Ecclesiastes 7:20-29 – a Law & Gospel verse-by-verse devotional commentary

Main Reading: Ecclesiastes 7:20-29

v. 20 — “Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.”

In the last portion of Ecclesiastes chapter 7, Solomon said: “don’t be overly righteous.” And I think he means: “Don’t fool yourself into thinking you can be such a model of moral excellence.” And, now, he tells us why that is: because there is no one—not even a righteous person—on earth who does good and never sins. This observation is repeated in Solomon’s preaching & prayers (1 Ki. 8:46, 2 Chron. 6:36). And it echoes throughout the Bible as well.

"The LORD looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one " (Psalm 14:2-3).

"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23).

And you might remember Jesus telling the Rich Young Man, “ no one is good except for God alone” (Mark 10:18).

Now, you might say: “Hold on, I remember a few people in the Bible being called blameless, upright, righteous, and good! Yeah—there was Zechariah & Elizabeth, John the Baptist’s parents. Luke tells us that these people were “righteous…walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord” (Luke 1:6).

But, if you think that means they were sinless, think again! Just remember what those “statutes of the Lord” were—directions for making sacrifices for sin! In other words, this elderly couple was involved in Jewish religious life and recognized their own sinfulness by going to the temple often. If you need more evidence of their imperfections, just remember how Zechariah laughed at God’s promise.

So, as the saying goes: “even the best people are people at best”—we’re all sinners! Just remember, Jesus called His own disciples "evil" in Luke 11:13...

v. 21-22 — “Do not take to heart all the things that people say, lest you hear your servant cursing you. Your heart knows that many times you yourself have cursed others.”

Because all of us are sinners, you shouldn’t be surprised when one of us sins against another. Gossip and sin shouldn’t shock you—but it probably always will. Humanity is capable of such horrors that we will always get hurt. But, with things like gossip, you really shouldn’t be surprised when a negative word about you makes its ways back to you.

In fact, I think a Christian approach is to say: “Yeah, that’s right. I am as bad as people are saying, and probably much worse. There isn’t a thing someone can say about me that I haven’t already mentioned myself and confessed to God” So, when people slander us, we need to learn to be like the duck who lets the water roll off its back.

There is one big, obvious reason this this…we all do the same thing! We’re repeat offenders—Solomon says we’ve cursed others “many times” (v. 22)! We talk bad about others, so don’t be so naive to think that others aren’t talking bad about you. And If people are talking to you about others, be sure that they’re talking to others about you. I feel like the people who are most upset by the gossip going around about them are also some of the people who do the most gossiping. I’m sure you’ve heard about how some of the tough guys in your family, or the pretty girls at school, or the powerful people at work don’t see eye to eye…You might’ve asked: “how come they don’t get along?” And you might’ve gotten this answer: “Oh, yeah, they’re just too much alike.” People feel threatened or replaced when others who are too similar to them start coming around. And some people like treating others a certain way, but they don’t like to be on the receiving end. This is Solomon’s diagnosis for sinners and gossips. Why do we butt heads? We’re too much alike. We sin and we hate it when others sin.

v. 23-24 — “All this I have tested by wisdom. I said, ‘I will be wise,’ but it was far from me. That which has been is far off, and deep, very deep; who can find it out?”

One way to put it is that while Solomon searched for wisdom in all this, he instead learned how little he understood it all. In other words, wisdom means realizing how unwise you are. The more you learn and the more you know in science—think outer space and the deep ocean—or theology, the more you realize how little you know. And if anyone thinks he knows something and he thinks he’s somebody because of it, he does not know all he needs to know… "If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know" (1 Corinthians 8:2).

v. 25-26 — “I turned my heart to know and to search out and to seek wisdom and the scheme of things, and to know the wickedness of folly and the foolishness that is madness. And I find something more bitter than death: the woman whose heart is snares and nets, and whose hands are fetters. He who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is taken by her.”

Speaking of knowing things and finding stuff out, Solomon tells us that he once became obsessed with figuring out the scheme of things. In his case, he wanted to know the ins and outs of exactly how the world worked and people behaved. But chasing after a scheme or—in Hebrew—a device, a reason, or an implication to explain everything is rarely fruitful.

I’ll just go ahead and tell you that many theological errors have been committed by trying to devise a system or scheme to figure out all of Christian doctrine. For instance, there was a brilliant theologian in the 16th century named John Calvin. And when he writes his Bible commentaries, and is only discussing what the Scriptures say, I think he is terrific at explaining what the Bible means. But, unfortunately, what He’s best known for is a book where he systematizes Christianity called the Institutes of the Christian Religion. Honestly, a lot of it is pretty good from my perspective! But, essentially, he starts to grab verses from here, some verses from there, and inserts his own logical conclusion to determine what it all must imply. He notices that the Bible says man is entirely sinful, unable to save himself, and unwilling to follow God. He sees that God is entirely sovereign and governs everything going on around the globe. So, He concludes that if someone is saved, God did it because He wanted to long ago—on that we agree.

And if someone is an unbeliever and never trusts in Jesus, Calvin seems to say, well, God must’ve desired and planned that too.

Anyways, I tell you all that to say: Don’t settle for systems and schemes…take the Bible at face value and limit yourself to what it says.

Now, the next subject Solomon gets into has to do with the schemes going on between the sexes. After all, it’s impossible to talk about sin and the ways people commit it without bringing up the relationship between men and women. From the man’s perspective, Solomon writes: many of the women out there are nothing but traps. He had experienced this first hand! Maybe there were women after Solomon’s riches and royalty, and they knew they could get in if they just danced the right way or showed enough skin.

Men are so prone to these schemes that it was once a battle tactic in the Old Testament (Num. 31:16)! Being in the market for a partner can be such a joyful gift when you’re a Christian looking for a Christian. But if not, it’ll probably be a nightmare—and you might always wonder what kind of trap your partner might be setting for you…

v. 27-29 — “Behold, this is what I found, says the Preacher, while adding one thing to another to find the scheme of things— which my soul has sought repeatedly, but I have not found. One man among a thousand I found, but a woman among all these I have not found. See, this alone I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes.”

Staying on the theme of relationships, Solomon says he found it hard to find friends. Out of a thousand dudes, there was one he could trust. And out of every woman he met, none of them were Mrs. Right.

It’s very difficult to find good friends…and it’s even harder to find a true mate. And the reason, yet again, because we’re all sinners.

God made us good. In fact, in the beginning God made man and said he was good. But it was not good for this man to be alone…so He made woman, and then said “This is very good!” But before long, this first couple would stray; Eve listening to the voice of a serpent and Adam listening to the voice of his wife instead of God. And they were presented with a scheme that would put them on God’s level. If they just rebelled against the LORD & ate from that one forbidden tree, they’d have the knowledge of God. And since then, even though God has revealed to us the proper ways and order in which we’re supposed to live, be married, eat, drink, work, etc. we have been finding ways to screw all of it up.

So, yes, it’s true that there isn’t a man on earth who's good & never sins—except for One! Jesus—God the Son—knows what it’s like to be a man, not just because He’s God and knows everything… But He knows it experientially. He knows what it’s like to be tempted by the Devil directly.

He knows what it’s like to have people cursing Him and scheming against Him! He knows the pain of hearing gossip get back to His own ears. He knows the frustrations caused by friends who stab you in the back. Hebrews puts it this way. "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin" (Hebrews 4:15). He never sinned. He never spoke negatively about anyone when it was out of place.

But I can tell you this, as a Christian, Jesus is talking about you. Yes, people in the world, the Church, and your family may be running their mouths and saying what they’re going to say; cursing you and carrying on…But Jesus, whose voice is much more powerful than theirs, is also speaking about you. Not behind closed doors…not behind your back…but literally at the throne of God. Jesus is advocating for you. Interceding on your behalf, the Bible says.

"My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous " (1 John 2:1).

"Consequently, He is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them " (Hebrews 7:25).

"Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us " (Romans 8:34).