For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Eccles 7:1-6

1 A good name is better than fine perfume,
    and the day of death better than the day of birth.
2 It is better to go to a house of mourning
    than to go to a house of feasting,
for death is the destiny of everyone;
    the living should take this to heart.
3 Frustration is better than laughter,
    because a sad face is good for the heart.
4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,
    but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure.
5 It is better to heed the rebuke of a wise person
    than to listen to the song of fools.
6 Like the crackling of thorns under the pot,
    so is the laughter of fools.
    This too is meaningless.

A. Find out :

1. What is better than fine perfume? v.1a
2. What is better than the day of birth? v.1b
3. What is better than a house of feasting? v.2a
4. Why? v.2b
5. What is better than laughter? v.3a
6. Why? v.3b

B. Think:

1. How do these verses strike you at first sight?
2. Why should the day of death be better than the day of birth?
3. What is the effect of rightly thinking about death?

C. Comment:

Strange verses at first sight, verses that appear to have come out of the cynicism of straining to find meaning, and yet verses with an element of wisdom the more one considers them. First of all Solomon rejects the things we would say naturally are the better things: a birth day, a place of feasting, laughter.

In the place of these he suggests that the day of death, mourning and sorrow are better for us; they have a better effect upon the heart. Ah yes, that is at the back of his thinking, he is concerned with the state of the heart; that is wisdom, to be more concerned with the state of a person’s heart than with outward happiness and festivities.

If we consider the fact that we must all eventually leave this planet and go into God’s presence through the doorway of death, that helps bring a right perspective and sobriety to our thinking. Yes, pondering on death can be depressing, but it can also have some very healthy effects in our lives, and we should not shy away from thinking on it. In balance we should also say that God did not give us the variety of this planet for us to be constantly considering death, He gave us it to enjoy life in His daily presence, a good and enjoyable life!

D. Application?

1. For the Christian, death is the sure doorway into the eternal presence of God, Hallelujah!
2. Don’t be afraid of sober thinking.

Passage: Eccles 7:7-14

7 Extortion turns a wise person into a fool,
    and a bribe corrupts the heart.

8 The end of a matter is better than its beginning,
    and patience is better than pride.
9 Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit,
    for anger resides in the lap of fools.

10 Do not say, ‘Why were the old days better than these?’
    For it is not wise to ask such questions.

11 Wisdom, like an inheritance, is a good thing
    and benefits those who see the sun.
12 Wisdom is a shelter
    as money is a shelter,
but the advantage of knowledge is this:
    wisdom preserves those who have it.

13 Consider what God has done:

who can straighten
    what he has made crooked?
14 When times are good, be happy;
    but when times are bad, consider this:
God has made the one
    as well as the other.
Therefore, no one can discover
    anything about their future.

A. Find out :

1. What two things are to be avoided? v.7
2. What else is to be avoided? v.8
3. What further should we avoid? v.9
4. What temptation comes to us? v.10
5. Why is wisdom good? v.11,12
6. What has God done? v.14

B. Think:

1. How would you describe verses 7 to 9?
2. What do you think is the danger of constantly looking back?
3. In what are we to rest according to verses 13 & 14?

C. Comment:

In this chapter Solomon expresses his feelings in the form of short sharp quips, proverbs in some cases. In the first few verses of this passage he warns us against extortion, bribery, pride and hasty anger. These are some of the things that spoil life and make it far from what God intended it to be.

Then he warns about constantly looking back to better times. The danger here is that we cease to be content with the present if we do that, and besides, our memories of the past are often distorted with time.

Then comes the extolling of wisdom which brings blessing, shelter and protection. Yes, it enables us to walk in good ways, it helps us avoid the foolish actions of so many around us, and it therefore enables us to walk in ways that do not harm us.

Finally he encourages us to rest in the knowledge that God is sovereign over all. In the way He has made the world and allowed us to live, we encounter both good and bad times in life. For us as Christians we know that God will even take the bad and use is for our good (Rom 8:28 ) and therefore we may give thanks in all circumstances (1 Thess 5:18 ) Yes, in these verses comes counsel and wisdom that we would do well to ponder. Read them again.

D. Application?

1. We choose how we will live, but God desires good for us.
2. Give thanks in all circumstances.

Passage: Eccles 7:15-22

15 In this meaningless life of mine I have seen both of these:

the righteous perishing in their righteousness,
    and the wicked living long in their wickedness.
16 Do not be over-righteous,
    neither be overwise –
    why destroy yourself?
17 Do not be overwicked,
    and do not be a fool –
    why die before your time?
18 It is good to grasp the one
    and not let go of the other.
    Whoever fears God will avoid all extremes.

19 Wisdom makes one wise person more powerful
    than ten rulers in a city.

20 Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous,
    no one who does what is right and never sins.

21 Do not pay attention to every word people say,
    or you may hear your servant cursing you –
22 for you know in your heart
    that many times you yourself have cursed others.

A. Find out :

1. What had he seen? v.15
2. So what did he counsel? v.16,17
3. So what path should we take? v.18
4. What makes a man powerful? v.19
5. Yet what is true of every man? v.20
6. What should we avoid? v.21

B. Think:

1. What two extremes does Solomon counsel us to avoid?
2. What reasons are given for this counsel?

C. Comment:

Solomon has watched people and has seen righteous people dying early and unrighteous people living long years and rightly concludes that righteousness is not always the reason for length of life. He concludes (v.18) that if you fear God you will avoid all extremes.

Why? Well, first of all, the wicked are likely to destroy themselves with their foolishness, so don’t go to the extremity of wickedness. But, secondly, the fact is that even the “righteous” are not totally righteous, even the “righteous” sometimes fail and sin. So, he concludes, don’t go into wickedness for that is shear foolishness, but on the other hand don’t strive to be perfect because you can’t obtain it.

Within these verses we have truth which has now had an added dimension given to it. Yes, all men do fail, but the ground of OUR righteousness today is NOT our striving and trying to be good, but the finished work of Jesus Christ on the Cross for us.

When we believe in Him, God declares us righteous. Then He does say aim for perfection (Matthew 5:48) because He wants us to be constantly changing into the likeness of His own Son, Jesus (2 Cor 3:18), so for us there is a reason to be aiming for ever increasing practical daily righteousness, even though we have been declared, in God’s sight, eternally righteous.

D. Application?

1. We have been declared eternally righteous.
2. We can become practically more righteous.

Passage: Eccles 7:23-29

23 All this I tested by wisdom and I said,

‘I am determined to be wise’–
    but this was beyond me.
24 Whatever exists is far off and most profound –
    who can discover it?
25 So I turned my mind to understand,
    to investigate and to search out wisdom and the scheme of things
and to understand the stupidity of wickedness
    and the madness of folly.

26 I find more bitter than death
    the woman who is a snare,
whose heart is a trap
    and whose hands are chains.
The man who pleases God will escape her,
    but the sinner she will ensnare.

27 ‘Look,’ says the Teacher, ‘this is what I have discovered:

‘Adding one thing to another to discover the scheme of things –
28     while I was still searching
    but not finding –
I found one upright man among a thousand,
    but not one upright woman among them all.
29 This only have I found:
    God created mankind upright,
    but they have gone in search of many schemes.’

A. Find out :

1. What did he find about wisdom? v.23,24
2. What did he therefore do? v.25
3. What sort of woman did he find bitter? v.26
4. How successful had he been? v.27,28a
5. What had he not found? v.28
6. What had he found about mankind? v.29

B. Think

1. To start, what do we conclude about Solomon’s own self estimation?
2. What do we observe about the fruits of his search?
3. How would you describe his attitude at the end of this search?

C. Comment

Through these verses comes a sense of failure, which is quite strange! Solomon had given great consideration to many things and concluded that wisdom eluded him, and this from a man that the historical part of Scripture (1 Kings 4:29 -34) testifies to having been one of the wisest men in the East.

It appears that Solomon started out with God and gradually drifted away from Him (1 Kings 11:1-6). Having started out with the gift (from God) of wisdom he knew its source and was aware of his own limitations. Having becoming rich and powerful he had time on his hands and sought to become wise in his own sight. The more he sought the more he realised his own shortcomings in this matter.

In it all, his experience with the women of his life (see the 1 Kings 11 reading again) left him feeling jaded towards women and his search generally left him feeling that although God had made mankind good originally, mankind had drifted away from the Lord to their own plans and ideas. Again we find here a combination of the truth blended in with the jaded cynicism we now find in Solomon after all his strivings on the earth. Meaning comes from heaven!

D. Application?

1. Do we start with something good from God and drift off into our own ways?
2. We all fall short of God’s glory.