Had an edifying study of Ecclesiastes, and edifying discussion of it, in a recent Bible study that I wanted to share:
I've been reading a lot of Ecclesiastes and other wisdom literature. When I met up with my friend (Eric), I led off arguing that Ecclesiastes, and to a lesser extent the rest of the wisdom literature, presents an interesting interpretation and context for the original sin in the garden. That is, that Ecclesiastes seems to argue that the striving after "knowing good and evil", with an emphasis on the word striving, is part of the sinfulness of eating the fruit of that tree, not merely the pride of "being like God". Thus Ecclesiastes goes through great pains to outline all the ways in which this "striving" is at the root of all manner of sins, ranging from obvious things like "striving after pleasure/wealth", to even "striving after wisdom and righteousness". Personal pleasure and wealth is futile, but even for good things, if our priority is working towards "being known as a righteous/wise person at the end of my life", it is still futile. Instead, the Preacher of Ecclesiastes focuses on enjoying the fruits of our labors today, and the immediacy of following God's commandments.
Thus, I think we can extrapolate out that "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" is actually an upending of the kinds of wisdom and righteousness that, for example, the Pharisees embody in the New Testament. What led them astray? I think there's a good argument that the importance they placed on "being the wise/righteous leaders of the nation" led them into the legalism and hypocrisy that was so strongly condemned. Thus why so many of Jesus' words (and those in the Epistles) echo so strongly with the words of Ecclesiastes.
And then I even went beyond that, arguing that perhaps the tree of the knowledge of good and evil would ALWAYS be kept from us, that we would always need to be dependent on the Lord as the owner of all wisdom. But Eric corrected me, and pointed out that the initial request of Solomon for wisdom, in 1 Kings, was different only in the intent (for the good of the nation), not essentially different. Only afterwards, as expounded in Ecclesiastes, does this desire for wisdom "collapse" into the sin that also captured Adam and Eve. Also, he pointed out that the movement from "childhood to adulthood", from "immaturity to maturity", from less revelation to more revelation, is certainly an analogy that is used over and over. So we can have hope that one day we WILL be mature enough to partake of that fruit, without it bringing a curse upon us.
And even that is indeed implied in Ecclesiastes, when it says that our striving is in vain, and yet God has "placed eternity in our hearts"; that is, we have a God-given desire to know the end from the beginning. The desire itself is not sinful, but we must place our hope in the fulfillment of all things, and not try to fulfill that desire too early, that "to every time there is a season", but not for us to set that time.
Anyway, hope that's edifying! May we be in "dialogue" with one another, on the wonders and deep truths of scripture.
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