DEAD END AHEAD

Take Heed, There May Be No Return!

By Travis W. Lewis

February 15, 2025

“Take heed your path, lest a dead end lie ahead!”

Each of us are well aware of the continuous allurements that bombard our minds and promise to help us enjoy the “good life.” Most convey an unspoken assumption of secularism – that life is like a merry-go-round; we get on, then go round and round, and when the ride is over, we get off where we got on, and it is all finished.

I am told to grab all I can by whatever means are at my disposal and to enjoy it to the hilt while I have the opportunity. The underlying message is that life will be less meaningful unless I employ their means of becoming more physically attractive, more popular, healthier, smarter and yes – richer. Yet, three-thousand years have passed since the wise King Solomon reminisced near the end of his life, after having spent his adulthood chasing the same basic lures by which we are still enticed.  

Though Solomon authored three books in Scriptures, Ecclesiastes is the only one in which he obviously, with purpose, did not mention his own name. Though we have certainty of the author’s name being Solomon, his reason for not identifying himself by name remains a mystery. The name actually meant “peaceful”, or “peaceable.” Maybe he hesitated to confuse the meaning of his name with the trouble he had brought on his kingdom during his years of wandering, or possibly because of the peace he had broken with both God and his own conscience. Most scholars agree that Ecclesiastes was written in the final phase of Solomon’s life, and the book presents an attitude of regret for the blight he sensed for having brought shame upon the good name of his father, David. Even so, at this point in life, the Holy Spirit impressed upon the wise king to record the lessons he had learned the hard and costly way.    

Near the beginning of his book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon bemoaned what his highest priorities and pursuits in life had been: (1) Intellectual development (2) Physical pleasure (3) Accumulation of possessions, and (4) Personal gain.

Alone, neither were dishonorable pursuits. Yet, his conclusion left little doubt that when placed as the highest priorities, life falls short of the most honorable goal. So, Solomon began to record, lest posterity likewise falter and reach the end of life with the same regrets:

Vanity in Intellectual Pursuit

(Ecclesiastes 1:12-18.)

Early on in life, Solomon had committed himself to acquiring knowledge and using his God-given intellect to study everything from mathematics to engineering, from philosophy to social sciences, from medicine to husbandry, from merchandise to mechanics, from history of former ages to the present situations of other kingdoms and the policies that had brought them all to their present state of affairs. But even with Solomon’s powerful curiosity and his remarkable gift to unravel puzzles that baffled all others, his high-pitched enthusiasm and optimism would eventually be dampened. With the onslaught of time, he would begin to accept that his singular pursuit of learning would become tiring. After having grasped solutions to so many problems, life would seem to have left the wise king with more questions than ever. Infinite complexities enshrined into Creation were too much for even Solomon to untangle, and, finally, he seems to throw up his hands in surrender, declaring his dogged pursuit to have been vain and deeply troubling. Mankind still faces the same dilemmas. 

In August, 2005, the city of New Orleans, Louisiana was inundated by a massive amount of water blown inland by Hurricane Katrina. For decades, water from similar storms had been held back by manmade dikes and dams. Obviously, Katrina was more than anything they had felt a need to prepare for. Within hours following the eye of the storm moving northward and beginning to weaken, the mayor of New Orleans was on television cursing and swearing at everybody from the President of the United States to the Governor of Louisiana, “y’all sposed’ to have the ainsa’ to this problem we got down here.” But the fact reappears that human minds can forecast, engineer, build, and reinforce against catastrophe, yet, sooner or later, comes a Katrina – a quandary that is larger in size and more complex in nature than we had either perceived or found reason to prepare for. So, we research the cause, tweak the formulas, redraw the designs, rebuild the structures and wait for the next one that will, again, challenge even the highest trained intellect and advanced designs.

Solomon was obviously curious about everything; he craved to know everything there was to know about everything there was to know. And in his pursuits, he made great progress for the people of his time. His natural gifts employed along a dogged intellectual trail had evidently raised his level of knowledge and wisdom to a higher plane than any one individual either before or since. His searches had been toilsome and brought weariness. As bread that furnishes strength for the body is gained by the “sweat of the brow”, so it is with intellectual pursuits. The more we learn, the more we see there is to be learned. Also, we often identify problems and dilemmas, then pursue solutions only to at last learn there are no infallible solutions – that even the wisest and strongest cannot change it.

As a wise merchant takes pleasure in the growing size of his merchandise stock, so did Solomon with his increased wisdom and intellectual prowess. In essence, he declared in verse 17 that not only had he advanced further than any had before him, but he had also done more to pass on what he had learned to the advantages of others.   

That was the conclusion Solomon reached three millennia ago – that mankind labors in vain to provide responses for every difficulty to which we may possibly be subjected. As pursuit of any great goal is toilsome to the flesh, so it is with the mind. In verse 13, he described pursuing an intellectual goal and finding it as sore travail, being so because since our primal parents’ sin, bread for the body and wisdom for the soul is achieved only by the sweat of our brow. He seems to have begun his pursuit with the thought that, with enough knowledge and employment of wisdom, he could thoroughly and permanently reform his kingdom – that he could make straight all that was crooked. Now, after spending nearly the whole of his life in diligent intellectual pursuit, he was only now learning that the highest level of education in all the arts and sciences will not alter the natural temperament of mankind. As it was when Job observed natural life to be but a vale of tears, Solomon was concluding it still was so and will remain such until the end.

And, as Solomon ponders, he notes a profound observation: (vs 18) For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow. Though we must not be distracted from the pursuit of useful knowledge, we may expect to become cognizant of not only the world’s calamities, but of the sadly advanced fall of many who claim to be the actual congregation of God.

But we must break through such sorrow and find genuine happiness only in continual, objective pursuit of the knowledge of God and the experimental understanding of the principles and pleasures as we discharge our duty to Him. Otherwise, according to Solomon, expect it all to be vanity and vexation of the spirit.

Vanity in Pursuit of Physical Pleasure

(Ecclesiastes 2:1-3)

Having learned too late that the singular pursuit of ultimate knowledge and learning was vain and that such would serve to only trouble the spirit, Solomon goes on in chapter 2 to explain the vanity of pleasure and mirth. As with his seemingly fanatical pursuit of knowledge, he finds both leading to a literal dead end.  

During Solomon’s intense efforts to accumulate the depth of knowledge he was seeking, he must have spent vast amounts of time theorizing, concentrating, calculating, discussing, and experimenting in the confinement of his chambers and laboratories – in whatever forms they were. Having at last concluded it all to basically be vanity and troubling, he turns from the intellectual stoicism of statesmen and scientists in favor of yet another quest.

(vs. 1-3) I said in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also is vanity. I said of laughter, It is mad: and of mirth, What doeth it? I sought in mine heart to give myself unto wine, yet acquainting mine heart with wisdom; and to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was that good for the sons of men, which they should do under the heaven all the days of their life.

Mirth…pleasure…laughter…wine – “I’ll turn and try experiencing whatever appeals to my eyes and senses – to what my eye takes pleasure in beholding, to what my ears delight in hearing, to what I can touch with my hands – to whatever stimulates my emotions and senses!” To many, it would seem a great step downward from the higher regarded pleasures of intellect to the brutal ones driven by physical senses, impulses and emotions. Even so, Solomon could see that it was here where a great part of mankind had always appeared to find the happiness and fulfillment which they sought.

Constant entertainment of self and others with bantering stories and jests, of learning quick and witty retorts, and assuming a nature of whimsical humor – would all that fill the void in his innermost being? Could he adjust to a continuous lifestyle of talking trash, or of finding things and people to laugh at and ridicule so he could be in an unending merry humor? Being in his position of power, position, and wealth, nothing stood in Solomon’s way. So, he resolved to knock on the door of mirth and pleasure. He would enjoy “pleasure” and take his fill of it; he would cast away care and resolve to be merry. Yet, his wisdom seemed to have been placed in storage and out of sight, at least for a season. He had failed to remember, if he had ever recognized at all, that not all poor are unhappy, and not all beggars live in barns.

In his pursuit of mirth and pleasure, yet all the while keeping sight of its effects, Solomon turned to wine. Though he obviously never allowed alcohol to control his life, his intent clearly was to determine if all the mirth, pleasure, and wine mixed together could offer the happiness that neither could offer separately. Destined to find it all to be vanity in the end, he found wine to be the great cheat it has always been. Fortunately, his aim was not to gratify his appetite but to determine if all the mirth which the world offers, if all the pleasure to which it allures, if the mocker of wine – whether it all offered to man the happiness after which he still continually sought. And, for the benefit of all succeeding generations, he recorded his answer as a resounding, “No”.

Vanity in Accumulation of Material Possessions 

(Ecclesiastes 2:4-8)

In relatively quick fashion, it seems, Solomon perceived that his pursuit of the sensualities of mirth, physical pleasure, and wine brought nothing but vanity and trouble.

In the beginning of his reign, he had gone to vast expense to build a house for God. Now, he would again turn to building, except this time it was not to honor God but to suit his own fancies. Simultaneously, his people would be employed in constructing buildings, palaces, and entire cities alike; vast gardens and orchards were planted and were beginning to produce; lakes were dug and duct systems were buried – some to supply water and others for waste disposal; servants and livestock were employed to build and maintain it all. Entertainment when and of whatever type he fancied was at his command at any time that suited his whims. Though after years of being taxed to finance it all, the Israelites would eventually tire, meanwhile, Solomon bankrolled more riches than any other before him. And, as his works and riches multiplied, so did his fame among neighbors of the surrounding world.   

In experiencing both rational and sensual pursuits concurrently, Solomon must have enjoyed as much as any other who ever lived, either before or after him.  Yet, in age, he described it all as wasteful and troubling. Though the fruit of his labor would be seen for centuries to come, it would all be left to others, some of whom might be wholly fools, and he, Solomon, would soon be forgotten. In verse 16, he declared, And how dieth the wise man? As the fool.

 Vanity of Personal Achievement

(Ecclesiastes 2:17-22)

Out of his own volition, Solomon had personally experienced most of which other mortals only dream. However, the more he reflects and evaluates, the more exasperated with life he appears to become. At one point, as he bore record of his views, he declared, Therefore I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous unto me; for all is vanity and vexation of the spirit. Yea, I hated all my labour which I had taken under the sun: because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me.

Twenty-seven times in Ecclesiastes, Solomon used the term, under the sun. Only during his reflections in this book is the term used, so surely the phrase describes a unique vantage point. Since all the business he had pursued as a king, and upon which he now reflects, had been done under the sun, or in the world in which we now exist, he must also be recognizing a world above, or beyond, the sun, where all will exist in perpetuity. For it is only when whatever we do under the sun conforms to that which would be done beyond the sun that it turns to good account. The thought of everything done on earth perishing is surely what Solomon was lamenting. Despairing of all the labor and thought and design into which he had invested so much of his life, only to leave it behind, was leaving Solomon in dismay. Seemingly, his quarrel was with all the great works that he had done because they would not be of lasting benefit to himself.      

Only a gracious soul can be pleased with the prospect that those who follow will fare the better because of the wisdom and industry which has been left in its possession. But the worldly mind is vexed to think of dying with the uncertainty that another, maybe a total stranger, may enjoy fruits for which he has not labored. Possibly as Solomon penned these lamentations, he may have been having premonitions and wondering how his own son, Rehoboam, would manage all that would soon be laid at his doorstep. In verses 24-26, Solomon observed, There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God. For who can eat, or who else can hasten hereunto, more than I? For God giveth to a man that is good in His sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy, but to the sinner, He giveth travail to gather and to heap up that he may give to him that is good before God.

These thoughts, along with those that Solomon develops in the closing chapters of the book, strongly suggest that to those who are good in the sight of God, to those who are of honest and sincere spirit, to those who pay a deference to God and have a tender concern for all mankind, God will give wisdom in this world and joy in the all-righteous world to come.

Conclusion

Whether we understand the value of formal education more clearly now than in the past is arguable. But whatever value with which it is assigned, the wise must agree that a contemporary education is not the greatest of our needs.  

 Little doubt can be entertained that Solomon knew the story of Creation – of how our Creator, after having made all there is, then at last having created mankind in His image to care for and enjoy it all, He took joy in review of all He had done and declared it to be good. Sadly, Solomon’s review of his own life could not describe his work in such a way.

With most of his life behind, he now understood that whatever is done on earth with the sole intent of enjoying its fruits on earth will end with a regretfully lonely and troubled spirit still asking, “What is the true way to lasting happiness?” or, “How do I achieve the great end I have in view?”

Solomon contracts his conclusion in the final chapter, Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments; for this is the whole duty of man. Setting aside all arguments that spawn dispute, his conclusion explains it all: Fear God and keep His commandments.

In his proverbs, Solomon also observed that the fear of the Lord is the very beginning of wisdom. Though not in man’s nature to fear God, the Spirit can draw the human soul to repentance of its sinful nature, then to a saving faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection to atone for his sins. With that which engenders a desire to understand and keep His commandments, one fulfills the whole duty of man.

That is the strait and more difficult way, but it’s the good way. It does not end in a “dead end”, but in one of peace – one of which Solomon found difficulty in finding. Left alone, we will be eluded as well, only to be disappointed at a dead end from which there may remain no chance to return. Ω