"The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel" (Proverbs 1:1) along with the book of Ecclesiastes, giving us "The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem" (Ecclesiastes 1:1) comprise what is known as "wisdom literature." This category also includes the book of Job and a few Psalms.

Solomon's Proverbs teach divine wisdom by comparing sets of thoughts with each other. But this "wisdom" is not meant for any specific country or race. Its contents ring true for all souls in every century! This type of wisdom far surpasses earthly, human thought. It is grounded in "the fear of the Lord" (Prov. 1: 7). It is "wisdom from above" (James 3: 17). Its wisdom has applications to everyday life issues that are constantly relevant to the soul.

The book of Ecclesiastes was written later, perhaps toward the end of Solomon's life: "I, the Preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem" (Ecclesiastes 1:12). Its message is especially important to young people in that it reveals the futility of living for worldly things. From the vantage point of having "been there and done that," Solomon reminds us that his extravagant life-style and spiritual rebellion were "vanity," that is, meaningless (Ecclesiastes 1: 2). In our modern, media-blitzed society that not only emphasizes the world of sex, money and power but also idolizes it, we see a soul (Solomon) who has truly been to the "other side of life" and we read his godly report: Wealth, sex and power are vanity, meaningless when they are a priority in life. He says that one should rather "fear God and follow Him" (Ecclesiastes 12: 13). His lessons warn us about selfishly basing our lives on the created things of life rather than on the Creator.

Far from being written merely to bring "moral balance" into society, divine wisdom's purpose is to turn our eyes to our Lord. While all the proverbs and the sayings of Solomon in Ecclesiastes are a blessing to us, let us remember that they were written to "testify of Me [Jesus]" (John 5:39). The wisdom of Solomon's literature is personified in Christ. He, for example, constantly inclined His "ear to wisdom" and constantly applied His "heart to understanding" (Proverbs 2: 2) for our salvation. Christ is the "wisdom of God" made flesh. His Word (Proverbs and Ecclesiastes included) was given so that "from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus" (2 Timothy 3:15).

From the repentant, humble tone of Ecclesiastes we are led to believe that Solomon "wised up" and repented of his former idolatrous life-style. Scripture assures us that Solomon did repent and believed in the Messiah, for he "rested with his fathers and was buried in the city of David his father" (2 Chronicles 9: 31)-a phrase used throughout Scripture to designate one who had died in the faith. Solomon, like most of us, had to learn a difficult lesson. May his wisdom bless our hearts so that we, too, may be further assured of the divine grace to be found in Jesus Christ our Savior.

William C. Mack is pastor of Our Savior's Lutheran Church in Amherst, Wisconsin and of Messiah Lutheran Church in Omro, Wisconsin.