“Trusting in Wisdom is Hevel (Ecclesiastes 8)” | 10/23/22
Ecclesiastes 8 | 10/23/22 | Will DuVal
There’s a famous scene in the classic movie The Princess Bride, in which the hero, Westley, rescues the Princess from her kidnapper, Vizzini, by challenging him to a battle of wits. Westley pours 2 glasses of wine, he pulls out a capsule of “iocane powder” - an odorless, tasteless, DEADLY toxin - and he takes both the glasses, turns his back, dumps the poison, then places one glass in front of Vizzini and the other in front of himself, and asks, “Where is the poison? …You decide, we both drink, and find out who is right… and who is dead.”
And for the next 2 comedic minutes, Vizzini reasons aloud with himself about how wise Westley might be… how wise Westley believes VIZZINI to be… the Australian origins of iocane powder… before eventually resorting to distracting Westley so he can SWAP the two glasses. Then Vizzini lets Westley sip first, before gulping his own glass. And when Westley announces, “You guessed wrong”, Vizzini counters, “No, I switched the glasses when your back was turned; HAHA, you fool!” But in the middle of his cackling, Vizzini suddenly drops to the ground, dead.
Because Westley poisoned BOTH the glasses, having “spent the last few years building up an immunity to iocane powder.”
And the moral of the WHOLE story is this: be careful trusting too much in your own WIT, in your WISDOM. Even the Bible’s wisdom - Proverbs - admonishes us: “Be not wise in your own eyes” (3:7). Because as our title this morning suggests, “Trusting in wisdom is hevel” - it is “vanity”, “futile”, unstable ground, for your ultimate hope and meaning in life.
As we continue our exposition of Ecclesiastes this morning in ch8, Solomon will pick up right where he left off. Pastor Thad appropriately titled LAST week’s sermon in ch7: “Foolish Living is Hevel”. So naturally, this morning, Solomon turns to consider WISDOM instead. If it’s “vanity” to live foolishly, then perhaps the answer to life is to just live WISELY instead.
Now, wisdom, as we’ll see, is a good thing, a GREAT thing in fact.
Speaking of Proverbs 3, it declares: “Blessed is the one who finds wisdom… for her profit is better than gold. She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her” (vv13-18).
Even here in Ecclesiastes, the otherwise cynical Solomon has already extolled wisdom’s virtues for us, multiple times; back in ch2: “there is more gain in wisdom than in folly” (v13), “God has given wisdom… and joy… to the one who pleases him” (v26), and last week in ch7: “Wisdom is good with an inheritance, an advantage to those who see the sun. For… wisdom preserves the life of him who has it… Wisdom gives strength to the wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city.” (vv11-12; 19)
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And YET, just like all the OTHER “good things” that Solomon has explored thus far in Ecclesiastes - money, sex, pleasure, work, influence, power, justice, politics, religion - all GOOD, but all fall woefully short of satisfying our longing, our NEED, for something ULTIMATE. Tim Keller defines an “idol” as a “good thing” that’s become your ULTIMATE thing. And even WISDOM can become an idol - a “counterfeit god” - a good thing turned ultimate but ultimately EMPTY thing. And while Solomon has already praised wisdom, he’s also warned us of its limitations as well; back in ch1: “I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were before me… [But] I perceived that this is but a striving after wind. For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.” (vv16-18) Then in ch2 “sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom… must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil.” (v21) And most recently, last week in ch7 as well, where Solomon identified TWO shortcomings of wisdom: first, it’s often unknowable - v23: “I said, “I will be wise,” but it was far from me”; and second, even when we CAN take hold of wisdom, our pursuit of it is all too often obscured by our SIN. Solomon said, “I try setting my heart on wisdom, but the minute an enticing woman walks in the room, all bets are off. 9 times out of 10 ( actually, Solomon says, 999 times out of 1,000!) my hypothalamus wins out over my prefrontal cortex. And Solomon’s 700 wives and 300 concubines were of course case in point. But really, we’re ALL just as susceptible to the allure of sin, just as plagued by sin’s curse.
So as we begin ch8 now, we ought to be skeptical of wisdom’s prospect, at ultimately satisfying us. But Solomon is gonna re-emphasize the point, by reiterating that while wisdom is good - he’ll even list two of the greatest REWARDS of wisdom, what she has to OFFER us - and yet, accompanying both those benefits, Solomon lists three DEFICIENCIES of wisdom, three inadequacies, three equally important things that wisdom CANNOT offer us, such that the cumulative case AGAINST placing your trust in your wisdom is clear. “Wisdom makes an excellent servant, but a terrible MASTER.” (P.T. Barnum, adapted)
Would you STAND with me… SCRIPTURE - Ecc ch8:
“Who is like the wise?
And who knows the interpretation of a thing?
A man's wisdom makes his face shine,
and the hardness of his face is changed.
2 I say: Keep the king's command, because of God's oath to him. 3 Be not hasty to go from his presence. Do not take your stand in an evil cause, for he does whatever he pleases. 4 For the word of the king is supreme, and who may say to him, “What are you doing?” 5 Whoever keeps a command will know no evil thing, and the wise heart will know the proper time and the just way. 6 For there is a time and a way for everything, although man's trouble lies heavy on him. 7 For he does not know what is to be, for who can tell him how it will be? 8 No man has power to retain the spirit, or power over the day of death. There is no discharge from war, nor will wickedness deliver those who are given to it. 9 All this I observed while applying my heart to all that is done under the sun, when man had power over man to his hurt.
10 Then I saw the wicked buried. They used to go in and out of the holy place and were praised in the city where they had done such things. This also is vanity. 11 Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil. 12 Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs his life, yet I know that it will be well with those who fear God, because they fear before him. 13 But it will not be well with the wicked, neither will he prolong his days like a shadow, because he does not fear before God.
14 There is a vanity that takes place on earth, that there are righteous people to whom it happens according to the deeds of the wicked, and there are wicked people to whom it happens according to the deeds of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity. 15 And I commend joy, for man has nothing better under the sun but to eat and drink and be joyful, for this will go with him in his toil through the days of his life that God has given him under the sun.
16 When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done on earth, how neither day nor night do one's eyes see sleep, 17 then I saw all the work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. However much man may toil in seeking, he will not find it out. Even though a wise man claims to know, he cannot find it out.” This is the word of the Lord… Let’s pray…
Solomon opens with the observation that: Wisdom is GOOD. (v1)
He opens with two rhetorical questions here:
“Who is like the wise?
Implied answer: NO ONE! The wealthy, the powerful, the reputable… NO ONE compares to the WISE.
“And who knows the interpretation of a thing?”
Implied answer: NOT NEARLY ENOUGH OF US! Solomon pointed out back in ch7 that only 1 in 1,000 people who he crossed paths with in life was wise. So he says: “If you manage to find someone who “knows how to interpret things”, who can explain difficult passages of God’s word for you, who can make sense of this crazy thing we call LIFE, then don’t let ‘em go! SURROUND yourself with people like that, full of wisdom. For…
“A man's wisdom makes his face shine,
and the hardness of his face is changed.”
Philip Ryken exposits: “It is strange but true: godly wisdom makes a difference [EVEN] in the way people look. People who live without God in the world often show the proud demeanor or the stern expression that comes from a heart hardened by sin - what the Preacher called ‘hardness of face.’ But the wisdom of the gospel turns the frown of sin into the smile of grace.” (Ecclesiastes, 183)
Summary: Wisdom is GOOD. It’s really good. So Proverbs 4 says: “Get wisdom… Do not forsake her. LOVE her.” (vv5-6)
And now Solomon offers us two PROOFS of wisdom’s goodness. Two things wisdom can OFFER us, if we WILL love her, and GET her.
#1 - By wisdom, we RESPECT God and [we] OBEY authority (vv2-6a).
Wisdom teaches us to respect God, BY obeying the God-ordained authorities that He has instituted in our lives.
v2: “Keep the king's command”. Obey the authorities in charge over you. And then he immediately anticipates the next question on all our sinful minds. I’ve got a 6 year old daughter and a 2 year old son. If I tell them “Okay kids, it’s time to hop in the shower”, what’s the question they’re already asking before I even finish giving them the order?
“WHY?!” Why.
“Because you STINK…”, “Because I can literally SEE the dirt caked on your face…”, “Because I’m your dad and I SAID so…”; how many reasons would you LIKE?
But we’re not as different from our kids as we’d like to think, are we?
How many of you broke the speed limit on your drive over this morning? [Be HONEST!]
How many of you cut a few corners at work last week? The boss said, “We’re gonna try out this new process…” but you decided the new way is dumb and inefficient and you knew he’d never even know the difference if you just did it the OLD way you’re used to.
How about SPIRITUAL authority? Remember when I asked you to read each chapter the week prior to my preaching it on Sunday; how many of you read Ecclesiastes ch8 this week? Be HONEST!
We’re JUST like our kids, aren’t we? We don’t like being told what to DO. “Authority” is practically a DIRTY word today. We prize freedom and personal autonomy above all else, our country was FOUNDED on it! God’s word says, “Keep the king’s command”, but our country was founded by rebels who REFUSED to obey him; King George said, “Pay your taxes,” and they said, “We’ll SHOW you where you can stick your taxes,” and they dumped all his TEA in the Boston Harbor!
Romans 13:7 says, “Pay your taxes”. Jesus said, “Render to Caesar what is Caesar’s” (Mk 12:17). As long as the king isn’t commanding you to do something contrary to GOD’S law - cuz God’s law always trumps the king’s; when the Sanhedrin told the apostles to stop preaching the gospel in Acts 5, Peter replied, “We must obey God rather than men” - but when the king’s just telling you to keep it to 60 mph on this particular highway, even if there are no cops around, even if you think you’re a safer driver at 70 than most people at 60, even if you think it’s a STUPID law to BEGIN with, you submit to authority.
WHY? WHY obey them? Solomon offers us 4 reasons here, but by FAR the most important, and really the only one we SHOULD need…
#1- is out of RESPECT for GOD. “Keep the king's command, because of God's oath to him”. Ryken (185) explains: “The rightful kings of Israel were the recipients of a royal promise. God had sworn to King David that one of his sons would sit on Israel’s throne forever… The people of God were obliged to obey their earthly king because he was anointed by Almighty God. To obey the king, therefore, was to give honor to God. We honor God the same way. Admittedly, our own rulers have not received the covenant... But [God makes clear in His word that in His providence, He] appoints the leaders of our own government; Romans 13:1-2 - “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed.”
And that’s really the only reason we should NEED for obeying, isn’t it? “Because God SAID so.” 1 Peter 2: “Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, 14 or to governors… For this is the will of God… Fear God. Honor the emperor.” (vv13-17)
When we defy human authority, we’re not just saying, “I know better than the Missouri Highway and Transportation Commission… I know better than my BOSS… I know better than my PASTOR…”; really, we’re saying, “I know better than GOD,” cuz he’s the one who Sovereignly GAVE them that authority in the first place.
Second reason to obey the king: cuz it can buy you INFLUENCE. Solomon says, if you are fortunate enough to get an audience with the king, “Be not hasty to go from his presence.” It doesn’t hurt to have friends in high places. Back in ch4 we saw that influence - just like wisdom - can be a GREAT thing, but it’s all about how you USE it. So if you’ve got the king’s ear, even if he’s a CORRUPT king, like Moses with Pharaoh, or Daniel with Nebuchadnezzar, go ahead and leverage that relationship for all it’s worth.
Third reason to obey, v3: to save your skin. “Do not take your stand in an evil cause, for [the king] does whatever he pleases… the word of the king is supreme, and who may say to him, “What are you doing?”” Practically speaking, it’s just better to stay on the GOOD side of the law. Jail isn’t fun (so I hear…).
Fourth and final reason to obey authority: cuz it’s just the RIGHT thing to do. V5: “Whoever keeps a command will know no evil thing, and the wise heart will know the proper time and the just way.”
We could probably summarize ALL of this from vv2-6 here with a single verse from Proverbs 24, v21: “My son, fear the Lord and the king, and do not join with those who do otherwise”. This is the way of WISDOM.
BUT. Now Solomon immediately pivots and exposes wisdom’s LIMITS. Sure, it can teach us the right way to live - v5: “the wise heart KNOWS the right way” - HOWEVER, v6, “man's trouble lies heavy on him.” And what IS our “trouble”? V7: “he does not know what is to BE, for who can tell him how it will be?”
a) Wisdom can’t offer us FORESIGHT. (vv6b-7)
Sure, wisdom can teach you the right way to respond, in the present, as life comes AT you. But it can’t help you change the future; not nearly as much as you’d like to THINK, anyway. We like to think: “If I do the right thing, make WISE choices, I can determine my own future. “If I study hard, I’ll make good grades… which will get me into a good college… which will get me a good job… which will bring me vocational fulfillment and financial security.” Solomon says: “Maybe.” But you’re making an awful lot of ASSUMPTIONS in connecting all those dots, aren’t you?
What if you study hard but the teacher puts the “wrong questions” on the test. Or no matter HOW hard you study, you’re just “not a good test taker” (I always loved the excuse as a teacher - “I’m not a good test taker”; then you’re probably not gonna like LIFE very much, cuz it’s full of TESTS!)
But even if you MAKE the grades you want, what if they don’t get you into the SCHOOL you wanted. Cuz you were so busy studying, you forgot to have a LIFE or a personality, and it shines through in your boring college ESSAYS. Or the school’s looking for more DIVERSITY, and you can’t help the fact that you’re a straight, white female.
But let’s say you DO get into the school; does that REALLY guarantee you the JOB?
And even if you get the job, does that REALLY guarantee you the fulfillment and security?
Solomon says: “Wisdom can’t really promise you ANY of that! Even the WISEST among us “does not know what is to be”. We can’t predict the future.
b) Second, it can’t offer us IMMORTALITY. V8: “No man has power to retain the spirit, or power over the day of death.” We talked about this a lot TWO weeks ago in ch6, we’ll talk about it even MORE NEXT week in ch9, it’ll be Solomon’s entire FOCUS there, so I’ll keep it brief here. But suffice it to say: All the wisdom in the WORLD can’t help you escape DEATH! It’s coming for us ALL - the fool, and the sage. The rich and the poor (ch6). The righteous and the unrighteous (vv10-14 below!).
But in the SECOND half of v8 here, Solomon gives us a couple examples to prove his point; he says, SPEAKING of obeying the king, “There is no discharge from war”. There were wars all the TIME back in Solomon’s day. And they didn’t give draft exemptions for being WISE. All the wisdom in the world won’t get you out of the service, when the king declares, “We’re going to war”. And then he follows it up with this: “nor will wickedness deliver those who are given to it” - even if you do the dishonorable thing and DODGE the draft - flee to Canada - it won’t ULTIMATELY save you. Cuz you can only cheat death for so long, before it eventually comes for us ALL.
And C) Thirdly, wisdom can’t offer us JUSTICE. v9: “All this I observed while applying my heart to all that is done under the sun [There’s that phrase again…], when man had power over man to his HURT.” Those GIVEN positions of authority, more often than not, will ABUSE them. They will USE their authority “to your HURT.”
So why does God call us to OBEY, even UNJUST authority? Does God condone IN-justice?
Of course not. Isaiah 30:18 “The Lord is a God of justice”. Deuteronomy 32:4 “all his ways are justice.” But that’s the problem: all HIS ways are justice. And God TRIED to be our king. Back in the Garden of Eden, and it took all of two chapters for us to OUST Him. So God tried again, on Mt. Sinai, to show us how to live under His good, benevolent rule. But while He was making the covenant, we were busy at the foot of the mountain making a golden CALF to worship instead. So God offered AGAIN to be our king, but we demanded a HUMAN king, like all the other nations, even though God had warned that any human king would abuse his power - that “power corrupts, and absolutely power corrupts absolutely”. That’s what Solomon is recognizing here, and he says, “wisdom can’t PROTECT you from that injustice.” Every human in authority over you is a SINNER, who given long enough, will let you down, will “HURT” you, v9. If you join this church as a member and submit to me as your pastor, as Hebrews 13:17 calls you to, I can promise you TWO things: 1) I’m gonna try my hardest to shepherd your soul well, as that verse calls ME to; and #2 - I’m gonna FAIL you. I’m gonna let you down. Stick around, give me enough time, and it’s just inevitable. Cuz I am a sinner, just like you.
So is there NO ultimate justice then, in the end? Do people just get to live however they WANT, with no consequences, no moral accountability?
Ah ha - NO, Solomon says; v10: “Then I saw the wicked buried. They used to go in and out of the holy place and were praised in the city where they had done such things. This also is hevel.” Solomon observes: being UN-just here “under the sun” can actually win you a lot of PRAISE, both “in the city”, the political arena, just look at the LEADERS we elect these days - most of ours make the wicked kings of Israel look like SAINTS! - but sadly it’s true even in the CHURCH, “in the holy place” - more often than not, the more popular the megachurch pastor, the more UNGODLY he is. It was true of the Pharisees in JESUS’ day, and it’s true of the Joel Osteens and the Kenneth Copelands and the Benny Hinns in our OWN day.
And the reason we resort to WICKEDNESS to get ahead in life, is because so often the LACK of justice here under the sun fools us into thinking that we can just get AWAY with it; v11: “Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil.”
But here’s the consolation Solomon offers us: although the wicked may prosper in THIS life; v12: “Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs his life [BY his evil!], yet I know that it will be well with those who fear God, because they fear before him. 13 But it will not be well with the wicked, neither will he prolong his days like a shadow, because he does not fear before God.”
Solomon says: “The Afterlife is to THIS life, kinda like what ADULTHOOD is to adolescence.” You know, adolescence goes to the best looking, the most athletic, to the coolest - the “too COOL for school” popular kids… who don’t realize that 10 years from now, they’re gonna be begging for jobs from the same NERDS they used to stuff in LOCKERS.
In the same way, Solomon says, the AFTERLIFE is the great table-turning, the righting of wrongs from THIS life. In the life to COME, it “will not be well” with those who got ahead in THIS world by thumbing their noses at God; no, it will be WELL with those who FEARED God and shunned evil.
And that’s why wisdom is such a beautiful thing; it is by WISDOM that we learn to FEAR GOD and thus, to SHUN EVIL.
Proverbs 1:7 (and 9:10; and Psalm 111:10) - “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom”
And Proverbs 8:13 “The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil.”
Proverbs 14:16 “One who is wise… turns away from evil,”
So once again, Solomon is telling us: “Wisdom is a GREAT thing.” Wisdom is the “competency to live WELL”. It shows us how to LIVE in right relationship to GOD - respect Him, fear Him - to MAN - obey authority - and to this WORLD - shun evil.
BUT… Yet AGAIN… Wisdom ultimately proves INSUFFICIENT. Because it CAN’T offer us 3 final, crucial things.
First: Wisdom can’t offer us JUSTICE. (vv14-15; #2a)
That’s not a TYPO, that is an intentional repetition of point 1c here at point 2a. Remember, OT Hebrew is just like our English: you repeat for EMPHASIS. v14; Solomon just can’t get OVER this fact, that no matter how WISE you might be, no matter how competently you live the way you’re SUPPOSED to, there are simply no guarantees in life, in this fallen world.
“There is a vanity that takes place on earth, that there are righteous people to whom it happens according to the deeds of the wicked, and there are wicked people to whom it happens according to the deeds of the righteous. …this also is vanity.”
He says, “I WISH I could believe in karma; karma sounds nice. ‘What goes around comes around.’ ‘Be good and eventually it’ll all work out for you.” But Solomon takes one look around him here on earth and observes, “There’s just FAR too much evidence to the contrary!” Sure, sometimes the good guy gets the girl in the end. But just as OFTEN, nice guys finish LAST. Sure, sometimes the wicked get what they deserve in this life. But for every Scar, for every Biff, for every Thanos, there’s a Nurse Ratched, an Anton Chigurh, a Draco Malfoy, a villain who NEVER gets punished. For every Hitler who paid for his crimes, there’s a Stalin, who got off scot-free.
So Solomon concludes in v15: “So I commend joy, for man has nothing better under the sun but to eat and drink and be joyful, for this will go with him in his toil through the days of his life that God has given him under the sun”. Trust in God’s justice in the AFTER-life, and just suck it up while you’re here under the sun. And you might as well try and have some fun while you’re at it.
Second, wisdom can’t offer us REST. V16: “neither day nor night do one's eyes see sleep”. Show of hands: how many of you have trouble sleeping at times? Now, do the rest of you think that’s cuz we’re all a bunch of foolish SINNERS? I should HOPE not! Cuz wisdom doesn’t promise you peace of mind when your head hits the pillow at night. As a matter of fact, Solomon told us back in ch1 that “in much wisdom is much vexation” (v18), much frustration, WORRY, anxiety. That the more you actually come to understand life here in this fallen world of ours, the more you make SENSE of all the hevel down here under the sun, the more it ought to keep you awake at night, tossing and turning!
And that leads us to Solomon’s final and most troubling of all his critiques of wisdom: that all the wisdom in the world cannot offer us ANSWERS, to what in the world God is UP to down here.
v17: “then I saw all the work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. However much man may toil in seeking, he will not find it out. Even though a wise man claims to know, he cannot find it out.”
Speaking of repetition, THREE TIMES here Solomon drives the point home: We just can’t KNOW the work of God. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways,” declares the Lord (Isa 55:9). “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments” (Rom 11:33).
As the apostle Paul asks in 1 Corinthians 2:16, “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?”
You would THINK that was a rhetorical question, wouldn’t you? Like, “Obviously the answer is NO ONE! NO ONE can understand God’s mind, God’s ways.” But listen to how Paul finishes that verse in 1 Corinthians; he says, “But we have the mind of Christ.” Paul says, “no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God” (v11), but then he says, “and we are now the TEMPLE of God’s Holy Spirit” (3:17)!
You want WISDOM? You want to understand God’s WAYS, what He’s UP to down here? I don’t have ALL the answers for you; Solomon says, “even the wisest person on earth who CLAIMS to is a LIAR.”
NO ONE knows why God lets parents bury their children.
Why God lets men like Hitler and Stalin and Putin RISE to positions of authority.
Why God lets sinners harden their hearts against Him all the way to HELL.
But you know what we CAN know? The answer we DO have? It’s how ANY of this can be made RIGHT in the end. And friends, the answer is JESUS.
Jesus’ incarnation was the PROOF that no matter HOW bad it gets down here - no matter how bad WE WRECK it; it is OUR sin that’s made a mess of this world! We’ve got no one to blame but ourselves - but Jesus’ incarnation is proof that no matter WHAT, our God won’t give UP on us.
Jesus’ LIFE was proof that He LOVES us. He didn’t just hold his nose and say, “Alright, let’s get this over with…”; NO, he said, “I’ve called you FRIENDS!” (Jn 15:15), “I came to give you LIFE to the fullest”, because I CARE about you (Jn 10:10), and “greater love has NO ONE than this: that He lay down his LIFE for his friend” (Jn 15:13), and that’s EXACTLY what He did for you, friends.
Jesus’ DEATH and RESURRECTION was not only the proof of His love; it was the proof that God has the power to redeem even the very WORST of this world, and use it for good. Jesus’ crucifixion - the worst event in all of history, the death of God’s own SON! - and yet, it is the very MEANS by which we can be made children of God.
Don’t trust in your own wisdom, friends, in your own ability to make sense of this nonsensical world. Trust in JESUS, who IS the “wisdom of God” (1 Cor 1:24). Who IS God’s “Amen” to ALL of His good promises (2 Cor 1:20). Who ALONE can offer us justice, rest, ETERNAL life, and who IS the answer to EVERY problem in this world, and who is returning to make all things NEW.
Trusting in WISDOM will bring you much vexation.
But trusting in JESUS will bring you VICTORY.