Ecclesiastes 1:12-18--The Limitations of Wisdom

Ecclesiastes 1:12-18​
Christian Standard Bible

The Limitations of Wisdom
12 I, the Teacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 I applied my mind to examine and explore through wisdom all that is done under heaven. God has given people this miserable task to keep them occupied. 14 I have seen all the things that are done under the sun and have found everything to be futile, a pursuit of the wind.

15 What is crooked cannot be straightened;
what is lacking cannot be counted.

16 I said to myself, “See, I have amassed wisdom far beyond all those who were over Jerusalem before me, and my mind has thoroughly grasped wisdom and knowledge.” 17 I applied my mind to know wisdom and knowledge, madness and folly; I learned that this too is a pursuit of the wind.

18 For with much wisdom is much sorrow;
as knowledge increases, grief increases.

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Once again, the Teacher identifies himself as the one who has been king over Israel (when it was just one unified nation) in Jerusalem.  This clearly identifies the author as King Solomon.  He tells us that he devoted his life to learning the wisdom that would explain the workings of things here "under the sun."  Though he was blessed with uncommon wisdom and knowledge, he concludes that the LORD gives all mankind the miserable task of trying to find answers to questions like we have discussed in our introduction to a worldview--"Who am I?", "Where did I come from?", "Where am I going?", "Why am I here?", and "How should I live?."  Solomon says this simply keeps mankind occupied, for they will find no good answers "under the sun" if they restrict their searches to answers that can be found in this physical/natural realm.  Solomon sums all this search and discovery up with one word--Futile!  It has been utterly meaningless and disappointing.  He compares it to chasing after the wind as it is something that can never be grasped onto.

"So what?" he concludes if he doesn't have more than just wisdom and knowledge?  Even when he applied both knowledge and wisdom to his life, he came back feeling that he had gained nothing and that it was like trying to catch the wind.

With much understanding and knowledge comes much sorrow and grief.  Solomon understood this world better than any other man, but he wishes he could go back and just leave all that to God because there many things that he sought knowledge of that he's realized now that he didn't need to know and he's not better off for knowing.