Is the BIBLe Against Higher Learning?

Solomon was the wisest man who ever lived. As a great leader and King God granted him the privilege of asking for anything that he wanted. Solomon did not ask for riches; he asked for wisdom to lead God’s people. As the Bible records, God did grant him much wisdom, but He also granted him magnificent wealth.

Ecclesiastes, Proverbs and Song of Solomon are testimony to Solomon’s ability to use his discretion to make astute judgments and deliver many wise sayings. But my piece today deals with an excerpt from one of his writings:

Ecclesiastes 12:12

“Of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.”

This is the man who asked for wisdom, set himself to study all manner of learnings, yet he shares with us that much learning wearies the mind. It seems like an about turn. Well, actually it is not.

Solomon’s reference to “much learning” is not a criticism of someone spending large amounts of time in God’s word to expand one’s knowledge of Christ and a fuller understanding of God’s purpose for one’s life, or even a person pursuing higher education. He was actually speaking about the uselessness of having much without Jesus in the mix.

How do I know this to be true? Solomon outlined all that he acquired to bring him happiness. It included gardens, orchards, great works of art, male servants, female servants, vineyards, pools, silver, gold, music bands, and the list goes on and on. He even said:

“Whatsoever my eyes desired I kept not from them…”

But at the end of his acquisitions, what he thought would bring him so much joy, led to “vanity and vexation of spirit”. He kept acquiring more and more possessions, but the end feeling was the same: “vanity and vexation of spirit”. They were end in themselves. Once he got the material goods, he soon realized all too well that the joy they brought him was temporary, so very fleeting.

At the end of his treatise, what did he conclude?

Ecclesiastes 12: 13-14 (NKJ):

“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments; for this is the whole duty of man.

For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.”

Solomon recognized that as much education and learning and material assets that one could obtain, serving God must be a person’s priority, otherwise, everything else is “vanity and vexation of spirit”. The whole of man’s life must be reverence and obedience to god, for to Him at last one must give full account.