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Ecclesiastes 7:15 -What did Solomon just say?

Good morning fellow pilgrims,

Well here it is Sunday evening and I realized that I didn't finish posting this yesterday.  This passage got my interest because of the "overly righteous" and "overly wicked" statements. Hope you are encouraged by the process of working through similar passages.

Blessings

Jeff

This is one of those "what does he mean" passages.  Well it is pretty clear what Solomon is saying, but it does not seem to fit in with other scripture very well.  In the Law, God tells Israel to be holy because He is holy.  Doesn't seem that is possible to be "overly righteous" if the standard is God's righteousness.  Likewise, since Adam was judged after one transgression, what is "overly wicked"?  So we need discernment.

One commentator draws a parallel with 1Cor 15:32-33

What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” 33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”   Paul states the scoffer's objection to morals in 32.  The answer to the objection is v33.  In Ecclesiastes, v16 is the objection and v17 is the answer.

Vain life is life without considering God.  Purely human terms.

overly righteous is taken to be self-righteousness.  If the reason for being good is to gain long physical life, then being too harsh on the body may actually be harmful.  This is essentially v32.  If we are just going to die tomorrow, a healthy diet is of no use.

overly wicked - used to show the contrast with overly righteous.  To engage in riotous excess because you might die tomorrow is a good way to actually die tomorrow,  Solomon is not advocating for a little sin now and then.  He is advocating against going crazy in sin.

So one of the things to learn from passages like this is not to take any passage in isolation from other scripture.  Scripture does not contradict itself.  Scripture interprets scripture.  We would never take 1 Cor 15:32b as Paul's actual advice for life.

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