Ecclesiastes 11

“Be generous and don’t hoard, for you don’t know when the stock market will crash. Take circumstances as they come, be what may, and don’t wait around for everything to look just right before you act; otherwise, you never will. (Or, if you wait for all the stop lights to turn green, you will never start your grand road trip.)” That’s how I would paraphrase Ecc. 11:1-4. Again we get good advice from the Preacher for living in the real — and broken — world.

And that good advice continues in Ecc. 11:5-10, but it seems to me that the use of the word “vanity” to translate the Hebrew “hebel” leads us astray a bit, perhaps more so in this chapter than elsewhere. Remember that “hebel” refers to a vapor or mist, a passing breath. So I think the notion of ephemorality is closer to the mark than the idea of uselessness or futility. Consider, for example, the two verses in today’s reading where the ESV uses “vanity,” but changing “vanity” to “brief”:

So if a person lives many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember that the days of darkness will be many. All that comes is brief.
…
Remove vexation from your heart, and put away pain from your body, for youth and the dawn of life are brief.

Ecclesiastes 11:8,10

I think that comes closer to the Preacher‘s intent than the dead end that “vanity” might imply.

Youth is wasted on the young.

George Bernard Shaw, kind of, maybe?

No, that’s not from today’s reading, but it fits, and so the Preacher‘s advice is not to squander your youth, but to live well while you can. (Oh, sorry, too late for that, huh?!) And Saint Paul agrees:

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.

Ephesians 5:15,16

Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time.

Colossians 4:5

So how about us? Perhaps we are no longer young (except in light of eternity!), but are we nonetheless making the best use of the time we have? Or are we persisting in pursuing those things that are vanity and a striving after wind?

Ecclesiastes 10:12-20

Ever the realist, the Preacher continues to set truth before us. Are we beginning to heed what he has to say?

A fool multiplies words,
though no man knows what is to be,
and who can tell him what will be after him?

Ecclesiastes 10:14

The notion that no one can know what is coming next is a recurring theme for the Preacher. (See also Ecc. 3:22,6:12,7:14.) We see the same idea elsewhere in Scripture:

Do not boast about tomorrow,
for you do not know what a day may bring.

Proverbs 27:1

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

James 4:13,14

So if you ever thought that Ecclesiastes is “out there” and not in line with the rest of Scripture, think again. If that last line from James doesn’t sound like the Preacher, I don’t know what does!

We all know from our own experience that the Preacher is right on target about not knowing what is yet to be. We all know that “stuff” happens (to use the more polite term). We all know that life throws us curve balls. Yet look around and listen to how people boast of what they are going to do next, puffed up in their illusions about the future. It pervades our culture — right alongside anxiety about how everything is going to fail!

Perhaps we should instead listen to the Preacher and live in the now.

Ecclesiastes 10:1-11

With the exception of Ecc. 10:5-7, this whole chapter feels much more like Proverbs than Ecclesiastes, at least to me. Hence, I’m having a hard time discerning any particular flow to the Preacher‘s argument through today’s reading other than to note that:

• Wisdom is better than folly (though folly takes its toll)
• Sometimes the world seems upside down (or downside up)
• Things frequently don’t go according to plan

All of those things are certainly in keeping with the Preacher‘s theme, so maybe I just need to keep mulling this reading over…

Even so, let’s just look at the first verse for a moment:

Dead flies make the perfumer’s ointment give off a stench;
so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.

Ecc. 10:1

How often we have seen the truth of this proverb! Think about people you have known (perhaps even yourself!) who have done quite a lot of good, wise, honorable things, but then did something foolish. And what does everyone remember? Just the screw up. I am sure Nixon did at least a few reasonably decent things, but he will forever be known primarily for Watergate. Carter did some excellent things — notably the Camp David Accords — but he is largely remembered for the Iran hostage crisis and the failed rescue mission. Reagan has Iran-Contra. Clinton has Monica. Etc., etc. Naturally, depending on which side of the aisle you are on, you may raise plenty of other criticisms or otherwise come to the defense of these characters of history, but the point is that the mistakes stand out much more than the positive accomplishments, just as the proverb says.

And all of that goes to say that — in full dependence on Christ — we need to be diligent in our pursuit of wisdom, righteousness, and holiness. We cannot afford to let down our guard and indulge in “just a little” folly. The chances are that that “little” folly will become a dead fly in our perfume.

Ecclesiastes 9:11-18

I have also seen this example of wisdom under the sun, and it seemed great to me. There was a little city with few men in it, and a great king came against it and besieged it, building great siegeworks against it. But there was found in it a poor, wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that poor man. But I say that wisdom is better than might, though the poor man’s wisdom is despised and his words are not heard.

Ecclesiastes 9:13-16

Interesting. Although the Preacher does not say so explicitly, it seems clear that he considers the treatment of the poor man to be improper, even unjust, yet he does not call the entire scenario “vanity and a striving after wind” as we have so often heard before. Instead, he just asserts that, despite the shameful treatment of the poor man (and his wisdom), wisdom is better than might.

Now let’s just make a bit of a leap. Let’s imagine that the city is the whole world, under siege by the forces of evil. And the poor, wise man is Jesus, who by His Cross provides deliverance. Yet He is rejected and despised. All around the world His Name is used as a curse, and His followers are mocked and derided. Do we then say that God’s plan of salvation is “vanity and a striving after wind”? Or do we trust that wisdom is better than might?

Ecclesiastes 9:1-10

But all this I laid to heart, examining it all… (v. 1) By “all this” I assume the Preacher is referring to the previous 8 chapters, so it might be a good idea to go back and look those chapters over again. (It may have taken us 14 days to get to this point, but, really, it’s only been 8 short chapters, so it won’t take you long to review. I’ll wait…)

And having examined “all this” what does the Preacher still find? That death levels the playing field, that all meet the same end. Even so, it is better to be alive than dead, and so, enjoy life while you can.

At this point, I think we should be clear that the Preacher, although speaking truth, does not have a full and complete revelation. He believes in God, but is not fully aware of the Resurrection. He is focused on this life and is not looking to the next. We, of course, do have that fuller revelation and can look forward to life after death. And we should, for if there is no resurrection, then, as Saint Paul says, we are of all people most to be pitied. (I Cor. 15:19) Yet we should not then just brush off the Preacher‘s perspective. God does not just whisk us away from this life as soon as we come to faith. Instead, He has called us to live out our lives in the here and now, and we can learn much from the Preacher for how to do that well.

---

One more thing…

Have you seen the movie, Up? Yes, I mean the animated flick with the old man and the house and a whole lot of balloons. I watched it a few years back and enjoyed it and rarely thought of it again. But a few weeks ago a friend recommended Up to my wife, who hadn’t seen it before. So we watched it together. That was a week or two before we started reading Ecclesiastes here. Since then, as we’ve been reading, it has occurred to me that Up reflects Ecclesiastes rather profoundly. Really! If you haven’t seen it, I won’t spoil the plot by trying to explain what I mean. But I’d like to suggest that you find a copy of Up (the Woodford County Library has it on DVD), grab a soft drink and some popcorn, and enjoy watching Up — with Ecclesiastes in mind. And then let us all know what you think. If you think I’m nuts, that’s OK. You will still have done a little eating, drinking, and enjoying — which is entirely consistent with the Preacher‘s advice, assuming you engage in a bit of toil while enjoying the show!

Ecclesiastes 8:10-17

The Preacher lives in the real world. He declares those hard truths that we don’t want to face. We like to think, like Job’s friends, that “good things happen to good people, and bad things happen to bad people,” but — like Job — the Preacher observes otherwise. He sees the reality that there are righteous people to whom it happens according to the deeds of the wicked, and there are wicked people to whom it happens according to the deeds of the righteous. (v. 14) And it shouldn’t take much looking around for us to see that the Preacher is correct. To deny it is to deny reality.

In similar fashion the Preacher declares another hard truth: Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil. (v. 10) This truth flies in the face of those currently implementing and promoting cashless bail and other criminal justice reforms who seem to believe that the heart of the children of man is fundamentally good and needs only the mildest of nudges to find the right path. Poppycock! Any honest examination of one’s own heart without Christ should reveal that if granted impunity, each of us would descend rapidly into evil. Again, to deny it is to deny reality.

But the Preacher does not give in to the temptation either to shake his fist at God for apparent injustices or to give up and join the wicked. He remains confident that in the end it is better to fear God and be joyful. Why? Because he is a realist. He understands that God’s ways are beyond us. (Ecc. 8:16,17) So he accepts the ultimate reality, which is God Himself.

Ecclesiastes 8:1-9

Keep the king’s command… (v. 2) Today we get some very practical advice from the Preacher: Be a good citizen, keep your head down, don’t offend the authorities, and hope for the best. As usual, the Preacher’s advice is firmly rooted in reality — specifically the reality that crossing the most powerful person around can be more than a little dangerous; it can be deadly.

Saint Paul gives us much the same advice:

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

Romans 13:1-7

And so does Saint Peter:

Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. … Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

I Peter 2:13,14,17

We all nod our heads in agreement (because this is Scripture, after all) until our own interests or opinions clash with those governing authorities. Then our hackles go up and we immediately point to Acts 4 where Peter and John defy the Sanhedrin and continue preaching Christ despite being ordered not to. And we ask, “What about Hitler? What about Stalin?” These are, in the large, good questions that reveal that we are not obliged to blindly obey orders that contradict God’s law. But I think that we in modern Western democracies are far too quick to believe that our opinions equate to God’s, and so we rationalize disregarding these admonitions to be subject to governing authorities. Perhaps a bit more humility and a good deal more fear of the Lord would be in order.

Ecclesiastes 7:14-29

All this I have tested by wisdom. I said, “I will be wise,” but it was far from me. That which has been is far off, and deep, very deep; who can find it out?

Ecclesiastes 7:23,24

We know from our study of Proverbs that wisdom is well worth pursuing, that we should seek for it like treasure. The Preacher likewise values wisdom. (Ecc. 7:19) But he also recognizes our human limitations. Some things are just beyond us and always will be, because God has made it so, such that man may not find out anything that will be after him. (Ecc. 7:14)

And speaking of limitations, I’ll leave it to someone much wiser and braver than I to wade into the minefield we have in Ecc. 7:25-29. I’m reminded of the Southwest Airlines TV commercial that had Mary Todd Lincoln confronting Honest Abe with the question, “Does this dress make me look fat?” at which point Southwest cuts in with “Want to get away?” I’ll just leave it there…

Ecclesiastes 7:1-13

Review for a moment your own personal history and pick out the top three most positively impactful experiences you’ve had, those things that changed you for the better and taught you good, solid life lessons, those things that brought you significantly closer to God. If we are truly honest in making our lists, my guess is that they are dominated by what most would call “tragedy,” with Death himself knocking on the door of many, if not most, of those experiences.

And that is what we see in the first few verses of today’s reading:

• Death over birth (Ecc. 7:1)
• Mourning over feasting (Ecc. 7:2)
• Sorrow over laughter (Ecc. 7:3)
• Sadness over gladness (Ecc. 7:3)
• Mourning over mirth (Ecc. 7:4)
• Rebuke over song (Ecc. 7:5)

It is not that the Preacher has some morbid preference for depression. No. He just recognizes that the truly valuable lessons of life are learned when we realistically face cold hard truth — particularly the truth of death. Meanwhile, we tend not to learn much of anything of real value at parties. “But,” one might say, “the rest of the Bible tells us to be joyful.” Indeed it does, but that joy comes at a dear cost, the Cross of Christ. Until we take that Cross seriously, with all the mourning, sadness, and sorrow, we will never learn what joy really is.

Ecclesiastes 6

Today’s reading again smacks us in the face with hard realities. Ecc. 6:1,2 speaks of the person who has everything but is incapable of enjoying it. I expect that we have all encountered such people, perhaps up close and personal, perhaps more from a distance. At the very least we’ve seen them on the road, furiously driving their Maserati (or Mercedes, or Lexus, or…), evidently mad at the world, and thoroughly discontent. They shake their fist as they drive by, and we shake our heads in disgust at them, thinking how perverse it is that they have so much and yet are not satisfied. We tell ourselves that if we had that kind of money, we’d be nicer. We’d be happy. And in so saying, we reveal that we, too, are discontent, and that we have our eyes on the wrong prize: if only we had that kind of money…

And thinking of “that kind of money,” I’m sure we’ve all heard the news that someone in California just the other day bought a winning Powerball lottery ticket valued at over $2 Billion (with a “B”). What luck! That ought to be enough to satisfy the winner’s every desire, right? But it won’t. Guaranteed. Just ask the Preacher.

I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Philippians 4:11b-13

Saint Paul, sitting in a Roman prison, points us in a better direction.