Or describe proverbs as you understand them. Wise sayings, that's good, yeah. Anybody else? Okay, yeah, practical, something practical, something you can use to apply to your life, right? Anybody else? We're almost to the definition I'm thinking of, or at least, you know, at least most of it. okay wisdom of the lord yeah so uh... will start with this definition and i think it'll it'll service as far as we needed to go a pithy self-contained nugget of wisdom uh... that's that's what we're going to mention most of those things so there's good and bad in this right so because it's pithy and because it's self-contained you can read just one parallelism in the book of Proverbs and you can probably get something valuable out of it. You can reach up that tree and grab some sort of fruit out of just that little two-line portion in Proverbs. But the bad in that is that it's easy to miss the forest because you've got something valuable out of the one tree. So a lot of what we're going to do today as we introduce our look into the Proverbs is we're going to try to study the forest a little bit so that We don't miss all that's in each proverb because we just picked it out of its context and because it's so easy to do that with those self-contained pithy sayings. So in two kind of topics, we're gonna study the forest this morning, namely Solomon, whose name is all over the book of Proverbs, And then we're going to talk about the structure a little bit. And just as Ryan has been taking us through interpretation in the last few weeks, we're going to try to build this context, not only to squeeze out all the fruit that's in each line of the book of Proverbs, but also so that we don't take one of those pithy sayings and go somewhere where we were never meant to go with it. That's how context helps us out here. So it all starts with Solomon, which means it all starts with David, which means, well, there's really no beginning until you get all the way back to Genesis 1. But we're going to start this morning with the promise to David. So, of course, a large part of who Solomon is and what we know about Solomon and why Solomon is important is because of the way that the Lord used him in fulfilling the Lord's promises to David. You can follow along up there on the screen or in your Bibles. I'm going to start here first with 2 Samuel 7. I'm going to start there in verse 2, but you'll remember after After David kind of settled into the Lord had caused some semblance of rest, where David wasn't constantly fighting his enemies, and the kingdom was starting to look like this glorious thing that Israel always was meant to be, David started to think, and he said, to Nathan, he's speaking to Nathan, see now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells inside of a tent curtain. And then Nathan said to the king, go, do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you. But it happened that night that the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying, Go and tell my servant David, thus says the Lord, Would you build a house for me to dwell in? For I have not had a house since the time I brought the children of Israel up from Egypt, even to this day. But I moved about in a tent and in a tabernacle. wherever i have moved about with all the children of israel have i ever spoken a word to anyone from the tribes of israel who i commanded to shepherd my people israel saying why have you not built me a house of cedar now therefore thus shall you say to my servant david thus says the lord of hosts i took you from the sheep fold from following the sheep to be ruler over my people Israel. And I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you, and I have made you a great name, like the name of great men who are on the earth. Moreover, I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and I will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own and move no more, nor shall the sons of wickedness oppress them any more. So, as much as Nathan affirms David's intentions to build a house for the Lord, the Lord is telling them to wait. Now, you also might remember, and I'm not going to go through all of the history here, but as David was dying, There was conflict about who would succeed. I don't know why I always forget the oldest brother's name. Absalom is the older one that tried to take over, and the rebellion was killed, and ultimately Absalom. But the next one, I'm going to have to look it up. The next oldest brother tried, as David was dying, to declare himself to be the successor. David had already promised Bathsheba that Solomon would be the successor, and he clarified his intentions here in 1 Kings 2. Again, you can follow along up on the screen or in your own Bible. 1 Kings 2. Now the days of David drew near that he should die, and he charged Solomon his son, saying, I go the way of all the earth. Be strong, therefore, and prove yourself a man. Keep the charge of the Lord your God to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, his commandments, his judgments, his testimonies, as it was written in the law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do. wherever you turn that the Lord may fulfill his word which he spoke concern concerning me saying if your sons take heed to their way and walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul he said you shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel and as I read that I realized that I stopped short on the last slide, because this is what the Lord had said to David. David Beck, 2 Samuel 7, verse 11. Since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel, and I've caused you to rest from all your enemies, also the Lord tells you that he will make a house. When your days are fulfilled and when you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seat after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. And if he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with blows of the sons of men. But my mercy shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. In your house, he's speaking to David, in your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever. So, at this point, there's rising hope. We, you know, it's hard to imagine how much of this Israel as a nation new, because this looks like a private conversation. Of course, this is not a photograph. There were no photographs in 900 BC. But you can imagine, right? This is David speaking to Bathsheba. We're presuming that the conversation between David and Solomon was at least semi-private, at least that it sounds private. We can't really be sure how much Israel understood about what the Lord has spoken to David, but either way, the promises from all the way from Genesis 12, which we'll turn to here in a moment, all the way through the promises that the Lord has just now given to David, we see a hope. We see Israel the way that the Lord had promised it to be coming into fruition. And what we see from Solomon, especially in the earlier parts of what we know about him, make this hope even greater. It's adding continually fuel to the fire here. And here's where we start to see where we get this idea of the wisdom of Solomon. I mean, even the world uses this phrase, right? The wisdom of Solomon is not something that was contained and hidden in this, you know, one part of the Old Testament of the Jewish people or of the Christian people. The world knows one way or the other about the wisdom of Solomon. And so we see that the first indication of this rising hope here in 1 Kings chapter 3 Where after Solomon has become king, the Lord has established his kingdom. Now we see Solomon and how he's understanding the promises that David passed along to him. 1 Kings 3, verse 3, And Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of his father David, except that he sacrificed and burned incense at the high places. Now the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place. Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. At Gibeon, the Lord appeared to Solomon and dreamed by night, and God said, Ask, what shall I give you? And Solomon said, You have shown great mercy to your servant David, my father, because he walked before you in truth, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with you. You have continued this great kindness for him, and you have given him a sum to sit on his throne as it is this day. Now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king instead of my father David, but I am a little child. I do not know how to go out or come in, and your servant is in the midst of your people whom you have chosen, a great people too numerous to be numbered or counted. Therefore, give to your servant an understanding heart to judge your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to judge this great people of yours? Now, of course, we see in verse 10, this speech pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked him this thing. Then God said to him, because you have asked this thing and not asked long life for yourself, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have asked the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice. Behold, I have done according to your word. See, I have given you a wise heart and an understanding heart so that there has not been anyone like you before you, nor shall any like arise after you. And I have also given you what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that there shall not be anyone like you among the kings all your days. So if you walk in my ways to keep my statutes and my commandments as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days. So if there wasn't a clear picture of hope before, and there was, it is even more so now. The Lord has made promises in commensurate or commensurate with promises he's made all the way in the past. He's promised David to establish his throne forever with a son if he would walk in his ways. And here we see Solomon walking in the ways of the Lord. and it only gets better. The hope of this flourishing kingdom is alive and thriving And of course, we're seeing now, publicly, we're seeing the Lord's promises come to pass. So even if Israel wasn't all the way on board with us thus far, they're starting to see the fruit here. As Solomon endeavors to do the thing that David wanted to do, but the Lord said to wait, which is build a house for the Lord. And we'll look here at 1 Kings chapter 6. Then the word of the Lord came to Solomon, saying, Concerning this temple which you are building, if you walk in my statutes, execute my judgments, keep all my commandments, and walk in them, then I will perform my word with you which I spoke to your father David, and I will dwell among the children of Israel, and I will not forsake the people of Israel. So now Solomon goes about constructing this temple. And this is the temple of temples. When we see all those pictures of the temple in the back of your Bibles, when we read all of the temple instructions, this is the thing that Solomon is after. Now when he completes it, There's a large section here in 1 Kings which talks about the day that they dedicated the temple. Solomon, as we picture it here, is standing before the temple and he speaks both to the Lord in prayer at length and he speaks to the people as well at length. And we see a little bit of that here in 1 Kings 8. Verse 10, And it came to pass, when the priests came out of the holy place, the cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud. For the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord. Now, let's not miss this here. The glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord. Anybody remember or want to take a stab at the last time the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord prior to roughly 940, 950 BC? All the way back, Numbers chapter 20, 500 years. the people of Israel who were supposed to be carrying around the Ark of the Covenant, setting up the tabernacle, both purifying in a cleansing sense and purifying in the holiness sense, purifying the land around that tabernacle. so that the Lord in physical presence, and this is important to remember, there is at least two senses of the word when we say the glory of the Lord, right? In some instances we hear language like, the glory of the Lord will be known over all the earth. And in this sense we're speaking of fame, understanding, reverence, we see power, we see in the scriptures that kind of language. In this sense, when we're saying the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord, we're speaking of a, and in some sense tangible, if not visible, perhaps perceived by other senses as well, but those were the two main ones that we see. Everyone knew that the Lord was there in this place, and it had not been so for 500 years. So this is as good of a picture as we can perceive, really, of the Lord's initial plan, where the people of Israel would be in the land of Israel, where the land around the temple or the tabernacle would be cleansed and purified by the priests, so that the Lord would come and commune with them, and they could enjoy nearness. to the transcendent God. And here we are. If there wasn't rising hope already before, now all those people in that rendition there sense what's going on. They know that the Lord is continuing to fulfill His promises as He always had before and as He is continuing to do through David. And the word here Comes, let me read it to you again here so we don't miss it. Oh, it's right there, the last one. Forever. Forever was a thematic word when the Lord spoke to David. I will establish a son and he will reign over Israel forever. And now, The Lord said he would dwell in the dark cloud. Solomon has surely built you an exalted house and a place for the Lord to endure or to commune forever. So as Solomon keeps speaking both to the Lord and to the crowd on this day where he dedicated the temple, we get a couple more things here that we don't want to miss about Solomon. 1 Kings chapter 8. As Solomon continued to pray and preach in front of the temple, he says this, chapter 8, verse 56, Blessed be the Lord who has given rest to his people Israel according to all that he had promised. There has not failed one word of all his good promises which he promised through his servant Moses, May the Lord our God be with us as he was with our fathers. May he not leave us or forsake us, that he may incline our hearts to himself, to walk in his ways, to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments which he commanded our fathers. And may these words of mine, with which I have made supplication before the Lord, be near the Lord our God, day and night, that He may maintain the cause of His servant and the cause of His people Israel, as each day may require." Here's the purpose. That all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God. This is that other sense of the glory of the Lord. There is no other. Let your heart, therefore, be loyal to the Lord our God, to walk in His statutes and His commandments. Let's stop for a moment and consider these promises that Solomon just cited all the way through the history of the peoples of Israel. Most of this will be familiar to you all. Genesis chapter 12 verses 1 through 3. Now the Lord told Abram, go out of your country from your family to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and curse him who curses you." So we see land, we see, well we don't see seed in this passage particularly of course we see when he says I will make you a great nation that assumes a lot of folks and when the Lord reiterates this covenant in chapter 15 and 17 he makes it more obvious that Abraham will have a lot of seed so we see land we see seed we see blessing and then we see this purpose all the way back in Genesis 12 that Solomon just spoke about to be a blessing not just within Israel but without Israel as well. Then if we continue we see this purpose again more clearly when Moses talks about these promises in Deuteronomy chapter 4. I'll read it there with you. Surely I have taught you that you should act according to them in the land to which you go to possess. There's the land. Therefore be careful to observe them for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes, and they will say, surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people, for what great nation is there that has a God so near to it, right? As the Lord our God is to us, for whatever reason we may call upon him. So Israel's greatness was meant to point other nations toward the Lord's greatness. That's how he had set it up. So as Solomon started, Israel is continuing to rise up in hope that now is the time. The Lord is doing what he had always promised to do. He was going to make them the nation that he always had intended. He was going to be near to them. And here it was, in the greatness of Solomon, that hope that the Lord was doing it now. And if you know your own heart, as I know mine, and if you know the history of Israel in any sense, you get the nagging feeling that this isn't going to last, that the forever is the thing that is the most in question here. And of course, you're right. 1 Kings 11, verse 1, but Solomon loved many foreign women. as well as the daughter of the pharaoh, which he had already married even early on, woman of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites, from the nation of whom the Lord had said to the children of Israel, you shall not intermarry with them, nor they with you. Surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods. For it was so when Solomon was old, that his wives did in fact do that. They turned his heart after other gods. And his heart was not loyal, as he had previously told the entire people to be loyal to the Lord. His heart was not loyal to the Lord his God, as was the heart of David. So as glorious as the rising hope of the forever king and the forever kingdom was, so was the intensity of Solomon's fall. Now the Lord, and honestly I'm sorry I don't remember exactly where this was, the Lord told Solomon that though the kingdom will fall, that it would happen after. The way that he said it was, I'm not going to give your kingdom, pass it on to your son in the line of David, but your servant will be the next king. And so, in some sense, the Lord was being merciful in his discipline to Solomon, in the sense that he did not make the kingdom come crashing down while Solomon was still alive. And so, and I'm not proposing that this is the purpose for the way that the Lord did this, but at least it makes sense. So we see Solomon in his old age with all of this wisdom and this experience about the blessings of the Lord and the discipline of the Lord, about seeing all these promises fulfilled to this pinnacle of greatness when the glory of the Lord filled the temple of the Lord and the people were dwelling near the Lord. The fall was Solomon's experience just as much as the rise. And with all that wisdom, he wrote some of it down. This, I hope, will be the shortest sermon you ever hear on the book of Ecclesiastes, because the depths of that book are deep, and there is much wisdom in there. It is one of the books in the Bible, to me, that hits the hardest. But let's just take a look at where Solomon is at, presumably at the end of his life when he had both received the ability to be wise and had experienced the glory of instituting that wisdom, as well as the downfall of ignoring or going against that wisdom. Ecclesiastes runs through a number of things that are vanity, that are passing, that are not enduring, that are whisked away in a strong wind. The things that you cannot ground your life, the things that you cannot ground your hope, your satisfaction, your ultimate purpose upon. These are the things that Solomon identifies here in Ecclesiastes. Again, this is just a very quick list. The profit of one's labor is vanity because the profit passes away and the labor never ends. That's chapter one. Great wisdom, which the Lord had given him. Even great wisdom is vanity, because ultimately it doesn't work. The way he puts it, what is crooked cannot be made straight. Even with the wisdom of the Lord, you cannot fix things so that they stay fixed. Pleasure and wealth are vanity, because neither lasts. The wise and the fool, they have the same end. And this is, you sense greatly in Ecclesiastes. If I'm going to walk in wisdom with the Lord and obey his commandments, and then the wicked come along and they do none of that but receive the same things, at least in this life, what is it that is enduring? The wise and the fool have the same end. Work for work's sake. If you're a workaholic, this one should slap you in the face. Work for work's sake is vanity because the additional produce or the extra produce is just extra. Running your mouth to the Lord is vanity. That one's kind of self-critiquing there. Popularity, vanity because of course it passes away. worldly gain and honor are vanity, because they also fade away, and even unjust gain, chapter 6, which is still God's, has a judgment. And the way he puts it is that the Lord allows unjust gain, and then he intends to pass that gain along to the righteous. The wisest man among his peers, and probably, or arguably anyway, ever, because he received this wisdom from the Lord, has gone these ways. And in Ecclesiastes, he says, I went that way. It did not give me the satisfaction. It did not fulfill the purpose that the Lord has put in man for eternity. These things are vanity. And of course it's weighty and gloomy. There's not a lot of hope. in Ecclesiastes until right at the end, which we'll get to, so I don't want to give you the spoiler alert quite yet. But this is the man, this is the spot, this is the way, I think, part of the forest with which to look at each individual tree, which is a proverb. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Fools despise wisdom and instruction. That's Proverbs 1, 7. But as we turn to Proverbs here, we see Solomon's name right there in the first verse. Since we've talked about Solomon for a few minutes and we just have a few more minutes, we're going to finish up talking more about the structure of the book of Proverbs. Because just as it is true that there's at least a little bit of nugget in each one of those individual Proverbs, We as people who believe the Lord inspired the writer of Proverbs to put this down for posterity, that there was intention along the way, however that way may be, the Lord has intended not just that that line is in your Bible, but that book is in your Bible, and that testament is in your Bible. So, these are the sorts of questions we want to ask, and as safe and right as it is to read that first line in the book of Proverbs and say, the Proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel, okay, Solomon obviously wrote this book. That is right and good, and that is how you should read everything at face value until you have reason to think otherwise. I'm going to turn the path here, though, because in chapter 10, verse 1, we read, these are the Proverbs of Solomon, which raises the question, why the reintroduction? If this whole collection of Proverbs was all written by one hand, then why the reintroduction? We have something similar in chapter 22, verse 17. It says, incline your ear and hear the words of the wise. Of course, this raises the question, who are the wise? If the writer is referring to himself, which is Solomon, that doesn't seem to line up. Additionally, chapter 25, it says these proverbs are also proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied. So now we have to make room for at least one editor or copier or compiler or collector, however you want to frame the work that those men of Hezekiah did. And then we get to chapter 30. We have the words of Agur. And then in 31, the words of King Lemuel, which his mother taught him. And of course, there's not a whole lot of data about who these people are. So these are all questions that make us wonder, or at least should make us wonder, I would argue, about whether or not Solomon wrote this entire collection of Proverbs. Now, I hope this doesn't make you nervous in the sense that I'm trying to deconstruct the inspiration of the Lord's Word. I am not trying to do that. It is valuable to be comfortable with these questions, because however the Lord put it before us, it is the Lord's word nonetheless. And so, here's what I'm gonna argue, or I'm gonna propose, at least provisionally. I've studied this before, and I've studied it, of course, in preparation for this class, but as we go through the book of Proverbs, I'm gonna leave this to at least to the possibility of amending it. But here's what I think are the best arguments I could find to what's going on in the structure. It helps us answer those questions that I just raised on the previous couple slides there. And I think it ultimately gets us back to where we don't have to worry about who it is that is passing along this wisdom. And it brings all of those questions into conclusion here. So here's what I think is going on. Of course, I'm taking this from a number of different sources. I won't be able to cite them all. If you would like to talk to me about where I got these ideas, you are welcome to do so. But I just don't want to make it sound like they're my own. We have two collections. The older collection, chapter 10, verse 1 through 22, 16, and you'll remember that section started out with, these are the Proverbs of Solomon. And that's when the short two or three line Proverbs really kick in without a whole lot of interconnected or editorial comments amongst them. Chapter 10 verses chapter 22 verse 16 is pretty much all just proverbs all right in a row. The title of the book, chapter 1 verse 1, I propose was provided by the person who collected those proverbs in chapter 10 verse 22. The lengthy introduction between chapter 1 verse 2 and 9, 18, which would be the end of chapter 9, was just that, an introduction by that first collector. And then chapter 22 verse 17 through end of 24 is an appendix of wisdom, again, added or collected by that first So, between the very beginning of the book and the end of chapter 24, the Proverbs of Solomon, the ones that he wrote, at least, or the ones that were collected, are there in chapter 10 through 22. And then we have the introduction on the beginning, and we have the appendix at the end, and that gets us to chapter 25. which is where we read the men of Hezekiah did this work. Chapter 25 through 28 are the Proverbs of Solomon that those men of Hezekiah collected. And then we have two appendices that were added on by the men of Hezekiah there at the end. Sorry, three appendices if you divide chapter 31 into two sections. So again, I don't bring all this up to make your view of inspiration unstable. And you might be thinking, why is this important? I hope you're thinking that, because I should give you that. And here it is. I think it's the next slide. Here's why. Not every proverb is as easy as the next to take that little nugget out. Most of them, you can get a little bit of wisdom out of each proverb. Some of them are more difficult. Many of them are repeated. So this should start raising questions in our mind about what it is that the author was trying to do with the way that he wrote it, one, and the way that he organized it, two. Here's some examples. Proverbs 10.4 and Proverbs 12.8. This is a very common conclusion that we all come to. And it's actually, now that I'm thinking about it, it might be a little bit surprising that nobody brought this up when we defined them at the beginning. Because Proverbs aren't always true, right? When it says, train up your child in the fear and admonition of the Lord, how does it go? And he will not depart. Of course, that is not always true, right? So now we have to start wondering, well, what is the wisdom in there if it's not a, this is always true. Did I mix it, Billy? Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you raised your hand. Maybe that was Laura. I thought you were going to throw something at me. That's all right. So they're not always true. They're not timeless truths in the sense that there are never exceptions. And so here's one of the common problems with a proverb like 10.4 or 12.8. We read, a man will be commended according to his wisdom, but he who is of a perverse heart will be despised. And we think, man, I wish that were always true. I wish wisdom was always rewarded and perversity was always cursed, but that's just not the way the world works. And so we have to back up and ask bigger questions about what it is that Solomon's trying to pass on to us. Another kind of of discord that we have to sort out and I'm telling you again this is why the structure is important because the structure along with what we know about Solomon is part of the way this context is part of the way we can come to a resolution and a conclusion. about some of these problems with the individual verses. It says, When you sit down to eat with a ruler, consider carefully what is before you, and put a knife to your throat. If you are a man given to appetite, do not desire his delicacies, for they are deceptive food. As you see, there's a little bit more work to be done there before we figure out what we're supposed to do with that. And the context, both the structure and what we know about Solomon, who passed along this wisdom, are going to be an important piece in figuring that out. Here's, I think, the biggest reason to think about why the structure... Let me put it this way. I don't want you to stop trying to structure it or evaluating the one that I just proposed for you. I don't want that to be the end of it. And the reason it's important to think about the structure, and the reason we'll continue to do so in the next few weeks, is because in 1 Kings chapter 4, we read that Solomon spoke 3,000 proverbs, and his songs were 1,005. I'm sure in preparation for this class you went through the book of Proverbs and you counted them all to see how many there were. And you already know that the number is 513. But wherever the other 2487 went, why did the person or persons who collected this wisdom into Proverbs choose these 513? and not the other 2,487. Why, better said, why did the Lord inspire the posterity of these 513 and not the other 2487? This is a valuable question. And this helps not only to see what the Lord is doing, the forest, with the book of Proverbs, but also to make sure we don't go the wrong way with that slit your throat if you're sitting at a rich man's table. We kind of know that that's not the right way to go, but why not? Well, because we know based on the context and the structure and what Solomon was trying to pass along to us, we know that that's not where he was headed. And this is why it's important to continue to think about not only Solomon and where he was when he wrote down this wisdom, but also those men that came along and collected it and put an introduction to it and added an appendix to it. All of that that the Lord inspired those men to do is important to understanding the Lord's authorial intent. If there is any good news in the book of Ecclesiastes, I'm going to give you a couple slides about that. And here it is. Nothing is better for a man that he should eat and drink, and that his soul should enjoy good in his labor. This I also saw was from the hand of God. For who can eat or who can have enjoyment more than I? Of course, we've already thought about that. For God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man who is good in his sight, but to the sinner he gives the work. So you see, both the sinner and the righteous have the work, But to the sinner he gives the work of gathering and collecting that he may give to him who is good before God. This is also vanity and grasping for the wind. I know that nothing is better for them than to rejoice and to do good in their lives, and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all of his labor. It is the gift of God. And then the capstone comment at the very end of Ecclesiastes, let us hear the conclusion of this whole matter. After all of the hopelessness and vanity and all of those other things, not only that Solomon has described, but that we know he has lived and he has experienced, he concludes the whole matter. He says, fear God and keep his commandments for this is man's all. Now, I would argue that if we went through that list, and I'll try to do it from memory, worldly pleasure. Worldly pleasure is not necessarily bad. Enjoying the fruits of your labor is not necessarily bad. as we just saw, is both for the righteous and the wicked. It is not necessarily bad. Riches are not necessarily bad. Wisdom, all those lists, all that list of those things that Solomon called vanity, are not vanity because of what those things are in and of themselves, but rather it is the use of those towards something that takes you outside of what the Lord meant those things for. Whether it's work, whether it's enjoying the produce or the wisdom, if those things are employed in a wise way, the way that the Lord has commanded, those things do bring joy, as we just saw. Enjoying the fruit of your labor is something that is a gift of God. And so the and, I think, is the important word here. Fear God. and keep his commandments. Take what the Lord has given, whether that's produce or work itself or wisdom, and keep his commandments. And what comes of those is the gift of the Lord. And of course, again, if you know your heart, as I know my heart, the moment you turn and seek after something valuable that you see as valuable outside of what the Lord calls valuable, you are immediately off track, and even those things that the Lord has given you to produce that gift are wicked. And so here's where Solomon is at at the end of Ecclesiastes. And I think this is a good way to think about, in conclusion, the very beginning of the Proverbs. Because it's not just that you have to remember both to fear the Lord and to keep his commandments, but that understanding that his commandments, wisdom to follow his commandments, only comes after. So here he joins fear of God and obedience. And as we start Proverbs, we see that they're not just joined, but one comes before the other, right? The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. So all of this context to say, as we start looking at Proverbs in the next few weeks, fear God, then be wise to keep his commandments, and then the outcome of that process makes the fruit which you are meant to enjoy rather than fruit which might be enjoyable but is outside of that process and therefore demoted to wickedness, adultery, idolatry, all of the things that we'll read about as we go through each proverb. And with that, I'll take questions or comments just for a moment because we don't have much time. Yes, ma'am. OK, Jehoshaphat, right? Jehoshaphat, OK. Right. Right. Well, Jeroboam was first before Jehovah. OK, great. Thank you. Anybody else? OK, let me pray and we'll dismiss. Lord, help us to see this study, which even as I say it sounds a little academic, help us to realize how we fit all of what you have told us about Solomon and about how you have ordained the book of Proverbs, how it got from Solomon and the wisdom you gave him all the way to us. Lord, help us to be diligent and to squeeze every ounce of your wisdom out of each little nugget, each little proverb, but also to see the big picture and what you are doing in showing us David's heart and showing us Solomon's heart, showing us Israel's heart, and ultimately showing us our own heart. And how that you have not ordained for reverence of you and obedience to you and the blessings that you give for that obedience. How you have not separated those and it is only our hearts and our own sinfulness that tries to separate those out and go after the joy without the reverence or without the obedience, help us to see that we are fallen people, and that we help us to have a hunger, a thirst for your wisdom, and help us to see that ultimately your wisdom is personified in the Christ whom we trust. Amen.