(“Wisdom Excels Folly – But What Does It Matter?”)

Ecclesiastes 2:12-17 (NASU)

“So I turned to consider wisdom, madness and folly … And I saw that wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness … Then I said to myself, ‘As is the fate of the fool, it will also befall me. Why then have I been extremely wise?’ So I said to myself, ‘This too is vanity.’” (Ecclesiastes 2:12a, 13, 15)

(A) LET’S LOOK AT THAT AGAIN

(1) In the first eleven verses of Ecclesiastes chapter two, Solomon found that the various pleasures life has to offer are futile, in and of themselves, when it comes to providing men and women with lasting happiness, contentment, and/or peace of mind. Whether its some form of frivolity, induced on by laughter or wine – or one of life’s more responsible pleasures, like achieving some great goal, or accumulating numerous possessions – or, being able to get around the moral restraints that prevent other people from indulging their passions – Solomon found it was all “vanity and striving after wind” (v 11) – he found there was “no profit under the sun” (v 11) in any of these things – he found that by themselves, the various pleasures of life (even those ordained by God), when used outside the parameters God has placed around them via His commandments, (all life’s pleasures) ultimately fail to deliver any long-lasting, soul-satisfying fulfillment (c.f. Ecclesiastes 2:1-11).

(2) In tonight’s Scripture lesson, Solomon changes directions to see if contentment and satisfaction may be found elsewhere, saying (in the first part of verse twelve): “So I turned to consider wisdom, madness and folly” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 2:12a).

(a) You may recall that Solomon tested wisdom as an independent source of happiness once before¹ back in chapter one, saying in part: “Behold, I have magnified and increased wisdom more than all who were over Jerusalem before me; and my mind has observed a wealth of wisdom and knowledge” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 1:16). At that time he concluded wisdom alone was “striving after wind” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 1:17b) – in part, “because in much wisdom there is much grief, and increasing knowledge results in increasing pain” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 1:18).

(b) Solomon also did some earlier testing on the potential benefits of “madness and folly”, saying in chapter one: “I set my mind to know … madness and folly” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 1:17a) – and again in chapter two: “I explored with my mind … how to take hold of folly, until I could see what good there is for the sons of men to do under heaven the few years of their lives” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 2:3). In both instances, he concluded folly (like wisdom) was “vanity and striving after wind” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 1:17b; 2:11b).

(3) So why delve into these matters again? Why go back and investigate them further? Solomon has already found that “wisdom, madness and folly” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 2:12a) are shallow and/or empty apart from “fear(ing) God and keep(ing) His commandments” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 12:13) – so why repeat these experiments?

(a) One reason is that he might have missed something the first time around – some positive benefit(s) may have been overlooked,¹ which a second test would uncover – perhaps he made some errors² in his earlier experiments, which additional research will discover and/or correct. Maybe he was wrong about wisdom and/or folly being “vanity and striving after wind” – maybe one or both really do hold the secret to happiness and/or contentment. If so, then (hopefully) retesting these things will reveal that, OR confirm his previous conclusion(s).

(b) As we’re about to see, Solomon does “learn” some new things about wisdom and folly – but these insights don’t alter his earlier verdict. Hence, instead of offering a retraction² Solomon repeats his previous assessment, saying in verse fifteen: “This too is vanity” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 2:15c) – and in verse seventeen: “everything is futility and striving after wind” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 2:17b).

(4) Moreover, if anyone wants to dispute Solomon’s twice-proven conclusion – if anyone thinks they can do a better job of investigating the true value of wisdom, folly and pleasure than he did – they must answer the question he posed in the last part of verse twelve, namely: “what will the man do who will come after the king except what has already been done?” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 2:12b).

(a) In other words, “What more can any man do than Solomon did?” “What man will ever have a greater opportunity to discover the true value of wisdom and folly, laughter and wine, accomplishments and accoutrements, pleasures in general and the pleasures of men in particular, (what man will ever be in a better position to assess the true merit and/or significance of these things, so far as making a man happy is concerned) than King Solomon?”

(b) I’m willing to concede there may be people today whose accumulated wealth surpasses Solomon’s. I’m also will to concede there are people today who possess things Solomon never dreamed of (in part, because they didn’t exist back then). There may even be people who have thrown off all moral restraints, and indulged their passions to a numerical degree similar to that of Solomon. BUT, I’m NOT willing to concede anyone has ever approached the wisdom of Solomon. And I say that because God once told him: “I have given you a wise and discerning heart, so that there has been no one like you before you, nor shall one like you arise after you” (c.f. I Kings 3:12).

(c) What’s more, Solomon put that wisdom to use as he conducted his experiments – for he said in one place: “I set my mind to seek and explore by wisdom concerning all that has been done under heaven” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 1:13a) – and again: “my mind … observed a wealth of wisdom and knowledge” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 1:16b) – and again: “I explored with my mind how to stimulate my body with wine while my mind was guiding me wisely” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 2:3a) – and once more: “I became great and increased more than all who preceded me in Jerusalem. My wisdom also stood by me” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 2:9).

(d) As a brief tangent, one of the ironies in the Book of Ecclesiastes – and perhaps this is one of its major lessons – is, that even wisdom as great as Solomon’s cannot bring a man lasting happiness and/or contentment when it’s used for purposes that do not fit under the umbrella of “fear(ing) God and keep(ing) His commandments” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 12:13). Hence, in another book, Solomon correctly wrote that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (c.f. Proverbs 9:10a).

(e) For this reason, then (i.e. because of the magnitude of Solomon’s wisdom), no one will ever come along who is capable of doing more to discover the true value of the vain things men pursue during “the few years of their lives” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 2:3b) than King Solomon did. That means the question in the last part of verse twelve is really rhetorical – with the silent but obvious answer being, “Nothing”! “What will the man do who will come after the king except what (he) has already … done?” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 2:12b) – “Nothing!” – “Not a single thing”! As Solomon said in chapter one: “that which has been is that which will be, and that which has been done is that which will be done. So there is nothing new under the sun” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 1:9).

(f) Let me illustrate it like this – just as there are only a certain specific number of musical notes, and every piece of music ever written is a combination of those notes – just as there are no “new notes” waiting to be discovered, which means every composer in every age must work with the same notes as every other composer – so there are only a limited number of things any man can do to try and find happiness and/or contentment. Hence, anything a man might do today will only be (at best) a variation of what Solomon already tried (and, we might add, found to be inadequate for the task)!

(B) NEW INSIGHTS, SAME CONCLUSION

(1) A wise man knows he doesn’t know everything – he knows there’s always more to learn. Not surprisingly, then, upon review Solomon, admits he gained several new insights (if you will) into “wisdom, madness and folly” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 2:12a) – the first of which is found in verse thirteen where he says: “I saw that wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 2:13).

(a) It would be helpful if we knew for sure what kind of “wisdom” Solomon had in mind. If it’s God-given wisdom, as some think,³ then there’s no doubt “(Godly) wisdom excels (human) folly” – indeed, God’s wisdom exposes the wisdom of the world for what it really is – i.e. foolishness (c.f. I Corinthians 1:25).

For example, regarding the study and application of God’s word, the psalmist said: “Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever mine. I have more insight than all my teachers, for Your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the aged, because I have observed Your precepts” (c.f. Psalm 119:98-100.

Regarding our salvation, Scripture says (in part) that “the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is … the wisdom of God” (c.f. I Corinthians 1:18, 24).

Comparing the wisdom of the world to the wisdom of God, Scripture says the world’s wisdom is “earthly, natural, (and) demonic”, and that it produces “jealousy … selfish ambition … disorder and (all kinds of) evil thing(s)” (c.f. James 3:15-16). On the other hand, Scripture says “the wisdom from above (i.e. God’s wisdom – the same wisdom He gives His people) is “pure … peaceable, gentle, (and) reasonable”, and that it produces “mercy … good fruits”, steadfastness (i.e. “unwavering”) and sincerity (i.e. “without hypocrisy”) (c.f. James 3:17).

Clearly, then, the “light” of God’s “wisdom (greatly) excels” the “darkness” of the world’s wisdom, which Scripture often refers to as “folly”! As Solomon says elsewhere: “the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, that shines brighter and brighter until the full day. The way of the wicked is like darkness; they do not know over what they stumble” (c.f. Proverbs 4:18-19).

(b) But what if Solomon isn’t talking about God-given “wisdom”? What if he’s talking about the kind of earthly, human “wisdom” found in legitimate pursuits like science, medicine, architecture, technology, mechanics, government, music, education, and so on? Scripture says this kind of wisdom also comes from God (c.f. Exodus 36:1). But the question is, does this kind of wisdom also “excel folly”? Does the pursuit and practice of this kind of human “wisdom” have any advantage over the various “foolish” things men can pursue and do instead?

I believe Solomon’s answer would be “Yes”. Indeed, I think that may have been his point in verse thirteen when he said: “I saw that wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 2:13). In other words, I think he may have been saying something like this: “When I went back and took a second look, I found that human wisdom (as limited and/or imperfect as it is) does have certain advantages over folly.”

(c) One of those advantages is summarized in the first part of verse fourteen, where Solomon said: “The wise man’s eyes are in his head, but the fool walks in darkness” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 2:14a).

One application would be that the wise man tries to anticipate what lies ahead and make choices that are more likely to lead to success, and/or at least help him avoid potential pain and misery (c.f. Luke 14:28-30). The fool, on the other hand, simply blunders ahead with little or no forethought, and usually ends up paying the consequences.⁴ Hence, the Scripture says: “A wise man is cautious and turns away from evil, but a fool is arrogant and careless” (c.f. Proverbs 14:16) – and again: “The prudent sees the evil and hides himself, but the naive go on, and are punished for it” (c.f. Proverbs 22:3).

Another way to look at it is to say that the wise man is willing to listen and learn from others, while the fool rejects all counsel but his own. Hence, the Scripture says: “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man … listens to counsel” (c.f. Proverbs 12:15) – and again: “A fool does not delight in understanding, but only in revealing his own mind” (c.f. Proverbs 18:2) – and once more: “He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, but he who walks wisely will be delivered” (c.f. Proverbs 28:26).

Solomon’s point is, the man who acquires and applies any legitimate form of earthly wisdom will be better off in the long run, than the man who rejects such wisdom – in part, because “wisdom (always) excels folly as light excels darkness” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 2:13).

(2) The second new insight Solomon gained regarding “wisdom, madness and folly” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 2:12a) is found in the last part of verse fourteen down through verse sixteen, where he says (in part): “and yet I know that one fate befalls them both” – i.e. “both” the wise man and the fool – namely, that both “the wise man and the fool … die” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 2:14b, 16c).

(a) Some years ago an artist painted a picture showing a mountain of skulls. At first glance, they all seem to be the same – but once you look closer, you see each skull has some writing on it. One says “doctor” – another “teacher” – another “secretary” – another “technician” – and another “salesman”. Still others are labeled “foreman”, “captain”, “lawyer”, and “judge”. There are hundreds of skulls in the painting – and each one has a different profession and/or occupation written on it.⁵

Whether he intended to or not, that artist has illustrated Solomon’s point⁵ – no matter who we are, we’re eventually going to die (barring Christ’s return, of course). No matter how important or insignificant the world thinks we are – no matter how wise or foolish – king or pauper – Christian or non-Christian – “one fate is going to befall us all” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 2:14b) – i.e. we’re all going to die (c.f. Hebrews 9:27).

(b) As Solomon reflected on this fact, he was disturbed to say the least – for he said to himself (in verse fifteen): “As is the fate of the fool, it will also befall me. Why then have I been extremely wise?” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 2:15). In other words, “What’s the point? If wisdom excels folly, but we all end up in the grave anyway, what does it matter? Where’s the advantage in being wise? Why go to all the trouble of pursing wisdom? Why not eat, drink, and be merry (c.f. Luke 12:19b) – and when we die, we die?”

You and I could ask similar questions about our own lives. Why bother being a Christian if we’re going to die like everyone else? Why work at being morally pure, if we’re going to end up in a grave next to the promiscuous? Why sacrifice our time, money, and energy for spiritual causes, if “the same fate is going to befall us” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 2:15) that befalls the person who spends everything they have on themselves? Why run the risk of being ridiculed and/or hated for being a Christian, if both “we and our persecutors are going to end up in the same cemetery?” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 2:16c)? From the natural man’s perspective, it’s no wonder Solomon said to himself: “This too is vanity” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 2:15c)

(c) But Solomon’s disappointment runs even deeper, for he goes on to lament the fact that “there is no lasting remembrance of the wise man as with the fool, inasmuch as in the coming days all will be forgotten” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 2:16a). In other words, not only do the wise and foolish both die, both are eventually forgotten – who they were and/or what they did (be it great or small, good or bad) eventually fades from human memory.

Now some may object to this, pointing out that we DO remember some people and/or their achievements – that we do remember what certain people said and/or did⁶ – that we do remember the Plato’s and Aristotle’s, the Dawin’s and Einstein’s, the Napoleon’s and the Custer’s – that we do continue to honor and/or appreciate the contributions of the Beethoven’s and the Rembrandt’s, the Homer’s and the Shakespeare’s, the Washington’s and the Lincoln’s. And, of course, there is a certain amount of truth in that.

Besides, Solomon did mean every vestige of the memory of men disappears once they die. What he was saying was that the memory of men and/or what they did fades with the passing of time – that most ARE forgotten almost entirely within one or two generations, except perhaps for scattered public records, oral traditions, and/or history books – that even the things the “infamous” or “famous” are remembered for is only a fraction of what they did during their lifetime.

For the most part, the good and the bad, the foolish and the wise, the rich and poor, the celebrated and the nameless perish into anonymity.⁶ So even though “wisdom is better than folly” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 2:13) – even though there are certain advantages to going through life with “eyes in our head, rather than walking in darkness” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 2:14a) – what does it really matter, since “the same fate ultimately befalls everyone” (c.f. Ecclesiasts 2:14b) – that fate being “death” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 2:16d)?

(d) So, having revisited “wisdom and folly” to see if he had missed anything – and, having conceded he had come across several new insights – Solomon states his conclusion in verse seventeen, saying: “So I hated life, for the work which had been done under the sun was grievous to me; because everything is futility and striving after wind” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 2:17).

The reason Solomon said he “hated life” (despite all his accomplishments and accoutrements) is because from the natural man’s perspective – i.e. from the viewpoint of life lived “under the sun” – from the standpoint of life lived outside the umbrella of “fear(ing) God and keep(ing) His commandments” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 12:13) – death negates any temporary “profit” a man may gain by pursuing wisdom over folly.⁷

What’s the point of gaining wisdom if you can’t stay around to use it? What’s the point of being wise if it doesn’t give you an advantage over the fool when it comes to such an important matter as death? What’s the point of using wisdom to enlarge your works and/or increase your wealth if you have to leave it all behind (c.f. Luke 12:20)? No wonder Solomon said he found “the work (he) had … done under the sun … grievous” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 2:17a)! Once he reflected on the fact that both “the wise man and the fool … die” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 2:16b), he realized, everything he had done in life was “futility and striving after wind” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 2:17).

(C) A FINAL WORD OF HOPE

(1) Or was it? Although Solomon’s wealth is long gone – and what’s left of his great building projects lay in ruins – although the fact he once had 700 wives and 300 concubines is now nothing more than a historical oddity – some of Solomon’s words and wisdom live on, having been preserved by the Holy Spirit in God’s infallible, written word!⁸ Indeed, in terms of quantity, Solomon has to be considered one of the Bible’s major contributors – since he is thought to be the author of the Books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon – not to mention Psalm 72, plus an important (and lengthy) prayer in First Kings chapter eight.

(2) This fact illustrates a truth stated in the New Testament, where Paul says: “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men” (c.f. Colossians 3:23). And if we inquire as to why we should approach the things we do in life this way, Paul supplies the answer in another place, where he reminds us that “(our) toil is not in vain in the Lord” (c.f. I Corinthians 15:58b).

Knowing this, Scripture says we should always be “steadfast, immovable, (and) abounding in the work of the Lord” (c.f. I Corinthians 15:58a) – because that which is done as unto the Lord, and/or in His service will never be “futile or vain” – nor will He ever allow such efforts to go unrewarded (c.f. Ephesians 6:7-8)!

²Reynolds: A Commentary/Book of Ecclesiastes; p. 66.

2:12-13; p. 989.

⁴Wycliffe Bible Commentary; p. 587.

⁵Pritchard: Something New Under the Sun; p. 65.

⁶Keddie: The Guide – Ecclesiastes; p. 56.

⁷The New Geneva Study Bible: Footnote on Ecclesiastes

2:17; p. 990.

⁸Morris: The Remarkable Wisdom of Solomon; p. 190.