Your Bible question was:
> > Question - While Solomon was given wisdom from God, Solomon refused to
> > obey God and the Kingdom and blessings were taken from him.  The bottom
> > line appears to be that Solomon lacks wisdom.  How much can we trust his
> > teachings in the BOOK OF ECCLESIASTES (I am assuming that he is the
> > author)?

Even a wise man can become a fool.  God did indeed bless Solomon with
tremendous wisdom (1 Kings 3), yet he did not always apply his wisdom toward
godliness (1 Kings 11:1-13).  The blessing of wisdom God gave to Solomon did
not exempt him from sin and the exercise of free will.  Solomon still had to
choose to do what was right in the sight of God.  Sadly, some of his choices
led to the deterioration of his reign and kingdom.

If the book of Ecclesiastes was only the product of man (be it Solomon or
another), then we should not give it any more credence than any other book
produced by man.  I affirm that Ecclesiastes was inspired by God, that
Solomon was directed to write it by the power of God (cf. Zech. 7:12 for a
description of this process; also 2 Pet. 1:21).  So, the confidence we place
in the book of Ecclesiastes is in God, not Solomon.

As for the book itself, it proposes to be a consideration of "life under the
sun", that is, life on this earth and that which brings lasting satisfaction
and real purpose to life.  It does this by exploring life from a human
standpoint (chapters 1-6) and explaining life from the divine standpoint
(chapters 7-12).

Solomon concludes his analysis of life on earth in Eccl. 12:13:  "Let us
hear the conclusion of the whole matter:  Fear God and keep His
commandments, For this is man's all" (the whole duty of man).  When Solomon
did fear God and obey His commandments he and his kingdom was blessed.  When
he failed to do so, he and his kingdom suffered.

So, wisdom becomes a good thing when used to fear God and obey Him.
Otherwise, our wisdom becomes only a "wisdom of this world."

I hope I have gotten to the point of your question.  If you have any other
questions or comments feel free to reply.

Sincerely,
Joe Price

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Joe R Price
joe@bibleanswer.com

Bible Answers
http://www.bibleanswer.com

Mt. Baker church of Christ
http://www.bibleanswer.com/mtbaker
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