 Good morning everyone, welcome to today's session. Today we're going to study on two books from the book of Ecclesiastus and the book of song of Solomon. So before we could proceed, can I request one of us to please lead us in prayer? Can I request Zellie Thule to lead us in prayer? For the God that come before the presence in the name of Jesus, I thank you so much for this session that you have blessed us. You bless our pastor as she teaches from the books, Lord, of Ecclesiastus and song of Solomon, Lord. And also, Lord bless each one of us so that our hearts are receptive and also, Holy Spirit, teach us, guide us, Lord. We commit our life, our time, everything into the caring to Lordship in Jesus' mighty name. Amen. Thank you so much. So I just present our PowerPoint as I start to share. So we're going to study on the book of Ecclesiastus and, yeah, so the song of Psalms, sorry, we're going to study on two books, book of Ecclesiastus and the book of song of Psalms. So the book of Ecclesiastus is part of Bible wisdom literature and it opens with a line. And when we see in chapter one verse one, the word of Kohelet, the son of King David in Jerusalem. Now, in Hebrew, the word Kohelet means someone was gathered people together. And in this case, it's to learn. So it's often translated in English as a teacher or a preacher. And the teacher is said to be the son or a descendant of King David and that's King Solomon. I'll just accept some of them are joined now. Yeah. So a man, Solomon was a man with a great wisdom and he probably wrote this book to where the end of his life at a very old age after trying different things and in search for satisfaction. And then finally he understood what is the meaning of life. So with that learning, he writes this book called Ecclesiastus. So we need to recognize that the teacher is a character in the book and it's different from the author. So when we look at chapter one or the through the chapters, this book has about 12 chapters and we see what does this book talk about. So we do hear the voices of two voices, one, the teacher's voice and then the author's voice. So the teacher's voice is most of the book. It's actually different from the author's voice and the author introduces the teacher in the first sentence and then he ends up again in the last chapter towards the conclusion. And we can summarize this all by the conversation between the author and the teacher. So one thing that commonly runs throughout the book is the word called vanity, vanity, vanity. So let's see the overview of this book. So in the overview, we see that the 12 chapters have been split. The first chapter one to two talks about vanity is explained. And then chapter three to six, we see vanity explored. And then chapter seven to nine, we see vanity expanded. And chapter 10 to 12, we see vanity exonerated. Well, we see different themes here. As we talk about this book, we can see many of these things been covered as we start to explain. So the author is someone who wants us to hear all that the teacher has to say and then helps us process it from our own conclusion so that the teacher, what the teacher has to say. So in chapter one, we see the author summarizes the teacher's basic message. At the beginning and at the beginning and at the end, it talks about vanity and vanity and all is vanity. So now in the English Bible, we see this word called vanity been translated saying it's meaningless or emptiness. So in Hebrew, what is this vanity all about? In Hebrew, vanity literally means vapor or a smoke. And the teacher uses this word about 38 times in this book. And it is a metaphor to describe how life is, first of all, a temporary or a fleeting like wisp of smoke. But secondly also how life is as enigma or a paradox like a smoke that appears to be solid. But actually when we try to grab it, there's nothing there. So there's so much beauty or goodness in the world. But just when we are enjoying it, we see sometimes a tragedy strikes and it seems to be everything been blown away, shuttered and you know, it's all vanity. And we have a strong sense of justice, but sometimes we see bad things happen to good people in life. Even we would have seen it in our own eyes or we would have experienced in our own self sometimes. Yes, for some of us. So constantly life has been very unpredictable and unstable for some. So the teacher here in other words, he's saying, we all are chasing behind vanity. So we may wonder why the author is saying all this. The author, what is the author's basic goal to target all this is talking about the purpose of our life. When the purpose of our life is we need to set God in middle of our life because everything around this vanity. So that is the main purpose of this whole book. I just see somebody has placed a request to admit him. Yeah. So the author thinks we spend most of our time investing our energy, our emotion, our money and things around us and which ultimately has no meaning, no significance. Like we go in search of wealth, pleasure, status, career, position and we try to strive in our daily life to achieve one of the other things. But then the teacher gives us a heart lesson in reality in life. That is everything around this vanity and we don't have to chase around all these things because ultimately everything we end when when we hit the hardcore of death. So later part we also see the teacher say talks about, you know, we may spend a whole life working and achieving striving to achieve certain things. Certain dreams in our life and we may think these are these will make most meaningful sense in our life. So here the author, the teacher is saying telling us we need to stop and reconsider think again what we are striving to do every day in our life. What are we going to achieve out of this? If you are a developer, you may develop a technology and you may build a, if you are a leader, you may build a big nation. So whatever it is, as per the phase of life that we are in, they may be a rise and they may be a fall. But here the author is asking us to rethink. Now they may be a big mountain and we may start climbing on that mountain and we may reach a success which no one else have walked that path or climbed that mountain and we have achieved something in our life. But then what happens? What happens? We may get down up that mountain. We may have succeeded. We may have been recognized for that. But then what happens? The mountain will be there. Okay. It means nothing. So a hundred years passed by what happens? By now that mountain that we climbed is still there. The ocean that we explored is still the same. The sun that is shining over us is still the same. It rises and it sets. But then eventually, whatever we thought is success, whatever we thought will establish a name for us will eventually slowly raise us and everything, everything around us will slowly advance. We will slowly vanish and then we will be forgotten by the people. So the author says that our life is like a vapor on the water or he also says that we are like the grass. When the wind flows, the grass has been rooted and even the very trees where the grass has grown is not there. So that's how our life is. With that we will move on to the next phase where vanity explored. Here we see from chapter 3 to 6 it explains summarizes. I'm just summarizing it because we need to for a better understanding. So there are examples for vanity here and there is a beautiful poem that there is a time for every season in the world. It's a very beautiful poem. Let me see if I can read it. We are in Ecclesiastes chapter 3. It says a time to be born, a time to die, a time to plant, a time to pluck what is planted, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to break down and a time to build up, a time to weep, a time to laugh, a time to mourn, a time to dance, a time to cast away stones, a time to gather stones, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing a time to gain and a time to loss, a time to keep and a time to grow away and a time to tear and a time to sew, a time to keep silence and a time to speak, a time to laugh and a time to hate, a time to war and a time to peace. We see here there are seven sets of these short lines which has been shared here. Here we see the author talking about the value of time. There is a time for every season and even God had this time. In time, God prepared Jesus. He sent into this world in time and we also see Jesus himself talking about time when he was living on this earth. When his mother approached him to convert the water into wine, he said, women, my time is not yet come. You are seeking for that appropriate time. And even when at the time of cross, he said, okay, my time is coming. He's telling the disciples, okay, my time is coming. I need to be at it over. So we see that Jesus walked in perfect timing. So even God orchestrates everything in perfect time in this world. So there is a time. So Solomon talks about immutability of God, which is inevitability of death and oppression and evil of man, forgetting of strong leaders. And here he talks about the laziness, the busyness of the failures or working for money. One thing is for sure in life is death. And when death occurs, whatever we are achieved in this world, we do not carry them with us. So keeping this in mind, we need to lead our life seeking goodness for others as we seek it for ourselves. So later he moves to chapter seven to nine, which has been titled as Vanity Expanded. So in this passage, we see similar to the book of Proverbs. Here he talks about the difference between the wisdom and folly. So talks about the advice for dealing with king's rewards of fearing God. Rewards of fearing God and more on the certainty of death. Because death is something that makes us be aware of our life being in vanity and how sensitive our life is. So keeping this in our mind, we will conduct ourselves with fear of God and do good to others at the same time. Just like how Jesus said, you need to, as you love yourself, love your neighbors as you love yourself. So keeping others in mind, we will conduct ourselves well because our life is not for sure and our life is like the vapor or the water. So he talks about death, it can happen to anyone at any time, at any part of their life. So like a story, you know, he also shares a story, like a story goes like this. There's a certain city with few men living in it and a king came to capture the whole city and he surrounds the whole city with a big hami and he seizes it. And now as helpless as the people in that city could be and there comes a poor wise man who comes to help this, help to save the city. So he turns up, he comes up with a plan and he reaches out to this particular king and he delivers the whole city with his wisdom. Now, though it is a good story, but the people in that city, so that's the person who saved that city and their life. Hence here we see the author is comparing Israel for God, God who saved them from the slavery. And also later part we see them, how God saved them from the other kingdoms around them who was trying to destroy them at all. But then Israel, as it grew again, it tends to forget God time and again. And with this, as author explained this, he moves on to the other next chapter 11 and he talks about, you know, vanity has been cleared, exonerated. So in chapter 11 verse 1, can one of us please turn to chapter 11 verse 1 and read that for us please? Chapter 11 verse 1, cast your bread upon the waters for you will find it after many days. Amen. Thank you. So here we see it talks about a proverb, not a hoarding, not an advertisement, but a proverb for generosity. Give, give, give, God is giving you for you to be a blessing. Even in the New Testament we see that, you know, the word says it's blessed to give than to receive. So here the ecclesiastist, the author says give, be a blessing because our life is in vanity. And also in verse 7, can you also please read verse 7 in the same chapter? Truly the light is sweet and it is pleasant for the eyes to behold the sun. Yeah, so that means if a person lives for a longer years, let him rejoice. But let him remember that the days of darkness will be many and all that comes is vanity. And with this we will move on summarizing the whole chapter of 11 and first part of 2L. And it says that if that's not disheartening enough, the teacher also can't stop talking about death all the way throughout the book, especially in this point near the end. He says that is the great equalizer. And it renders meaningless most of our daily activities and it divorce the wise and the fool. The rich and the poor, no matter who you are, what you have done, good or bad, we all are going to die. And that is something that we cannot escape from. It is inescapable. So keeping that in our mind, we need to conduct our life worthy or pleasing to God. So with these two ideas in hand that the teacher considers these two things like the first few chapters we see life is vanity and in the last conclusion part we see how death is inescapable. So keeping these two activities in mind, we see that there is a kind of hope that the author creates in us. So you think working hard is going to make life worth it. Think about the stress that we will toil during that time, all the anxiety and the sleepless nights. By the time we actually earn some wealth, we are going to lose it. We will be so old that we are not unable to enjoy it. So anyway, we may think, okay, let me pass it on to my children or to someone. Because they have not earned it, they may not even know the value of the wealth that you stressfully earned it throughout your life. So they may lavishly spend it because they do not know the value of it. And later we also think, okay, so instead of me keeping the whole thing to the next generation or to pass it on to somebody else, so let me enjoy it. So what the author describes here is the man making, okay, let me enjoy it. So he goes into a pleasure mode and he tries to enjoy his life by going into vacations or going for a party every weekend. But remember, again, after a weekend there is always a Monday. You know, you need to again struggle, slog and same comes back. So again, he says everything is vanity, vanity, vanity. So what does a teacher gives us a message? He says, yes, we may be a pleasure seeker. It is very important. But then what we need to do is the teacher is acknowledging something very important here is as we lead our life. And as you know, we are aware now that everything around is vanity. And also the second, the last phase of the book where he talks about death is for sure. So keeping all this in mind how we need to conduct our life. How we need to conduct our life is by keeping the fear of God in our mind. That's what the problems talk about. We need to lead our life, lead our life to the fear of God because in the fear of God is where we get our wisdom. Is where we get our understanding is where we also get our knowledge. So the author in this book also encourages us to fear God, fear God in our life so that we may lead a better life. That we may give a meaning to the life even if it is a short time we may give meaning to our life. And if it is a long term under the sun, enjoy it. God has blessed you because the scripture says when we walk fearing God, our life will be expanded because you are setting an example to others. So you may set a living example to many other people. So the author says lead a life fearing to God that you may be a blessing to many. So with this we may have a question in our mind saying how do we live a life in midst of all this vanity? Simple again and again. The author says fear God, fear God as a life is a gift that we have received from God. With being mindful of God that God is watching over us and our life has been watched. Our thought has been watched. Nothing that is in this world we can do that is hidden from God. Being all mindful we need to lead a life that pleases God. And at the same time you can enjoy your life by doing good things around us and have a good friendship with everyone. Go for a family outing, have a good meal, spend time with your loved ones, enjoy your sunny day. But be mindful that our life is short. Let's live our life meaningful with fear of God. And even when we pass away when the death hits us we may not have any regrets because we have set a good example. We have set our family in the right way so that we can pass away the battle in a good manner. Keeping God in midst of our mind, our art, our family and in all that we orchestrate things around us. So though we may not have control over things that are happening around us but one thing the author says that when we set a focus on God he says there are certain things that God can be control of our life. Yes, the book talks about vanity but at the same time it also gives us hope. So in fact at the end we see that the author brings a conclusion and he says that teachers' words are very important for us to hear. As a shepherd's staff with a goal and with a pointy end he might hurt us. When it pokes us and the teacher says he is trying to focus to get us moving to the right direction towards the greater wisdom. So the author wants us that we can actually take the teacher's words and accept it and apply it in our life so that we may not be puzzled at handling our life situation but we can be well prepared. So with this the author encourages us with the message of hope saying that no matter what challenge we may face in our life but we need to have this hope that God is with us. God will lead us and the hope that one day God will clear away all the vanity and bring justice to our world and in that hope that we should fuel our life with honesty, integrity because we are leading our life friend of God. So despite the fact that many situations in our life we may not understand it may bring a lot of complex but then trust God. Trust God in all your life that God is a source of all wisdom. He can handle things for you. He will make a way with us in no way. He leads you. So yeah this book completely encourages and tells us don't run into the worldly pleasure, worldly things because everything brings vanity and the author Solomon we know that he was in highest in power, highest in wisdom. He had all the pleasure, wealth of this world and yes especially with the women he had about 700 wives and then concubines and all that. So he says everything is vanity. I have experienced, I have tasted, I have gone through in my life and everything is vanity and all that we need is God which I have missed it with all my wisdom but you don't do that. So we need to take the author's words literally because a man was gone through everything and with his life experience he is sharing his wisdom to us so that you and I when we go through different stages in our life we may not do the mistakes what he did. So he gives us a warning and also a message of hope and he also shares his life experience, the mistakes that he did so that we may not do from it. So it is a great book of learning. Praise God for this wisdom and much more can be understood when we personally read. So I would encourage all of us to please read this book as it is. So with this, any questions, anything that you would like to share please go ahead before we could move on to the next book. And we have a reflection question here. Are we living our lives having eternity in our mind? Or are we still searching for a meaning and purpose in life by seeking wealth, fame, pleasure, success? But we need to remember and all that we do, we need to honor God, honor and obey God. So open to class, is there anything that you would like to share, ask before we could move on to the next book? Class, anything that you would like to share? I think the science has that everyone understood so we can move on to the next book. But everyone are there right? Yes ma'am. Am I going in fast phase? Are you able to understand? Is it okay? Is this phase okay? Yes ma'am. Okay, okay, great, thank you, thank you so much. So we will move on to the next book, Song of Songs, which is also known as Song of Solomon. So this book is also called a Song of Solomon and it has a collection of love poems and which is also the last book in the Bible's Wisdom book. So final of the three books written by Solomon. We look at the three books, we look at Proverbs, the book of Ecclesiastes and now the Song of Songs, which is also known as Song of Solomon. So they say the majority of Proverbs was written by Solomon when he was very matured in his life. Okay, and then we see a book of Ecclesiastes was written at the old age. You know when he had an experience of whole lot in his life and at the end he considers everything vanity and he comes to the realization of life. What he actually could have done, which he didn't do and what others can do, you know, he gives the whole experience of life. So this book Ecclesiastes he wrote in a very old age, okay, mostly at the end of his age. Now the Song of Solomon. We see this book, we see that he has written at a very youthful. The writing and the way he explains about himself is sounds like, you know, Solomon was very young and youth and even before you could get married to many women. You know, he just writes it and here we see a writing of a wedding song. It describes his love for and married a marriage to a beautiful country girl called Shulamite. We see that in the Song of Songs chapter 6 verse 13. And the song records the dialogue between a bride that is Shulamite and a beloved the king of Israel, which is Solomon, a man with great wisdom. And we see later the chorus of the daughters of Jerusalem occasionally addressing the lover. So well, this book could have written approximate date is 950 BC in Jerusalem. And the very purpose of this book is we have split it like the review and the preview. The review can be the Song of Solomon demonstrates the love that should exist between a husband and a wife. And where it needs to glorify in a wedded love. Literal application speaks of the blissful love of Solomon and his bride in some of the chapters we see, especially in chapter 4 and 5. And later we see the preview, the Christian love through the ages I've seen in the book has been illustrated of Christ's love for his bride that has been church. And it teaches about the sanctity of courtship and marriage and also it teaches about the essential nature of the human of a man and a woman in marriage. And later we also see the secondary sense of the same book. The book, we see that it has to be considered as the Old Testament illustration, the love of God for his people and the love of Christ. And in the New Testament we see for the love of Christ for his bride. The church in the New Testament is Christ showcasing his love for the bride. We can understand it that way or we can interpret it that way. And the unique features of this book is there are two. The Song of Songs is unique among the Bible books for its intimate look at sexual love. And the second is it is one of the only two books that do not mention the name of God. But the expression itself just like the book of Esther, we see the God's heart in this book. So this book has eight chapters or we can call it as Eight Love Poetry. And while there is an introduction and there is a conclusion in this book. So the book doesn't have any kind of rigid literary design. And that's because it's a collection of poems. They are not meant to be dissected or taken apart. They are meant to be read as a flow, as a flow and simply enjoy it. So we'll start with verse one. We'll start with chapter one of chapter one and verse. So here we see the first line of the book tells us that it's the Song of Songs or the Song of Solomon, which in Hebrew medium like the Holy of Holies or the King of Kings. It's a Hebrew way of saying the greatest thing. So this is the greatest songs of all songs or the greatest songs of Solomon. So we see the author of the book is the King Solomon, which is recorded in the first line itself and the Song of Songs. So we read the poem. We discover that the main voice is that of a woman called the beloved. And while there is also a male voice, which is King Solomon. For the lover in the Song of Songs, there are the only ones in the world for each other. And the Solomon was also known for his wisdom, for his poetry skill, his love of learning about every part of life. And eventually Solomon became the father of wisdom literature in Israel. And also his legacy is here carried on through a collection of love poems that explored the human experience of love and sexual desire. And later part of the same chapter, we see the opening poem introduces us to the basic theme of this book. So we hear the voice of this young woman who delights in a man shepherd. And now she's not married to him yet, but it becomes clear that they are engaged and they cannot wait to be together. So yeah, we see that throughout the poem. From the introduction, the poem flows back and forth about the women's voice and then the man shifting. We see it's like a movie. It's like drama or different scenes comes after each other. And without any kind of clear linear sequence of storyline, just a conversation of how attracted each other are towards each other. And however, the poem moves in the symphonic cycle and the key images and ideas get repeated and developed. So one of the basic theme uniting the poem is the intense desire of this couple for each other expressed throughout this book, sneaking and finding them. So after the point opening of this poem, we see at some instant, they are separated, but on the hunt for one another. So the woman calls out or she wake up from a dream and go looking for a lover. And more than once they'll find each other and they will embrace and then right from then things start to get little racy and the scene will suddenly end. And the new one will start and they are separated again and looking after each other and it goes on this way. And another repeated theme is in the whole book, we see the joy, the joy when they are together. They just showcase it how, you know, they're getting attracted with each other and they like to be together. So the multiple times they'll pause and they'll describe each other, they get attracted towards each other. So yeah, we see that whole thing in the story about how a lover's conversation would be and all this has been rated in the Hebrew poetry and not in a visual format. With this we'll move on to chapter eight, which is the last chapter. So it all comes together in the conclusion where they pause to summarize that the poem are all about love. And, you know, especially in chapter eight from verse six to nine, it talks about love is strong as death. Its passion are as severe as the grave and it flashes out of fire. A divine flame of many waters cannot extinguish love or rivers cannot sweep it away. If one were to give all the wealth of one's house for love, you would be utterly scorned. So the poem highlights the power and intensity of love. How it's both beautiful, but also at the same time it is dangerous like a fire. Love can destroy people if it's abused or life giving if it's protected. Yes, we see that so and so through even now around us. So ultimately, love expresses the limitless human longing to know and be fully known and desired by one another. And also love is one of the most inspiring and mysterious experience in human life. And as part of the Bible's wisdom tradition, this book says it's a gift from God. And after this, there's an old poem which talks about money that love, money cannot buy love and all that. And we see that, you know, they are separated once again. The couple you have been separated and, you know, they start hunting each other and he calls to your the voice and she begs him to run away with her. And that's how the book ends just totally open ended. So we may think, why is it open ended? But that's not like love, which never truly concludes because there's always more to discover and pursue in your beloved. And so true that, you know, love has no end and neither has this book. Now, we can compare this song of songs into, you know, into our life. Now, there may be a question why this love, the song of songs poetry. What is it doing in the Bible and it has no mention about God. So we will look into it according to the Hebrew history or the Jewish tradition, the way it has been written as the allegory. So each character in this book is a symbol. So the women is Israel and the man is God. So there is love in the symbol of covenant between God and Israel. Like, you know, God made in Mount Sinai and and giving the Torah, the law to the people of Israel. So we see the view flowed into the Christian tradition, but the characters were swapped. So it's about. So in the older tradition, we saw how God gave the law to the people and the women, you know. Yeah, and now we are relating it into the Christian tradition that is in the New Testament, but the characters are now swapped. So it's about Christ's love for his people, the church and the interpretation was inspired by Paul's work in Ephesians chapter five. You see that the Christian is the husband's love for his wife is a symbol of Christ's love for the church. So what's interesting here is that the last hundred years, the archaeological discoveries among the Israelites, ancient neighbor. And the neighbors are like the Egypt or the Babylon have turned up all kinds of ancient love poetry and that very similar language is similar to the song of song. So we see that the love poetry was a meaningful part of Israel's culture and the interpretation and how they expressed each other in the environment where they lived that time. So we need to read this book at the culture tradition, keeping the author, how they expressed it in their mind. So which led most scholars today to view the song of songs as what is present itself as an arrangement of Israel's love poetry, reflecting on the divine gift of God's love to us. But that doesn't mean that it's only an ancient love poet, but the key feature of this poem that sticks out when we read them part of Old Testament. And that's the overwhelming part use of the Garden of Eden as an imaginary. So here he repeats the Garden of Eden and the ideal scene between the married couple in the early chapter of Genesis. So the image of the man and the woman who got created was vulnerable, but completely later was unified and safe with one another through through through Christ. So this resonates in the background of the song of song. So it is as if these poems we are witnessing the love of couple whose relationship is untrained by selfishness and sin. But later we see ultimately the song holds how to hope that even though in our own relationship we have been disorted or selfish with sin and we have fallen. But we can be regenerated or we can come together with the love of God which can transcend our life, which can give meaning to our life. So the gift of God is God's love itself and we have that love permeated into us and this can transform us and the love towards people around us. So the song of song is compared to the love of God to his children ultimately like yeah. With this keeping in mind we can summarize the all three books which Solomon writes the book of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and song of Solomon or the song of songs through one video which I would like to share it at the end of our class right now. And before that I just put some highlights that we covered from this book. We can go through this these maybe some of the highlights that we cover that we covered and with this I will share a video. Just give me a minute as I share a video. Please let me know as I play the video one of us please let me know if the audio is clear. Was it audible? Was it clear? Were you able to hear the audio? No ma'am. No. The story of the Bible King Solomon was the wisest ruler that Israel ever had. Is it clear? And there are three books in the Hebrew Scriptures connected to him. Yes ma'am. He's asking the song of songs. They passed down the legacy. You can wear a headset if you'll have because there are a lot of background sounds very effectively they've created this video. If you'll have a headset please wear it as you'll enjoy watching this video. Solomon was the wisest ruler that Israel ever had. And there are three books in the Hebrew Scriptures connected to him. Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and the song of songs. They passed down the legacy of Solomon's wisdom but in a surprising way. So let's talk about how to read the books of Solomon. Okay to really appreciate the story of Solomon's wisdom we have to go back to the Garden of Eden. Where God created humanity male and female. Right Adam and Eve and God commissions them to rule the world together in intimacy and love. Kings and queens of creation. Now in order to rule you need to be wise and the humans have a choice about how to gain wisdom. Yeah they could live by God's wisdom which will lead to life or they could become wise in their own eyes. And that's what they choose to take the knowledge of good and bad into their own hands. And immediately the intimacy between man and woman is open. They hide their bodies from each other and then from God. Their choice leads to division and death. But the story holds out hope for a future human who will make the right choice and rely on God's wisdom. Like King Solomon he prayed that God would give him the knowledge to know good from bad so he could rule with true wisdom. Exactly he reverses the failure of Adam and Eve and it leads to abundance. In Solomon's day every Israelite sat in peace under their own fruit tree. Oh it's like he's creating Eden. Well for a while but then Solomon fails. He marries hundreds of women from other nations and he's deceived to follow their gods. And this begins Israel's long descent into self-destruction. And so when we turn to the books of Solomon we're invited to learn wisdom from his successes and his failures. Got it. So let's start with Proverbs. Okay so the book of Proverbs is most well known for the hundreds of short memorable sayings that teach us how to live by God's wisdom. Like trust in the Lord with all your heart and don't be wise in your own eyes. In Proverbs living by God's wisdom instead of your own is called the fear of the Lord. Like in the book's opening paragraph the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Now Proverbs isn't just memorable sayings it actually begins with a lot of poetry. Yes nine chapters of speeches from Solomon to his royal sons. He tells them to pursue God's wisdom which is symbolized as an elegant woman. Wisdom is a woman? Yes so remember in the Garden of Eden the man and the woman's intimacy was violated by their failed search for wisdom. But now in Proverbs humans who reunite with God's wisdom become what Adam and Eve failed to be wise human rulers. Proverbs 3 even says that when we embrace lady wisdom we're taking hold of the tree of life. Now we're the ones in the garden. Exactly, Proverbs is saying that every day we all stand before the tree with our own choice to make and Solomon urges us to choose wisdom and life. So how does Ecclesiastes fit into Solomon's story? Well in this book it's like we're meeting Solomon near the end of his life and he offers some sober reflections. Life is Heval. That's the Hebrew word for vapor or smoke which is unpredictable and uncontrollable. And he's constantly talking about life under the sun. That is life outside of the garden how it's confusing and difficult. Right even when I live by God's wisdom life can be full of disappointments. Leading up to the ultimate disappointment your own death. That's depressing. But at the end of the book he says we should strive to live by wisdom and the fear of the Lord just with more realistic expectations. Got it. Well maybe the next book will cheer us up. The Song of Songs, a love poem between a man and a woman and it'll make you blush. Yeah on its basic level of meaning this book is racy Hebrew love poetry. But remember in Proverbs humanity's pursuit of wisdom was portrayed with the symbolism of a man pursuing a woman in a garden. But in this saw it's the woman who's searching and longing for her lover. Yes it's a poetic image of lady wisdom pursuing us so that we can have life. In fact the song ends with a poem about how this lady's love is more powerful than death itself. So the song works on two levels it's celebrating human's desire for intimacy and saying that that desire points to humanity's ultimate purpose to be united with God and His wisdom. So we can rule united with each other. Exactly this is why the song ends with the man and the woman united in love under a fruit tree. So the story of Solomon and these three books invite us to see ourselves within the whole biblical story. Yes they're about how God designed all of us to rule the world by His wisdom so that we can all find true life. So I would encourage each of us to share your views your thoughts on these three books that we studied yesterday and today. That is the book of Proverbs, Ecclesiastas and Songbop Songs. So if anyone would like to share or add something new that we can learn all together please feel free to go ahead. Any questions anything that you would like to share? Anyone in the class? Brother Lubega, Elisha you would like to add on? Brother Subashish, anyone in the class? Add to the wisdom books. Okay as the time is up maybe one of us can dismiss us with the word of prayer. Can I request Jeffrey Nadre, anyone in the class? Brother Lubega you would like to dismiss us with the word of prayer please. In heaven we thank you for today as we are passing through the days like this. Father just asking Solomon what I'm saying in exhalation is that to read verse one that for everything is a season of time for everything. Everything for us and the earth. Lord we are here to thank you. We know this is a time of learning. Let everybody in this class use this option moment to learn more about God's word especially the words of King Solomon since he was a man who saw it all. He can be a great genital guide us in this work of life. And let everybody take him as an example. We do pray and believe that everything is going to be as it was and as it is and as it will be the name of the Father. Amen. I see some comments about the videos. Yes, you know, especially when we study through the history of the Old Testament, you know, only theory or only verbal conversation sometimes make it very monotonous. But when we add certain pictures through a PowerPoint slide or when we add certain videos, it just makes us interesting. It makes the book also interesting as it opened up our imagination so that we can understand the book in a much better way than what it has been taught or said. Okay, so that's the old intention to keep this Old Testament book very interesting and you know, very simple in the way that we can understand in our times. Okay, so I'm just making use of all the tools that are available for us. It has been created, God and His wisdom have been raised so many people around us to interpret the Bible in a much better way where this generation, our generation can understand. So as I study and do some researches, praise God, you know, God gives such videos in hand so that it may be a blessing to all of us so that even as I teach, I also learn much more. Thank you so much for being a blessing and God bless you all in the next class.