WHY DID KING SOLOMON HATE LIFE?

WHY DID KING SOLOMON HATE LIFE?

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There was much that the Israelites didn’t understand, even from their Hebrew Scriptures. They didn’t understand salvation or the plan of God. Therefore, God promised that He would reveal it to those who loved Him:

∑       The friendship of the LORD is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant. (Psalm 25:14 ESV)

But weren’t the Israelites already aware of the covenant of God? Weren’t they already living under the Mosaic Covenant, the centerpiece of their lives? Yes, but the Lord was referring to the Covenant of hope, the New Covenant.

Nor did the Israelites understand the “salvation of God.” Yes, it was to be found in their own Scriptures, but their eyes did not perceive it (2 Corinthians 3:10-18). The god of this age had blinded them (2 Cor. 4:4) through their hardened hearts. Therefore, God would have to reveal this salvation to them in a special way:

∑       The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God! (Psalm 50:23; 91:16; 118:14, 21)

King Solomon was the wisest man in the world, but it doesn’t appear that he had grasped this salvation. Instead, the Book of Ecclesiastes reveals his painful wisdom quest to find out the meaning of life. However, with all his wisdom, we found that he was unable to penetrate the veil between this life and the next.

∑       And I set my mind to seek and explore by wisdom concerning all that has been done under heaven. It is a grievous task which God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with.  I have seen all the works which have been done under the sun, and behold, all [not just Godless works!] is vanity [or “incomprehensible”] and striving after wind. (Eccles. 1:13-14) 

Without any assurance of the next life, the “salvation of God” along with the meaning of life eluded him. Consequently, he was “afflicted” and grieved:

∑       I came to realize that the same fate overtakes them both [the fool and the wise man). Then I thought in my heart, "The fate of the fool will overtake me also. What then do I gain by being wise?" I said in my heart, "This too is meaningless" [or “incomprehensible”] For the wise man, like the fool, will not be long remembered; in days to come both will be forgotten. Like the fool, the wise man too must die! So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me…So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. For a man may do his work with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then he must leave all he owns to someone who has not worked for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune…A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. (Eccles. 2:14-24)

From the limited perspective of his wisdom quest to understand the meaning of life, life ended in the grave, depriving life of any substantial meaning apart from the immediate enjoyment of his incomprehensible life. As a result, he hated life, even though Solomon had every joy that life had to offer – unlimited women, money, wisdom, admiration, power, and even work that he loved, writing proverbs and music.

Blindly, we put our hope on such things, convinced that if we obtain the right mate, job, income, or house, we will be happy. However, Solomon had it all but hated life.

In contrast to our human myopia, Paul concluded that if we didn’t have the assurance of heaven, everything else was meaningless:

• If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied. (1 Cor. 15:19)

• If from human motives I fought with wild beasts at Ephesus, what does it profit me? If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. (1 Cor. 15:32)

It is the assurance of eternal life with our Savior that infuses our lives with meaning. It also enables us to endure the hardships, failures, and losses as Jesus had:

• …let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. (Hebrews 12:1-4)

We can endure because we are assured that joy, love, and glory await us in the next life. Because of this assurance, we can also leave our desires for revenge in the hands of our Lord. How can we tolerate loss and martyrdom? Only with the knowledge that eternity is reserved for us:

• Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple. (1 Corinthians 3:16-17)

It is said that knowledge is power. In this case, knowledge is also a joy that Solomon did not know. His wisdom could not attain to it. It is a knowledge that is only available through divine revelation.

Even the Prophets of Israel sought feverishly for this knowledge. Often times, they only had a partial understanding of the prophecies that had been given them:

∑       Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look. (1 Peter 1:10-12)

We are the recipients of this priceless knowledge, but do we understand how rich we have been made through it?

THE SLOWNESS SPIRITUAL GROWTH CAN BE DISCOURAGING

Spiritual growth is slow and discouraging. Sometimes, it even seems that we are going backwards. Old problems and conflict re-emerge. Weaknesses often seem to be resistant to our best efforts. Even prayer seems unable to put a dent into our plenteous failures and sins. Evidently, something is going wrong?

Interestingly, the bamboo plant might offer some reassurance. Bruce Malone and Julie Von Vett write,

• The bamboo plant takes five years to mature, showing little “above ground” activity during the first 2-4 years. Meanwhile, an extensive root system is developing underground. From all appearances the plant is accomplishing little. After years of what appears to be fruitlessness, the bamboo plant reaps the benefit of its hidden activity – becoming the fastest growing plant on Earth. Nourished by years of unseen activity, at about year five, the bamboo plant sends stalks rocketing skyward at an unbelievable three feet per day. (Inspired Evidence)

Indeed, it’s comforting to see three feet of growth a day after years of what had appeared to be stagnation. But perhaps we’re not ready to luxuriate in our daily three feet of growth. Perhaps it might go to our head.

We see so many examples of spiritual self-exaltation. Paul had to warn the Corinthian church against this. To promote some needed self-reflection, he asked them three rhetorical questions:

• For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? (1 Cor. 4:7)

They were boasting about things that they had no business boasting about. I think that arrogance and self-trust are the biggest problems that confront the church. They constitute the greatest impediments to trusting in God and abiding in His Word. No wonder that God’s exquisite workmanship in our lives must be camouflaged! We wouldn’t be able to deal humbly with His artistry (Eph. 2:10)!

Pound for pound, bamboo is the sturdiest plant in the world. It’s used for scaffolding all over SE Asia. It can support unbelievable weights. It’s also incredibly light-weight. I think that the weight of our arrogance, self-promotion, and self-righteousness must first be lightened before we too can provide the scaffolding for the lives of others, as our Lord desires. However, this requires years of refinement and preparation:

• No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. (Hebrews 12:11)

This “harvest of righteousness and peace” only comes “later on,” but it does come to those who seek it, as Jesus promised:

• Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. (Matthew 5:6)