Rachel Workman: 12 So I decided to compare wisdom
with foolishness and madness (for who can do this better than I, the king?[a]). 13 I thought, “Wisdom is
better than foolishness, just as light is better than darkness. 14 For the wise can see
where they are going, but fools walk in the dark.” Yet I saw that the wise and
the foolish share the same fate. 15 Both will die. So I said
to myself, “Since I will end up the same as the fool, what’s the value of all
my wisdom? This is all so meaningless!” 16 For the wise and the
foolish both die. The wise will not be remembered any longer than the fool. In
the days to come, both will be forgotten.
17 So I came to hate life because
everything done here under the sun is so troubling. Everything is meaningless—like
chasing the wind. And I would say he is correct. Life without Christ is
meaningless. If this is all there is to life then I'd say it's a pretty sad
existence.
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John Burnett: 2 So I turned
to consider wisdom, madness and folly; for what will the
man do who will come after the king except what
has already been done? 13 And I saw
that wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness.14 The
wise man’s eyes are in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. And yet I
know that one fate befalls them both. 15 Then
I said [a]to myself, “As is the fate of the
fool, it will also befall me. Why then have I been extremely wise?” So [b]I said to myself, “This too is
vanity.” 16 For there is no [c]lasting remembrance of the wise
man as with the fool, inasmuch as in the
coming days all will be forgotten. And how the wise man and the fool alike
die! 17 So I hated life, for the work which
had been done under the sun was [d]grievous to me; because everything is
futility and striving after wind. Wisdom is better than folly but not by much. A
wise man will die like a fool and be forgotten. Worldly knowledge is does
nothing for us. Even living a wise moral life does nothing for us in the
scheme of eternity. Unless we humble ourselves and put our trust in
Christ as our Savior, we are condemned. It is only when we are imputed
Christ’s righteousness are we in good standing with the judge. Soloman
had done more work than any other man and he hated life because all of his work
was futile and worthless.
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Tomorrow’s reading for Ecclesiastes
2:18-23
18 I came to hate all my hard work here
on earth, for I must leave to others everything I have earned. 19 And
who can tell whether my successors will be wise or foolish? Yet they will
control everything I have gained by my skill and hard work under the sun. How
meaningless! 20 So I gave up in despair, questioning the value
of all my hard work in this world.
21 Some people work
wisely with knowledge and skill, then must leave the fruit of their efforts to
someone who hasn’t worked for it. This, too, is meaningless, a great tragedy. 22 So
what do people get in this life for all their hard work and anxiety? 23 Their
days of labor are filled with pain and grief; even at night their minds cannot
rest. It is all meaningless
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