Solomon certainly has a pessimistic view of life. He is aware of what evil there can be in
having much and also having many children who may not have the same values as
the one who earned the wealth. He saw in
his own family what greed and avarice can do.
He saw his brothers attempt to steal the throne, first from his father
and then from him. Wealth and power
actually were the problem not the solution.
No one can have enough of either if that is their motivation. As he looked back on his life and towards his
own end, he clearly saw that all he had gained was not enough to bring
satisfaction to his soul and he had to have known his children were unlikely to
be satisfied either. He asks an
interesting question, “For who knows what is good for man
while he lives the few days of his vain life…”
Good, we want to know it but we never will apart from God.
Jesus says that the little flock is to sell its possessions
and give to the needy for the Father is ready to give them the kingdom. I wonder if people received that as metaphor
or if they were shocked at these words.
Certainly it does not seem that Jesus intended to use a figure of speech
but rather expected them to follow this command. During the time of their discipleship each
man was required to walk away from his profession and follow Jesus. It was impossible to follow Him all over the
region and continue to fish the Sea of Galilee or to continue to sit at the tax
collectors seat. The early church held
all things in common as they sold whatever they had and gave it to the apostles
who set up the charitable functions of the church to benefit orphans and
widows. How do we deal with this
admonition in our lives?
Peter’s dream was troubling to him but he had no idea what
it all meant. Was it literally to do
with eating anything? After the flood
the Lord had given certain animals to His people to eat after seemingly being
vegetarians since the beginning. Was
there something new going on with diet and what did that have to do with
anything? It seems that the vision and
the command to go with these men were connected. If there was to be a mission to the Gentiles,
dietary restrictions would need to be eased to allow for fellowship. The restrictions would have kept observant
Jews apart from table fellowship with those to whom they were called to
evangelize. The mission was more
important than dietary laws. Maybe the
way to sort out all the demands of the Gospel is to say that all that we have
is available to Him for the purpose of sharing the Gospel.
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