(260) September 17:
Ecclesiastes 1-3 & 2 Corinthians 9
Ask God to open
your mind, heart and will to understand, delight in and obey what you read.
To discover:
As you read consider how
the teacher’s reflections point people to God.
To ponder:
The author of
Ecclesiastes records the insights of “the teacher” – probably Solomon (1v1, 12,
12v9). Its essential message is that, but for the reality of a final judgement,
life is essentially meaningless (or pointless). This is because outside Eden we
are subject to seeming chance, where disaster and death can come at any moment,
putting an end to all achievement. The introduction begins the argument
(1v2-11): People gain nothing from all their toiling as, to a large extent,
everything continues just as it always has, people are never satisfied, nothing
really new is achieved, and those who give so much to contribute just die and
are forgotten. Both non-Christians and Christians sense this. Unless there is a
life that can be enjoyed beyond this one, everything really is futile.
The king tells us that he gave
himself wholeheartedly to use his wisdom in studying life “under heaven.” His
conclusion is that God has laid a heavy burden on men, because everything done
is essentially pointless - like chasing wind. Things that are not right can
generally not be changed, and things that should be are rarely assessed
properly. Indeed, despite the benefits of wisdom being commended to us by the
book of Proverbs, he concludes that gaining the heights of understanding with
respect to wisdom and folly can feel pointless too, because it brings such
sorrow, presumably in seeing the hardship and injustice of life (1v12-18).
2v1-26 record the teacher’s personal
experiment that helped lead to his conclusions. First, he tested whether his
heart could find what is “good” in pleasure. But he found it meaningless, even
when he sought to cheer himself up with drink. He built houses, vineyards and
parks, gained many slaves, owned more livestock than anyone before, amassed a
kingly treasure and acquired singers and a harem, becoming greater than any
previous king. Yet despite having everything a man might delight in, and even
delighting in his work, he could only conclude it was like chasing wind, as
nothing was gained “under the sun” (2v1-11). Next, he turned himself to ponder
wisdom and folly itself, seeing that a king cannot really do anything more than
his predecessor had done. He certainly concluded that wisdom is better than
folly as it gives light, enabling people to navigate life. But he realised both
the wise and the foolish die and are forgotten in the end, so (if there is
nothing more, see 12v9-14) there is no really gain in being wise.
All this led the teacher to “hate”
life, in the sense that he despaired over the fact that he had poured himself
into so much, but wouldn’t ultimately gain from it, leaving it to whoever came
next (perhaps his son). Indeed, not only would that person not have worked for
it, but they might be a fool, ruining everything he felt he achieved (2v17-21).
So he notes that man doesn’t ultimately gain from all the anxiety, toil, pain,
grief and restlessness involved in his work, making it essentially pointless
(2v23). But this doesn’t mean happiness cannot be found. It is found in the
simple things of food and drink, which denote friendship – and in the
satisfaction of engaging in work itself. Here, consider the simplicity of
Christ. This, the teacher concludes, is a gift from the hand of God. Indeed,
God gives those who please him wisdom as well as such happiness, no doubt
because it is only with wisdom that we stop striving and learn to enjoy such
simple pleasures. By contrast, God gives the sinner the task of storing up
wealth in his insatiable desire for more, only to hand it over to those who
please God – sometimes in this life, but certainly when the meek inherit the
earth. So their lives are as pointless as chasing the wind, because all that
they think they gain is then lost (2v24-26).
The changeability of life is then
affirmed in an outline of its positive and negatives (3v1-8). The point is that
good times will be replaced by hard times, and hard times by good times. And
God determines it all. So the worker may benefit temporarily, but not
ultimately. And everything will have a time of beauty. Moreover, God has set
eternity in our hearts so that we feel life shouldn’t just end suddenly, but
endure. Nevertheless, it does end, beauty fades and what is gained is lost,
leaving men, left to their own insights, unable to understand what God is
doing. And so the reoccurring phrase “there is nothing better than” stresses
the importance of doing good and being happy with the divine gifts of
fellowship and industry (3v9-13). Indeed, the sense that God’s purposes are
fixed and cannot be changed by us is intended to bring people to revere him,
knowing they are subject to his will (3v14). This is a critical point in how we
might use the sense of not being in control of one’s life in our evangelism.
Indeed, the teacher affirms that although people don’t change, doing just what
previous generations have done, God will bring it all to account in judgement.
So doing good, revering him and being happy with his simple gifts really does
matter. Moreover, this season in which injustice so often seems to reign will
end, and a season will follow in which such activity will be judged (3v15-17).
The chapter ends noting how God points people to himself not just with their
sense of being subject to his will, but also their sense of mortality: God
“tests” people, presumably with sickness and disaster, so they recognize that
they die like animals, having no inherent advantage in the face of death. And
few live with knowledge of whether the spirit of man rises upwards (note that
the teacher does know, 12v7). Not knowing what will happen after death, a man’s
lot in life really is therefore to simply find enjoyment in his work (3v18-22).
Praying it
home:
Praise God for his
mercy in using the apparent randomness and hardship of life to point people to
himself. Pray that he would help you to do good, revere him and find happiness
in fellowship and work.
Thinking
further:
To read
the NIV Study Bible introduction to Ecclesiastes, click
here.
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(261) September 18:
Ecclesiastes 4-6 & 2 Corinthians 10
Ask God to open
your mind, heart and will to understand, delight in and obey what you read.
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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and make a comment.
(262) September 19:
Ecclesiastes 7-9 & 2 Corinthians 11:1-15
Ask God to open
your mind, heart and will to understand, delight in and obey what you read.
To discover:
As you read consider how we
are encouraged to cope with the injustices of life.
To ponder:
The teacher
continues his explanation of what is “better” in this life: the aroma of a good
name (righteousness) over that of a good perfume (wealth); death rather than birth,
because it can mean freedom from suffering; mourning rather than feasting,
because it keeps us mindful of our own mortality and so more likely to live
wisely in the light of it; and to heed a wise man’s rebuke rather than listen
to the idle song of fools, which are good for nothing just as crackling thorns
give off no heat (7v1-6).
Proverbs follow: Bribes can corrupt
the wise, turning them into a fool. It is better to be patient and slow to
anger because it is better when problems are resolved than begun. It isn’t wise
to say the past was better than the present for, as we’ve seen, nothing really
changes. Wisdom is then commended by its benefits in sheltering the individual
like a financial inheritance, keep their life relatively safe from the ups and
downs that might come (7v7-12). The fixity of God’s purposes is also noted:
No-one can straighten what he has made crooked. So we should be happy in good
times, but note that God has determined the bad times too, and we just cannot
know what is going to come to us in the future (7v13-14). As throughout the
book, this is a strong affirmation that God purposes all that happens for his
own reasons. And the teacher doesn’t duck this, going on to observe how the
righteous sometimes perish and the wicked live long. In the light of his
concern that God is feared, 7v16-18 can’t imply we shouldn’t be righteous. More
likely, they condemn those who are self-righteous and arrogantly consider
themselves wise. The point is that this, as well as being excessively wicked and
foolish, brings death under judgement. So we should take firm hold of our
tendency to both these things out of fear of God. As if to counter any pride,
the teacher then notes that although the wise can be extremely powerful, this
doesn’t mean they are absolutely righteous. In fact, no-one is free of sin, and
this would be born out by listening to what people say about us. Indeed, deep
down we all know we have been cursed many times for things we’ve done
(7v19-22).
At this point the teacher humbly
acknowledges his own limits: he had considered all these things by the wisdom
he had, determined to be wise. But he has now realised understanding all these
things was ultimately beyond him. This is the right perspective when unable to
fathom God’s purposes in the world. Knowing this, the teacher limited his
investigation to simply understanding what is wise in terms of the way life
actually is (the scheme of things), and understanding how stupid and insane it
is to follow wickedness and folly (7v23-25). Here he highlights the woman who
ensnares the sinner (probably the adulteress or a prostitute) as worse than
death, no doubt because of the damage she brings and the judgement the sinner
ultimately experiences (7v26). He adds that he has found only one man in a thousand
upright, and even less women, concluding that although God made us in Adam
upright, we have veered off into many sinful schemes. And so he commends wisdom
to navigate this sort of world, affirming how it is good, brightening the wise
man’s face – ie. granting them peace and happiness (7v27-8v1).
Reflections on government (the king)
follow. A ruler should be respectfully and submissively obeyed, out of
allegiance to God (8v2). Quickly leaving a king’s presence may suggest a lack
of readiness to listen to him. The teacher probably has a courtier in mind, who
made an oath to the king, but all government is to be obeyed in this way (Rom
13v1-7). Yet there is caution too: The reader is advised not to join the king
in standing for a bad cause, even though unable to question what he is doing.
But he is to be diplomatic in how he does this. Knowing that it is obeying the
king that guarantees safety, he must pick his time and manner of broaching the
issue carefully, even if it weighs him down. And he must be realistic, death
may result, as no-one can control that (8v3-8). Verse 8 may suggest that if the
king is wicked, he won’t stop being so when spoken to, and so may bring about
the death of the supplicant. Nevertheless, despite rulers hurting those they lord
over, wicked hypocrites being given honourable burials as if righteous, crime
multiplying because courts don’t carry out their sentences, and major criminals
enjoying long life, the teacher is confident that God-fearers will receive good
from God, and it won’t ultimately go well with the wicked. In this, he
therefore looks to the final judgement for comfort in the face of the
injustices of this world, where the righteous get what the wicked deserve and
vice-versa (8v9-14). And in the meantime, he once more commends enjoying, food,
drink and work (8v15).
The teacher’s humble acceptance of
God’s ways continues: Having observed man’s toil and all God has done, he
concludes none can fathom the meaning of it all, even those who claim to be
wise (8v16-17). All he knows is that the righteous and wise are in God’s hands,
but unable to know what they will face – whether love from others or hatred.
All they do know is that they will die just as the unclean sinner who offers no
worship to God (9v1-2). This is the great evil (ie. injustice) of life,
together with the fact that men in general are full of evil and madness as to
what they do (9v3). Nevertheless, on this matter life is better than death,
because the living know they will die and can still enjoy the reward of sharing
in the simple pleasures. By contrast, the deeds of the dead have passed, they
are forgotten, and their opportunity to make the most of their life is gone
(9v4-6). The author therefore continues describing the enjoyment of food and
wine as stemming from the favour of God, and adding the joys of celebration
(ie. dressing in linen and using oil as a cosmetic) and marital love (9v7-9).
With the satisfaction of hard work, these things are our lot in this life, to
be enjoyed now, before our opportunity has passed through death, or through
time and chance, which often mean the deserving aren’t rewarded, nor the wise,
who can achieve much, remembered (9v10-16).
Praying it
home:
Praise God for his
kindness in giving much to offset the trials of life. Pray that you would
delight in the fellowship of food and drink, the joy of celebrations and of
marital love as demonstrations of God’s favour to you.
Thinking
further:
None
today.
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