Scripture Daily

Context No. 3905 of 4322 · Ecclesiastes

Context · Reflection

Ecclesiastes 1:12-18: in context

12I, the Preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under the sky. It is a heavy burden that God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with. 14I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and behold, all is vanity and a chasing after wind. 15That which is crooked can’t be made straight; and that which is lacking can’t be counted. 16I said to myself, “Behold, I have obtained for myself great wisdom above all who were before me in Jerusalem. Yes, my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.” 17I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also was a chasing after wind. 18For in much wisdom is much grief; and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

The Preacher, a king with every resource to pursue wisdom, sets out to search out by wisdom everything done under the sun, and reports his sobering conclusion. He gained great wisdom, more than anyone before him, and studied not only wisdom but folly and madness too, and found it all to be a chasing after wind.

And he ends with a hard saying: in much wisdom is much grief, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow. This is a surprising verdict from a man devoted to wisdom, but it holds a real truth. Human wisdom and knowledge, pursued as an end in themselves and apart from God, do not finally satisfy; the more we understand of the world's brokenness and vanity, the more grief we may carry. Knowledge alone cannot mend what is crooked or fill what is lacking. There is a needed humility here about the limits of human learning. Wisdom is good, but wisdom that stops at what is under the sun runs into a wall, and can even deepen our sorrow. What the Preacher's search points toward, by its very frustration, is the need to look beyond the sun, to the God in whom alone our searching finds its rest.

Am I seeking wisdom and knowledge as ends in themselves, under the sun, where they cannot finally satisfy, or am I looking beyond them to the God in whom alone my searching finds its rest?

Sources