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Ecclesiastes 2:14 – The wise man’s eyes are in his head; but the fool walketh in darkness:  and I myself perceived also that one event happeneth to them all.

 

Thought: Men fall into one of two camps.  They are either walking in the light, or, they are walking in darkness.  They either walk with their eyes open or their eyes closed.  Eventually, one event comes upon each of them, death.  How they have lived will mean much when they close their eyes in death.

 

Psalm 49:10

 

Commentary:

 

A.     Solomon contrasts and compares the wise man and the fool in this verse.

 

B.      The contrast:

1.       The wise walks with his eyes open.  The fool walks with his eyes closed.

The wise walks in the light.  The fool walks in darkness.

The wise sees and examines.  The fool rushes onward with consideration.

The wise gathers information.  The fool moves forward by feeling and emotion.

The wise walks a straight path.  The fool wanders aimlessly.

The wise can see the end of a thing.  The fool walks with no end in mind.

2.       Clarke (e-sword):

 

The Wise                                                                     The Foolish

 

The wise are circumspect, maturely weigh               But fools, deprived

the consequences of what they undertake,               of reason’s guidance, or in darkness grope

good ends propose, and fittest means apply             or, unreflecting like a frantic man,

to accomplish their designs.                                       who on the brink of some steep precipice

                                                                                    attempt to run a race with heedless steps,

                                                                                    rush to their own perdition.

 

C.     The comparison:  “…and I myself perceived also that one event happeneth to them all.”

1.       That one event is death.

2.       Both the wise man and the foolish man are defeated by death.

3.       The wisest man lies cold in the grave.  The most foolish of fools has his place among the dead.

a.       Solomon died, and the wicked Ahab died.

b.      The prophets of God died, and the false prophets of Baal died.

c.       Haman died, but Mordecai also died.

d.      Judas died, and Jesus foretold the death of Peter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ecclesiastes 2:15 – Then said I in my heart, As it happeneth to the fool, so it happeneth even to me; and why am I then more wise?  Then I said in my heart, that this also is vanity.

 

Thought:  In the previous verse, Solomon had noted that “one event happeneth to them all.”  This event is death.  Solomon contemplates the fact that death will eventually come upon him.  He, then, notes that in this respect, he is just like the fool.  The fool and the wise man will both die.  If this is all there is to living, Solomon reasoned “that is also is vanity.”  In other words, if death is all there is, then how one lives really means nothing.  Sadly, this is the conclusion of the atheist and the humanist.

 

Proverbs 30:16

 

Commentary:

 

A.     Solomon understood God’s promise to him regarding wisdom.  He knew he was the wisest man in the world.

 

B.      But, his end would be the same as the end of a fool.  Both would succumb to death.

 

C.     Solomon makes two observations:

1.       Why am I then more wise?

a.       If Solomon was eventually going to die as the fool does, how does his wisdom really benefit him?

b.      All the efforts he spent in attempting to harness wisdom would come to an end at death. 

c.       Much of the wisdom he had acquired would be lost with him in death.

2.       This also is vanity.

a.       In the end, whether a person pursues wisdom or folly, death will come.

b.      Wisdom might excel folly in this world, but not in the end.

c.       Man has not learned, and will never learn, how to conquer the one enemy called death.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ecclesiastes 2:16 – For there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool forever; seeing that which now is in the days to come shall all be forgotten.  And how dieth the wise man?  As the fool.

 

Thought:  Death has been called a leveler.  It makes all men equal because all men are subject to it.  The wise man dies.  The fool dies.  Once they have been dead for a period of time, they are soon forgotten by the living.  As Solomon contemplates this fact, he sees life as being empty.  If the end is simply death for all men, then how we live really doesn’t matter.  If our lives are not going to be remembered, then our lives mean little.  Is living then dying all there is to man?  Will Solomon find the answer to this question?

 

Psalm 103:15-16

 

Commentary:

 

A.     In the course of human history, very few men and women are remembered very long after death.

1.       How many of you have visited your parents graves this past year?

2.       How many of you know where your grandparents are buried?  Have you visited their gravesite in the last year?

3.       NOTE:  If we have not, it is almost certain that our children have not.  In fact, most of them have fewer memories of those individuals than we do.

 

B.      This is true of both “the wise” and “the fool.”

1.       Every family has one or two people who stand out as being wise.

a.       They get a good education.

b.      They build a profitable business.

c.       They amass a lot of wealth.

2.       Too, every family has individuals in them who could be classified as fools.

a.       They waste their time, their resources, and money.

b.      They bring harm to their lives and the lives of their families.

c.       They may get in trouble with the law.

d.      Perhaps they died early because of the kind of life they lived.

3.       Both are soon forgotten by the living.  Within a few years, they will be lucky if their relatives remember their names.

4.       Just think of how much time and money and research individuals spend trying to reconstruct their ancestry.  Why?  Because most of it has been forgotten by the living.

 

C.     LESSON:  This will happen to us as well.  “…that which now is in the days to come shall all be forgotten.”  (NOTE:  In some ways, the “forgetting” begins even before the person dies in our society:  few visits or phone calls, put in assisted living facilities, seldom do children think of their parents during the day).  It is easy to forget someone you really do not know.

 

D.     Solomon ends the verse with another universal truth.  “How dieth the wise man?  As the fool.”

1.       Some die of old age.

2.       Some die tragically.

3.       Some die due to sickness or disease.

4.       Some die accidentally.

5.       Some die by means of suicide.