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Renewing Your Mind
Ecclesiastes, Job, and the Song of Solomon
00:26:26
The best source of wisdom is the mind of God revealed in His Word. Today, R.C. Sproul explores how three of the Bible’s Wisdom Books train God’s people to live meaningfully, love beautifully, and suffer faithfully in this world. Request What Is...
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R.C. Sproul
The best source of wisdom is the mind of God, and the wisdom literature is given to us that we might live, that we know how to endure, that we know how to cope, that we know how to behave.
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Nathan W. Bingham
Where do you turn to for wisdom? Some people would counsel you to learn from your experience. Others would direct you to a best sellers Listen but as we've seen all week, the best wisdom is the wisdom of God. Today, on this Friday edition of Renewing youg Mind, we complete a week with RC Sproul in the wisdom literature of the Old Testament. And to end this study, he provides an introduction to the books of Ecclesiastes, Job, and the Song of Solomon. You'll want to stay with us as Dr. Sproul shares the text of Scripture that the Lord used to convert him, and he believes he may be the only individual ever to be saved through that verse. Before you hear today's message, let me remind you that until midnight you can request lifetime access to this series and R.C. sproul's title, what is Wisdom? When you respond@renewingyourmind.org with a donation. Thank you for supporting this daily outreach before this offer ends at midnight. Beginning with Ecclesiastes, here's Dr. Sproul on more Old Testament wisdom.
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R.C. Sproul
In our brief introduction to the wisdom literature, we've looked at the proverbs, we've looked at the form of parallelism that is used so frequently in the Bible, and we've looked briefly at the Book of Psalms. And obviously in this little brief study of wisdom literature, we're skating over the surface, painting the broad brush. And I want to speak now about the other three books that are generally classified under the heading of wisdom literature of the Old Testament. And those books include the Book of Ecclesiastes, the Song of Solomon, and the Book of Job. Now, obviously we don't have time to give you a complete overview of all three of those books in this session, but let me just give a slightest little bit of introduction to them. I have often said that I am convinced that I'm the only person in the history of the Christian Christian Church that was converted to Christ by one particular verse in the Old Testament. And it's found in the Book of Ecclesiastes in the 11th chapter. We read in chapter 11 of Ecclesiastes, verse 3b. And if a tree falls to the south or the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it shall lie. Like I said, I'm sure I'm the only person in all of history that was led to Christ through that verse. But that really was the verse that awakened me and quickened me to become a Christian. I happened to be in a conversation with a man who was a Christian. And what we were discussing was wisdom. And I was coming to him from the perspective of a skeptic. I was at that time in my life going through a period of melancholy, a period of depression that was generated by a sense of the futility of my life and of human existence. And, of course, this is what led him to talk to me in terms of the book of Ecclesiastes. Because, you know the refrain that is found in the book of Ecclesiastes. Vanity of vanity. All is vanity. Vanity not in the sense of pride, but vanity in the sense of futility. And so the question that is being addressed in the book of Ecclesiastes Is the question of the apparent futility of human existence. That was not uncommon in the ancient world. For there to be writings of literature among the nations that explored that most basic of all questions. Is there any meaning or purpose to my life and to my existence? And, of course, the author of Ecclesiastes looks at all of those points of passion and of frustration and of skepticism that assault us in our daily lives. Well, while I was having this conversation with this man. And he was talking to me from the book of Ecclesiastes, he just quoted that verse, the part where the tree falls. There it lies. And it was like a sudden epiphany for me. It was an epiphany. The scales from my eyes came off. And I saw myself as a tree that had fallen, that was lying on the floor of the forest, absolutely inert, producing nothing in a state of rottenness and decay. Paralyzed, unable to reroute itself and to bring forth fruit. I mean, it was like my whole life went before me. And I saw myself as a dead, rotting tree on the floor of the forest. And God spoke to me through that text. Now, maybe I'll find out in heaven that that text was used to somebody else in a similar fashion. But of course, I will never forget it. Because I was in that position of despair. That is addressed with the deepest words of divine wisdom that is found in the book of Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes is a difficult book. It's not an easy book. I've done a whole series of lectures on that book. And I hope that in the future in this class. We'll be able to have a detailed study of the book of Ecclesiastes. But just let me mention it to you in Passing that here is an early form of apologetics in the sense of reply and an answer to the questions, the existential questions that are raised by skeptics and enemies of the Christian faith. Now, the next book I want to mention today is sometimes called the Canticle, or more popularly known as the Song of Songs or the Song of Solomon. I think you're familiar with it because of the rich imagery of love and of romance that is found in it. Take chapter four, for example, of the Song of Solomon. We read this. Behold, you are fair, my love. Behold, you are fair. You have dove's eyes behind your veil. Your hair is like a flock of goats going down from Mount Gilead. Now, today, if I said to a sweet young lady, your hair reminds me of a flock of goats, I don't think that she would be very much oppressed. But in the ancient days, that kind of imagery, the vision of seeing these gorgeous creatures, black goats, particularly, descending one of the green mountainsides there in the area, it was a gorgeous sight to these people. And they would see somebody with beautiful flowing black hair, rich, deep black, like the color of these goats. They would say, your hair reminds me as a flock of goats moving down the slopes of Gilead. That was a compliment. It wasn't an insult. Your teeth are like a flock of shorn sheep. Again, that meant that they looked fresh and clean and even which have come up from the washing, every one of which bears twins. That's perfect set of. Isn't that an interesting way to. The twins that are born in your mouth with the perfect balance of your teeth. None is barren among them. You don't have a gap there between your two front teeth. Your lips are like a strand of scarlet, and your mouth is lovely. Your temples behind your veil are like a piece of pomegranate. Your neck is like the tower of David built for an armory on which hang a thousand bucklers, all shields of mighty men. Your breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle, which feed among the lilies. You are all fair, my love, and there is no spot in you. Earlier, the writer of the song in chapter two had used this language. I am the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valleys, and like a lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters. Like an apple tree among the trees of the woods, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down in his shade with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. Now do you see how vivid and graphic are the images of love that are used in the song? Of song. No love song in all of history has ever transcended the beauty of this canticle. Now, one of the strange things about this book in church history is that it became a tradition in the Western Church to interpret the book of the Song of Solomon as an allegory of the Church's love for Christ and Christ's love for the Church. And there were some reasons for that. And the reason, the chief reason, of course, is that so much of the imagery of the Book of Song of Solomon is sensuous in its content. It's not just about romantic love. There is an element of the erotic that is contained within it. These are two people who are in love and are looking forward to marriage and to the sexual dimension of marriage. Marriage as well. And so the Church was kind of embarrassed by the presence of this book in the canon of Sacred Scripture and said, well, you know, we can't take it literally, obviously. It has to be some kind of symbolic presentation of a kind of love that is absolutely pure and absolutely holy. The kind of love that we can only find in the relationship between Christ and his Church. Now, I don't know anything in Sacred Scripture that would indicate that the intent and the purpose of the writing of the Book of Song of Solomon was to be an allegorical expression of the love of Christ for his church or the love of the Church for Christ. Now, don't get me wrong. I think it's certainly suitable to illustrate the purity of love that Christ has for the Church and that the Church should have for Christ the bride and the bridegroom. And we can certainly apply it illustratively to that relationship. But I'm just guessing now as to what the original intent was, and I set this for you to think about. If this language is in itself unsuitable to express a godly relationship between human beings, it would be even more unsuitable to apply it to a relationship between Christ and the Church. Do you get the point? Why can't we read this for what it was originally? A spirit inspired expression of love between a man and a woman, between a bride and her groom, A love that is not to be ashamed. There is nothing wrong with being in love. There's nothing wrong with extolling the beauty of our wives or of our husbands. I mean, is there anything wrong with a bridegroom being attracted to his bride or even to have a physical desire? What is prohibited in Scripture is the exercise of that physical desire outside of the covenant context of marriage. But the attraction itself is part of what brings them together in the first place, part of what they find so lovely with each other. And I think that there is so much wrong with the romance that we experience in our own culture that the answer to that is not to flee into a monastery and to deny the reality of the sensuous attraction between the sexes or the erotic element of marriage, but rather to understand it in a way that is pleasing to God. And so, if you want to know what real love is, then spend some time in the Song of Solomon. It is such a magnificent expression of romantic love. Now, the other book that was usually included in the category of wisdom literature is the Book of Job. And in one sense, Job is in a class by itself. First of all, one thing that's often unknown among us is the level of literary majesty that is found in the Book of Job. The vocabulary itself is so rich that to this day, there are many words found in the Book of Job that are only found in the Book of Job in the Old Testament, and that the best Hebrew scholars in the world today are still not exactly sure how to render them into English. The vocabulary itself is so vivid and rich, it is, in a sense, part of poetic literature. But there are, as I said before, different kinds of poems. There are brief poems, there are sonnets, and there are also epic poems that would take an awful long time to read, like the Iliad, for example. What we find in the Book of Job is a lengthy, protracted drama, a drama that is set in patriarchal times. And there are very important characters in this drama. And if there ever was such a thing as a morality play, this is it, because there is a moral to this story. The drama takes place at the beginning, where the opening scene is in heaven and a contest is about to ensue because a challenge is brought before God by Satan. And Satan is one of the leading characters in this drama. Satan is coming into the presence of God to mock him and to say, God, look at this earth that you made. Look at these people down there. I have them all in my pocket. They march to my drumbeat. They don't pay any attention to you. They're all with me. They're all wicked. They're all corrupt, and so on. And God stops Satan in his tracks and says, wait a minute. Have you considered my servant Job? And now Satan continues to mock God. He said, job, your servant Job. Does Job serve God for not. Don't point to Job, look at him. You've made him the wealthiest man in all the world. He has a wonderful family. All his children love him. He has money without end. And you've built a hedge around him. He's perfect health, perfect. He's fame and fortune. Everything that any human being would ever want, you've given to him. Certainly God. He's on your side. Why shouldn't he be on your side? Won't you let me at him? You let me take away those things that you've given him, and I'll show you how fast Job will curse you. And so the challenge is thrown at the feet of God. And God says, all right, have Adam, but you can't touch him. You can't take his life. And then what ensues is this story of untold agony and torture and suffering where first Job's livestocker is stolen by rustlers and his family perishes and everything that was important to his life is taken away. And then finally he is smitten in his body with these horrible sores and boils. And he goes and he sits on a dung heap, and he's got these shards, and he's rubbing them and scraping his own skin, and he's in abject misery. And while he's there, of course, in the midst of all of this drama, his friends come to console him. And you know the story of Job's friends. They all come. Poor Job, you must have done something really bad for God to visit you with this kind of pain and torture and suffering. Job said, I don't know what I've done. But the comfort and consolation is mixed with judgment and arrogance and error. They've made the fatal assumption this book is addressing, that every person's suffering is in direct proportion to their sin. And we know that Job was much more upright, comparatively speaking, than any of his friends. And yet he is suffering far more than his friends. And the question that is being addressed here is the question that is found throughout the wisdom literature. Why do the wicked prosper and the righteous suffer? And there's no real adequate answer provided by Job's friends, no real consolation. And so finally, his wife comes, the closest person in all the world. She can't stand to see her husband enduring such shame and enduring such pain. And she gives her advice to Job. And what's her advice, Job? Curse God and die. He's already cursed himself. He said, cursed is the day that I was born. Cursed is the woman that brought me into this world. I'd be far better off never to have lived and to have to endure this pain. And his wife is saying, hey, Job, you're not going to get any relief from this, just cursing yourself. And cursing the circumstances, cursing the situation. If you want to die, if you want relief, you've got to curse God. And he'll put an end to this. Do yourself a favor. Nice advice from your wife, huh? Curse God and die. What does Job say? Though he slay me, yet will I serve him. Though he slay me, yet will I trust him? Job has no understanding whatsoever about why he is brought into this terrible torment. But the only hope he has in all of the world to hang onto is his trust in God himself. And you know, then he turns his fist toward heaven. He demands a response from God. He asks all the theological questions, and God finally appears to him. And God never answers his questions. Instead, he interrogates Job. Hey, Job, where were you when I set the Pleiades? Can you bend the bow of Orion? Can you feed the lion and his hunger? Can you send the bird south in winter? You know, can you draw out the Leviathan with a six pound test line? I can. It's like God just overwhelms Job with his power and with his majesty. And yet, in that there is an answer. And the answer is God himself. God doesn't tell Job why he suffers, but he says, here I am, Job. Look at me. Learn of me. Know who I am. That's all you need to know. If you know who I am, you can trust me, even now. And Job said, I will put my hand on my mouth and speak no more. I repent in dust and ashes, and his heart surrenders, entrust to God when there's no reason other than the manifestation of God himself. And then the story ends with Job receiving the blessing far and above what he ever had before. And in this great piece of wisdom, the righteousness of God is vindicated and the hope of the world remains intact. Let me conclude this brief time of introduction to the wisdom literature to again mention to you how precious and valuable authentic wisdom is and how few there are who find it. We say sometimes that experience is the best teacher. And I don't deny that we learn a lot of our earthly wisdom through experience, often through making mistakes. But that's not the best source of wisdom. The best source of wisdom is the mind of God. And the wisdom literature is given to us that we might live, that we know how to endure, that we know how to cope, that we know how to behave, that we know how to respond to the exigencies that occur in our human existence. Because this is a vale of tears, beloved, and pain and suffering comes to every life. And if it hasn't already come to yours, be sure that it will. And when it comes, do we act like fools or do we search for the wisdom of God? He's given us a present, a gift of the substance of his wisdom in these books called wisdom literature.
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Nathan W. Bingham
What a gift that is, and how thankful we should be to live in a time with abundant access to the Word of God, the wisdom literature of the Bible, and faithful teachers to help us rightly interpret Scripture. I'm Nathan W. Bingham and this is the Friday edition of Renewing youg Mind. You can add this resource from RC Sproul that introduces you to wisdom the book of Proverbs, the Psalms, Ecclesiastes, Job and the Song of Solomon to your digital library when you give a donation at renewingyourmind.org or when you call us at 800-435-4343. Your support enables the faithful teaching of God's wisdom from His Word to be translated and made available in a growing list of global languages. You can find these languages if you scroll to the bottom of ligonier.org and your support today helps expand that effort. To thank you, this series on wisdom will be yours for life in the free Ligonier app. Plus we'll send you the what is Biblical Wisdom? Title by Dr. R.C. sproul. This means whether you prefer to listen or read, there is a resource here for you. Use the link in the podcast show notes, visit renewingyourmind.org or request the Global digital offer at renewingyourmind.org global but today is the final day, so be quick. Next week W. Robert Godfrey will be joining us and you'll hear messages from a brand new teaching series in the Gospel of Mark. So join us beginning Monday here on Renewing youg Mind.
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R.C. Sproul
Sam.