Edward Poynter, The Visit of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon

 

Current Series: Ecclesiastes

Introduction: Ecclesiastes must be read in the context of the corpus of work produced during the prolific reign of King Solomon. If the Book of Proverbs is the cornerstone of the genre of biblical wisdom, Job and Ecclesiastes are the bookends between which Proverbs’ theology of retribution rests. Solomon, along with his literary compatriots in Proverbs, demonstrates in picturesque language the seemingly unalterable principles of Yahweh’s kingdom: God fearers in pursuit of wisdom prosper, while simpletons, fools, and scorners reap a harvest of woes.
Job is clearly an exception to this apparent rule, for a righteous man suffers beyond belief for no apparent reason to him, though the readers are aware of an unseen cosmic wager between Yahweh and the Satan. Here we learn that a man eschewing evil may lose everything and never know why. His only right response is to yield to Yahweh’s divine revelation of Himself and submit to God’s unseen will. When Yahweh rebukes Job’s orthodox friends for their wayward belief system, a little hole appears in retribution theology’s hull.

Ecclesiastes on the other end of the spectrum does not deal with unspeakable suffering, but with frustrating enigmas. How can it be that labor, wine, pleasure, and even wisdom fail to produce satisfaction in life under the sun (man-centered)? After a long conversation along incredibly contemporary themes, the Sage learns at the end of the day that all of life’s fleeting joys fail to produce the desired results; however, a life lived under heaven (God-centered) experiences every moment as the sovereign gift of Yahweh and embraces each with joy.

Themes: Having established the inspiration of the text as being on a par with the rest of the canon, the interpreter is left to grapple with the main themes repeated in the Sage’s dialog. Life under the sun is characterized by hebel; it is a mystery that dashes expectations and desires. Those that fail to grasp God’s sovereignty behind this enigma are left to pursue fleeting pleasure in a never-ending attempt to gratify fallen appetites, but those that understand God has ordained for man to enjoy his earthly possessions and the good accomplishment of his labors as God’s allotment, achieve some level of contentment in the midst of a world of hebel. There is a God-centered life to be lived between the extremes of hedonism and asceticism; it is lived in the fear and obedience of Yahweh.

Application: A proper perspective of God makes me realize that HE, the sovereign God, has given me an allotment in this life; in this calling I must learn to enjoy and be happy with my earthly possessions and the good accomplishment of my labors, knowing the hebel can never fully be taken away. We are yearning for something better even while we learn to fear and obey God in life under the sun.