Read Ecclesiastes
4-6 & 2
Corinthians 10
To discover:
As you read consider how
the teacher suggests we can make the most of our often hard existence.
To ponder:
Here the teacher
acknowledges the hardships of the world whilst offering insight as to how life
should be lived in the light of them: As throughout the book, he talks in
generalizations. So oppressors have power whilst the oppressed are not
comforted. And amongst the oppressed, it often seems those who die are happier
than those who remain alive, and those who are never born are better off still,
because they do not see and so experience the evils of the world (4v1-3).
Moreover, work itself is tainted, with achievement springing from envy and so
the desire to gain or succeed more than one’s neighbour.
Here, the teacher concludes that
although the fool ruins himself through laziness, it is better to have less
than toil endlessly for what will eventually be lost – the chasing after the
wind (4v4-6). He adds the case study of a man with no family to pass his property
to, who nevertheless toiled endlessly, never being content with his wealth,
whilst asking himself why he was depriving himself of enjoyment in doing so
(4v7-8). One help against such lonely toil is then commended - teamwork: So
working with another gives greater return to one’s work, no down reducing the
sense of toil. And if one falls, perhaps through ill-health when doing manual
work, the other can help him up. Two can keep one-another warm and protect each
other from harm – possibly, looking to work that requires nights in open
country. A team of three is even better, enabling whatever activity to
continue, just as a cord of three strands can’t be broken. We might consider
the agony of Christ’s loneliness in Gethsemane , as he
longed for disciples to pray with him. In all forms of work, fellowship
significantly lightens its burden.
Like the proverbs, the teacher then
commends wisdom, noting that by it, even a poor, young (and so inexperienced)
man who has been in prison, can rise to usurp an old and foolish king, gaining
the allegiance of everyone in the nation. So God’s wisdom really can bring
success. Nevertheless, it is not a guarantee, as the teacher also notes how
quickly the next generation can then become displeased with the new king,
making his rise through wisdom a pointless chasing after wind (4v13-16). The
point is surely that the fickleness of human beings can reject even good
leadership or success, and so undermine what is good.
In the heart of the wider section
stressing the hardships and uncertainties of life, 5v1-7 stresses the one
priority: fearing God. So we are urged to “guard our steps” (be pure) when
going to worship (then, at the temple), being ready to listen to God’s word
rather than engage in worship (offer sacrifice) without admitting our sin, and
being slow to make vows in commitment, knowing we must fulfil any we make or
else be subject to judgement. Not only does fearing God in Christ mean we can
call on him as we face the difficulties of life, but it secures the joys of the
life to come.
What follows is a denunciation of
materialism. It has much to say to our own culture: So we are told not to be
surprised at oppression and injustice with respect to the poor, because
officials right up to the top of any government (the king) benefit from it.
We’re also told of how those who love money are never satisfied, even though
this is pointless. An increase in goods leads to an increase in consumption
that doesn’t benefit the consumer, except that he has more things to look at.
Instead, it leads to sleeplessness as he worries over how he can keep or
maintain what he has; whereas the labourer that has less sleeps easily in
having less to worry about (5v8-12). Wealth horded to the point where it harms
its owner (through such stress) or lost through misfortune so it can’t be
handed to one’s child is described as a grievous evil, in context, because of
the futility involved: We die with nothing just as we were born. We therefore
gain nothing from toiling after more in any ultimate sense, instead
experiencing a life of misery (darkness), marked by frustration, affliction and
anger, brought on by our materialistic striving, with the worry and ultimate
loss it inevitably results in (5v13-17). So, once more, this section ends with
the conclusion that it is good to eat, drink and find satisfaction in work
without such striving, as this is man’s lot in this life. Moreover, if God does
give wealth and possessions as we do this, we should enjoy them without the
consumerist desire for more, seeing them as a gift from him that tempers the
sense of futility we might feel as we reflect on life (5v18-20). Obviously in
Christ, we have the added purpose of serving his eternal purposes. But
Ecclesiastes was written without this in mind.
The teacher returns to consider
those God gives wealth, possessions and honour to, but who are unable to enjoy
them with this wise perspective. Because of the previous chapter, we must
presume this is because they worry over them, always striving for more, only to
find others enjoy them when they die. So no matter how blessed someone may seem
with many children and long life, if he is unable to enjoy what he has and dies
without love or respect from others (so not receiving the mourning of a proper
burial), then it would have been better for him to be stillborn, as he receives
the same fate, but the stillborn child would have known more rest (6v1-6). This
is truly sobering, stressing the importance of living a life of satisfaction,
love and righteousness.
6v7-12 seem included to summarise
what has been learnt to this point: Men expend their effort to satisfy what is
actually an insatiable appetite. In all facing death it seems the wise have no
advantage over the fool. In being subject to injustice and opposition, it seems
the poor gain nothing by knowing how to conduct themselves. In the light of all
this apparent pointlessness, it is therefore better to focus on what one’ sees
and so has, than have a roving appetite for more. Moreover, the nature of
existence and of man himself have been fixed by God, and no man can contend
with him. So this is how life under the
sun will always be (until the new creation). And in bringing this home, the
teachers’ words have only added to its sense of meaninglessness. Of course he
has taught what is “good” for man to do in the light of it. But he ends noting
that generally people don’t have this perspective. So they live without any
softening of their sense of meaninglessness in the face of their own mortality.
Praying it
home:
Praise God for offering
wisdom and simple things to enjoy, to soften the hardships of life. Pray that
you would be able to adopt his perspective on consumerism.
Thinking
further:
None
today.
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