Lady Wisdom is lonely, while Lady Folly feeds on us all. But at the same time, this passage has a seed of hope. It is filled with longing to find and know true wisdom, undefiled by sin. In a way, this passage longs for Christ, in whom “are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col 2:3).

Understanding how different genres of literature work helps us read the Bible well.

Preaching Ecclesiastes 7 last Sunday reminded me of this. Especially when we got to verses 23-29.

I have tested all this by wisdom. I resolved, “I will be wise,” but it was beyond me. What exists is beyond reach and very deep. Who can discover it? I turned my thoughts to know, explore, and examine wisdom and an explanation for things, and to know that wickedness is stupidity and folly is madness. And I find more bitter than death the woman who is a trap: her heart a net and her hands chains. The one who pleases God will escape her, but the sinner will be captured by her. “Look,” says the Teacher, “I have discovered this by adding one thing to another to find out the explanation, which my soul continually searches for but does not find: I found one person in a thousand, but none of those was a woman. Only see this: I have discovered that God made people upright, but they pursued many schemes.” (Ecc 7:23 29).

This passage is hard, especially for women. On the surface, it appears to contradict the biblical view of women and their worth. However, the surface reading misses the real sting of the passage. Understanding the genre shows that the author isn’t aiming his arrow at specific women, but at universal human folly.

Wisdom Folly and Two Women

Wisdom literature is a specific genre in Scripture. It doesn’t work the way an NT epistle works for example. Wisdom literature uses pictures and personification as a teaching tool. Learning how these literary devices function will help us understand what Ecc 7:23-29 says about the woman more bitter than death.

Read More