The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar as plentiful as sycamore-fig trees in the foothills. – 2 Chronicles 9:27

Today's Scripture Reading (December 8, 2022): 2 Chronicles 9

"Meaningless! Meaningless!" says the Teacher. "Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless" (Ecclesiastes 1:2). The words belong to Qoheleth, the mysterious author of Ecclesiastes. Qoheleth then argues that wisdom is meaningless, as is folly. Work is meaningless, as is pleasure. There is no meaning in our advancement or the prestige to which we might rise. And even our money is meaningless. Qoheleth also makes that clear. "Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless" (Ecclesiastes 5:10). Qoheleth is right. Money is like oxygen; it will spread out to fill any space, and no matter how much you have, unless you are disciplined, it will never be enough. All is meaningless.

Some might argue that Qoheleth didn't know what he was talking about. Of course, money means something. We put a lot of our effort into accumulating it. I love Elon Musk's recent comment about his purchase of Twitter, and the rhetorical question he asks is, "how can you make a small fortune with a tech company?" Musk's answer; start with a large fortune. And he is speaking from experience. I am not sure that his time as the Chief Twit of Twitter is going as well as he expected.

But then again, Qoheleth probably should know what he is talking about. Tradition informs us that Qoheleth's true Identity was none other than a disillusioned Solomon. Even with all of his wealth, his life remained without meaning.

It is also important to note that Solomon didn't ask God for riches or power in the beginning. His request was for wisdom. And God promised to give Solomon wisdom as well as the things for which he didn't ask, including wealth. And it was a promise that was fulfilled as the author of Chronicles tells us that Solomon made silver as plentiful as stone and cedar as plentiful as the common fig tree.

But late in his life, Solomon forgot the one thing that gave everything else meaning. He left his father's God to worship at the altars of the gods of his wives. And amid that experience, maybe Solomon discovered his error, and as Qoheleth, the wise king mourned his own folly.

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him (Ecclesiastes 3:11-14).

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 11