Ecclesiastes 7:7 Commentary and Bible Study

Solomon continues to teach us how to approach God, and next he warns us that if we are to seek and find the Lord and the wisdom that comes from above, we will have to face various kinds of opposition and overcome various obstacles. Satan will not allow us to escape his dominion without trying to keep hold of us, and he has different ways of trying to stop us coming to salvation. Two opposite hindrances are described in this verse, the one comes with evident hostility, the second with apparent friendliness. The world’s first approach is to use straightforward coercion and threats towards the seeker. It frightens him with its disapproval, with its rejection and scorn, and maybe even with physical persecution. If you persist in going down this path, it warns him, you are going to run into all sort of trouble. There is a cost to following Christ and you had better be prepared to pay it. The Lord Jesus said, ‘Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.’ (Luke 12:4-5). We should fear who it is appropriate to fear. To fear the world will conform us to the world, a world which is in open rebellion against God, and a world will only last a short time before eternity comes. It is in eternity that we will see who it is right to fear. Oppression – a word which comes from the Hebrew ‘to press’ – will turn a man who has made a certain amount of progress and followed the advice of verses 1-6 into a mad man. Solomon calls him a mad man because his former good intentions are abandoned due to oppression and he forgets the things that the Spirit of God has shown him; he forgets the eternal danger that his soul faces and again settles down to life in this world as if he could remain here forever. What is this but a form of madness, for we would certainly call a man mad who, having discovered that his house was on fire, went back to bed. But then there is another danger which is the opposite of the first but has the same effect. If the devil cannot intimidate us through threats, he will try to ensnare us through flattery. He is especially mindful of those who are hear the gospel and are beginning to take an interest in it, as Christ tells us, ‘When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart … Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful’ (Matthew 13:19, 22). The world now comes to us with sweet tones, reminding us of its pleasures and addressing us with a flattering tongue. It comes with subtlety to offer us a bribe: if you will return to me then I will give you all these things, I have the power to make you happy in ways that you have never yet dreamed of. Look how much you stand to lose if you persist in following this religion. It demands too much of you and what will it give you in return? This is the nature of the gift that Solomon has in mind and warns us against.