8I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and of the provinces; I got singers, both men and women, and delights of the flesh, and many concubines.*
9 So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem; also my wisdom remained with me. 10 Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them; I
kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil. 11 Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had spent in doing it, and again, all was vanity and a chasing after wind,* and there was nothing to be gained under the sun"
So I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly; for what can the one do who comes after the king? Only what has already been done. 13 Then I saw that wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness. 14 the wise have eyes in their head, but fools walk in darkness.
Yet I perceived that the same fate befalls all of them. 15 Then I said to myself, 'What
happens to the fool will happen to me also; why then have I been so very wise?'
And I said to myself that this also is vanity. 16 for there is no enduring remembrance of the wise or of fools, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How can the wise die just like fools? 17So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me; for all is vanity and a chasing after wind.* (Ecclesiastes 2: 4-17, NRSV).
This is the longest section of the chapter, during which Solomon seeks to see what he can accomplish and try to find satisfaction ion that. Throughout the entire book, Solomon is trying to find satisfaction in something other than God. Since wisdom did not work in chapter one, and pleasure did not work at the beginning of chapter two. He is now trying for something more noble. Solomon has come to realize that maybe he was trying to go about it in the wrong way. He was trying to please himself. It was not at the expense of others necessarily (at least the book never gives that impression), but he does not try to leave a lasting legacy of good either. So, his experiment takes a new turn. He decides that instead of just temporary pleasure, he should invest in things that stand the test of time.
He builds houses, parks, and pools. He hires singers, fills his house with male and female slaves to cater to his every wish and concubines for "the delights of the flesh." However, there is one interesting word he keeps using through all of this first section "myself." Solomon is making these things for himself. He is trying to satisfy his own selfish urges through the acquiring of things.
At the beginning of verse 12 he again says that "y wisdom remained with me." It is an interesting thing to note. It seems that he is saying that God allowed him to proceed with his folly. Without his wisdom he would be lacking two things. He would not be able to see all that there is that is available for man "under the sun," and he would not be able to analyze it with any amount of understanding. God allows Solomon to test the waters, as it were, because God knows the outcome of all of the folly that Solomon will undergo. God also has a greater purpose for the Solomon's experiment. God knows also that the book of Ecclesiastes will be written and that the folly of Solomon can be a benefit to the rest of humanity. For these reasons, Solomon is allowed to retain his wisdom throughout the entire trial (Rainey 155b).
This is important because toward the end if this section Solomon will "consider wisdom and madness and folly" (2:12). He starts to look at all that he has done in the light of permanence. He sees first that wisdom is superior to folly "as light is to darkness." Here he is again using the symbolism that is common throughout the Bible. Of course, people prefer light, on a practical level, since it is easier to see, and more difficult...
The six most comprehensive aspects or characteristics of God that can be found in both the Old and New Testaments are God’s justice, mercy, wisdom, love, goodness and greatness. This paper will discuss these characteristics and show, using references from the Old and New Testament for each attribute, that God always possesses the attribute and never changes from one collection of books to the next. In doing so, this paper
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