Principle: The verb “sought” is the piel perfect of ‘baqash’ which is ‘iqshuw’ which means to seek diligently or persistently.
Humanity has always sought to pervert and misuse the gifts which God has given us according to our sin nature and its diverse lusts. The Devil is more than happy to aid in this!
II. Put the man/woman together and God will put the life together
We studied last time the story of the boy and the tired father. He was too exhausted to play with the boy, so he gave him a project that he thought would take a long time and he could slip away to bed. But the boy was clever and came back in a few minutes! The father gave the boy a picture of the earth from space and cut it up into many pieces, asking the boy to put it back together. Now, the boy looked on the back of the pieces and say a picture of a man’s face. This he could put together much more easily than the earth, so he did. He put the man together and the world came together with him! This illustrates our principle. All we have to do is stick to the plan and make ourselves available. When we get ourselves together according to His will, plan, and purpose for our lives, executing the PPOG, God will handle the rest. It will come together bit by bit while we advance spiritually and develop the capacity to handle the blessings and responsibilities.
This goes equal for men and for women!
Let’s look at 1Tim 2:9-10 Likewise, I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and discreetly, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly garments; but rather let her beauty be by means of good works, as befits women making a claim to godliness.
The more Bible doctrine that a woman has in her soul, the more beautiful she becomes from the divine viewpoint. In fact, there is no such thing as true beauty in the woman apart from her having Bible doctrine in the soul. The spiritually mature woman always possesses inner beauty, and that compensates for any lack of physical beauty. Overt grooming only complements the inner beauty. Overt beauty without Bible doctrine becomes a facade for ugliness in the soul. Therefore, overt beauty is meaningless without inner beauty.
The women in Solomon’s Harem did not have the inner beauty created by Bible doctrine, and because of this, they influenced his soul to turn away from doctrine and to turn toward bitterness. Solomon had a lot of sex with women who did not have divine viewpoint or doctrine resident in the soul. Solomon found out the hard way that women without divine viewpoint are petty, implacable, vindictive, and vicious with their tongues. In contrast, a woman with divine viewpoint has great inner beauty.
1Pe 3:1-7 In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives, as they observe your chaste and respectful behavior. And let not you be merely external braiding the hair, and wearing gold jewelry, or putting on dresses; but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God. For in this way in former times the holy women also, who hoped in God, used to adorn themselves, being submissive to their own husbands. In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives,You husbands likewise, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with a weaker vessel, since she is a woman; and grant her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.
The word adorn means to decorate, to adorn, to make beautiful, and to make attractive. But, and ladies there is no extra charge for this is, the woman with divine viewpoint who knows how to properly adorn herself with the use of cosmetics can make herself beautiful. You may have gone around looking like old Raggedy Ann before you were saved, or like a permanent resident of the hippie generation, but your days of sloppiness are over, once you accept and apply the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior.
This means that the female should be dressed as tastefully as possible.
The active voice of the verb ‘kosmeo’ implies that when women wake up in the morning they can be naturally beautiful, so you must make yourself beautiful. The infinitive of purpose means that the purpose of adorning yourself is to make yourself beautiful and attractive and to reflect the divine viewpoint you have within. Kosmeo means that if you have a feature that is not very attractive, cover it, and if you have a feature that is attractive, emphasize it.
This verse also tells us that all Christian women have the potential to be beautiful; however, because of carnality and wickedness, the modern emphasis is placed on overt beauty gimmicks and so-called sex appeal. Any man with half a brain would not be a sucker for that, yet that is what Solomon sought. Clothes do not make the woman; the woman’s inner beauty makes the clothes.
You’ll never see a woman with divine viewpoint who doesn’t know how to clothe her body in the proper way. In fact, there is a relationship between a sloppy spiritual life and a sloppy appearing woman. And since the woman is commanded to make herself beautiful, it immediately dismisses the fact that women are born beautiful. No one is born spiritually beautiful because no one is born with doctrine resident in the soul. We are born in carnality! Parents might be wild about their baby, but that is just emotional appreciation. A beautiful woman must think divine viewpoint to be beautiful. The upside is that with doctrine in the soul, every woman is beautiful – to God and to her right man.
From time to time advertisements on television and in magazines will propagandize you, ladies, telling you what men like. But you must remember, it is not what men like that counts, it’s what the right man likes that counts. And if you don’t have a right man now, when the right one that God has for you comes around, he’s going to like the way that you are. So, be careful how you try to improve the situation; be sure that your beauty improvements are from divine viewpoint and not cosmic opinion. Paul says that same thing in 1Tim 2, that the woman’s adornment be not merely external—braiding the hair, and wearing gold jewelry, or putting on dresses; but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God.
So, these passages teach that the exterior is useless without the interior of divine viewpoint. Even if Solomon did have his right woman in his Harem that still means that he had over a thousand in his life who were the wrong women in his life! In fact, even if he did have his right woman right in front of him, he wouldn’t have had the ability to recognize her. Remember that this is a man who is writing under the ministry of the Holy Spirit near the end of his life. Ecclesiastes was written when Solomon was old and disillusioned about life. He was very miserable and very bitter.
Anyone who reads the great prayer of Solomon when he was dedicating the temple, or some of the great statements he made in his youth when he first became king, would have to recognize that he was a spiritual giant at that time. Unfortunately, prosperity was too much for him. He failed the prosperity test.
Before Bathsheba, David had many wives and concubines and his love life was categorized as ritual without reality: sex without love. David only became free from his sexual arrogance and polygamy once he married his right woman, Bathsheba. Once he and Bathsheba finally got married, he remained faithful to her the rest of his life, and it made a great deal of difference with regard to their children. In fact, David was a lousy father until he married Bathsheba, and he finally settled down and took care of his children.
It’s not only men who are stupid when it comes to women. The Bible also teaches that women are stupid about men. The fact that so many women fell for Solomon illustrates female stupidity when it comes to the male. Let’s continue to look closely at the more of the original language of Ecc 7:26: “And I discovered more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets, whose hands are chains. One who is pleasing to God will escape from her, but the sinner will be captured by her.”
The word “heart” is out of place and this throws everything off. The original word order is “haa’ishaah [the woman] asher-hiy’ [who is] matsowdiym [a trap]” so it should be translated “the woman who is a trap.”
Keep in mind that Solomon is speaking from bitterness. Many of you, men, would never regard a woman as a trap. In fact, a few of you would love for a woman to track you down and trap you! However, that’s not what we have here.
When a man finds his right woman, he realizes that she is a grace gift from God and not a trap, as in Prov 18:22 “He who finds ishaah finds a good thing, And obtains grace from the Lord.”
Notice that this verse doesn’t say he who finds a wife finds a good thing, it says he who finds his ishaah or his right woman, finds a good thing and obtains grace from the Lord.
The corrected translation of Ecc 7:26 so far should read, “And I kept on discovering more bitter than death the woman who is a trap.”
Next, we have the phrase ‘wacharaamiym libaah’, which is correctly translated “her heart [or right lobe] is snares or nets.” All these women wanted to be number one with Solomon, and so you can imagine the tremendous plots and schemes that must have developed. A thousand women in his household and they all wanted first place, that’s only natural. However, when you have a thousand women under one roof and they’re all battling for first place; well, there isn’t going to be any peace at home.
Ecc 7:26 “And I kept on discovering more bitter than death the woman who is a trap, and whose heart [right lobe] has snares and nets” [corrected translation].
This doesn’t mean that all women are crafty; it just means that when a thousand women are under one roof and they all want to be number one, they start to do a little manipulating which is called here “snares and nets”.
Remember that the body of the woman was originally constructed or built by the Lord Jesus Christ as a grace gift to the man; and therefore, it is legitimate beauty. However, when the woman uses her body to trap a man, then it is out of the realm of its original design. Add to this a smart woman who doesn’t depend upon her beauty alone, but has enough brains to use her personality as a trap as well. Others are simply clever, and know how to make a man feel important or wanted by appealing to his ego. Male ego makes all men a sucker for this until they have enough doctrine in the soul and spiritual self-esteem. All these things, and many more, that were designed by God to make a woman beautiful, become evil when they are used by the woman to trap a man. However (and never forget this men!), the more nets that are thrown over you, the more helpless you become.
The more affairs a man has with women, the more he is entangled and ensnared in a trap from the female species. According to Prov 5:22 “A man’s own perversions will trap him, And he will be bound with chains to the feminine idol” (corrected translation).
Each wrong act of sex becomes another link on the chain or thread on the rope binding the man to the idol called sex, which is an idol that can never satisfy. Eventually, this idol worship destroys the possibility of a wonderful relationship between a right man and a right woman. However, if this has happened to you, there is a healing process that can take place in your soul, so that you can recover the ability to recognize the man or woman God has designed for you. But that healing process is going to take lots and lots of positive volition toward doctrine, which corrects your thinking.
Psa 107:20 “He sent His word and healed them, And delivered them from their destructions.”
Jer 30:17 “For I will restore you to health And I will heal you of your wounds,’ declares the Lord.”
Prov 3:8 “Doctrine will be healing to your body, And refreshment to your bones” (corrected translation).
So, every woman is not a trap, but women in general who are promiscuous and who fornicate with a man, become a trap to him. A lot of women become man-crazy and throw their nets over the one they are hunting. Although women generally lack discernment about men, they do know how to ensnare a man when they want to. This is what happened to Solomon after he had heard (and did not apply) the proper doctrines that would have saved him from these traps, which can be found in Prov chapters 2, 5, 6, and 7. This is a very serious warning to all of us. You can hear the doctrine, and believe that it is true, but if you don’t apply it, it is absolutely useless.
Prov 6:20-26. “My son [David is speaking to Solomon], observe the commandment of your father, And do not forsake the teaching of your mother; Bind them continually on your heart; Tie them around your neck. When you walk about, they will guide you; When you sleep, they will watch over you; And when you awake, they will talk to you. For the commandment is a lamp, and the teaching is light; And reproofs for discipline are the way of life, To keep you from the evil woman, From the smooth tongue of the adulteress. Do not desire her beauty in your heart, nor let her catch you with her eyelids. For on account of a harlot one is reduced to a loaf of bread, And an adulteress hunts for the precious life.
The wrong woman can fake a man right into the grave. He will go away thinking that she is absolutely wild about him when actually she thinks he’s a nuisance. She’ll use words to actually make a man feel that he’s the greatest thing in the world when she can’t stand him and can’t wait to get rid of him. This describes the wrong woman who is male oriented but not grace oriented.
All men have the potential of falling into her trap. The Hebrew word for snares in Ecc 7:26 is
mat-sow-diym, which means to be under a curse or to have destructive allurements. Every wrong woman in your life has destructive allurements. They may be beautiful, attractive, and scintillating, but these allurements are destructive and not constructive, and the man who falls for them will become a prisoner.
The next phrase, whose hands are chains, is the phrase a-cu-wri-ym — ja-ad-ey-ha-a, which means her hands are used for the art of caressing. That’s about the nicest way that this phrase can be defined. In Solomon’s case, they all wanted to hang on to him and not let go of him. Each woman probably wanted Solomon to get rid of the rest of the Harem so she could have him to herself. The right lobe or the heart has snares or destructive allurements, which is the soulish way that the woman traps a man into bed.
Look at Prov 7:24-25 Now therefore, my sons, listen to me, And pay attention to the words of my mouth. Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways, Do not stray into her paths. For many are the victims she has cast down, And numerous are all her slain. Her house is the way to Sheol, Descending to the chambers of death.
Solomon could never say that no one ever told him that’s the way women are. The next phrase in
Ecc 7:26 says, “One who is pleasing to God will escape from her,” and is translated correctly.
The only word which needs correction is the word “escape”, which is the Hebrew verb ‘jim-a-a-leet’, which means to be delivered, or to be released or rescued. This is an awesome thought for the men. No matter how smart you are, there is always one who can hook you or trap you, and only God can deliver you.
How does God deliver? He does so through Bible doctrine in the right lobe of the soul. Bible doctrine in the soul counters the destructive allurements in the right lobe of the wrong woman. It is Bible doctrine in the soul that protects both the man and the woman when they’re frustrated and about to stop waiting for the right one that God has designed.
The word for sinner in Ecc 7:26 is the qal active participle of chata meaning one who misses the mark, one who stumbles, one who falls, one who is seduced, or one who suffers loss of something. Here it is used to describe the reversionistic believer. Solomon was such a reversionistic believer; and therefore, taken in by inconsequential women.
The phrase “will be captured” is the niphil imperfect of ‘la-kad-h’ meaning to be captured, to be caught, or to be trapped. So the entire verse looks like this: Ecc 7:26, “And I kept on discovering more bitter than death the woman who is a trap, and whose right lobe has destructive allurements and her hands are chains.
One who is pleasing to God will be delivered from her, but the reversionistic carnal believer will be captured by her.”
Solomon was raised up in doctrine, he received the best spiritual and practical education a kid could get. He received the timeless wisdom of the Word of God. And he did live in it, for a time, and was a mature believer. But at some point he departed from it, he rejected it. He probably became too familiar and he began to become bored in life. He failed the prosperity test. Thus, since he lost his +H [happiness of God], he began seeking stimulation through pseudo-happiness like any unbeliever or carnal/reversionistic believer. This can happen to any one of us at any time should we get too familiar or cocky and begin to get complacent. If you aren’t moving forward with the spiritual life, you are moving BACKWARD. You can sit in Bible class night after night and take in the Word of God consistently, and in about two or three months you can revert right back to the way you used to think and the way things used to be.
We are warned of this throughout the scriptures; Isa 29:24 “And those who err in mind will know the truth, And those who criticize will accept instruction.”
Isa 30:1-3 “Woe to the rebellious children,” declares the Lord, “Who execute a plan, but not Mine, And make an alliance, but not of My Spirit. Who proceed down to Egypt, Without consulting Me, To take refuge in the safety of Pharaoh, And to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt! Therefore, the safety of Pharaoh will be your shame, And the shelter in the shadow of Egypt, your humiliation.
2Pe 2:22 “It has happened to them according to the true proverb, A dog returns to its own vomit,” and, “A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.”
In Ecc 7, in his recovery from reversionism, Solomon recalls doctrines, restoring to his soul the truths that he had previously rejected.
His life was almost over, but there are countless generations of people after him who might profit by these things. Solomon’s father, David, also failed in the field of right man, right woman. His failures were numerous. He married many wrong women, and also had affairs with many others, until finally he married his right woman, Bathsheba. David should have just waited for the timing of God, rather than having her seized and then forcing himself upon her. But even though he tried to do it on his own, God still gave Bathsheba to David. David finally wound up with his right woman. He recovered from his own reversionism, and became a fantastic believer.
1Ki 11:1 says, “Now King Solomon loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women.”
Solomon had tried all different kinds of women, and God had warned Solomon about making this mistake: 1Ki 11:2 from the nations of which the Lord had said to the sons of Israel, “You shall not associate with them, nor shall they associate with you; they will certainly turn your heart away to follow their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love.
God had also set rules for all kings in Deut 17:17 “Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself.
Both David and Solomon failed to heed this rule. Like father, like son!
1Ki 11:3 “And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart away [this is the second time reversionism is referred to by the phrase ‘turn your heart away’].”
Reversionism is not turning your body away from the plan of God and Bible doctrine but turning your heart or right lobe away. Every Sunday, churches are filled with individuals who have fallen away from the Lord in their heart, although they are in attendance physically, but it is the heart that God is after!
It is written in Prov 23:26, “Give me your heart, my son, And let your eyes delight in my ways.”
1Ki 11:4 “For it came about when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods [notice that this is the third time reversionism is mentioned, when he was young verse 3, when he was old verse 4]; and his heart was not wholly devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been.”
Having a heart devoted to God does not mean sinless perfection. It simply means that in spite of any failures or sins, you continue to go forward in the plan of God and not let these things stop you (Php 3:13). That is key! This passage says that Solomon’s heart was not wholly devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been.
The scriptures testify to David’s devotion to the Lord, (1Ki 4:7-8, 1Ki 15:5, Acts 13:22)
We have noted recently the many failings of David, including “Operation Bathsheba,” polygamy forbidden in Deut 17:17, the census, faking insanity, etc. This my friends, is the story of the man who the Bible says “kept all of God’s commands” and followed God with all his heart to do only that which was right in God’s sight. He who never turned aside from anything that God commanded him all the days of his life, except in the case of Uriah the Hittite, and did all of God’s will.”
What does this reveal to all of us? God did not expect Solomon to be perfect; however, he did expect him to have a heart devoted to God. The same principle applies to all of us as believers. Rebound per 1Jn 1:9 is designed by God as a provision which enables us to do this. Like all God’s provisions, we must recognize them and use them!
Sadly, Solomon became bitter from his philandering and making a house of merchandise of his bodily temple. Because he turned his heart away from God, he fell into the trap of idolatry through his many heathen wives 1Ki 11:5-9.
III. The Timing of Man vs The Timing of God.
Solomon “seared his conscience,” which means he damaged it, made it insensitive through scar tissue via negative volition, making him unable to recognize his right woman or love her.
Ecc 7:28 “Which I am still seeking but have not found. I have found one man among a thousand, but I have not found a woman among all these.”
Every one of us have had the experience when our conscience has become insensitive and apathetic towards the things of God if we do not watch out for certain sins of omission and have become familiar with God’s calling upon our life. Even believers who have a lot doctrine can become too familiar with God’s calling upon their life. Indifference, apathy, carelessness disinterest, passiveness, negligence, these are all enemies of the spiritual life and a contradiction to the calling of upon your life (Jn 15:16). This is what David found out in 2Sa 11 with his relationship with Bathsheba.
First of all, let’s note that God has assigned to you a number of days to live on this earth according to Psa 90:12; 31:15.
We are not given years or months to live but according to the Bible, days to live!
Psa 90:12 says “Teach us to number our days, That we may present to Thee a heart of wisdom.” 
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