In Ecclesiastes, chapter seven, verses twenty-three through twenty-five, “All this have I proved by wisdom: I said, I will be wise; but it was far from me. That which is far off, and exceeding deep, who can find it out? 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. And I find more bitter than death the woman, whose heart is snares and nets, and her hands as bands: whoso pleaseth God shall escape from her; but the sinner shall be taken by her. Behold, this have I found, saith the preacher, counting one by one, to find out the account: Which yet my soul seeketh, but I find not: one man among a thousand have I found; but a woman among all those have I not found.”
Those who seek wisdom by their own efforts and reasoning fail to find it. The hindrance comes from “the woman,” as in verse twenty-six, who is the personification of the seduction of immorality and wickedness in Proverbs eight, verses one to four. Sinners cannot find wisdom because they are ensnared by wickedness, but those who please God by their faith and obedience receive God’s wisdom and escape a life of sin.
Solomon is the one expressing his experience within these theme verses. When he speaks about the woman, he refers to them due to his life and the way he lived with them. At the beginning of First Kings eleven, verse one, “But king Solomon loved many strange women,” which explains why he expressed himself that way. He is not putting women down, but the fact that he did to himself with having all these women was his own fault.