His Search For Understanding Resulting from His Wisdom Has Made Him Aware Of Man's Sinfulness And Folly (Ecclesiastes 7:23-29).
‘All this I have tested out in wisdom. I said, “I will be wise”, but it was far from me. That which is far off and extremely deep, who can find it out?'
But there are limits to wisdom. For he has tried to test out all that he has been talking about using wisdom, but has to admit that he has not fully found the truth. Final wisdom, the wisdom which is of God, the wisdom which might bring meaning to things, is beyond him, as it is beyond all men (compare Ecclesiastes 3:11; Ecclesiastes 7:14; Ecclesiastes 8:17). It is as though it was beyond the far horizon (far off), as though it was in the deepest depths of the sea, or some underground mining works (extremely deep). It is not discoverable.
‘I turned about and my heart was set to know, and to search out, and to seek wisdom and the reason of things, and to know that wickedness is folly, and that foolishness is madness. And I find a thing more bitter than death, even the woman whose heart is snares and nets, and her hands like bonds. The one who pleases God will escape from her, but the sinner will be taken by her.'
His search was a thorough one. He set his heart to know. He searched things out. He sought. And what he sought was wisdom and the reason of things. And the one thing that he did discover was that wickedness was folly and that foolishness was madness, that is, in the long term.
He has already indicated in Ecclesiastes 7:23-24 that there were limits on what he had discovered, and could discover, for the reason of things was at present beyond him. But he points out that at least he did learn about wickedness and folly, about downright evil and careless, unthinking behaviour, and that such was folly and madness (both because of its positive consequences and because it prevented a man from enjoying the lot of the godly (Ecclesiastes 5:19)).
One example of this, which he came across and which horrified his very soul, (and no doubt the soul of all his concubines), was the example of the scheming woman, which included the prostitute. He has the worst examples in mind. Possibly he had in mind Delilah (Judges 16:4-22), and, depending on his era, Jezebel (1 Kings 16:31; 1Ki 18:13; 1 Kings 19:1-2; 1 Kings 21:6-16), or possibly vivid examples he had seen in his own experience. Such a woman is described as having a heart which ensnares and nets, and hands which are bonds (the latter would fit Delilah admirably). That is, she plans her strategy to capture the unthinking male, and then binds him to her with her wiles and attractions (Proverbs 5:3-6; Proverbs 7:5-27). While he would certainly have included prostitutes in this description, his vision was probably wider as we have suggested. He was thinking of all women who led men astray. He had no doubt seen in court what such women could do through their scheming. (We must remember in fairness that in those days any woman who wanted to achieve anything - although there were notable but rare exceptions - had to do it through a man and therefore had to scheme).
‘The one who pleases God will escape from her, but the sinner will be taken by her.' The writer never ceases to express his admiration for the truly godly. For ‘the ‘one who pleases God' compare Ecclesiastes 2:26. Indeed in the end he seems to give the indication that he finally became one of them. The one who pleases God is the one who has a living relationship with God, and is committed to the covenant. He will escape because his mind is set to do good and will not have any truck with such women's scheming. His obedience to God's commandments will prevent him from being led astray. But the sinner, who is more casual with God's commandments, will fall into her web.
“Behold, this have I found,” says the preacher, “putting one thing to another to find out the reason of things, which in myself I am still trying to understand, but have not found, I have found one man among a thousand, but I have not found a woman among all those.”
He concludes this section by admitting that he has still not found the reason behind things, something which he is still striving for. But one thing he has discovered in his striving is the rarity of a good man. Such a man is ‘one among a thousand'. But all the women he had come across, he adds, could not be included as such. This was in fact not really surprising. He met his harem, who were all scheming against each other, and striving to be his favourite. He met the wives of courtiers, who were all doing the same with their men, and scheming for their advancement. He saw the prostitutes on the streets. But when the godly woman went out she would avoid drawing attention to herself, and would usually be safely at home out of men's gaze. The last thing that such women would want was contact with the court. So he was judging only on the basis of those women that he had come across, which had given him a bad opinion of women. It did not refer to all women.
“Behold this only have I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many inventions.”
This is his final comment. We have already seen earlier his awareness of the creation narratives (Ecclesiastes 6:10-12; Ecclesiastes 2:5; Ecclesiastes 3:11; Ecclesiastes 3:19). Thus his observations and reading have brought him to the conclusion that man was made upright but that men have since gone in all directions morally (the passage is emphasising morality), inventing different ways to enhance themselves and to secure their own situations, which has resulted in their present sinfulness.
So we can see that his knowledge of God's ways is growing apace. God made man upright. Blessing comes to the one who pleases God (Ecclesiastes 2:26). He has given men a sense of everlastingness (Ecclesiastes 3:11). He will bring to account those who do evil (Ecclesiastes 3:17; Ecclesiastes 5:8). He watches over the godly who look to Him, worshipping truly (Ecclesiastes 5:1-2), waiting on Him and absorbing His everlastingness (Ecclesiastes 3:11). Those who live sober lives before Him (Ecclesiastes 3:12; Ecclesiastes 5:18) receive the wisdom and joy which He gives to His own in response to the fact that they are His (Ecclesiastes 2:26; Ecclesiastes 5:18-20).
These in their turn fear Him, living lives of trust, and obedience to the covenant that God has made with Israel, with each man acknowledging and loving God with all his heart (Deuteronomy 6:4-6). While not being mentioned the covenant is assumed, for each man's allotment and portion, which the godly enjoy (Ecclesiastes 5:18-19), actually came from the covenant with God. The Preacher has spoken of the ‘one in a thousand' (Ecclesiastes 7:27), and he has these people in mind. Thus he is very much aware of the everlasting God at work, both in creation, in judgment, in revealing His everlastingness, and in His own, (those within Israel who are the true Israel, and men everywhere who will truly seek the living God).