ECCLESIASTES 3:16

     " And I saw something else under the sun: In the place of judgement - wickedness was there, in the place of justice - wickedness was there."     (NIV)

     This verse, along with several before and after it, is an expression of utter emptiness and negativity.  The author is Solomon.  If the readers continue further into Ecclesiastes they will discover that Solomon not only expressed how empty the world is; but, also that satisfaction comes only from knowing the Lord.  Earlier  in Solomon's life,  God asked him what he gift he would like.  Solomon answered that he would like to have wisdom.  God was so pleased at Solomon's answer that He granted him not only wisdom, but also, wealth, fame, power, and prestige.
     But looking back on his own life, Solomon realized that the only meaningful experience he'd had was in knowing God;  all else was nothing.  So Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes to teach his people that while success and prosperity are nice during our short stay on earth, they are meaningless when compared with eternal values.





 In  chapter 17 of Deuteronomy God gave certain commands for future kings.  One such command was that each king must write a copy of the Torah (the first five books of the Bible).  Writing the Torah included, of course, the specific "do's and don'ts" for a king of Israel.  Part of this reads: "Only he shall not multiply horses to himself... Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart not turn away; neither silver and gold."  (Deuteronomy 17: 16-17)  But Solomon, when he wrote his copy of the Torah, changed one letter.  One letter!  In the original language of the Bible- Hebrew- the word was "yarbeh", meaning "he shall not multiply".  But, Solomon changed it to "arbeh", which means "I will multiply".  Solomon thought that he was wise enough that he could increase all these things in his life, and not give in to temptation.

depiction of Solomon worshiping false god

The reason God said,  "Neither shall he multiply wives unto himself," was to prevent the many wives' different pagan practices from creeping into Solomon's beliefs and practices, pulling him away from the One True God.  Solomon thought that his insight would prevent this...  But, here is what the scriptures say: "For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart to other gods".  (I Kings 11:3)  To paraphrase Ecclesiastes 2:12,  Solomon ended up saying: " Because I thought of myself as wiser than Torah, because I persuaded myself that I fully understood Torah, and because I thought I could change the words of Torah,  all my understanding and knowledge turned out to be folly."

  



      Nowadays we have so many evil influences in our lives... TV, movies, the news, magazines... almost all the media is telling us that sin is okay.  Our legal system often seems to protect the bad guy and punish the good guy. It seems as if justice has lost out to wickedness.  But we, like Solomon, need to look at the larger picture.  We need to look back to Torah.  God has the perfect plan, and He gave us a copy of it!  We do not and can not have the vision He has... Eternity is a long time.
     Are you living with eternal values in mind?

GENESIS 3:16

     " To the woman He said, 'I will greatly increase your pain in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children.  Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.' "  (NIV)

     Adam and Eve had sinned;  they had disobeyed.  They had not heeded God's warning that to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil would result in death.  When faced with temptation each of them made the wrong decision.
     You see, God created us with the ability to make choices.  Otherwise we would be hollow and incomplete - not human.  We learn from making decisions, good and bad, throughout our lives. Disobedience (like eating the forbidden fruit)  is sin.  In fact, it's probably the most frequent sin of mankind.  Somehow, we are often willing to listen to voices other than  the Good Shepherd's, resulting in disobedience to God's word. Sigh.  But, when we recognize and confess our sins God is always there, willing to forgive us, restore our relationship with Him, and help us try not to make the same mistake again.
     Not only did Adam and Eve disobey God, they also tried to hide from Him.  I remember hearing this story as a child and thinking how silly they were to try to hide from God... After all, God knows and sees eveything, right?  Well, then, why do we today try to hide from God through the misuse of drugs, alcohol, materialism, or _____________________? (You fill in the blank.)
     When confronted by God no one in the Garden of Eden was willing to take responsibility for what happened.  Adam blamed Eve.  And Eve blamed the serpent.  Owning up to what we have done isn't usually easy, but it's the right thing to do.  God already knows; don't try to put the blame on someone else or on circumstances.  Confess your sins and ask Him for forgiveness.  Receive God's forgiveness.  Then, move on!
     Okay.  We can easily be forgiven, but sometimes there IS punishment for sin. There ARE consequences for our actions.  (Reminds me, somehow,  of Newton's  third law of motion:  "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.")  In reading through the remainder of the book of Genesis, we find many examples of life's poor choices and their resulting consequences.  Those stories are there for a purpose - to give us examples of what NOT to do, how NOT to act, what NOT to say...  As we read in the Bible, we might feel that some of the punishments seem a bit harsh.  But, we need to remember that God is Holy, totally Righteous,  a completely moral Being. We make our choices, and, if we choose sin, He chooses the consequences.  We don't necessarily understand because all we see is the life we are living.  But, He sees the larger picture called eternity.
     So... when you are tempted, if that little voice in the back of your mind says, "Don't do that",
 DON'T DO IT!

"After The Fall"  My  watercolor collage of Eve and the serpent - after the sin of disobedience.
She doesn't look very happy, does she?