Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Good evening, special ones.

It’s been a full day. We just said our farewells to some friends a few minutes ago that came over for a meal this evening. The beautiful weather allowed us to eat in our beautiful setting beside the creek. Now—a new week will be staring me in the face tomorrow morning. I’ll wait till then to try to figure out how to manage it. My head is too far gone for that right now.

Yesterday was a cooler day…a perfect day for doing outside work, but I mainly did some inside sign work. Today is much warmer…but I plan to mainly do outside work. Oh well… At least we’re not bound to any big commitments.

Have a good night and great day tomorrow.

Love, Dad/Ray.

t is generally believed that Solomon wrote Song of Solomon in his younger years, Proverbs compiled during his middle years, and Ecclesiastes the memoirs of his later years. If the record of Solomon’s performance as the king of Israel is accurate, it’s very understandable that his perspective would be tainted by his failure to maintain the main thing as the main thing—the priority of living to love God with the view that this is the central purpose that gives meaning to everything else. Instead, he yields to the view of hedonism—that enjoyment in life is really all that matters. And remembering God along the way is kind of like a religious additive to help make that happen (syncretism). I perceive that he doesn’t really like God at heart level. After all, he judges that God actually perpetrates evil—as when good people are not allowed to enjoy a long healthy life of happiness and prosperity (e.g., 6:1-6) when their goodness deserves it (8:14-15).

Please allow me to make some of my own conclusions concerning Solomon’s conclusion. I’m seeing things in different light than I have seen in previous readings. If we are going to take in all that he has said in the body of this volume, even this dynamic-sounding conclusion to the book could be given a post script that says something like, “But it doesn’t really matter much!” or, “But so what?” The main theme that is obviously uppermost in Solomon’s mind was restated only five verses back—“’Meaningless! Meaningless!’ says the Teacher. ‘Everything is meaningless!’” (12:8). Questions to guide our processing: How many things are to be included in “everything?” How much meaning and purpose can be included in “meaningless?”

A comparison comes to mind: David could be regarded as representing true believers with a HEART AFTER GOD, while Solomon could be regarded as representing superficial or compromising believers—perhaps a member of the Sadducees sect that give no credence to the hereafter—one who embraces the natural notion that MY LIFE IS ABOUT ME. That caused him to fall prey to another perversion of Biblical truth—the error of syncretism—the idea that Biblical faith is just one of many belief systems that may be added to the one you already have.

In support of this sad evaluation of Solomon, allow me to quote from 1 Kings 11:1-6: “King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh's daughter — Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, "You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods." Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been. He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lord completely, as David his father had done.”

I wonder now if making a role model out of Solomon after his Ecclesiastes performance could be on a par with making a role model out of a star like Elvis Presley. He too could put on a terrific show and maybe sing an inspiring Gospel song at the end, but it didn’t really make a lot of difference to his empty soul. It was all part of the show.