Introduction: The man whom God had chosen to be king of Israel had, in his own conceits, determined that all of life was vanity. He had chosen to live a good portion of his life outside the will of God. He quickly found that life, outside the will of God, was life not worth living.
Men, living outside of God's will, come to many strange conclusions about life. Some have concluded that there is no God, while others have concluded that man evolved from monkeys. Some have concluded that God's Word is not God's Word at all, while others have concluded that man is his own god and the master of his destiny. When humanity is left to itself, it will always come to wrong conclusions. Such was the case of Solomon. The moment he stepped out of God's will, he began a downward turn in his life that removed him further and further from the Lord.
There are many lessons to be learned from this wise man. As we near the last few chapters of the book, we begin to see more and more of the wisdom God gave him.
1. God holds the future of all men. - Ecclesiastes 9:1
"For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them."
- Viewing life from man's standpoint, without the wisdom of God, leaves a person empty and desolate.
- When life is viewed from God's perspective, it is not empty, neither is it desolate; but it has great purpose.
- Solomon concludes here that the righteous and the wise and all that they do are in the hand of God.
2. God is no respecter of persons. - Ecclesiastes 9:2-6
"All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath. This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead. For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion. For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun."
- The mortality rate in Solomon's day was the same as it is in our day; it's still 100%. Everyone, who is born, will eventually die; and it really doesn't matter if that person is rich or poor, wise or foolish.
* The living know they will die, "For the living know that they shall die..." (Ecclesiastes 9:5a)
* The dead know nothing, "...but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward..." (Ecclesiastes 9:5b)- According to these verses, death ends every man's life. Once you are physically dead, you cannot go on physically. Not even the memory of the dead will last forever. Few are remembered throughout history; the rest become names on tombstones, and everyone wonders who that man was and what he did. For example, have you ever visited an old cemetery? Have you ever just walked around and read the names on the tombstones? You don't know who they are though someone once knew who they were. Some were very important, but you wouldn't know that unless you had studied their history.
- No one cheats death, because death comes to every man. Man may defer death, but he cannot prevent it. Solomon makes it clear that the wise and the foolish both die.
3. Winning or losing is not dependent on what you think. - Ecclesiastes 9:11
"I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all."
- The emphasis of verse 11 is not necessarily what we've always been taught. We associate winning a race with swiftness and winning battles with strength; we also associate provision with wisdom and riches with understanding. We also associate popularity and favor with talent and ability.
- Solomon's conclusion here is that "time and chance happeneth to them all." Is he saying that life is guided by chance? No, he is not. The word that is used here for "chance" means "occurrence or time." In the Bible, this word is associated with evil things that happen. For example, in 1 Kings 5:4, the word "occurrent" is used instead of the word "chance," "But now the LORD my God hath given me rest on every side, so that there is neither adversary nor evil occurrent."
- The natural conclusion here is that calamity can come even to the swift, the strong, the wise, the understanding, and the skillful.
- Notice that Solomon states that calamity stalks the path of every person, "For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them." (Ecclesiastes 9:12)
4. Work for the night is coming. - Ecclesiastes 9:10
"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest."
- Solomon's advice now is that you should give your best to everything you do in life, because there is coming a time when you will no longer be able to do it.
- If anything is worth doing, it is worth doing right. It's like the old saying says, "If it's worth doing, it's worth doing well."
5. An important illustration is given. - Ecclesiastes 9:13-15
"This wisdom have I seen also under the sun, and it seemed great unto me: There was a little city, and few men within it; and there came a great king against it, and besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it: Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same poor man."
- By his wisdom, a poor but wise man once saved his own town from a powerful king whose armies had surrounded it. Sadly, his noble achievements were soon forgotten simply because he was poor.
- This man's motivation was love for his people, and he used great wisdom to deliver them out of the hand of the enemy; but he was soon forgotten.
6. An important conclusion is drawn. - Ecclesiastes 9:16-18
"Then said I, Wisdom is better than strength: nevertheless the poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard. The words of wise men are heard in quiet more than the cry of him that ruleth among fools. Wisdom is better than weapons of war: but one sinner destroyeth much good."
- No matter what the outcome and no matter how soon a person is forgotten, Solomon concludes that wisdom is still better than strength and that wisdom is better than weapons of war.
Conclusion: Many there be today who go throughout life seeking only "what's in it for them." There are some who will do nothing unless it gives them fortune or fame. There are some who will have no friends except those who can bring them notoriety.
We must remember that Solomon said that the race does not necessarily go to the swift nor the battle to those who are strong. In his closing illustration, even though a poor man saved his city, his deeds were soon forgotten. His motivation was love for his town, not notoriety. Therefore, Solomon concludes that whatever we do, we should do it with our might with the right motivation, for there is coming a day when we can no longer do what we should be doing.