), but he has not denied himself any effort for it either ( ). He has tried everything and searched everywhere. He was already wiser than any man. However, that did not make him lazy, but all the more zealous to learn true wisdom. Not only did he want to know the essence of the things on the surface, but he also wanted to find out what lies beyond the perceptivity, the motives. His dedication is described in different ways, which indicates how much he has been busy with it. The only conclusion to which all his intensive research has brought him is that everything is permeated with “evil” and “foolishness” with the ultimate result of “madness”. As a result, man is kept away from God’s plan and produces nothing of real and lasting value. Our ‘research work’ ought to be focused on Christ. Our life should be about looking at Him from all sides and investigating Him in all His actions and ways. Then we also see man’s wickedness and folly, for Christ sheds His light on every man, wherefore we are then also preserved. We come to an entirely different conclusion and that is that in Christ “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden” ( ).

‏ Ecclesiastes 7:23

True Wisdom Remains at Distance

The Preacher admits that his wisdom has failed him to become wise. He honestly acknowledges it: the search for true wisdom has yielded nothing. With all his wisdom – he is the wisest man on earth – he “tested all this” (Ecc 7:23; Ecc 1:13). “All this” is all that he has shared with us in the previous section (Ecclesiastes 2:1-7:22). His research was aimed at gaining insight into the true meaning and determining the permanent value of all mankind’s labor on earth.

He has only been able to discover in his wisdom that the world is full of vanity and that this knowledge does not give his heart peace and joy. He has not come any further. True wisdom, he realizes, has remained far beyond his reach. Many people do not look for wisdom because they are not wise. That is why they never become wise. Solomon is wise and has searched for it, profound and broad, but he has not found it either. Wisdom lies far beyond the knowledge of man.

“What has been” (Ecc 7:24), is not only what exists, but also the way something has been formed by God. Who was present at the creation? Who can comprehend what God has caused to exist and who can understand how He sustains all things that He has created? Man cannot gain insight in this by human research, for the wisdom that lies in all things that God has created, is “exceedingly mysterious”, or in other words unfathomably deep. Every honest philosopher and scientist will admit that no one can “discover it”.

The Preacher could not reach wisdom. He comes to the conclusion that he knows nothing and that the more he knows what there is to know, the more aware he is of how little he knows. He is confronted with the mysteries of God. They are unfathomable (Job 11:7-8 ; Job 28:12-22).

God tells us what “has been remote”, in a distant past, when He created heaven and earth. He tells us that in His Word. There we can “find it” (Gen 1:1; Heb 11:3) and not with the scientists who want to make us believe that they have found the solution in the evolution theory. For us it is true that the Word is near (Deu 30:14) and that the Spirit explains it to us (1Cor 2:13). Yet, at the same time a lot of things remain inconceivable to us, for who can fully verify God (Rom 11:33)?

The Preacher has not only desired to become wise (Ecc 7:23), but he has not denied himself any effort for it either (Ecc 7:25). He has tried everything and searched everywhere. He was already wiser than any man. However, that did not make him lazy, but all the more zealous to learn true wisdom. Not only did he want to know the essence of the things on the surface, but he also wanted to find out what lies beyond the perceptivity, the motives. His dedication is described in different ways, which indicates how much he has been busy with it.

The only conclusion to which all his intensive research has brought him is that everything is permeated with “evil” and “foolishness” with the ultimate result of “madness”. As a result, man is kept away from God’s plan and produces nothing of real and lasting value.

Our ‘research work’ ought to be focused on Christ. Our life should be about looking at Him from all sides and investigating Him in all His actions and ways. Then we also see man’s wickedness and folly, for Christ sheds His light on every man, wherefore we are then also preserved. We come to an entirely different conclusion and that is that in Christ “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden” (Col 2:3).