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STUDIES IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

—INTERNATIONAL S.S. LESSONS—

SUGGESTIVE THOUGHTS DESIGNED TO ASSIST THOSE OF OUR READERS WHO ATTEND BIBLE CLASSES WHERE THESE LESSONS ARE USED; THAT THEY MAY BE ENABLED TO LEAD OTHERS INTO THE FULNESS OF THE GOSPEL. PUBLISHED IN ADVANCE, AT THE REQUEST OF FOREIGN READERS.

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REVERENCE AND FIDELITY

II. QUAR., LESSON X., JUNE 4, ECCL. 5:1-12

Golden Text—”Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord.”—Rom. 12:11

In the book of Ecclesiastes, presumably written in Solomon’s later years, we have an important question raised, considered in various aspects, and answered from the standpoint of a wide and varied human experience. The question (chap. 1:3) is—

“What profit hath a man of all his labor which he taketh under the sun?”

The question is an important one, especially for the young; but all would do well to carefully consider it in the light of Solomon’s experience, and with the prayer of the Psalmist in their hearts—”So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.”—Psa. 90:12.

Hear the words of the Preacher. He says, “I, the Preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. And I gave my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith. I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.”

—1:12-14.

Thus testifies one of the most successful men, from the world’s standpoint, that ever lived. He had all the comforts and blessings that wealth and power and honor and fame and natural qualifications of mind and body and education, and even specially granted superhuman wisdom could bestow upon him. And all of these he used chiefly for his own personal, present gratification. He says, “I said in my heart, Go to, now, I will prove thee with mirth. … I sought to give myself unto wine; I made me great works; I builded me houses, I planted me vineyards, I made me gardens and orchards; I got me servants and maidens and had servants born in my house; also I had great possessions. I gathered me also silver and gold and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces. I got me men singers and women singers and musical instruments of all sorts: also my wisdom remained with me.”

Thus he proceeds from chap. 1:12 to 2:26 to show how he delved into every luxury to seek full satisfaction and to find in these things the chief end of his existence. But, after all, he pronounces the whole experience “sore travail.”

In chapters 3, 4, and 5 Solomon gives us the results of his wide experience and observation from a business and social standpoint.

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He sees men laboring hard to amass wealth, and wisely inquires (3:9), “What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboreth?” Then he adds—and how truthfully his experience agrees with all our own observation and experience—that “He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance, with increase. When goods increase, they are increased that eat them; and what good is there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes?” (5:10,11.) So business prosperity he regards as an empty bubble, and the excessive labor to accomplish it as laboring for the wind.

In the adjustment of human affairs he further perceives that iniquity and injustice prevail everywhere, and to such an extent that there is really no redress and no comfort to those who lay it to heart, except in the thought that God is above all the judges of the earth, and that his judgments will some day be manifest and prevail. (5:8.)

Chapter 6 shows how vain and unsatisfactory is every earthly good, when there is no hope beyond the present life. Chapter 7 gives some advice which, from the standpoint of present selfish advantage, is good. It counsels such as seek merely present ease, etc., to be careful to maintain a good name (verse 1), not to be hasty tempered (verse 9), to be sympathetic with those in sorrow (verse 2), etc. But since righteousness is not rewarded in the present time with prosperity, but rather with adversity, the ease and pleasure seeker will find it to his present advantage not to be “righteous over much,” neither to be “wise over much.” Neither should he be either wicked or foolish. (Verses 16,17.) In other words he should keep his finger on the popular pulse, and regulate himself according to popular ideas. This is not the proper course for the children of God, but it is the wise course from the standpoint of worldly policy, which, alas! is too often adopted by his professed children. It is the policy of the “tare” element in the nominal Christian church; but it is not the policy of the truly consecrated children of God who prefer to suffer for righteousness’ sake, rather than to win a good name among men by a compromising policy.

In chapter 8:16,17 and chapter 9, Solomon declares that, in view of God’s mighty works, he had sought to find out the deep mysteries of his plan for his creatures, but that he had sought in vain. A knowledge of his plan was not then due; and so (chap. 9) he considered that the righteous and the wise and their works are in the hand of God, but he could not tell certainly from the book of nature whether God loved or hated them; for he said, “All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked.” So from this skeptical view he concluded to take all the pleasure he could out of the present—to make merry, and live as joyfully as he could, seeking, first

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of all, his own ease and pleasure, and, secondarily, the pleasure of others so far as it did not interfere with his own. Upon these very principles Solomon acted until, surfeited with self-gratification and sick at heart, he cries out at last, as does every one who drains the cup of worldly pleasure, “Vanity of vanities; all is vanity.”

Chapter 12 now turns away from the disgusting sweets of worldly pleasure, and counsels youth to pursue a different course from that the king had taken, saying, “Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth,” etc., and adds that the conclusion of the whole experience of his life is that the proper course is to “Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man; for God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil.”—Verses 1,13,14.

Well would it have been with Solomon had he learned this lesson in his youth from the law and the prophets, instead of ignoring these and turning to poor human philosophy—his own reasonings—and then, by the experience of a wasted life, finally proving the vanity of every other course save that of God’s appointment and direction, and losing the reward of divine favor which a course of entire faithfulness to God would surely have brought in due time. The course which Solomon chose and followed brought the temporal advantage which was very unsatisfactory; but it surely did not entitle him to a place among the ancient worthies, some of whom Paul enumerates in Heb. 11, who are to have an honorable position in the earthly phase of the kingdom of God. (See MILLENNIAL DAWN, Vol. I., Chapter xiv.) Then those who faithfully suffered for righteousness’ sake will be exalted as princes in all the earth (Psa. 45:16), while such as Solomon will have a much lower station.

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The Golden Text—Be not slothful in business, but fervent in spirit, serving the Lord—is the counsel of the Apostle Paul to such as have consecrated themselves to the Lord. These, devoted to the special work of the Lord, he would have remember not to be slothful or indifferent to the duties and responsibilities incumbent upon them and pertaining to the present life—such as providing for their families, etc. They should not be slothful in these things, but active, and at the same time fervent in spirit in serving the Lord.

The golden text is very suggestive of the different standpoints of the Apostle Paul and King Solomon. The latter, living before the Gospel age and its high calling began, counseled an easy course of moderation: saying, Why should one become overmuch interested in anything? Why not take life easy? But the Apostle saw a prize that inspired his zeal to the point of fervency; and he advises all who are running for the same prize to be fervent in spirit, in the service of God now open to them;—an opportunity not open to Solomon, and not then even revealed.—Eph. 3:5; 1 Pet. 1:12.

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— May 15, 1893 —