EatScripture - Ep 196 - Ecclesiastes 7:14-23

We spend about half of the installment looking back at where we have been literarily, particularly with and eye toward the end of chapter 3--God's test for us--and the literary center of Ecclesiastes found in 5:1-7. These are essential to keep our hands on and to govern our understanding. Then we take a look at how 7:15-22 is giving us one major thought, which is: Don't go so overboard in "righteousness" (leading to a Pharisecal life) nor should you jettison righteousness and live without it at all (hedonism). Learning to live a life that gains wisdom through righteousness and, on the other hand, through the unrighteous circumstances we at times find ourselves in is the key to a greater depth of understanding and of living in God's presence. We don't have to shun everything the self-righteous call "sin." There has to be a wiser way to live than the Pharisees, doesn't there?