Hey, this is Tim at the Bible Project, and today on the podcast we are going to finish

our series on how to read the Wisdom literature in the Bible.

If you've been tracking with our conversation so far, you'll know that we've been covering

these books in the Bible that are associated with Solomon.

We began his story actually way before him back in the Garden of Eden with the failed

human-questra wisdom that resulted in humanity's exile.

And so Solomon comes as a new Adam figure who gets things right, who trusts God to give

him wisdom at least for a little while until he replays the failure of Adam and Eve.

And so this is the context for the Wisdom books, the books of Solomon in the Bible.

In the previous episodes, we've looked at Proverbs and the Song of Songs, and today we're

going to look at two books connected to the Wisdom literature, the Book of Ecclesiastes

and the Book of Job.

Ecclesiastes is kind of like the cold wet blanket thrown on you in the Hebrew Bible.

You read it, and it's either depressing, or I like to think of it as just a heavy dose

of realism.

This book is unique and different in that Solomon isn't actually named, but the figure

that we meet speaking in the book is a Solomon-like person.

And John and I explore what that means and the fascinating implications.

And this Solomon figure has eaten some humble pie in his life.

In Solomon's story, it's because he didn't truly live by God's wisdom.

He failed royally, pun intended, and he didn't rule wisely as God called him to.

And so it's as if in Ecclesiastes, we hear the voice of this failed elder Solomon looking

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