Solomon sits in his palace and thinks (Ecclesiastes 1:16-18).
He looks at the beautiful home the Lord gave him. He walks to the window and looks out over Jerusalem and mulls over the material blessings God provided. He has more than all those that came before him. Solomon experienced unprecedented wisdom and knowledge. He gave himself over to get and know wisdom, but also to know madness and folly. He wanted to know, to learn, to experience. From wisdom to foolish philosophy and madness. Solomon drank from all the founts of philosophy and “wisdom”. His learning vexed his spirit. Giving his heart to madness and folly, I believe, means he seriously investigated and tried various philosophies and ideas.
Solomon would have been well beloved today, looking for the good in all religion and cultures. Of course, he would have soon been banned from all college campuses when he revealed this is utter rubbish and leads to despair and grief. Free speech! Market place of ideas! Unless of course you say something that doesn’t toe the party line. It is thought that giving yourself over to new ideas and being open to every thought is noble, but how can madness and folly lead you to peace and thriving? Can 2+2=5 lead you to greater enlightenment and excellent bookkeeping? Will turning a screw counterclockwise lead you to tighter joints? Would feeding your chickens candy corn lead you to healthier eggs? Why imagine giving your mind to falsehood would lead you to spiritual peace and contentment?
Solomon tried the halls of learning to find soul satisfaction and instead of giving him peace it only increased his grief and sorrow. He gave his heart to know wisdom and madness. He searched out all the avenues of wisdom and wisdom falsely-so-called, and found it a vexation of spirit. Why? Knowledge and understanding without Christ, is a burden. Knowing true things and seeing true problems in a cursed world, but not having any ability to implement solutions for lasting change is a heartbreaking state of the soul. Note the political pundits and thinkers who, rightly can see many of the problems (fiscal and social) of our nation, and yet cannot see any solution (Christ Jesus the Lord). The more knowledge, the more sorrow. Some of the most depressing and toxic writers and thinkers I read are godless conservative political pundits. What good is there to see the social problems, but only have powerless solutions?
Learning will not bring in happiness, peace, and prosperity. Education is a tool for our use, not a god for our comfort. God gave us minds and we need to use them and cultivate them. God gave us language, and words, and grammar, mathematics, science, and history and we ought to take the talents God gives us and grow, learn, and discover for the glory of God and the love of our neighbor. But remember that education is a gift from God for our good, not a saviour to give us life.
