What can wisdom do for you? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.
The Teacher decides he is going to begin the quest for meaning. I do call him the Teacher in this and if you’re wondering why, it’s because while I do hold to Solomonic authorship, my arguments do not depend on the Teacher being Solomon. That is my position, but if I found incontrovertible proof that this was someone just impersonating Solomon, I would not have to revise my understanding of the book.
The Teacher does say that the business man has been given is unhappy. No beating around the bush again. Not only that, but he attributes this to God. God has given something to man that is sad. Man has a desire to find meaning in the world. Man has a desire to make sense of it all. We are not all philosophers, but all of us to some extent have this desire in us.
If something is crooked, it cannot be made straight and something lacking cannot be counted. This points to a futility then in the search of sorts. If God has done this, we cannot undo it. If God has given us a desire to find order in the world, we cannot shut that off. If God has given us a desire to find meaning in life, we cannot shut that off. Some people do think life is meaningless, but that does not mean that they want it to be. There is a difference between wanting life to be meaningless and concluding, even wrongly, that life is meaningless.
In a statement that is definitely reflective of Solomon, the Teacher says he has acquired wisdom and knowledge beyond any who came before him. If the Teacher cannot figure out the answer to this question, then who can? The Teacher has said he is not going to hold anything back in his quest. He wants to know what makes a life worthwhile.
In the end of this section, he makes a negative statement about wisdom. Today, we would describe it as saying “ignorance is bliss.” There is a reason we often protect children from some realities of the adult world as they grow up and let them experience them gradually. It is because of the perceived innocence of children that we don’t want their childhoods destroyed by painful realities. We treat it as something unnatural when a child comes to know the nature of death all too soon.
Many of us who have knowledge do enjoy what we have, but at times, it can also be painful. Sometimes to have good theology can produce pain. Consider how C.S. Lewis once said his fear was not that God did not exist. It was “Yes. He does exist, and this is what He is really like!” Of course, there is some false information in that, but the knowledge that God exists doesn’t always bring joy. Sometimes it brings fear and sorrow. Sometimes knowing God is good is painful when one realizes what is being allowed and one cannot make sense of it.
But the Teacher will try.
Next week, we’ll really get into his searching.
In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)
Support Deeper Waters on Patreon!
