Consider the work of God: for who can make that straight, which he has made crooked?
Continuing: the subject brought to light in the title is right and wrong, as in what is correct or incorrect, righteousness and wickedness and those who join with these ideas. The title, Ecclesiastes 7:13, is saying to see, understand for yourself (ra’ah ‘eth), the work (ma’aseh – activity and enterprise) of God. It asks, who can set in order (taqan – equalize), measure by weighing, to compose an argument to prove right what He has proven wrong and has overthrown (`avath)?
Solomon is speaking of his attempting to show the foolish (the proud self-righteous) and wicked their errors and having no ability to change their minds. He tells of these congregations of men as a woman he finds more bitter than death, whose reasoning is as a snare and a net, and her hands are bands. He says only those who please God (as did Abraham by believing Him and by faith followed His instructions) will escape her, but the sinner (all men of the earth) shall be taken by her. This is his dilemma, he has found one man among a thousand who understands, but a woman (an ekklesia {as in Ecclesiastes} – a faithful congregation) among men he has not found one. In this, the LORD is speaking of what Paul rights of the wisdom and work of God, which Solomon is telling us to consider.
Romans 11
8 (According as it is written, God has given them [God’s people {and all men of the earth}] the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.
9 And David says [in Psalms 69:22 & 23], Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumbling-block, and a recompense unto them:
10 Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back always.
11 I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles [those who don’t know God], for to provoke them to jealousy.
12 Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fullness?
13 For I speak to you Gentiles [those who haven’t known God, but now see Him in His work and word, and have by Him been quickened to life as His first-fruits, His elect remnant], inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:
14 If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them.
15 For if the casting away of them [the corrupt congregations] be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?
16 For if the first-fruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.
17 And if some of the branches be broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakes of the root and fatness of the olive tree;
18 Boast not against the branches. But if you boast, you bear not the root, but the root you.
19 You will say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in.
20 Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Be not high-minded, but fear:
21 For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not you.
22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in his goodness: otherwise you also shall be cut off.
23 And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again.
24 For if you wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?
25 For I would not, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in.
26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written [in Isaiah 59:20 and 27:9, passages telling of why the branches are separated from the tree, from the LORD, and how they are brought back, as the branch {the rod of an almond tree} shoots from to reconcile them], There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
27 For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.
28 As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the father’s sakes.
29 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
30 For as you in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
31 Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.
32 For God has concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.
33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
34 For who has known the mind of the LORD? or who has been his counselor?
35 Or who has first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? [These verses are referring us to Isaiah 40 where they are quoted in telling of the LORD himself preparing us to receive Him and then gathering us to Himself, by giving us understanding that only comes from God the Father.]
36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory forever. Amen.
Isaiah 40
1 Comfort you [shoot forth and lead them into all truth], comfort you my people, says your God.
2 Speak you comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she has received of the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.
3 The voice of him that cries in the wilderness, Prepare you the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight [He shall set in order what has strayed into falsehood], and the rough places plain:
5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD has spoken it.
6 The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh [every man of the earth] is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:
7 The grass withers, the flower fades: because the spirit of the LORD blows upon it [sends His Spirit, ideas and thoughts, as wind to move them]: surely the people is grass.
8 The grass withers, the flower fades: but the word of our God shall stand forever.
9 O Zion, that brings good tidings, get you up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that brings good tidings, lift up your voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!
10 Behold, the LORD God will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.
11 He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.
12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?
13 Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being his counselor has taught him?
14 With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding?
15 Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.
16 And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering.
17 All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.
18 To whom then will you liken God? or what likeness will you compare unto him?
19 The workman melts a graven image, and the goldsmith spreads it over with gold, and casts silver chains.
20 He that is so impoverished that he has no oblation chooses a tree that will not rot; he seeks unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved.
21 Have you not known? have you not heard? has it not been told you from the beginning? have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
22 It is he that sits upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretches out the heavens as a curtain, and spreads them out as a tent to dwell in:
23 That brings the princes to nothing; he makes the judges of the earth as vanity.
24 Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble.
25 To whom then will you liken me, or shall I be equal? says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who has created these things, that brings out their host by number: he calls them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one fails.
27 Why say you, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God?
28 Have you not known? have you not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, faints not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.
29 He gives power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increases strength.
30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:
31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
Ecclesiastes 7
11 Wisdom is good with [which is left as] an inheritance: and by it there is profit to them that see the sun [awaken, having understanding even in the darkness, before the light comes to all others].
12 For wisdom is a defense, and money is a defense: but the excellency of knowledge is, that wisdom gives life to [quickens] them that have it.
13 Consider the work of God: for who can make that straight, which he has made crooked?
14 In the day of [having understanding in] prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity [and having understanding in {ra’} a time of affliction and evil] consider [ra’ah]: God also has set the one over against the other, to the end that man should find nothing after him [so man will understand that only the things of value withstand adversity].
15 All things have I seen in the days of my vanity: there is a just man that perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man that prolongs his life in his wickedness.
16 Be not [self] righteous over much [over your error, don’t defend them into your own destruction]; neither make yourself over wise: why should you destroy yourself?
17 Be not over much wicked, neither be you foolish: why should you die before your time?
18 It is good that you should take hold of this; yea, also from this withdraw not your hand [works]: for he that fears God shall come forth of them all.
19 Wisdom strengthens the wise more than ten mighty men which are in the city.
20 For there is not a just man upon earth, that does good, and sins not.
21 Also take no heed unto all words that are spoken; lest you hear your servant curse you:
22 For oftentimes also your own heart knows that you likewise have cursed others.
23 All this have I proved by wisdom: I said, I will be wise; but it was far from me.
24 That which is far off, and exceeding deep, who can find it out? [Those who diligently search in places the LORD leads them, into all truth]?
25 I applied mine heart to know, and to search, and to seek out wisdom, and the reason of things, and to know the wickedness of folly, even of foolishness and madness:
26 And I find more bitter than death the woman, whose heart is snares and nets, and her hands as bands [that hold all men of the earth]: whoso pleases God shall escape from her [and find wisdom]; but the sinner shall be taken by her [not escape her] .
27 Behold, this have I found, saith the preacher, counting one by one, to find out the account:
28 Which yet my soul seeks, but I find not: one man among a thousand have I found; but a woman among all those have I not found.
29 Lo, this only have I found, that God has made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions [created many errors].
Ecclesiastes 8
1 Who is as the wise man? and who knows the interpretation of a thing? a man’s wisdom makes his face to shine [give understanding], and the boldness of his face shall be changed.
2 I counsel you to keep the king’s commandment, and that in regard of the oath of God.
3 Be not hasty to go out of his sight: stand not in an evil thing; for he does whatsoever pleases him.
4 Where the word of a king is, there is power: and who may say unto him, What do you?
5 Whoso keeps the commandment shall feel no evil thing: and a wise man’s heart discerns both time and judgment.
6 Because to every purpose there is time and judgment, therefore the misery of man is great upon him.
7 For he knows not that which shall be: for who can tell him when it shall be?
Isaiah 59
1 Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:
2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
3 For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue has muttered perverseness.
4 None calls for justice, nor any pleads for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.
5 They hatch cockatrice’ eggs, and weave the spider’s web: he that eats of their eggs dies, and that which is crushed breaks out into a viper.
6 Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands.
7 Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths.
8 The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goes therein shall not know peace.
9 Therefore is judgment far from us, neither does justice overtake us: we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness.
10 We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noon day as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men.
11 We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves: we look for judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us.
12 For our transgressions are multiplied before you, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them;
13 In transgressing and lying against the LORD, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.
14 And judgment is turned away backward, and justice stands afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.
15 Yea, truth fails; and he that departs from evil makes himself a prey: and the LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment.
16 And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him.
17 For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak.
18 According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompense.
19 So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.
20 And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, says the LORD.
21 As for me, this is my covenant with them, says the LORD; My spirit that is upon you, and my words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, nor out of the mouth of your seed, nor out of the mouth of your seed’s seed, says the LORD, from henceforth and forever.
Isaiah 27
1 In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.
2 In that day sing you unto her, A vineyard of red wine.
3 I the LORD do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day.
4 Fury is not in me: who would set the briers and thorns against me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them together.
5 Or let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and he shall make peace with me.
6 He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit.
7 Has he smitten him, as he smote those that smote him? or is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him?
8 In measure, when it shoots forth, you will debate with it: he stays his rough wind in the day of the east wind.
9 By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit to take away his sin; when he makes all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are beaten in sunder, the groves and images shall not stand up.
10 Yet the defensed city shall be desolate, and the habitation forsaken, and left like a wilderness: there shall the calf feed, and there shall he lie down, and consume the branches thereof.
11 When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off: the women come, and set them on fire: for it is a people of no understanding: therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will show them no favor.
12 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall beat off [the fruit] from the channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt, and you shall be gathered one by one, O you children of Israel.
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria [at the hand of the communists among us], and the outcasts in the land of Egypt [under the hand of oppression – under a Pharaoh who doesn’t know Joseph], and shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem.
Psalm 69
16 Hear me, O LORD; for your lovingkindness is good: turn unto me according to the multitude of your tender mercies.
17 And hide not your face from your servant; for I am in trouble: hear me speedily.
18 Draw nigh unto my soul, and redeem it: deliver me because of mine enemies.
19 You have known my reproach, and my shame, and my dishonor: mine adversaries are all before you.
20 Reproach has broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.
21 They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
22 Let their table become a snare before them: and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap.
23 Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not; and make their loins continually to shake.
24 Pour out your indignation upon them, and let your wrathful anger take hold of them.
25 Let their habitation be desolate; and let none dwell in their tents.
26 For they persecute him whom you have smitten; and they talk to the grief of those whom you have wounded.
27 Add iniquity unto their iniquity: and let them not come into your righteousness.
28 Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous.
29 But I am poor and sorrowful: let your salvation, O God, set me up on high.
30 I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving.
31 This also shall please the LORD better than an ox or bullock that has horns and hoofs.
32 The humble shall see this, and be glad: and your heart shall live that seek God.
33 For the LORD hears the poor, and despises not his prisoners.
34 Let the heaven and earth praise him, the seas, and every thing that moves therein.
35 For God will save Zion, and will build the cities of Judah: that they may dwell there, and have it in possession.
36 The seed also of his servants shall inherit it: and they that love his name shall dwell therein.
Psalms 84
1 How amiable are your tabernacles, O LORD of hosts!
2 My soul longs, yea, even faints for the courts of the LORD: my heart and my flesh cries out for the living God.
3 Yea, the sparrow has found a house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even your altars, O LORD of hosts, my King, and my God.
4 Blessed are they that dwell in your house: they will be still praising you. Selah.
5 Blessed is the man whose strength is in you; in whose heart are the ways of them.
6 Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also fills the pools.
7 They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appear before God.
8 O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer: give ear, O God of Jacob. Selah.
9 Behold, O God our shield, and look upon the face of your anointed.
10 For a day in your courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.
12 O LORD of hosts, blessed is the man that trusts in you.
