Author	Thread: Ecclesiastes 7:27-28
phalom88 View Profile History	Ecclesiastes 7:27-28 Posted : 16 Jun, 2014 02:20 AM This is a curious passage. I have yet to find any convincing definitive interpretation, but it touches me. I feel as though I know what he's trying to say, but that he and I both are afraid of pinning it down... it's a deep hopelessness for me. I want to know if anyone, either gender (but obviously I'm more interested in hearing from women on this), has an interpretation of these two verses. Post Reply
DontHitThatMark View Profile History	Ecclesiastes 7:27-28 Posted : 16 Jun, 2014 07:10 AM I think he's saying he has been able to find a few men he could trust, but he had not yet found a woman like the one he describes in Proverbs 31. For someone in his culture and position, it was probably very difficult to find a woman whose interests weren't political or monetary or subservient. However, his culture and his position as king and military commander probably brought many valiant and honorable men to his attention. He was one of the greatest kings in history, that wouldn't be terribly surprising. Also, the differences and expectations between genders add all kinds of complications, including the idea that if one wants to find a woman of God, they might not want to have 3000 concubines hanging around. Solomon was wise, but I think that it's pretty obvious women were his weakness, and despite all his wisdom, his wives were able to draw him into idolatry. :peace::peace: Post Reply
DontHitThatMark View Profile History	Ecclesiastes 7:27-28 Posted : 16 Jun, 2014 07:12 AM I think he's saying he has been able to find a few men he could trust, but he had not yet found a woman like the one he describes in Proverbs 31. For someone in his culture and position, it was probably very difficult to find a woman whose interests weren't political or monetary or subservient. However, his culture and his position as king and military commander probably brought many valiant and honorable men to his attention. He was one of the greatest kings in history, that wouldn't be terribly surprising. Also, the differences and expectations between genders add all kinds of complications, including the idea that if one wants to find a woman of God, they might not want to have 3000 concubines hanging around. Solomon was wise, but I think that it's pretty obvious women were his weakness, and despite all his wisdom, his wives were able to draw him into idolatry. :peace::peace: Post Reply
phalom88 View Profile History	Ecclesiastes 7:27-28 Posted : 16 Jun, 2014 02:01 PM First of all, he isn't the one who wrote Proverbs 31. To me, there is more in his mournful tone than a hunger for military loyalty or masculine honor. Solomon was a man of depth and patience, not valuing strength as much as understanding, nor outward joy as much as the core and eternal considerations. I feel that he and I have very similar hearts and longings (though I don't claim to share his great wisdom necessarily), and I find that the feminine gender has one apparent property that aches in my heart. You are right - he filled his ache with quantity and variety, and that apart from God's will for him, but I often wonder if there would ever have been a woman for such a man... a man who loved understanding more than life, and yet such a passionate lover. Post Reply
View Profile History	Ecclesiastes 7:27-28 Posted : 16 Jun, 2014 06:17 PM The Living Bible says, "This is my conclusion, says the Preacher. Step by step I came to this result after researching in every direction: One tenth of one percent of the men I interviewed could be said to be wise, but not one woman!" (Eccl 7:27) When you are thinking about this verse, please remember that Salamon may have interviewed the people of his day, but not people today. Back then, women were kept in ignorance. They weren't even allowed to sit with men in the synagogue! Most of the women couldn't even read. And they were treated like a property. So, it was a different culture, different civilization. Remember that. Secondly, remember that God said to Solomon, "I am giving you the wisdom and knowledge you asked for! And I am also giving you riches, wealth, and honor such as no other king has ever had before you! And there will never again be so great a king in all the world!" (2 Chr 1:12) It is safe to say that Solomon was the wisest person in history. Now then, is it fair to compare his wisdom to other people's wisdom? It's not fair. He probably tried to compare himself to others and came to the conclusion that he only found very few men who were wise but not one woman. Is that a bad thing to say? No. After all, he was the wisest king. To say that those women who lived back then in his culture were foolish and uneducated does not mean that women at all times and in every culture are stupid. Women are smart. In fact, if you read investment newsletters, they say that women are better investors than men! I think, today's women are much smarter and wiser than the women who lived in the days of Solomon in Israel. So, don't worry. ;) Post Reply
Hisjoymypeace View Profile History	Ecclesiastes 7:27-28 Posted : 16 Jun, 2014 06:25 PM After reading Ecclesiastes 7:27-28, as a child of God and sister in Christ, I sensed King Solomon's despair and disappointment when after marrying so many women and having hundreds of concubines, he was still not content or at peace with his life, despite all his wealth and military accomplishments. And to add injury to his plight, he had allowed these women to deeply wound, almost demolishing his personal relationship with The Lord! Having men of military greatest, loyalty and servitude surround him daily, could have never compared to him having one faithful, Godly women of integrity and honor by his side as his helpmate! And Phalom88, King Lemuel was the author of Proverbs 31:1-9. Verses 10-31, from my research, could possibly have been written by another author beside King Solomon. It has been documented that the Book of Proverbs had multiple authors. But what I find just as fascinating is Ecclesiastes 7:29: "Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions". This verse , to me, means just what it says....the heart of man will always seek to investigate, experiment, discover, change and create. But will man eventually and wholeheartedly believe that there are things in this life that just "is"? That God is the great I AM!!!! Something to think about huh?......... Post Reply
View Profile History	Ecclesiastes 7:27-28 Posted : 17 Jun, 2014 06:57 AM Nice reply His Joy My Peace Post Reply
Hisjoymypeace View Profile History	Ecclesiastes 7:27-28 Posted : 17 Jun, 2014 10:55 AM Thank you Mercifulpeace! And Phalom88, trust me you are by no means alone in seeking soul and spiritual resolve, while waiting on God's best in fulfilling every desire you have as His own in this life!! Only God's assurance, peace, joy, promises and love can fill that void until He says, "now my servant, it's your time!" Praise God! Stay forever motivated and kept in Him! Post Reply
phalom88 View Profile History	Ecclesiastes 7:27-28 Posted : 18 Jun, 2014 03:56 AM I don't find the Living translation convincing... to say the least. I prefer (and recommend) the NKJV. alive774: You say "is it fair to compare his wisdom to other people's wisdom? It's not fair." I say it is fair. See James 1:5-8, Proverbs 8:17. You say, "women were kept in ignorance. They weren't even allowed to sit with men in the synagogue! Most of the women couldn't even read. And they were treated like a property." These things don't prohibit Biblical wisdom. You also say "they say that women are better investors than men! I think, today's women are much smarter and wiser than the women who lived in the days of Solomon in Israel." The intellect required to invest is also very different than Biblical wisdom. See all of Proverbs, but specifically note 9:10, 14:15-18, and 15:31-32. You say, "To say that those women who lived back then in his culture were foolish and uneducated does not mean that women at all times and in every culture are stupid." I would say neither. I agree that women back then lacked a formal education they have in our time, but that doesn't make them foolish in Biblical terms. I would also never say that women in general, then or now, are stupid. Please try to hear what I am saying, because it's subtle and requires patience to understand, and it means a lot to me. Hisjoymypeace: Solomon does speak often throughout his works about both his discontentment with pleasure and his experience with women as a potential trap (the latter in the disconnected passage that comes right before 27, actually), but I don't see evidence that either is specifically what he is trying to express here. Thank you for your thoughts. I do also appreciate verse 29, separately and as it applies to the two previous verses. To me, it is a final sigh - a wish that mankind would see the simplicity of truth and righteousness; it takes work to lose your way, but we all offer our strength willingly to the struggle against God. But I thank you even more that you have almost uncovered my heart; you rightly say that I seek "soul". Post Reply
DontHitThatMark View Profile History	Ecclesiastes 7:27-28 Posted : 18 Jun, 2014 09:49 AM He did author a complication of proverbs, but if he did quote someone else in proverbs 31 it was because he saw wisdom or value in what they said. Most people suppose that "Lemuel" is simply another name for Solomon, but there is no real evidence either way. Strong's Concordance Hebrew word 3927, related to words 3926 and 410: meaning (belonging) to God; Lemuel or Lemoel, a symbolic name of Solomon: -Lemuel. I think that he was looking for an assertive, strong and wise seeker of truth in the opposite gender. However, his position and weakness for women probably precluded him from actually having a relationship with such a woman. I think that he did find such a woman in the Queen of Sheba. From the biblical account, it sounds like she was very impressed with him, and he with her. She was assertive, a seeker of wisdom, a powerful and resourceful monarch. One who was so awed by his wisdom that she must have been able to comprehend that magnitude of it, which means she must have been quite wise herself. I wonder if this wasn't a test for Solomon. Perhaps she wasn't as attractive as all of his other wives, perhaps he could do no better for her than to add her to his collection. Perhaps God was trying to teach him a lesson about what is valuable in women, and he missed it. I feel like this lament of Solomon's, at it's foundation, reveals his problem with women. His problem was that when it came to women, he thought he was wise, but he was blind to the real problem, which was "himself". He was so weak and unwise when it came to women that it led him away from God. I see something similar on this site,men who complain that women are playing hard to get or that women can't see these men for the paragons they really are or that there aren't any good women left, but they don't take into account that maybe they have a pretty serious problem that no wise woman would choose to unite with. So, while they complain about the lack of compatible women, they might actually be driving the really valuable women away by their life choices. :peace::peace: Post Reply
View Profile History	Ecclesiastes 7:27-28 Posted : 18 Jun, 2014 10:24 AM One means a dance and a kiss, two means trouble, three means run for your life. Solomon went so overboard of course it ended as badly as it did. Post Reply

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