Giving Myself to Wine - Ecclesiastes 2:3

In the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon said, “I said of laughter, It is mad: and of mirth, What does it?”, and in chapter two and verse three of his book Solomon said, “I sought in my heart to give myself unto wine”, where we read,

I sought in my heart to give myself unto wine, yet acquainting my 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.

The verse reads, “I sought in my heart to give myself unto wine, yet acquainting my heart with wisdom;” Solomon began with the words, “I sought in my heart”  or “I, Solomon, searched, spied and looked within my, Solomon’s, soul, mind and will” “to give myself unto wine” which means “to draw, drag and march my own self to the fruit of the vine”, “yet acquainting my heart” or “still driving, leading and guiding my, Solomon’s, soul, mind and will” “with wisdom” which means “by the use of skill, shrewdness and prudence”. Solomon shared how he looked within his soul and mind to lead his own self toward fruit of the vine while continuing to guide his soul and mind toward skill and prudence. 

The verse goes on to say, “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.” Daniel continued with the words, “and to lay hold” or “and to grasp, take hold on, seize and take possession” “on folly” which means “onto silliness and foolishness”, “till I might see” or “until I, Solomon, may be able to see, look at, inspect, perceive and consider” “what was that good” which means “that which existed as pleasant, agreeable and excellent” “for the sons of men” or “on behalf of the offspring and progeny belonging to human beings”, “which they should do” which means “that they, the human beings, were to make, accomplish, perform and produce” “under the heaven” or “beneath the visible sky, atmosphere and sidereal heaven where God dwells” “all the days” which means “each, every, the whole and everyone of the sunrises to sunset” “of their life” or “belonging to their, the human beings’, active and flowing living and sustenance”. Solomon shared how he also decided to take hold of foolishness to discover what would be pleasant and agreeable to people as the live all their “days” beneath the sun.

When we think through the words in this verse, we learn through Solomon how he decided to imbibe of “wine” while continuing in skill and prudence, and he seized foolishness to determine what would be pleasant and agreeable for people while they lived out their lives beneath the sun. Once again, Solomon is sharing how he continued to try the different things that are available to people in the world. Wine, wisdom, foolishness and pleasure all present an opportunity for us to indulge, however, they are only temporal in nature. Pleasure and sin have a few moments of delight, but as soon as the “high” from them comes, it flees and another activity of fulfillment is sought. God was aware of this, and for this reason He works in the eternal. Everyone is separated from a personal relationship with God because of our sins, and when He sent His Son Jesus into the world to be crucified on the cross for the sins of all mankind and raised Him from the dead after three days, He made the way through belief and trust in Him as our “Savior and Lord” to be forgiven of our sins, granted everlasting life and given His Holy Spirit who will guide us into His satisfying truth for all eternity. 

Next time Solomon says, “I made me great works”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

See more devotionals on the website "thewordfortodaywithray.com" or look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms Volumes I and II" and the new novel "Elizabeth County" in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore. All references are from "Strongs Concordance".