 |  |
but why he was thus allowed to sin and all the many problems of the philosopher
regarding the origin of evil remain unsolved.
Is it for us, when Scripture is silent, to attempt to force an answer by turning to the
oracles of philosophy and human reason? If God has hidden, shall we not rather bow the
knee in submission? Must we know all? Is there no room for faith? Are not the words
of Job xlii.1-6 a more fitting attitude of mind? Job was troubled by the problem of evil.
His friends sought to administer comfort, but in vain. He never received an answer to
the problem. All that we can learn is recorded by James, "that the Lord is very pitiful,
and of tender mercy."
There are many expressions in Ecclesiastes which teach us that a calm rest in the
Lord, whether we fully understand all His ways or not, is His will for us here. "God shall
judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time THERE for every purpose and for
every work" (Eccles.iii.17). "Surely oppression maketh a wise man mad" (Eccles.vii.7).
Those who fail to see that God's purpose is over all must, when they contemplate the
oppression on every hand, feel driven almost to desperation, but the consciousness that
though HERE evil prospers, there is a time THERE for every purpose and for every
work, this will keep us in the right attitude before God. The reason of the dissatisfaction
of the writer of Ecclesiastes is recorded in vii.25-29. It is written as an example and a
warning. He did not abide by what was written; no, he would find out "the reason of
things." What did he find? He found, by a bitter experience that wrecked his whole
career, that which he could have known by what had been written for his guidance in the
Proverbs. In those proverbs written for the guidance of the young Solomon we read
again and again warnings about the flattering woman. Solomon had given to him, in
Prov.xxxi.10-31, a description of the woman God would have him choose for his wide.
Instead of this he wanted to know by experience the "wickedness of folly," and he says:--
"I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and net, and her hands
as bands" (Eccles.vii.26).
"Behold this I have found, saith the preacher, counting one by one to find out the
account, which yet my soul seeketh, but I find not: one man among a thousand have I
found; but a woman among all those I not found" (Eccles.vii.27,28).
Poor Solomon! We see him with his "three score queens and four score concubines,
and virgins without number" (Song of Sol.vi.8) still unsatisfied (I Kings xi.3 reveals the
fact that Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines, making a thousand in all). What a
pitiable object lesson! In the last chapter the preacher gives the "conclusion of the whole
matter."
"Fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is the whole (duty) of man. For
God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing whether it be good, or
whether it be evil (Eccles.xii.13,14).
All the searching, reasoning and speculating led him no further into truth, but rather
entangled him in confusion. Believers to-day, under an entirely different dispensation,
and with the added advantage of a complete Bible, are equally frail and human, and the
moment we leave what is written for deductions based upon our own limited and