Ecclesiastes 2:12-17 says,...

Today's verses are Ecclesiastes 2:12-17, which read,

So I turned to consider wisdom, madness and folly; for what will the man do who will come after the king except what has already been done?  And I saw wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness.  The wise man's eyes are in his head, but the fool walks in darkness.  And yet I know that one fate befalls them both.  Then I said to myself, "As is the fate of the fool, it will also befall me.  Why then have I been extremely wise?"  So I said to myself, "This too is vanity."  For there is no lasting remembrance of the wise man as with the fool, inasmuch as in the coming days all will be forgotten.  And how the wise man and the fool alike die!  So I hated life, for the work which had been done under the sun was grievous to me; because everything is futility and striving after wind.

My first impression is that Solomon talks to himself a lot and I wonder if others look at him funny when he does so.  His search for meaning has put wisdom and folly side by side to see the differences and the similarities.

Solomon is on this quest not only for himself but for those who follow after him.  This is a kingly task to ask these types of questions and search for answers that will be a help to his kingdom.  Those at the top struggle with the big questions of life that help those at the bottom to function smoothly through with simple answers to life.  

Solomon's first observation is that wisdom does excel over folly.  Wisdom is better than folly in the way lightness is better than darkness.  It has benefit for the good to aid in life rather than take away from it.  The one who follows wisdom and seeks after it has an advantage over the one who disregards wisdom and lives contrary to its instruction.  

Solomon then introduces something that is similar to the one following wisdom and the one following folly.  They have a similar fate.  A certain event is going to come upon them both even though the wise has the advantage over the fool.  His wisdom is not going to change this fate which we would assume is physical death.  We are all going to physically die.  Our wisdom might aid in a better quality of life and maybe a longer life but the wise and the fool will both need a funeral service someday.  

Solomon was given the gift from God to be very wise but that wisdom would not save him from physical death.  He was no different than the "folliest" fool in his kingdom.  "If I can't escape physical death or have some type of immortality with this gift of wisdom, what good is it?"  At this point you can see that his focus is on himself and what he would receive for the benefit of himself.  

He wants recognition but he probably has witnessed the lack of it to those who have gone on before.  The memories fade and the monuments grumble.  There is a "new" Solomon to replace the old one and life goes on.  Maybe Solomon is taking this to the extreme for we have history that reminds us of those before us but we tend to forget even the great ones after a few generations have passed.  Wisdom does not give Solomon an advantage over the fool in this respect.  Both die and both will be forgotten.  Doesn't sound fair does it?  Solomon calls it again "vanity."

We know that Solomon is going to the extreme here because he states that he hates life.  The work that he has accomplished means absolutely nothing even though it does.  The work he accomplished helped the people of God worship God.  The work didn't produce what he thought it would bring him, namely selfish notoriety and pleasures.  He wanted more glory for himself and some type of reward that would be beyond what all human beings get in the end.

We want people to follow after wisdom.  We want people to seek wisdom.  We want people to live lives of wisdom and reap some of the betterments it brings than living life as a fool.  The problem is when we make wisdom the "magic pill" that is going to allow me to say I am better than you or that I am going to get some unrealistic reward elevating this life over the next.  Again, this view of wisdom is very selfish in motive and action and therefore goes against the commandments to love God and to love others.  

Maybe a good example of this would be the craze to eat healthy and you could live forever or at least longer than the other guy.  Millions are spent on supplements as the magic pill to extend your life and make you feel better.  Studies do show that we are affected by what we eat and how we take care of our selves.  There is an advantage to the one who puts good health practices into place over the one who abuses the body God has given him or her.  It is good to take the knowledge that we know and is increasing about our health and put it into practice but it is not going make you escape physical death.  It will be a benefit to you and others in many ways but when we start to see it as just a selfish way to satisfy ourselves, we will get to the end of life and realize that we too are going to die and therefore maybe we should have taken the pleasure of Oreos and milk because here we are just like the one who never ate their bitter greens.  We make the wisdom of good health into something that glorifies self in this life rather than using it to focus on others and the life to come.  We make this life the better life rather than the one to come.  So eat your greens for the glory of God (follow the wisdom of God) and use your health to serve Him more (keep on task to obey His commands).  Let us pray.

"Lord, how easy it is to take something that is good and blow it up to be the prize when life in heaven with You is the prize.  May we not glorify this life over the next and focus on self rather than You the Savior.  May wisdom do its good work in our lives and for the benefit of others and the glory of You.  Amen."

Pastor Adam