Ecclesiastes Chapter Two continued... Death and how are we remembered.

15    Then said I in my heart, as it happeneth to the fool, so it happeneth even to me; and why was I then more wise? Then I said in my heart, that this also is vanity.

This not a true statement, once again he measures the wise and foolish strictly on the basis that we all die. Every one shall die, the wise and the fool; therefore, he concludes that he is no different than the fool. It is very wrong to assess life this way; there are many other measures of ones life that greatly separates the wise from the foolish (How much of the Fear of the Lord they walk in; How much of God they know; the impact they make on others; the life they lead whether righteous or wicked etc…) One who fears the Lord and walks in His judgments and statutes will wake up from his death satisfied and alive whilst the fool wakes up from his death only to suffer eternal damnation. The fact that the fool and the wise both die is not the measure of a man. As a sidebar observation, let us be careful what we meditate on; let us be even more careful about the conclusions we draw. Life and God are good; if we are continually assessing things in the negative then something is wrong. There are, of course, highs and lows in everyone's life but over all we should be impressed with the goodness of God.

16    For there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool for ever; seeing that which now is in the days to come shall all be forgotten. And how dieth the wise man? as the fool.

Here we see on display a motivating force in Solomon's life and it is the inspiration for his massive building projects... Solomon wants to be known. This thought of being remembered is very important to Solomon, however, he somehow fails to realize two things: Firstly, one who is a world leader with powerful influence, such as his, is always remembered and Secondly, one must take care how they are remembered; live in the fear of the Lord so that the remembrance of ones name causes the upright to rejoice! The memory Solomon left to the world was that of great wisdom but he reveals also that he was a backslidden man who was greatly conflicted with his own mixture of heart, loving the Lord but also loving other gods of pleasure and vice.