Uncommon Fate

DEVOTION

ECCLESIASTES

UNCOMMON FATE

Eccl 2:12-16

12 Then I turned my thoughts to consider wisdom, and also madness and folly. What more can the king's successor do than what has already been done? 13 I saw that wisdom is better than folly, just as light is better than darkness. 14 The wise man has eyes in his head, while the fool walks in the darkness; but I came to realize that the same fate overtakes them both.

15 Then I thought in my heart, "The fate of the fool will overtake me also. What then do I gain by being wise?" I said in my heart, "This too is meaningless." 16 For the wise man, like the fool, will not be long remembered; in days to come both will be forgotten. Like the fool, the wise man too must die!

NIV

It would seem the idea is that there are two basic types of people in the world, the wise and the foolish Those who display wisdom and apply it for their gain and those who simply do nothing but have fun, searching out every pleasure they can are both in the same condition, mortal. However, Solomon considered that living with wisdom was far superior to living in madness and folly. He still has all the desires of his heart. We have already seen how he built great homes, stored up more wealth then anyone and could have whatever he wanted, plus the company of as many women as he wanted. It is doubtful those who engaged in madness and folly had anything like Solomon. It than is a lesson we should take to heart. Solomon likens wisdom as to walking in the light compared to the fool who walks in the dark. Because we walk in the light then would it mean we should be the wise and built ourselves many homes, store up much silver and gold and have as many woman as we want? Alas, that is not the case. We have so much scripture to tell us just the opposite. The point Solomon is making is that both he and the fool have the same fate, death. He says the fate of the fool will overtake him as well so what is the use of being wise. Why bother gaining wisdom and all that it encompasses when death is at the end of it all. The fool comes to the same end. In the following verses we will soon get to and we will see his further thoughts regarding this issue. So then what are we to learn here? Looking ahead we have to include his thoughts or we might become despondent, thinking that life is useless because it ends in death. What is the different in how we live, we all die anyway. Live for today and enjoy all we can for tomorrow we die, in a manner of speaking. Solomon is coming to the conclusion it is all about living for self or God which makes the difference. Life without God is meaningless, no matter living in wisdom or foolishness. When we consider those two lifestyles, we would have to conclude even the wisest of us do foolish things and the most foolish of us might well do a wise thing from time to time. Solomon is also thinking about a legacy. He thinks that no matter being wise or foolish, they both will not be long remembered. They both will die and be forgotten. It sure does not seem that way for Solomon, for he is being remembered to all generations. His name is written down and his exploits are recorded for all of time. However that cannot be said for most of us. We remember some of the exploits of our parents, but we do not recount them all to our children and they do not recount all we told them about our parents to their children and eventually, they are just a name in the family tree which even fades into the distant past and is no longer remembered. In days past we had those old family pictures to keep some of the past family memories, but today in this digital age, those picture no longer exist and someday that digital image simply goes away with no recount of them or who they were of. This too is meaningless. For our fate is to fade away into the dust. Except we have a great hope in Christ, and we will not fade away, we will fly away. We’ll fly away Oh, glory we’ll fly away. Some bright morning when this life is over, we’ll fly away to the home in God’s celestial shore, we’ll fly away. We’ll fly away, Oh glory, we’ll fly away in the morning. When we die, Hallelujah by and by, we’ll fly away.