FEAST OF TABERNACLES - 2000

DAY 4

Fred Coulter - October 17, 2000

Today is day number four of Feast of Tabernacles, the year 2000.  And for all of you tie buffs, you can see I have a different tie on.  I plan to wear a different one every day, so we’ll just see how that turns out.  But I will wear my old one, it’s almost threadbare.  Ok, well here we are halfway through the Feast.  This is the fourth day of the Feast of Tabernacles and it’s just like everything else there’s a beginning, there’s and ending, and in this particular case there’s also a middle.  And this fourth day we’re going to examine what is the main situation that we are going to be dealing with, with people during the millennium.  And I think we’re going to find this most instructive and very informative.

One of the things that God inspired Ezra to do in the reading of the law and the prophets was this: He instructed all the Israelites and Jews to read, during the Feast of Tabernacles, the book of Ecclesiastes, because there are many lessons there for us in the book of Ecclesiastes and we will see then how this applies especially to the millennium.  So let’s go first of all to the book of Ecclesiastes and let’s just begin right there at the very first chapter and we’ll go through and survey certain parts of the book of Ecclesiastes and see the message that we’re going to be teaching the people, helping lead them to understand about salvation.

One of the most important things is that they’re going to have to understand about human nature.  This is going to be very important because every physical thing will be provided.  There will be the physical environment such as there never has been since the creation of the world.  There will be buildings, there will be houses, there will be families, there will be abundance of food, abundance of clothing, abundance wealth.  There will be the right education.  There will be the Sabbath, and Holy Days, and all the saints as the teachers and kings, and priests, and teaching.  And it’s going to be a time where there will be plenty of children.  There will be plenty of activity.  A lot of things going on.  And so one of the things that we’ll be dealing with was exactly the same problem that happened to king Solomon when he came into his glory.

Now let’s read here, beginning in Ecclesiastes 1:1.  “The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.”  And that was the only direct son of David who was king in Jerusalem during a time in which this could have happened, so this had to be Solomon.  “Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity” (Ecc. 1:1-2).  And that’s going to be one of the things that we are going to be teaching all during the millennium.

Now this is very important because when it comes to having every physical thing around you, having every physical opportunity, then we need to understand, and we need it for our lives too, we need to show clearly that vanity is purposelessness.  Meaning that the physical things around us cannot be an end to themselves.  It cannot be the goal.  And that all physical things will come to nothing.  And we will have to teach that because at the end of the millennium and at the end of the great white throne period, the 100-year period, God is going to burn up the earth and everything that is there and create a new heaven and a new earth.  So the physical things will lead to nothing.  And if you just look to the physical things then you’re going to be in great trouble.  And of course, because you have physical blessings, and especially during the millennium, does not necessarily mean that you have the approval of God.  So we need to understand that.

So this is going to be the test.  Are the people going to look to the physical things and become all Laodicean because Laodiceanism will be the biggest thing to fight all during the millennium, won’t it?  Because if you think today that we’re rich and increased in goods, think of what it’s going to be in the millennium when they’re rich and increased with goods.  And they will have it.  They will have everything.  And so the book of Ecclesiastes ends up being a very instructive book for the Feast of Tabernacles to be read at this time because it’s the greatest experiment in the history of man of what Solomon did.  And showing that all things that a man does ends up in vanity, and when there is death, that is totally a vain experience.

Now let me ask a question.  What if you lived a thousand years, and as Solomon says a little later “ten thousand times over”, and you die.  Now is that not vanity?  You may have lived longer than we live now, but is that not vanity?  Yes, it is.  And this is the whole lesson that we’re going to have to be teaching.

Now, let’s go to Psalm 39:5 And this is the lesson that David learned.  And of course, he probably passed it on to his son Solomon because Solomon wrote the book of Ecclesiastes.  Let’s begin here in verse 1, “I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue…” This is also another thing we will be teaching, because the smallest sin during that time is going to be so much more magnified because the greater- greater sins that we see in the world around us today will not be committed at that time.  And if they are then it’s going to be directly to the lake of fire.  “…I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me.  I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred.  My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue, LORD make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am” (Psa. 39:1-4).

And so this is the big lesson that we’re going to be teaching all the physical people: that physical life is frailty, that physical life is going to come to an end, that physical life, even though you can accomplish many things, do many good works, have many wonderful experiences in life, that it is just as David said right here in verse 5.  Let’s read it.  “Behold, Thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before Thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity.”  And then there’s the word “Selah.”  Now whenever you see the word Selah, it means “stop, meditate, think on this.”

Now let me just interject something here concerning meditation.  The meditation that God wants you to do is to meditate on His laws, on His commandments, His statutes, His judgment, His plan, His purpose, on Christ, on His word.  Whereas the meditation of this world is a Satanic meditation as taught by the eastern mystic religions where you empty your mind and you allow nothing to be in your mind.  And that is conditioning for demon-possession.  So there’s a vast difference between what it says concerning meditation in the Bible and concerning meditation in this world and this worlds religion.  So yes, verily man at this very best state is altogether vanity, selah.

“Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them” (vs. 6).  Now we’re going to see that was the great concern of Solomon.  And so this is really quite a thing that we’re going to be dealing with, and we need to understand it and realize it.

Now let’s go to Job 35:13.  Now this is Elihu speaking and telling Job as much that, Job you’re vain.  And Job was, see.  You know, he thought he was really something because he was doing all of these things.  But you see we’re also going to fight Jobites all the way through the millennium, aren’t we?  That it’s going to be difficult for people being born into this environment where everything is good, where everything is right, where there is the right God, the right days, the right teaching, the right education.  All of the right things.  All of the good things according to the way of God.  It’s going to be very difficult for people to understand that it’s not their righteousness, and it’s not how good they are, or how strong they are, or how beautiful they are, or how smart they are.  Because you see, all the curses will be lifted.  And the only curse that will be left will be the vanity of human nature.

Now here, Job 35:13.  “Surely God will not hear vanity, neither will the Almighty regard it.”  So that’s why God is no respecter of persons.  “Although thou sayest thou shalt not see Him, yet judgment is before Him; therefore trust thou in Him.”  Now this is the advise of Elihu to Job.  “But now, because it is not so, He hath visited in His anger; yet He knoweth it not in great extremity…” He’s talking about Job.  Job doesn’t know this even in the great extremity.  “Therefore doth Job open his mouth in vain; he multiplieth words without knowledge” (Job 35:13-16).  And so that’s what we’re going to have to teach the people during the millennium.  If you don’t love God, if you don’t serve God then all is vanity.  All these things are going to be gone.

Now let’s continue on here.  Let’s go back to Psalm 62 on our way back to the book of Ecclesiastes.  Psalm 62, and here’s how it is in the world today.  And here’s the way we see things.  Psalm 62:9, and this is exactly how David saw it.  He said, “Surely men of low degree are vanity…” Now you can even get some of the greatest vanity and philosophy from the homeless, and from bums, and from lazy ones.  They all have their justifications.  They all have their excuses.  They all have their condemnations of those who have, while we have not.  And then the also talks about those, “…and men of high degree are a lie…” Because most of the things that they have gotten, they have gotten many cases either by wrong economics, by buying and selling incorrectly, and so their reputation that how great they are - it’s a lie.  That’s why in today’s world you have like the Star newspaper and the Inquirer, and what that does it exposes all the lies of the great people and all of the things that they don’t like you to know.  “…To be laid in the balance [that is in judgment], they are altogether lighter than vanity.”  So this is the whole lesson we’re going to be teaching.

Now back to the book of Ecclesiastes, right here in chapter 1.  This is a tremendous book.  Anytime you get a little bit bored, if I could use that term, or anytime that you find that you’re loosing the edge in your relationship with God and you’re view of the world, go get the book of Ecclesiastes and study it.  Anytime you get caught up in your vanity as to how great you are and what you’ve accomplished, and what you have done, go get the book of Ecclesiastes and read it.  Anytime you go through a trial or a difficulty and you think that people are unfair and God is unfair, and why did God do this, go read the book of Job and the book of Ecclesiastes and get your right bearings with God.  Because you see God is putting you through these experiences to teach you, to build your character, to build your love, to build your understanding, to build your faith so that you can be the kind of quality teacher that God will need and want during the millennium to teach the people, and your life experiences in this life will reflect that.

Now let’s continue on here in verse 3.  “What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?”  What is going to be the great profit in it?  “One generation passeth away another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever.  The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose.  The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits” (Ecc. 1:3-6).  Now when you view on television your latest weather report you’re going to see that is true.  The wind and the weather fronts go in circles, and then they sweep across the continents with high pressures and low pressures.  And these bring good weather, bad weather, storms, snow, drought, flood, all of these things.

Verse 7, “All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.”  And so it flows out into the ocean, evaporates up into the clouds, the clouds are blown on over to the land, it rains and it snows, and it come right back to the ocean again, just like he says.  So they had understanding of scientific things, and scientific knowledge.  You know part of the problem in today’s age, we think we’re so wise and educated, that all those people back there must have been ignorant and stupid because we’re so smart.  Well I think the truth of the matter is, they were a lot smarter than we give them credit for and maybe perhaps they were a lot smarter than we are today.  Because you stop and think about all the things that we do, it is cut with the sword of good and evil.  And for every good thing that we do there is an evil side to it that comes along.  And so Solomon also saw that.

Now let’s continue on here in verse 8.  “All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it…” God intended that we work, that we labor.  Now here’s something that is true.  “…The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.”  And another problem comes along with that which is this: that the emotions and the reactions become callused, and people want a greater experience than what they’ve experience in the past.  Hence we have the progression of violence and evil, and shock with sound in music and in movies, and with special effects because you’re not satisfied with the old mundane hand-grenade.  Now you have to have a car blow up with ten thousand barrels of oil, so that it explodes and fills the screen.  Then when that is done what is the eye going to be satisfied with, or the ear satisfied with?  You see, God made us so that we are never satisfied, because what we need is God’s Spirit and God’s existence and that’s why He created us.  So there’s a good side to this.

Verse 9, “The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be…” And so the millennium is going to be that which has been - the restoration of all things.  Only this time instead of with just Adam and Eve it’s going to be with nations of peoples.  “…And that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.”  Now this is especially true concerning false doctrines.  Most of the false doctrines we have to fight are doctrines which have been around for centuries.  Satan can’t invent anything new.  He has to recycle all the old arguments.  Same way with human nature.

Now, verse 10.  “Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, This is new?”  Well God is the only one Who can do that.  Not man.  “…It hath been already of old time, which was before us.  There is no remembrance of former things…” (vs. 10-11).  And isn’t that true?  Though you can read about history, you don’t remember the things in the past.  And though you understand in the future things are going to happen and you understand that if you live through the night there is tomorrow.  And many of the things that you plan to do for tomorrow you can’t necessarily do because of problems or difficulties or different things that come along.  So man is really stuck in an ongoing today, isn’t he?  All through your life it is today.  That’s why James said don’t say tomorrow we will do such and such.  Say if it be God’s will, tomorrow we will do thus and such.  And so that’s really quite a truism in human life, isn’t it?  Here we are today.  Now, yesterday is already past, and tomorrow is not yet been here, and it’s coming.

Verse 12, “I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem.”  And the only one who was king over all of Jerusalem, over all of Israel was David and Solomon.  After that the kingdom split and there was no king which ruled over all of Israel.  “And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven…” Now let’s see how he started out.

Let’s come to 1 Kings 10.  Let’s see how he started out.  And Solomon really started out in a grand style.  Let’s begin here in verse 1.  This is after he finished the temple that was completed after he finished the king’s house.  And he built the gardens and everything, and Jerusalem was the most beautiful city in the world.

“And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to prove him with hard questions.  And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bare spices, and very much gold, and precious stones…” Now remember what we read that God is going to provide.  He’s going to provide gold, and silver, and precious stones, and carbuncles and things like this.  So Solomon’s kingdom was a very miniscule type of what the millennium is going to be like.  “…And when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in here heart.  And Solomon told her all her questions: there was not any thing hid from the king, which he told her not.  And when the queen of Sheba had seen all Solomon’s wisdom, and the house that he built, and the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel, and his cupbearers, and his ascent by which he went up unto the house of the LORD; there was no more spirit in her” (I Kings 10:1-5).  It just took her breath literally away.  And of course Solomon drank out of vessels of pure gold.  You think about that compared to our glass and our plastic.  (Chuckle)  That will tell you the difference in the economy.

“And she said to the king, It was a true report that I heard in mine own land of thy acts and of thy wisdom.  Howbeit I believed not the words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the half was not told me: thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth and fame which I heard.  Happy are thy men, happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and that hear thy wisdom.  Blessed be the LORD thy God, which delighted in thee, to set thee on the throne of Israel: because the LORD loved Israel for ever, therefore made He thee king, to do judgment and justice.  And she gave the king an hundred and twenty talents of gold…” (vs. 6-10)

Now a talent is 180 pounds, so there was a lot of gold. I mean they had so much gold they really didn’t know what to do with it. Now today gold is very precious.  Back then it was precious too but Solomon got so much gold that it was incredible.  And it was said that silver, during his days, was counted as nothing.  Can you imagine that?  Now during the millennium think of how prosperous everything is going to be.  It’s going to be very similar to this.

Now she also gave “…of spices very great store, and precious stones: there came no more such abundance of spices as these which the queen of Sheba gave to king Solomon.  And the navy also of Hiram, that brought gold from Ophir, brought in from Ophir great plenty of almug trees, and precious stone” (vs. 10-11).  All these things just coming and coming and coming to Solomon.  Well you know the story of Solomon, he corrupted himself, and part of the story is contained here in the book of Ecclesiastes.

And part of the lesson that we are going to see… now let’s come back to the book of Ecclesiastes again, and this time let’s go to the very last chapter and let’s look at the summary that Solomon came up with in understanding all the things that he experienced, and then we’ll go back to the first chapter and finish that.  Now back here, Ecclesiastes 12:13.  So here’s the summation.  And here’s the goal.  And here’s what we’re going to be teaching the people.  “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God…”,  and we can add to this: fear and love God.  Because we are going to teach people that the greatest satisfaction in life is not the physical things that are here, but to fear and love God and keep His commandments.  And to be loving God with all your heart, and all your mind, and all your soul, and all your being is going to be the great work that you are going to be doing.  “…Fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.”  In other words this is the whole purpose of man.  That’s what he’s talking about.  Verse 14, “For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.”

Now let’s come back to the first chapter and let’s carry on and let’s see what happened here.  Let’s see what Solomon did when he came to all of this wealth.  And there was a turning point in Solomon’s life.  And I think the turning point is contained here in the book of Ecclesiastes.  Now let’s continue on in verse 13, let’s pick up the first part again.

“And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven…”  Because remember, God gave him wisdom more than any other man that has ever been.  And the wisdom without the Spirit of God, and the wisdom with carnal purposes corrupted him so much so that 1 Kings 11 shows that he departed from God and worshipped other gods.  So that’s really quite a lesson for us.  “…This sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith.”  God expects the whole purpose of living to be an exercise in learning character and developing character, and developing love, developing responsibility, developing your talents and all of those things are included in this exercise that we are to go through.

“I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit” (vs. 14).  Now that is, if it is without an eternal purpose.  And vexation of spirit means it’s frustrating.  Sooner or later after every experience you go through you come to the point that you have experienced everything that there is like Solomon did, and what else is there to experience?  So he says his vexation of spirit.

Verse 15, “That which is crooked cannot be made straight…” And that is true.  And I’ve often drawn this analogy and I’ve said it before so I’ll say it again here: you take wire that has been all crinkled up and you try straightening it out.  You cannot, while that wire is cold, make it perfectly straight again.  The only way you can make it straight is to heat it red hot and then pull it through another forming hole.  And that’s the only way that you can get out all the wrinkles, and you might say that is the process of conversion.  But you look at this life, you look at all the things that they talk about.  All the troubles that there are in this world, and there is never a day when there is not a trouble and they cannot all be solved all the time.  “…And that which is wanting cannot be numbered.”

So he says, verse 16, “I communed with mine own heart, saying, Lo, I am come to great estate…” Look at all of this that I have.  All of this gold, and I’m getting 660 talents to me every year as tribute in addition to all the other things that the nations are sending me.  And Solomon truly was a world ruling empire with navies going out to the west and navies going out to the east and bringing all of these things.  They understood what is called the new world.  It was part of the world as it existed.  And they had their ships go over there and get gold and silver.  As a matter of fact there’s even a copper mine down in New Mexico which has ancient Hebrew script written on the walls of the mine.  So they were getting things there too.

So he reads this great estate, “…and have gotten more wisdom than all they that have been before me in Jerusalem: yea, my heart and great experience of wisdom and knowledge.  And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit.  For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow” (vs. 16-18).  And that is also true, especially if you don’t have the Spirit of God.  Especially if you’re just looking to the physical things.  You know man wants to pursue after happiness but how much happiness can he achieve.  Now we’ll talk about happiness a little bit later on when we get to chapter 3 and see the whole cycle of life that we’re going to be preaching and teaching to those in the millennium.

Ok, chapter 2:1.  “I said in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure…” So he went through every pleasurable thing that could possibly be.  “…And, behold, this also is vanity.”  Because at the end of it there is an emptiness which has not been filled though you have every pleasure under the sun.  Because without the Spirit of God and without the purpose of God life has no meaning.  That’s why so many people who are in the entertainment business end up with such miserable an terrible, and horrible lives .  All the pleasure and all the things that they go through ends up in vanity.

Now notice verse 2.  “I said of laughter, It is mad…” I mean you can only have so many comic routines, right?  You can only have so many jokes, correct?  You can only have so many comedy shows, and after a while all it is, is just peat and repeat, and with the carnal mind being as it is they go down, and down, and down, and down, and down, and finally they are so crass and dirty and carnal that there is no humor left in it at all.  So that is vanity.  “…And of mirth, What doeth it?  I sought in mine heart to give myself unto wine [now let’s just see what it’s like here, I’ll go on a drunken binge], yet acquainting mine heart with wisdom [He says I’m only going to go to far, I’m not going to go over the line]; 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.  I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards: I made me gardens and orchards…” (vs. 2-5), everything that there was.  And I imagine Solomon went out there in chariot every day and had his men drive him out so he could see the vineyards and the orchards and the houses and see them being built.  And all the forts that he had throughout his kingdom.  He even made an alliance with Hiram and sent the navy out of the Gulf of Aqaba to get things.  So there was just so much going on here it was something.

“I made me pools of water…” You can imagine how that would be.  Beautiful pools and running brooks and waterfalls and streams.  “…To water therewith the wood that bringeth forth trees: I got me servants and maidens, and had servants born in my house; also I had great possessions of great and small cattle above all that were in Jerusalem before me: I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces: I gat me men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, as musical instruments, and that of all sorts” (vs. 6-8).  So he had concerts, he had singing, he had choirs. He had everything.  All the entertainment world laid out here, right?  And did it satisfy him?

Now let me ask you a question.  Have you ever had just a frustrating day, and you just sit down and your mind is kind of zonked out.  You’re just kind of bonkers.  And so you sit there and you waste a whole day in front of the television going from program, to program, to program, to program.  You go to a comedy program, you go to a serious program, you go to a mystery program, you go to a question and answer program, a game program, you go to athletics and you watch a game whether it be baseball, basketball, football, whatever it is, and you spend the whole day and on into the evening, and now it comes time to go to bed.  And how do you feel?  Blaugh! That’s vexation and frustration of spirit and you have just spent a day in vanity.  Now that’s the best way that I can explain it.  Now I’ve done that.  I know you’ve done that.  And you feel empty and hollow and worth nothing.  That’s because you spent the day on vanity.  And really when you get down to it and you analyze the whole thing with perhaps the exception of some of the sports events, everything is staged.  Everything is a lie.  Everything is scripted.  Everything is what they want you to see and what they want you to hear, and you haven’t been uplifted or educated in anything at all, have you?  No.  So that’s how Solomon was.

“So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me.  And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour.  Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit…:”  Now it was there, it was beautiful, it was fine, and many of us would be very happy to live in those circumstances.  But he says it’s vanity and vexation of spirit, “…and there was no profit under the sun” (vs. 9-11).  What had he really done spiritually for all eternity?  Nothing.  And so this is what we need to be teaching all the people during the millennium.  All the physical things that we have here, all those things that God has given, even though they’re great and marvelous, unless you use them to build the character of God it’s all vanity and frustration and vexation of spirit.

Now verse 12, “And I turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly: for what can the man do that cometh after the king [Is there anyone who’s going to do greater than me?]?   even that which hath been already done.”  Can he build greater buildings?  No.  Can he build more buildings?  Yes.  Of what purpose is it going to be?  How about gardens and trees and orchards and vineyards?  And sooner or later you’re going to run into a geographical problem that you can only put so much in so many places.  So that really was something.

Verse 13, “Then I saw that wisdom excelleth folly, as far as light excelleth darkness.”  So he did learn the lesson.  Wisdom is a very important thing.  And that’s what we need brethren.  See, you have knowledge, and then you have experience.  And with knowledge and experience comes understanding.  And then from knowledge, experience, and understanding comes wisdom.  And that’s what Solomon was able to derive out of this.  Now we need wisdom, those of us today.  There are a lot of us who have knowledge.  There are a lot of us who have had experiences.  But then there are fewer that really have understanding because you never learn from your knowledge, and you never learn from your experience so you don’t have understanding and you don’t have wisdom cause you get caught up in all these silly little vain doctrines that come along.  You have to have wisdom of the word of God, and wisdom from the Spirit of God in order to understand.  So he saw that wisdom excelled folly as far as light excels darkness.

“The wise man’s eyes are in his head; but the fool walketh in darkness: and I myself perceived also that one event happeneth to them all.  Then said I in my heart, As it happeneth to the fool, so it happeneth even tome…” He was talking about the day he was going to die.  He knew he was going to die.  “…And why was I then more wise?  Then I said in my heart, that this also is vanity” (vs. 14-15).  So here, even though he has all of this wisdom, how much of it except what we have recorded here do we really have and understand?  Not very much, do we?

Now notice the next verse.   “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 that’s what happens.  How many remember the soldiers of the Civil War?  Nobody.  He may have a monument to this one who was so called great, or to this General who did this, or to this troop of soldiers who did this or that.  And we also have the tomb to the Unknown Soldier.  So that also proves a point, doesn’t it.  And he says, “And how dieth the wise man?  as the fool” (vs. 16).  His breath goes out and it’s over.  And his temperature goes down and he’s cold, and he’s ready for the tomb.

Verse 17, “Therefore I hated life…” Now you see he was looking at it strictly from the physical things.  And it is true, if you just look at the physical things you’re going to end up hating life, especially the older you get because you have no hope, because there is no God, there is no purpose, you’re days are coming to an end and you know it, and it’s over with.  And that’s what Solomon was look at.  And of course especially after he went through the things as recorded in 1 Kings 11, where he had 300 wives and 700 concubines, and went after other gods.  It was vain, it was empty.  And he turned out to be foolish though God gave him all this wisdom.  So in a sense this is kind of a prophecy of his foolish end when you understand it.

Verse 18, “Yea, I hated all my labour which I had taken under the sun…”  Looked out at everything he had done and he hated it.  “…Because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me.”  And he knew that Rehoboam was a bum cause he was his son, so he’s looking at this and saying now, “When I die I gotta leave this to my son, Rehoboam. Oh, oh, painful vexation of spirit, vanity.”  And you know what happened?  Just exactly what Solomon was afraid of.  Rehoboam said when the Israelites came to him and said, “Look, your father laid us down with taxes.  Now you make the load a little lighter and we will be your servants forever.”  And Rehoboam came back and said, “My little finger is going to be heavier upon you than my father’s thigh.”  Rehoboam was a fool.  So here he was lamenting it.  Yes, “Because I should leave it unto the man that should be after me.”  Now isn’t that something.