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"I have seen everything in my days of vanity"

Text: Ecclesiastes 7:15

A TINGE OF JADEDNESS

Solomon could barely keep himself from feeling overwhelmed by what he saw, what he understood and what he felt. The tinge of jadedness is easily detectable.

“I have seen everything in my days of vanity:
There is a just man who perishes in his righteousness,
And there is a wicked man who prolongs life in his wickedness.”
Ecclesiastes 7:15

1. “I have seen everything in my days of vanity”

a) Technically, this is impossible.

i) No one can actually “see everything”.

ii) But he felt that he had seen everything that was worthwhile seeing.

iii) This is an obvious tinge of jadedness.

b) “In my days of vanity”

i) There were days when he felt joy.

ii) There were other days when he felt life was just “vanity”.

iii) Another indication of jadedness may be detected.

2. “There is a just man who perishes in his righteousness”

a) He took notice of the life of “a just man”.

b) There was obvious “righteousness” in his life.

i) He was not sinless.

ii) But he was not wicked.

iii) His life may be described as “righteous”.

c) He perished in his righteousness.

i) Perhaps he died unexpectedly.

ii) One would expect or at least hoped that he would live a long life.

iii) He apparently did not but “perished”.

3. “And there is a wicked man who prolongs life in his wickedness”

a) He also took notice the life of a wicked man.

b) One would imagine that his life would be judged and that he would not live long.

c) But things turned out unexpectedly.

i) The righteous perished.

ii) The wicked had a prolonged life.

4. This sequence of events

a) It was hard to understand.

b) It was harder to accept.

c) It is one of the things that causes a person to describe as “vanity of vanities”.