Ecclesiastes 9
One fate happens to
all, and the dead are cut off from all the feelings and
interests of life in the upper world. (vs. 1-6) This
continues the subject treated
above, confirming the conclusion arrived at in ch.8:17, viz. that
God’s government
of
the world is unfathomable.
1 “For all this I
considered in my heart even to declare all this,” - literally,
for all this laid up in my heart, and all this I have been about (equivalent to I sought)
to clear up. The
reference is both to what has been said and to what is coming.
The ki, “for”
(which the Vulgate omits), at the beginning gives the reason for
the
truth of what is advanced; the writer has omitted no means of arriving
at a
conclusion. One great result of his consideration he proceeds to state. The
Septuagint connects this clause closely with the
last verse of the preceding
chapter, “For I applied all this to my heart, and my heart
saw all this.” “that
the righteous, and the wise, and their works,
are in the hand of God:” –
(Psalm 31:15; Proverbs 21:1); i.e. in His power, under His direction.
Man is not
independent. Even the good and wise, who might be supposed to afford
the
plainest evidence of the favorable side of God’s moral government, are
subject to the same unsearchable law.
The very incomprehensibility of this
principle proves that it comes from God, and men may well be content to
submit themselves to
it, knowing that He is as just as He is
Almighty – “no
man knoweth either love or hatred” -
God’s favor or displeasure are
meant. Vulgate, Et tamen nescit homo, utrum amore an odio dignus sit.
We cannot judge from the events that befall a man what is
the view which
God takes of his character. We must not, like Job’s
friends, decide that a
man
is a great sinner because calamity falls upon him, nor again suppose
that outward prosperity is a proof of a life righteous and well-pleasing to
God. Outward
circumstances are no criterion of inward disposition or of
final judgment. From the
troubles or the comforts which we ourselves
experience or witness in others we have no right to argue God’s favor
or
displeasure. He disposes matters as seems best to Him, and we must not
expect to see every one in this world treated according to what we
should
deem his deserts (compare Proverbs 1:32 with Hebrews 12:6).
Delitzsch and others think that the expressions “love” and “hatred”
are too
general to admit of being interpreted as above, and they determine
the
sense to be that no one can tell beforehand who will be the
objects of, his
love or hate, or how entirely his feelings may change in regard of persons
with whom he is brought in contact. The circumstances which give rise to
these sentiments are entirely beyond his control and foresight.
This is true
enough, but it does not seem to me to be intended. The author is
concerned, not with inward sentiments, but with prosperity and
adversity
considered popularly as indications of God’s view of things. It would
be
but
a meager assertion to state that you cannot know whether you are to
love or hate, because God ordains all such contingencies; whereas to warn
against hasty and infidel judgments on the ground of our ignorance
of
God’s mysterious ways, is sound and weighty advice, and in
due harmony
with what follows in the next verses. The interpretation, “No man knows
whether he shall meet with the love or hatred of his fellows,” has
commended itself to some critics, but is as inadmissible as the one
just
mentioned – “by all that is before them.” The Hebrew is simply, “all [lies]
before them.” All that shall happen, all that shall shape their
destiny in the
future, is obscure and unknown, and beyond their control.
Septuagint,
Τὰ πάντα
πρὸ προσώπου
αὐτῶν – Ta panta pro prosopou auton – all is
before them.
The Vulgate mixes this clause with the
following verse, But all
things
are kept uncertain for the future. St.
Gregory, “As thou knowest not
who
are converted from sin to goodness, nor who turn back from goodness to
sin;
so also thou dost not understand what is doing towards thyself as thy
merits deserve. And as thou dost not at all comprehend another’s
end, so art
thou also unable to foresee thine own. For thou knowest now what progress
thou hast made thyself, but what I [-God] still think of thee in secret thou
knowest not. Thou now thinkest on thy
deeds of righteousness; but thou
knowest not how strictly they are weighed by me. Woe even to the
praiseworthy
life of men if it be judged without mercy, because when strictly examined it
is
overwhelmed in the presence of the Judge by the very conduct with
which it
imagines that it pleases Him” (‘Moral.,’ 29:34,
2 “All things come alike
to all:” - literally, all things [are] like that
which [happens] to all persons. There is no difference in the treatment of
persons; all people of every kind meet with circumstances
of every kind.
Speaking generally, there is no discrimination, apparently,
in the
distribution of good and evil. Sun and shade, calm and
storm. fruitful and
unfruitful seasons, joy and sorrow, are dispensed by
inscrutable laws. The
Septuagint, reading differently, has, “Vanity is in all;”
the Syriac unites two
readings, “All before him is vanity, all as to all” –
“there is one event to the
righteous, and to the wicked;” - All men have the same lot,
whether it be death or any other contingency, without
regard to their
moral condition. The classes into which men are divided
must be noted.
“Righteous” and “wicked” refer to men in their conduct to
others - “to the
good” - The Septuagint, Vulgate, and Syriac
add, “to the evil,” which is said
again almost immediately – “and to the clean, and to the
unclean;” - “The
good” and
“clean” are those who are not only ceremonially pure, but, as the
epithet “good”
shows, are morally undefiled - “to him that sacrificeth,”
- i.e.
the man who attends to the externals of religion, offers
the obligatory
sacrifices, and brings his free-will offerings – “and to
him that sacrificeth
not: as is the good,
so is the sinner;” - in the widest senses – “he that
sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.” He who takes an oath
lightly, carelessly,
or falsely (compare Zechariah 5:3), is contrasted with him
who regards it as a
holy thing, or shrinks in awe from invoking God’s Name in
such a case. This
last idea is regarded as a late Essenic
development (see Josephus, ‘Bell. Jud.,’
2:8. 6); though something like it is found in the sermon on
the mount, “I say
unto you, Swear
not at all,” etc. (Matthew 5:34-37). Dean Plumptre, however,
throws doubt on
the above interpretation, owing to the fact that in all the other
groups the good
side is placed first; and he suggests that “he who sweareth”
may be one who
does his duty in this particular religiously and well (compare
Deuteronomy 6:13; Isaiah 65:16), and “he who fears the
oath” is a
man whose conscience makes him shrink from the oath of
compurgation
(Exodus 22:10-11; Numbers 5:19-22), or who is too cowardly
to
give his testimony in due form. The five contrasted pairs
are:
·
the righteous and the
wicked,
·
the clean and the
unclean,
·
the sacrificer and the non-sacrificer,
·
the good and the
sinner,
·
the profane swearer and the man who reverences an oath.
The last clause is rendered by the Septuagint, “So is he
who sweareth
(ὁ ὀμνύων – ho omnuon - while swearing)
even as he who fears the oath,”
which is as ambiguous as the original. A cautious Greek gnome
says —
Ὅρκον
δὲ φεῦγε
κᾶν δικαίως
ὀμνύῃς
Horkon de pheuge
“Avoid an
oath, though justly you might swear.”
3 “This is an evil among all things that are done under the
sun,” -
The “evil” is explained in the following words, which speak
of the common
fate. The Vulgate takes the first words as equivalent to a
superlative: Hoc est
pessimum inter omnia, “This is the greatest evil of all that is done under the
sun.” But the article would have been used in this case;
nor would this accurately
express Koheleth’s sentiments. He
looks upon death only as one of the evils
appertaining to men’s career on earth — one of the phases
of that identity of
treatment so certain and so inexplicable, which leads to
disastrous results
(ch. 8:11) “that there is one
event unto all:” The “one event,” as the end
of the verse shows, is death. We have here the old strain
repeated which is
found in ch. 2:14-16; 3:19; 5:15;
6:12) - “yea, also the heart of
the sons of
men is full of evil,” -
In consequence of this
indiscriminating destiny
men sin recklessly, are encouraged in their wickedness – “and madness is
in their heart while they live,” - The “madness” is
conduct opposed to the
dictates of wisdom and reason, as ch.1:17; 2:2, 12. All their life long men
follow their own lusts and passions, and care little for God’s will
and law,
or their own best interests. This is well called “want
of reason” (περιφέρεια,–
periphereia - Septuagint)
- “and after that they go to the dead.”
The verb
is
omitted in the Hebrew, being implied by the preposition לאֶ, “to;” the
omission is very forcible. Delitzsch,
Wright, and others render, “after him,”
i.e. after man’s life
is ended, which seems rather to say, “after they die,
they die.” The idea, however, appears to be, both good and
evil go to the
same place, pass away into nothingness, are known no more in
this world.
Here at present Koheleth leaves
the question of the future life, having
already intimated his belief in Ecclesiastes ch.
3 and 8:11.
The Antidote to Despondency (vs. 1-3)
Horace Walpole once said “Life is a comedy to those who
think, a tragedy to those
who feel.” The epigram is more sparkling than true;
reflecting men in every age have
been oppressed by the
solemnity of life’s facts, and the
insolubility of life’s
problems. Some
men are roused to inquiry and are beset by perplexities when
trouble and adversity befall themselves; and others
experience doubts and distress
at the contemplation of the broad and obvious facts of
human life as it unfolds
before their observation. Few men who both think
and feel have escaped the
probation of doubt; most have striven, and
many have striven in vain, to vindicate
eternal
ABSENCE OF COMPLETE RETRIBUTION. “All things come
alike to
all;” “There is one event unto all.” The righteous, the good, and the wise
do not seem to meet with more
prosperity and greater happiness than the
wicked and the foolish. The man
who offers due religious observance, and
who reveres his oath, is subject
to misfortune and calamity equally with the
negligent, the impious, the
false swearer. No thunderbolt of vengeance
smites the sinner, no miraculous
protection is round about the upright and
obedient. Nay, the righteous is
sometimes cut off in the prime of his
manhood; the sinner’s days are
sometimes lengthened, and he dies in a
delusive peace.
BY THE OBSERVATION OF THIS FACT. The writer of Ecclesiastes
laid to heart and explored the
mysteries of
not peculiar. Every observant
and thoughtful person is sometimes
compelled to ask himself whether
or not there is a meaning in the events of
life, and, if there be a
meaning, what it is. Can our reason reconcile these
events, as a whole, with belief
in the existence, in the government, of A
GOD AT ONCE
ALMIGHTY AND BENEVOLENT! Are there
considerations which can pacify
the perturbed breast? Beneath the laws
of nature is there a Divine
heart? or is man alone sensitive to the inequalities
of human fate, to the moral
contradictions which seem to thrust themselves
upon the attention?
THE CONVICTION THAT ALL ARE IN THE HAND OF GOD. It is
to be observed that faith in God can do what the human understanding
cannot effect. Men and their affairs are
not in the hand of chance or in
the hand of fate, BUT IN THE HAND
OF GOD! And by God is meant
not merely the Supreme Power of the universe, BUT THE PERSONAL
POWER which is characterized by the attributes Holy
Scripture assigns to
THE ETERNAL! Wisdom, righteousness, and benevolence
belong to
God. And by benevolence we are not to understand an
intention to secure
the enjoyment of
men, to ward off from them every pain, all weakness,
want, and woe. The purpose of the Divine mind is far higher than this —
even the
promotion of men’s SPIRITUAL WELL-BEING,
the
discipline of human character, and especially
the perfecting of
obedience and
submission. Sorrow and disappointment may be,
and in the case
of the pious will be, the means of bringing men
into harmony with the will and character
of God Himself.
4 “For to him that is
joined to all the living there is hope:” - As
long as a man lives (is one of living beings) he has some
hope, whatever it
be. This feeling is inextinguishable even unto the end.
Ἄελπτον
οὐδέν πάντα
δ ελπίζειν
χρεών
Aelpton ouden panta d elpizein
chreon
“Hope
springs eternal in the human breast.”
Thus Bailey sings, in ‘Festus’ —
“All Have
hopes, however wretched they may be,
Or
blessed. It is hope which lifts the lark so high,
Hope of a
lighter air and bluer sky;
And the
poor hack which drops down on the flints,
Upon whose
eye the dust is settling, he
Hopes, but
to die. No being exists, of hope,
Of love,
void.”
This clause gives a reason for the folly of men, mentioned in v. 3.
Whatever be their lot, or their way of life, they see no
reason to make any
change by reformation or active exertion. They go on
hoping, and do
nothing. Something may turn up; amid the inexplicable
confusion of the
ordering of events some happy contingency may arrive. The
above is the
reading according to the Keri. Thus the Septuagint: Ὅτι τίς
ὅς κοινωνεῖ -
Oti tis hos koinonei
- “For who is he that has fellowship with” Symmachus has,
“For who is he that will always continue to live?” while
the
Vulgate gives, Nemo est qui semper vivat. The Khetib points
differently,
offering the reading, “For who is excepted?” i.e. from the
common lot, the
interrogation being closely connected with the preceding
verse, or “Who
can choose?” i.e. whether he will die or not. The
sentence then proceeds,
“To all the living there is hope.” But the rendering of the Authorized
Version has good authority, and affords the better sense – “for
a living dog
is better than a dead lion.” The dog in
companion, as it is among us, but was regarded as a
loathsome and
despicable object compare I Samuel 17:43; (II Samuel 3:8);
while the
lion was considered as the noblest of beasts, the type of
power and
greatness (compare Proverbs 30:30; Isaiah 31:4). So the
proverbial
saying in the text means that the vilest and meanest
creature possessed of
life is better than the highest and mightiest which has
succumbed to death.
There is an apparent contradiction between this sentence
and such passages
as claim a preference for death over life, e.g Ecclesiastes 4:2; 7:1; but
in the latter the writer is viewing life with all its
sorrows and bitter
experiences, here he regards it as affording the possibility
of enjoyment. In
the one case he holds death as desirable, because it
delivers from further
sorrow and puts an end to misery; in the other, he
deprecates death as
cutting off from pleasure and hope. He may also have in
mind that now is
the time to do the work which we have to perform: “The
night cometh
when no man can work” (John 9:4) “Thanksgiving perisheth
from the dead,
as from one that is not; Ecclesiasticus 17:28,
the living and sound shall praise
the
Lord” (compare Isaiah 38:18-19.)
A
Living Dog Better than a Dead Lion (v. 4)
·
ANIMATED BEING BETTER THAN INANIMATE. Life is a higher
product than matter; and a lion without life is only matter. Life
added to
matter in its meanest forms imparts to it a dignity, worth, and
use not
possessed by matter in its most magnificent shapes where life is
absent. The
higher life, the nobler being.
·
COMPLETED BEING BETTER THAN INCOMPLETE. A living dog
is a complete organism; a dead lion an organism defective.
The living dog
possesses all that is necessary to realize the idea of “dog;” the
dead lion
wants the more important element, life, and retains only the
less important,
matter. In the living dog are seen the “spirit” and “form”
combined; in the
dead lion only the “form” without the “spirit.” If presently
man is complete
naturally, he is incomplete spiritually. Hereafter redeemed and
renewed,
man will be “perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” (James 1:4)
·
ACTIVE BEING BETTER THAN INACTIVE. The living dog, if not
a person, is yet more than a thing. Along with life and an
organism, it has
powers and functions it can exercise; senses through which it can
perceive,
a measure of intelligence through which it can understand,
at least
rudimentary affections it can both feel and express, instincts and
impulses
by and under which it can act. On the other hand, the dead
lion has none of
these, however once it may have owned them all. It is now
passive, still,
inert, powerless — an emblem of the soul dead in sin, as
a living dog is of
the same soul energized by religion.
·
SERVICEABLE BEING BETTER THAN UNSERVICEABLE. A
living dog is of some use, a dead lion of none. The gigantic
powers of the
forest king are by death reduced to a nullity, and can effect
nothing; the
feeble capacities of the yelping cur, just because it is alive,
can be turned to
profitable account. So magnificent
powers of body and intellect without
spiritual life are
comparatively valueless, while smaller
abilities, if inspired
by grace, may accomplish important designs.
·
LESSONS.
1. Be thankful for life.
2. Seek that moral and spiritual completeness which is the highest
glory of life.
3. Endeavor to turn the powers of life to the best account.
4. Serve Him from whom life comes.
Life
is Everything (v. 4)
In a world like ours, where appearance goes so far and
counts for so much,
there is much in form. There is much in machinery, in
organization; when
this is perfected, power is powerful indeed. There is much in original
capacity — in that invisible,
immeasurable germ out of which may grow
great things in the future. But it is hardly too much to say
that everything is
in
life. Where that is absent, nothing of any kind will avail; where that is
present, ALL THINGS ARE
POSSIBLE! It is better to have life even in the
humblest form than to have the most perfect apparatus or the most
exquisite
form without it. A living dog, with its power of motion and enjoyment, is
better
than a dead lion, for which there is nothing but unconsciousness and
corruption. Of the many illustrations of this principle, we may take
the
following:
·
AN EARNEST STUDENT IS BETTER THAN A DEAD WEIGHT
OF LEARNING. A
man whose mind is nothing more than a storehouse of
learning, who does not communicate anything to his fellows, who
does not
act upon them, who is no source of wisdom or of worth, is of
very little
account indeed; he has not what he has (see Matthew 25:29). But
the
earnest student, though he be but a youth or even a child, who is
bent on
acquiring in order that he may impart, in whom are the living
springs of an
honorable aspiration, is a great treasure, from whom society may
look for
many things.
·
AN AWAKENED CONSCIENCE IS BETTER THAN
UNCONSECRATED GENIUS. Unconsecrated power may
be enlisted on
the side of peace and virtue. But it is a mere accident if it
be so. It
is quite
as likely that it will be devoted to strife, and will espouse
the cause of
moral wrong; the history of
our race has had too many painful proofs of
this likelihood. But where there is an awakened
conscience, and,
consequently, a
devotion to duty, there is ensured the faithful service of
God, and an
endeavor, more or less successful, to do good to the
world.
·
ONE LIVING SOUL IS BETTER THAN A STAGNANT
CHURCH. A
Christian Church may be formed after the apostolic model,
and its constitution may be irreproachably scriptural, but it
may fall into
spiritual apathy, and care for nothing but its own edification. A
single
human soul, with an ear sensitive to “the still sad music of
humanity,” with
a heart to feel the weight of “the burden of the Lord,”
with courage to
attempt great things for Christ and for men, with
the faith that “removes
mountains,” may be of far more value to the world than such an apathetic
and inactive Church. Similarly, we may say that:
·
ONE
COMMUNITY THAT HAS LOST ITS SPIRITUAL ENERGY.
5 “For the living know
that they shall die:” This is added in
confirmation of the statement in v. 4. The living have at
least the
consciousness that they will soon have to die, and this leads
them:
·
to work while it
is day,
·
to employ their
faculties worthily,
·
to make use of opportunities,
·
to enjoy and profit by
the present.
They have a certain fixed event to which they must look forward; and they
have not to stand idle, lamenting their fate, but their duty and their happiness
is to accept the inevitable and make the best of it –“but the dead know
not anything,” - They are cut off from the active, bustling world; their
work is done; they have nothing to expect, nothing to labor for. What
passes upon earth affects them not; the knowledge of it reaches them no
longer – “neither have they any more a reward;” -
i.e. no fruit for labor
done. There is no question here about future retribution in
another world.
The gloomy view of the writer at this moment precludes all
idea of such
an adjustment of anomalies after death – “for the memory
of them is
forgotten.” They have not even the poor reward of being remembered
by loving posterity, which in the mind of an Oriental was
an eminent
blessing, to be much desired. There is a paronomasia in zeker, “memory,”
and sakar, “reward,”
which may be approximately represented in English
by the words “record” and “reward.”
6 “Also their love, and
their hatred, and their envy, is now (long
ago) perished;”
All the feelings
which are exhibited and developed in the life of the upper world
are annihilated (compare v. 10). Three are selected
as the most potent passions,
such as by their strength and activity might ideally
be supposed to survive even
the stroke of death. But all are now at an end – “neither
have they any more a
portion forever in any thing that is done under the
sun.” Between the dead
and the living an impassable gulf exists (Luke
16:26). The view of death here
given, intensely gloomy and hopeless as it appears
to be, is in conformity with
other passages of the Old Testament (see Job
14:10-14; Psalm 6:5; 30:9;
Isaiah 38:10-19), and that imperfect dispensation. Koheleth and his
contemporaries were of those “who
through fear of death were all
their lifetime subject to bondage” (Hebrews 2:15); it was Christ who
brightened the dark valley, showing the blessedness of
those who die in the
Lord, bringing life
and immortality to light through the gospel (II Timothy
1:10). Some expositors have felt the pessimistic utterances
of this
passage so deeply that they have endeavored to account for
them by
introducing an atheistic objector, or an intended
opposition between flesh
and spirit. But there is not a trace of any two such
voices, and the
suggestion is quite unnecessary. The writer, while
believing in the
continued existence of the soul, knows little and has
little that is cheering
to say about it’s condition; and what he does say is not
inconsistent with a
judgment to come, though he has not yet arrived at the
enunciation of this
great solution. The Vulgate renders the last clause, Nec habent partem in
hoc saeculo et in opere quod sub sole geritur. But “forever”
is the correct
rendering of לְעולָם, and Ginsburg concludes that
Jerome’s translation can
be traced to the Hagadistic
interpretation of the verse which restricts its
scope to the wicked
All Things Alike to All (vs. 1-6)
Ø
Their persons. The righteous and the wise (v. 1), but not less
certainly the unrighteous
and the foolish.
o
God’s breath
sustains ALL;
o
God’s providence
watches over ALL;
o
God’s power
encircles ALL, and
o
God’s mercy
encompasses ALL!
Ø
Their works. Their actions, whether good or bad, in the sense
explained in the last
homily, are conditioned by God, the
Governor of the world and
the Former of history.
Ø
Their experiences. “All lies before them;” i.e. all possible
experiences lie before men;
which shall happen to them being
reserved by God in His own
power.
knoweth either love or hatred,” or whether it be love or hatred, no man
knoweth; which may signify either that no man can tell whether
providences of a happy nature
proceeding from the love of God, or of an
unhappy nature proceeding from
the hatred of God, are to befall him;
or that no man can predict
whether he will love or hate. In either
case the meaning is that no man can certainly predict what a day may
bring forth. In so far as the future is in God’s hand, man can only
learn
what it contains by
waiting the occurrence of events; in so far as it is molded
by man’s free determinations, no man can predict what these
will be until the
moment arrives for their
formation.
alike to all: there is one event” (v. 2).
Ø
To the righteous and to the wicked; i.e. to the
inwardly and morally
good and to the inwardly
and morally evil.
Ø
To the clean and to the unclean; i.e. to the ceremonially pure and
to the ceremonially
defiled.
Ø
To him that sacrificeth and to
him that sacrificeth not; i.e. to him
who observes the outward
forms of religion and to him who observes
them not.
Ø
To him that sweareth and to him
that feareth an oath; i.e. to
the openly sinful and to
the outwardly reverent and devout.
“All alike go to the dead”
(v. 3).
men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they
live” (v. 3).
From which may be learned:
Ø
That sin is a kind of madness. This will not be
doubted by
those who consider that SIN IS THE REBELLION OF A
CREATURE AGAINST THE
CREATOR and that
sinners generally hope both to escape punishment on
account of their sin,
and to attain felicity through their sin.
Ø
That the seat of this madness is in the soul. It may affect
the whole
personality of the man, but the
perennial fountain
whence it springs is
the heart, in its alienation from God.
“The carnal mind
is enmity against God” (Romans 8:7).
(For example, I have noted in my commentary that on
August 7, 2006, I saw at a local grocery, a girl who was
wearing a t-shirt that said “I
feel a sin coming on.”
Fifteen years ago - this being August 8, 2021 - CY)
Ø
That the heart is not merely tainted with this madness,
BUT IS FULL OF IT! In other words, it is, in
its natural
condition,
WHOLLY UNDER THE POWER OF SIN,
a total corruption
of human nature, besides being taught
in
Scripture (Genesis 6:5; 8:21; Job 15:14; Psalm 14:2-3; ch.7:20;
Isaiah 53:6; Matthew 15:19;
Romans 3:23; Ephesians 2:1-3), is
abundantly confirmed by experience. (Thank God for the
remedy – Ephesians 2:4-10 – CY – 2013)
Ø That, apart from
DIVINE GRACE, this madness CONTINUES
THROUGHOUT LIFE, UNCHANGED!
There is nothing in human
nature itself or in its surroundings that has power to subdue and far less
to eradicate this madness. A NEW BIRTH
ALONE can rescue the
soul from its
dominion (John 3:3).
Ø
Hope a universal possession. “To him that is
joined to all the living
there is hope” (v. 4); i.e.
while man lives he hopes. Dum spirat, sperat
(Latin proverb). “Hope springs eternal in the human breast” (Pope).
Even the most abject are never,
or only seldom, abandoned by this
passion. On the contrary, “the miserable hath no other medicine,
but only hope”
(Shakespeare). When hope expires, LIFE DIES!
Ø
Hope a potent inspiration. In
ordinary life “we are kept alive by
hope” (Romans 8:24). The pleasing expectation of future good
enables
the heart to endure present ills, and nerves the resolution to
attempt
further efforts. Though sometimes, when ill-grounded, “kings it
makes
gods, and meaner creatures kings” (Shakespeare), yet when soundly
based it
“Like a
cordial, innocent though strong,
Man’s
heart at once inspirits and serenes.”
(Young.)
Especially is this the case
with that good hope through grace
(II Thessalonians 2:16)
which pertains to the Christian (Romans 5:5;
II Corinthians 3:12;
Philippians 1:20; I Peter. 1:13).
equal intelligence, but equally
intelligent. In particular:
Ø
All know themselves to be mortal. “The living know
that
they shall die” (v. 5). They may
frequently ignore this fact, and
deliberately shut their eyes upon it, but of the fact
itself THEY
ARE NOT
IGNORANT!
Ø
In this knowledge they are superior to the dead, who “know not
anything, neither have they any more a reward, for the
memory
of them is forgotten;”
who in fact, having dropped out of life, have
or ever ceased to take an interest in anything that is done under the
sun.
Ø
The essential equality
of all men.
Ø
The inherent dignity
of life.
Ø
The value of the
present.
Inexorable
Destiny (vs. 1-6)
The teaching in this section of the book is very similar to
that in ch. 6:10-12. The
Preacher lays stress upon the powerlessness and
short-sightedness of man with regard
to
the future. A higher power controls all the events of human life, and fixes the
conditions in which each individual is to live — conditions which
powerfully affect
his
character and destiny. Such a thought has been to many a source of consolation
and
strength. “My times,” said the psalmist, “are in thy hand” (Psalm
31:15).
“Your heavenly Father knoweth
that ye have need of all these
things,” said Jesus
(Matthew 6:32), when He counseled His disciples
against undue anxiety for the future. But no such comfort is drawn
by the
Preacher from the consideration that “the righteous, and the wise, and
their
works, are in the hand of God” (v. 1). It suggests to him rather an iron
destiny, a cage against the bars of which the soul may beat its
wings in
vain, than a gracious
him
— the thought that not even the feelings and emotions of the heart are
under man’s control. They are excited by persons and things with
whom or
with which he is brought in contact. A slight change of circumstances
would make his love hatred, and his hatred love; and these
circumstances
he
cannot change or modify. Events of all kinds are before us, and God
arranges what is to happen to us. “Whether it be love or hatred,
man
knoweth it not; all is before them” (v. lb, Revised Version). “The river of
life, along which his course lies, is wrapped in mist. Man’s destiny is
wholly dark, and is out of his own control. But it is not man’s
ignorance
that cuts him to the heart; it is that the injustice of earthly tribunals
seems
to
have its counterpart in g higher region. No goodness, no righteousness,
will avail against the persistent injustice of the laws by which the world
seems ruled. What a half-blasphemous indictment, what passionate
opposition against the God whose fear is in his mouth, is embodied in
the
cold and calm despair of the words which follow in the next verse (v. 2)!”
(Bradley). He names
five classes or’ persons, embracing all the various
types of righteousness and wickedness, and affirms that one
event comes to
them all, that no discrimination on the part of the Divine Ruler between
them appears in their earthly lot.
Ø
The first group is perhaps
that of those whose conduct towards
their neighbors is righteous or wicked;
Ø
the second that of
those who are pure or impure in heart;
Ø
the third that of the religious and the
irreligious;
Ø
the fourth perhaps
that of those whose characters are in
all these relations good or evil;
Ø
the fifth that of the
profane swearer and the man who reverences
the solemn oath (Isaiah 65:16).
“There is no mark at all of a moral government in this
world. The providence
of
God is as indiscriminating as the falling tree, or the hungry tiger, or the
desolating famine. If the fittest survive for a time, that fitness
has nothing in
common with goodness or righteousness.” And one of the evil
consequences
of
this state of matters is, as already referred to in ch.. 8:11, that
those
evilly disposed are subject to less restraint than they would be
if Divine
the
righteous and the wicked. “Yea, also the heart of the sons of men is
full
of evil,
and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go
to the
dead” (v. 3). The gloomy thoughts
concerning death and the world
beyond it which filled his mind, made the “one event” that comes
to all
seem all the more unjust. For some, doubtless, it is a deliverance from
misery, but to others it is an escape from merited punishment.
Even life
with all its inequalities and wrongs is better than death, and yet the
righteous are swept away from the earth indiscriminately with the
wicked.
“Streams will
not turn aside
The just
man not to entomb,
Nor lightnings go aside
To give
his virtues room;
Nor is
that wind less rough
which blows a good man’s barge.”
That a strong faith in Divine Providence in spite of all
outward
appearances, and a firm grasp of the truth of immortality, were denied
to
the
Preacher, need not surprise us, when we remember that the confidence
we have in God’s
fatherly love, and in the eternal happiness of those who
are faithful to
Him, is
derived from the teaching of Christ, and his
triumphant resurrection from the dead. The Preacher had not the
consolations which the gospel affords us. To him the world beyond the
grave was dreary and uncertain. He was one of those “who through fear of
death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Hebrews 2:15). The
meanest form of life was superior to the condition of even the
noblest who
had
passed within the grim portals of the grave. The living dog, loathed
and
despised, feeding on the refuse of the streets, was better than the dead
lion (v. 4). Hope survives while life remains, even though it may be
illusive; but with death all possible advancement of one’s lot is
cut off. The
bitterness of the thought is displayed in the touch of sarcasm which
marks
his
words. “For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not
anything, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of
them is
forgotten” (v. 5). The very consciousness of the coming doom gives
a
distinction to the living which
is denied to the dead. The very memory of
those who have passed
away soon perishes. Others take their place, and
carry on the business
of the world. A new generation springs up,
with
interests and concerns and passions with which the dead have nothing
to
do.
The strongest passions of love, hatred, and envy are quenched by the
cold hand of death (v. 6), and those who may in life have been bosom
friends, or mortal enemies, or jealous rivals, lie side by side in
the grave, in
silence and oblivion. Nothing that is done in the earth concerns
them any
more (compare Isaiah 38:9-20). The view here given us of the state of the
dead is gloomy in the extreme. The darkness is more intense and palpable
than that with which the same subject is invested in the Book of Job, and
even in some of the psalms. But we must remember that though the world
beyond the grave is represented by him as dim and shadowy, he
affirms at
the
same time that “God will bring every secret thing
into judgment” (ch. 12:14)
in
His own time and season “Consequently, the dead, even though regarded by
him
as existing in a semi-conscious state in Hades, are supposed to be still
in
existence, and destined at some future period to be awakened out of this
dreary slumber, and rewarded according to the merit or demerit of
their
actions on earth. He does not, it is true, speak of this awakening
out of
sleep, still less does he allude to the resurrection of
the body. His book is
mainly occupied with the search after man’s highest good on
earth, and it is
only incidentally that he refers at all to the state of the dead’ (Wright).
The
doctrine of a future judgment, in which every man will appear and
receive
the
reward or punishment due to him, is repeatedly dwelt upon by our
author; and. this of itself implies a conscious existence after
death in the
case of all. So far, however, as this life is concerned, the grave puts a
period to all activity, extinguishes all the passions which
animate the
children of men. They pass into another state of existence, and.
have no
further concern with that which is done here on earth.
Life
and Death (vs. 4-6)
No thoughtful reader can take these remarks upon the living
and the dead
as
complete and satisfactory in themselves. The writer of this book, as we
know from other passages, never intended them so to be taken. They are
singularly partial; yet when they are seen to be so, they are also
singularly
just. Just one aspect of life and of mortality is here presented, and it is
an
aspect which a wise and reflecting reader will see to be of great
importance. Life is a fragment, it is an opportunity, it is a probation. Death
is
an end, that is, an end of this brief existence, and of what especially
belongs to it. If we thought of life and death only under these
aspects, we
should err; but we should err if we neglected to take these
aspects into
consideration.
·
THE LOSSES OF THE DEAD.
Ø
They part with
opportunities of knowledge which they enjoyed on earth.
Ø
They part with passions
which they experienced whilst in the bodily life.
Ø
They part with possessions
which they acquired in this world.
Ø
They are soon
forgotten; for those who remember them themselves
depart, and a faint memory or utter forgetfulness must follow.
Death is a
great change, and they who undergo it leave much behind, even though
they may gain immeasurably more than they lose.
·
THE PREROGATIVES OF THE LIVING.
Ø
They have knowledge.
This is doubtless very limited, but it is very
precious. Compared with the knowledge which awaits the Christian in
the
future state, that which is within our reach now and here is as
what is seen
dimly in a mirror. Yet how can men be too grateful for the
faculty in
virtue of which they can acquaint themselves with truth of the
highest
importance and value? Knowledge of self, and
knowledge of the great
Author of our being and
salvation, is within our reach. We know
the
limitation of our period of earthly education and probation; we know
the means by which that period may
be made the occasion of our
spiritual good.
Ø
With all the living there is hope. Time is before them with its golden
opportunities; eternity, time’s
harvest, is before them with all its
priceless recompense. Even if the past has been
neglected or abused,
there is the possibility that the future may be turned to good account.
For the dead we know that this
earthly life has nothing in store. But
who can limit the possibilities which stretch before the living, the
progress which may be made, the blessing that may be won?
·
APPLICATION. It is well to begin with the view of life and death which
is presented in this passage; but it would not be well to
pause here. It is
true that there is loss in death; but the Christian does not
forget the
assertion of the apostle that “to die is gain.” (Philippians
1:21) And whilst
there are privileges and prerogatives special to this earthly
life, still it is
to the disciple of Christ only the introduction and preparation for a
life
which is life indeed — life glorious, imperishable, and Divine.
These next six verses (vs. 7-12), give the application of the facts just
mentioned. The inscrutability of the moral government of
the world, the
uncertainty of life, the condition of the dead, lead to the conclusion again
that one should use one’s life to the best advantage; and Koheleth repeats
his caution concerning the issues and duration of life.
7 “Go thy way, eat thy
bread with joy,” - This is not an injunction
to lead a selfish life of Epicurean pleasure; but taking
the limited view to
which he here confines himself, the Preacher inculcates the practical
wisdom of looking at the bright side of things; he says in effect (though he
takes care afterwards to correct a wrong impression which
might be
given),” Let us eat and drink; for to-morrow we die” (I
Corinthians
15:32). We have had the same counsel in ch.
2:24; 3:12-13, 22; 5:18;
8:15 – “and drink thy wine with a merry heart;” - Wine was not an
accompaniment of meals usually; it was reserved for feasts
and solemn
occasions. Bread and wine are here regarded as the
necessary means of
support and comfort (compare ch.10:19; Genesis 14:18; I
Samuel 16:20).
The moderate use of wine is nowhere forbidden; there is no
law in the Old
Testament against the use of intoxicating drinks; the employment
of such
fluids as cordials, exhilarating, strengthening and
comforting, is often
referred to (compare Judges 9:13; Psalm 104:15; Proverbs
31:6-7).
Thus Koheleth’s advice, taken
even literally, is not contrary to the spirit
of his religion – “for God now (long ago) accepteth thy works.” The
“works” are not moral or religious doings, in reward of which God
gives
temporal blessings, which is plainly opposed to Koheleth’s chief contention
in all this passage. The works are the eating and drinking
just mentioned.
By the constitution of man’snature,
and by the ordering of
capacity of enjoyment is allowable, and there need be no
scruple in using it.
Such things are God’s good gifts, and to be received with
reverence and
thanksgiving; and he who thus employs them is well-pleasing
unto the Lord
(ch. 2:24; 8:15).
8 “Let thy garments be
always white;” - The Preacher brings into
prominence certain particulars of enjoyment, more
noticeable than mere
eating and drinking. White garments in the East (as among
ourselves) were
symbols of joy and purity. Thus the singers in Solomon’s
temple were
arrayed in white linen (II Chronicles 5:12). Mordecai was
thus honored
by King Ahasuerus (Esther 8:15),
the angels are seen similarly decked
(Mark 16:5), and the glorified saints are clothed in white
(Revelation 3:4-5, 18) -
“and let thy head lack no ointment.” Oil and
perfumes were used on festive occasions
not only among Eastern nations, but
by Greeks and Romans (see on
ch.7:1). Thus the double injunction in
this verse
counsels one to be always happy and cheerful.. Doubtless
the
advice may readily be perverted to evil, and made to
sanction sensuality
and licentiousness, as we see throughout history, but Koheleth only
urges the
moderate use of earthly goods as consecrated by God’s gift.
9 “Live joyfully with the
wife whom thou lovest” - literally, see
life with a wife whom thou lovest. The article is omitted, as the maxim is to
be taken generally. In correction of the outspoken condemnation
of women
in ch. 7:26, Koheleth
here recognizes the happiness of a
home where is found
a helpmate beloved and worthy of love (compare Proverbs 5:18-19; 17:22,
on which our passage seems to be founded. (For the
expression, “ see life,”
vide note on ch. 2:1.) – “all the days of the life of thy vanity:” - i.e.
throughout the time of thy quickly passing life. This is
repeated after the
next clause (though there omitted by the Septuagint and Syriac), in order
to emphasize the transitoriness
of the present and the consequent wisdom
of enjoying it while it lasts. So Horace bids man “carpe diem” (‘Carm.,’
1:11.8), “enjoy each atom of the day;’” and Martial sings
(‘Epigr,’ 7:47.
11) —
“Vive velut rapto fugitivaque
gaudia carpe.”
“Live thou
thy life as stolen, and enjoy
Thy
quickly fading pleasures.”
“which He (God)
hath given thee under the sun all the days of thy
vanity:” The relative
may refer to either the “wife” or “the days of life.”
The Septuagint and Vulgate take it as belonging to the
latter, and this seems
most suitable (compare ch.5:17) - “fo that is thy
portion in this life, and
in thy labor which thou takest
under the sun.” Such moderate
enjoyment
is the recompense allowed by God for the toil which
accompanies
A PROPERLY SPENT LIFE!
The Joy of Human Life (vs. 7-9)
Optimists and pessimists are both wrong, for they both
proceed upon the
radically false principle that life is to be valued
according to the
preponderance of pleasure over pain; the optimist asserting
and the
pessimist denying such preponderance. It is a base theory
of life which
represents it as to be prized as an opportunity of
enjoyment. And the
hedonism (When I was working on my Master’s Degree in Education
in the early 1970’s, I was fed a steady diet of Hedonism and other
philosophies which are in the process of bringing the house down in
the United States as we know it – pseudo-intellectuals giving their two
cents worth and often undermining this nations morals and values which
were
built upon the Old and New Testaments – CY – 2013) which
is common
to optimist and to pessimist is the delusive basis upon
which their visionary fabrics
are reared. Pleasure is
neither the proper standard nor the proper motive
of RIGHT CONDUCT! (I once saw on a marquee in
“There is no right way to do the wrong thing.” - The undermining of
right and wrong, the attack on “absolute values”in American culture has
taken
a heavy toll in the last half century – CY – 2013) Yet,
as the text
points out, enjoyment is a real factor in human life, not
to be depreciated
and despised, though not to be exaggerated and overvalued.
HUMAN EXISTENCE. Man’s
bodily and mental constitution, taken in
connection with the circumstances
of the human lot, are a sufficient proof
of this. We drink by turns the
sweet and the bitter cup; and the one is as
real as the other, although
individuals partake of the two in different
proportions.
Several are alluded to in this
passage, more especially:
Ø
the satisfaction
of natural appetite;
Ø
the pleasures of
society and festivity,
Ø
the happiness of
the married state, when the Divine idea
concerning it is
realized.
These are doubtless mentioned as
specimens of the whole.
clearly saw that those who toil
are those who enjoy. It is by work
that most
men must win the
means of bodily and physical enjoyment; and the very
labor becomes a
means of blessing, and sweetens the daily meals. (I once
read that John D. Rockefeller once said that he would give half his fortune if
he could enjoy a meal like one of his common laborers. –
CY – 2013) The
primeval curse was by God’s
mercy transformed into a blessing. (Genesis
3:17-19)
WHICH CONSIDERS ONLY ITS ENJOYMENTS.
Ø
Pain, suffering, and
distress are as real as happiness, and must come,
sooner or later, to all
whose life is prolonged.
Ø
Neither pleasure nor pain
is of value apart from the moral discipline both
may aid in promoting, apart from
the moral progress, the moral aim,
towards which both may lead.
Ø
It is,
therefore, the part of the wise to use the good things of this
life as not
abusing them; to be ready to part with them at the call
of Heaven, and to turn them
to golden profit, so that occasion
may
never arise to remember them with regret and remorse.
10 “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might;” -
In accordance with what has been already said, and to
combat the idea
that, as man cannot control his fate, he should take no
pains to work his
work, but fold his hands in resigned inaction, Koheleth urges him not to
despair, but to do his part manfully as long as life
is given, and with
all the energies of his soul CARRY OUT THE PURPOSE OF HIS
BEING! The Septuagint gives, “All things
whatsoever thy hand shall find to
do,
(ὡς ἡ δύναμίς
σου);” – hos hae
dunamis sou – do it as thy power is -
Vulgate, Quodcumque facere potest manus tua, instanter operate. The
expression at the commencement may be illustrated by Leviticus
12:8; 25:28;
Judges 9:33, where it implies ability to carry out some
intention, and in some
passages is thus rendered, “is able,” etc. (compare Proverbs 3:27).
It is therefore
erroneous to render it in this place, “Whatever by chance cometh to hand;” or
“Let might be right.” Rather it is a call to work as the prelude and
accompaniment
of enjoyment, anticipating Paul’s maxim (II Thessalonians 3:10), “If any would
not work, neither should he eat.” The true meaning of the verse is confirmed
by such references as John 9:4, “I must work the works of him that sent me,
while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work;” (II Corinthians 6:2,
“Now is the accepted time; NOW IS THE DAY OF SALVATION!”
Galatians 6:10, “As we
have opportunity, let us do good unto all men” –
“for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave,” –
The departed have no more work which they can do, no plans or calculations to
make; their knowledge is strictly limited, their wisdom is ended. It needs body
and soul to carry on the labors and activities of this world; when these are
severed, and can no longer act together, there is a complete alteration in the
man’s relations and capacities. “The grave,” sheol
(which is found nowhere else in
Ecclesiastes), is the
place to which go the souls of the dead — a shadowy
Region – “whither thou goest.”
- to which all are
bound. It
is plain that the
writer believes in the continued existence of the soul, as
he differentiates its
life in sheol from
its life on earth, the energies and operations which are
carried on in the one case being curtailed or eclipsed in
the other. Of any
repentance, or purification, or progress, in the unseen
world, Koheleth
knows and says nothing. He would seem to regard existence
there as a
sleep or a state of insensibility; at any rate, such is the
natural view of the
present passage.
The Day of
There is great force in the Preacher’s words, demanding
present diligence
and energy in view of future silence and inaction. It may
be well to consider:
what is there beyond it? We who have
sat at the feet of Jesus Christ know
well that the hour is coming in which all who are in their graves shall
hear His voice - (John 5:28-29). The rest which remaineth for the people
of God (Hebrews 4:9) is not the rest of unconsciousness or
repose, but of
untiring activity; of knowledge
that will be far removed from the dim visions
of the present (see I
Corinthians 13:12); of wisdom far surpassing the
sagacity to which we now attain.
In that heavenly country we hope to
address ourselves to nobler tasks,
to work with enlarged and liberated
faculties, to accomplish far
greater things, to be “ministers of
his that do
His pleasure” in ways and spheres that are far beyond us now. But
what
we have first to face, AND
HAVE ALL TO FACE,, is:
Our life is, as we say, a
journey from the cradle to the grave. Death is a
goal which:
Ø
Is absolutely
inevitable. We may elude many evils,
but THAT
we must all encounter.
Ø
We may reach soon
and suddenly. It may be the THE VERY
NEXT TURN OF THE
ROAD which will bring us to it. No man
can tell what mortal blow
may not be struck on the morrow, what fatal
disease may not discover
itself before the year is out.
Ø
Will certainly
appear before we are expecting it. So
swiftly does
our life pass — so far as
our consciousness is concerned — with
all its pressure of
business and all its growing and gathering excitements,
and so pertinacious is our
belief that, however it may be with others,
we ourselves have some life
left in us still, and some work to do yet,
that when death comes to us it will surprise us. What, then, is:
well all that lies within our power. The Master Himself felt this (John
9:4). He knew that there was
glorious “work” for Him in the long
future,
even as there had been for his
Father in the long past (Ibid. 5:17). But
he knew also that between the
hour of that utterance and the hour of His
death on the cross there was
that work to be done which could only be
done then and there. So He girded himself to do all that had to be done,
and to bear all that had to be
borne, in that short and solemn interval. We
should feel and
act likewise. We look for a very
blessed and noble sphere
of heavenly activity; but
between this present and that future there is work
to be done which is now within our compass, but will soon be without it.
There is:
Ø
Good work to be done
in the direction of self-culture, of gaining
dominion over self, in casting
out evil from our own soul and our
own life.
Ø
Good service to be
rendered to our kindred, to our friends, to our
neighbors, whom
we can touch and bless now but who will
soon pass beyond our
reach.
Ø
A good contribution,
real and valuable, if not prominent, towards the
establishment of the
therefore, that our “hand
findeth to do” because our heart is willing
to do it, let us do with our might, lest we leave undone that
which
no future time and no other sphere
will give us the opportunity to
attempt.
Diligence
(v. 10)
The prospect of death may add a certain zest to life’s
enjoyments, but we
are
reminded in this passage that it is just and wise to allow it to influence
the
performance of life’s practical duties.
·
RELIGION HAS REGARD TO MAN’S PRACTICAL NATURE. The
hand is the instrument of work, and is accordingly used as the
symbol of
our active nature. What we do is of supreme importance,
both by reason of
its cause and origin in our character, and by reason of its
effect upon
ourselves and upon the world. Religion involves contemplation and
emotion, and expresses itself in prayer and
praise; but
without action
all is in vain.
·
RELIGION FURNISHES THE LAW TO MAN’S PRACTICAL
NATURE. We are
expected to put up the prayer, “What wilt thou have me
to do?” (Acts 9:6) in response to this prayer, precept and
admonition are given;
and so the “hand findeth”
its work.
Ø
True religion
prescribes the quality of our work — that actions
should
be just and wise, kind and compassionate.
Ø
And the measure of our work. “With thy might” is the Divine
law. This
is opposed to langor, indolence,
depression, weariness. He who considers
the diligence and assiduity with which the powers of evil are
ever
working in human society will understand the importance of this
urgent admonition.
·
RELIGION SUPPLIES THE MOTIVES TO DILIGENCE IN THE
EMPLOYMENT OF THE PRACTICAL NATURE.
Ø
There is the very general
motive suggested in the context, that what is to
be done for the world’s good must be done during this present
brief and
fleeting life. There is doubtless
service of such a nature that, if it be not
done here and now, can never be rendered at all. As Christ said, “I
must work the works of Him that sent me, while it is day: The night
cometh when no man can work.” (John 9:4)
Ø
Christianity presents
a motive of preeminent power in the example of the
Lord Jesus Christ, who came to
work the work of Him who sent Him,
who went about doing good, who found it His food to do His
Father’s
will, whose aim it was to finish the work given Him to do.
Ø
Christianity enforces
this motive by one deeper still; the Christian is
inspired with the desire to live unto the Lord who
lived and died
for him. Grateful love, kindled by the
Divine sacrifice, expresses
itself by consecrated zeal.
·
APPLICATION. Let the hand first be stretched out that it may grasp the
hand of the Savior, God; and then let it be employed in the service
of Him
who proves Himself first the Deliverer, and then the Lord and
Helper of all
those who seek Him.
The Picture of an Ideal Life (vs. 7-10)
Ø
Material enjoyment. “Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and
drink thy wine with a merry heart” (v. 7). The permission herein
granted to make a pleasurable use of the good things of this world,
of its meats and its
drinks, has not been
revoked by Christianity.
(“Go your way, eat the fat, and
drink the sweet, and send
portions unto them
for whom nothing is prepared……
neither be ye
sorry, for the joy of the Lord is your strength”
(Nehemiah 8:10). Not only
did the Son of man by His example
(Matthew 11:19; Luke 7:34;
John 2:1-11) show that religion did
not require men to be ascetics or monks, Rechabites or
Nazarites, but the
apostolic writers have made it clear that Christianity
is not meats or drinks
(Romans 14:17; I Timothy 4:3; Hebrews
9:10), and that while no one has a right to over-indulge himself
in either, thereby
becoming gluttonous and a wine-bibber,
on
the other hand no one is
warranted in the name of Christianity to
impose on believers such
ordinances as — “Touch not, taste not,
handle not” (Colossians 2:21).
Ø
Domestic happiness. “Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest
all the days of the life of thy vanity” (v. 9). Marriage is not only
honorable and innocent (Hebrews 13:4) as being a Divine institution
(Matthew 19:4-6), but is one
of the purest sources of felicity open to
man on earth, provided it be
contracted in the fear of God, and
cemented with mutual love. As
woman was made for man (I Corinthians
11:9), to be his helpmeet
(Genesis 2:20), i.e. his counterpart and
complement (one of my favorite
verses – “heirs together of the
grace of life” –
I Peter 3:7 – CY – 2013), companion and counselor,
equal and friend; so he that findeth a wife findeth a good
thing, and
obtaineth favor of the Lord (Proverbs 18:22) — findeth one in whose
love he may indulge himself, in
whose sympathy he may refresh
himself,
in whose grace he may sun
himself without fear of sin. The notion that
a higher phase of the religious
life is attained by celibates than by
married
persons is against both reason and
revelation, and is contradicted by
the fruits which in practical experience it
usually bears.
Neither the Preacher
nor the great Teacher grants permission to
men to live
joyfully with unmarried females or with other people’s
wives,
but only with their own spouses (“Drink
waters out of thine
own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.” – Proverbs
5:15 – CY – 2013), and neither
Old Testament nor New favors the
idea that men should take as
wives any women but those they love, or
should treat otherwise than with
affection those they marry (Ephesians
5:28).
Ø
Religious felicity. Arising from two things:
o
The cultivation
of personal purity. “Let thy
garments
be always white.” Though “white
garments” were most
probably intended by the Preacher
to be a symbol of joy and
gladness, they may be used
as an emblem of purity,
since they are so explained
in the Talmud and Midrash.
o
The realization
of Divine favor. “God now accepteth
thy works,” or “God hath already accepted thy works.”
Here again the Preacher’s
intention was no doubt to say that
such enjoyment as he
recommended was not discommended,
but rather distinctly
approved of by God; that God did not reject,
but from long ago had
accepted, such works as eating and
drinking, etc., and had shown
His mind concerning them by
furnishing in
abundance the materials for them. Yet
with
greater emphasis the Preacher’s
words will apply to the works
of the Christian believer, who
with all his activities is ACCEPTED
IN THE BELOVED! (Ephesians 1:6), and entitled to derive
therefrom an argument, not for sinful indulgence, but for
the cultivation
of a joyous and holy life.
ought to be:
Ø
Deliberately chosen.
Voluntarily undertaken, not reluctantly endured;
the work of one whose hands have
been stretched out in search of
occupation. “Whatsoever thy
hand findeth to do.”
Ø
Widely extended. A good man’s labors should not be too restricted
either as to number, character,
or sphere. “This one thing I do”
(Philippians 3:13) does not
signify that never more than one business at
a time should engage a good
man’s attention. The ideal good man should
put his hand to every sort of
good work that
way (Galatians 6:9-10) — at
least so far as time and ability allow.
Ø
Energetically performed. Whatsoever the hands of a good man find to
do, he should do with his might.
Earnestness an indispensable
condition
of acceptable service. Fitful
and intermittent, half-hearted and indifferent,
labor especially in good work,
to be condemned (I Corinthians 15:58).
Ø
Religiously inspired.
A good man should have sufficient reasons
for his
constant activity. The argument
to which the Preacher alludes, though not
the highest, but the lowest, is nevertheless
powerful, viz. that this life is
the only working
season a man has. “There is no work, nor device,
nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest” (v. 10).
The inhabitants of the under-world are forever done with the
activities of
earth. The good man no more than the wicked can pursue his schemes
when he has vanished from
this mundane scene. Hence the urgency of
working while it is
called today, for “the night cometh when no man
can work.” (John 9:4). Though the Christian has loftier and clearer
conceptions of the after-life of
the good than Old Testament saints
had, the Preacher’s argument is
not possessed of less, but rather of more,
force as an incitement to
Christian work, seeing that the “now” of the
present life is the only accepted time, AND THE ONLY DAY OF
SALVATION! (II
Corinthians 6:2).
of enjoying and working. The essential
connection between these two
departments of life — the joy being a
necessary condition as well as A
natural result of
all true work, and the work being a necessary expression
and invaluable
sustainer of THE JOY! The true way of redeeming life –
TO CONCENTRATE ITS DAYS AND YEARS TO SERVING THE
LORD WITH GLADNESS, OR TO REJOICING
IN GOD AND
DOING HIS WILL!
Enjoyment of the Present (vs. 7-10)
No one who is at all familiar with the Preacher’s thoughts
can be surprised
with the advice here given, following so closely as it does
upon the gloomy
reflections on death to which he has just given expression.
He for the sixth
time urges upon his hearers or readers the practical wisdom of enjoying the
present, of cheerfully accepting the boons which God puts
within our
reach, and the mere
thought that He is the Giver, will of itself rebuke all
vicious indulgence. He permits enjoyment; nay, it is by His
appointment that
the means for it exist. “Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and.
drink thy
wine with a merry
heart; for God now accepteth thy works” (v. 7). That
is, God approves of these works — a cheerful, thankful
enjoyment of food
and drink. The white garment symbolical of a glad heart,
the perfume
sprinkled upon the head, are not to be slighted as
frivolous or as
inappropriate for those who are so soon to pass from life
unto death (v.8).
Asceticism, self-imposed scruples, half-hearted
participations in the
good things that lawfully fall to us, mean loss of the
present, and are not in
themselves a preparation for the future. The ascetic may
have his heart set
upon the very pleasures he denies himself, may value them
more highly,
than he who takes them as they come, and exhausts them of
all the
satisfaction they contain. The
happiness, too, which marriage yields is
commended by him. He
speaks elsewhere of the wretchedness
and shame
into which sensuality leads, and of the hateful types of
womanhood
with which it
brings the sensualist into contact (ch. 2:8; 7:26); but
here he alludes to the calm peacefulness of a happy home, which,
though it
cannot remove the sense of the vanity and transitoriness of life, at least
makes it endurable. A happy life, a useful life, a life
filled by a
wholesome activity, may be lived by all or by most, and the
fact that the
end is near, the grave in which there is neither “work, nor device, nor
wisdom,” should be a stimulus to such activity (v. 10). Honest, earnest
labor, together with whatever enjoyments God’s providence
brings
within our reach, and not an indifference to all sublunary concerns because
of their transitoriness, is asserted
to be OUR BOUNDEN DUTY! Had he
recommended mere sensuous indulgence, we should turn from
him
contemptuously. Had he recommended an ascetic severity, we
might have
felt that only some could follow his advice. But as it is,
his ideal is within
the reach of us all, and is worthy of us all. And those who speak
censoriously of the conclusion he reaches and expresses in
these words,
would find it a very hard task to frame a higher ideal of
life. Zealous
performance of practical duties, a reasonable and whole-hearted
enjoyment of all innocent pleasures, and MINDFULNESS OF
JUDGMENT TO COME are commended to us by the Preacher, and
only a stupid fanatic could object to the counsel he gives.
Words
to a Worker (v. 10)
·
THE WORKER DESCRIBED: MAN.
Ø
Furnished with
capacities for work. With bodily organs
and mental
endowments, with speech and reason.
Ø
Located in a sphere
of work. The world is a vast workshop, in
which
every creature is busily employed — not only the irrational
animals,
but even things without life.
Ø
Appointed to the destiny of work. As while sinless in
to dress the garden and to keep it, and after the Fall beyond
its precincts
he was commanded to till the ground and to earn his bread
through the
sweat of his brow, so is he still charged to be a worker, a
Christian
apostle even saying that “if a man will not work neither shall he
eat”
(II Thessalonians 3:10).
Ø
Impelled by a desire of work. Under the compulsion
of his own nature
and of the constitution of the world, man is constrained to go
forth in
search of work, of labor for his hands, of exercise for his mind,
and
generally of employment for his manhood.
·
THE WORKER COUNSELED.
Ø
To do the duty that lies nearest. This the obvious
import of the words,
“Whatsoever thy
hand findeth to do, do it.” To men in earnest about
finding their life-work, the duties that lie nearest will commonly
be the
most urgent; and vice versa, the duties that are most
urgent will usually
be found to lie nearest. Among these will stand out
conspicuously
o
the preservation of the body,
o
the cultivation of the mind,
o
the salvation of the soul; while others will assume their places in
the order of succession according to their importance.
Ø
To do every duty with energy. “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do
it with thy
might.” Halt: hearted labor, besides
wasting time, spoils the
work and demoralizes
the worker. It is due to God, whose servant man
is, to the importance of the work in which he
is engaged, and to himself
as one whose highest interests are
involved in all he does, that man
should labor with enthusiasm, diligence, and might.
Ø
To do each duty from an impulse
of individual responsibility.
“Whatsoever thy hand findeth
to do, that do thou!”
As no man can tell
what his neighbor’s duty is in every instance, so can no man in
any case
devolve his duty on another. “To every man his work!” is God’s
great
labor law. If other workers are unfaithful, be not thou
unfaithful.
Ø
To do all duties under a sense
of the value of time. Remembering that
this life is man’s only opportunity of working, that it is swiftly
passing,
that death is near, and that there is neither wisdom,
knowledge, nor
device in the grave whither man goes.
Section 8. It is
impossible to calculate upon the issues and duration of life.
(vs. 11-12). He reverts to the sentiment of v. 1, that we
cannot calculate
on the issues of life. Work as we may and must and ought,
the results are
uncertain and beyond our control. This he shows by his own
personal experience.
11 “I returned, and saw under the sun,” - The expression here does
not indicate a new departure, but merely a repetition and
confirmation of a
previous thought — the dependence and conditionality of
man. It implies,
too, a correction of a possible misunderstanding of the
injunction to labor,
as if one’s own efforts were sure to secure success - “that the race is not to
the swift,” - One is reminded of the fable of the hare and tortoise; but Koheleth’s
meaning is different. In the instances given he intimates
that, though a man
is well equipped
for his work and uses all possible exertions, he may incur
failure. So one may be a fleet
runner, and yet, owing to some untoward
accident or disturbing circumstance, not come in first.
Thus Ahimaaz
brought to David tidings of Absalom’s
defeat before Cushi, who had had
the start of him (II Samuel 18:27, 31). There is no
occasion to invent an
allusion to the foot-race in the formal Greek games – “nor
the battle to the
strong,” - Victory does not always accrue to mighty men, heroes. As
David,
himself an instance of the truth of the maxim, says (I
Samuel 17:47),
“The Lord saveth not with sword and spear; for the battle is the
Lord’s”
(compare II Chronicles 20:15; Psalm 33:16) - “neither yet bread to
the wise,” - Wisdom will not ensure competency. To do this
requires other
endowments. Many a man of cultivated intellect and of high mental
power
is left to starve - “nor
yet riches to men of understanding,” - Aristophanes
accounts for the unequal distribution of wealth thus (‘Plutus,’ 88), the god himself
speaking-
“I
threatened, when a boy,
On
none but just and wise and orderly
My favors
to bestow; so Zeus in jealousy
Hath made
me blind, that I may
none of these Distinguish.”
“nor yet favor to men of skill;” - “Skill” here does not mean dexterity in
handicrafts or arts, but knowledge generally; and the gnome
says that
reputation and influence do not necessarily accompany the
possession of
knowledge and learning; knowledge is not a certain or
indispensable means
to favor. Says the Greek gnomist —
Τύχης τὰ
θνητῶν πράγματ οὐκ εὐβουλίας
Tuchaes ta thnaeton pragmat ouk euboulias
“Not
prudence rules, but fortune, men’s affairs.”
“but time and
chance happeneth to them all.” . We
have had the word eth,
“time,” all through Ecclesiastes 3
and elsewhere; but [g"p,, rendered
“chance,” is uncommon, being found only in I Kings 5:4. Everything has its
proper season appointed by God, and man is powerless to
control these
arrangements. Our English word “chance” conveys an
erroneous impression.
What is meant is rather “incident,” such as a calamity,
disappointment,
unforeseen occurrence. All
human purposes are liable to be changed
or controlled by circumstances beyond man’s power, and incapable
of explanation. A hand higher
than man’s disposes events, and
success is conditioned by superior laws which work
unexpected results.
The Powerlessness of Man (vs. 10-11)
The reflections contained in these verses are not peculiar
to the religious.
No observer of human life can fail to observe how
constantly all human
calculations are falsified and all human hopes
disappointed. And the
language of the Preacher has naturally become proverbial,
and is upon the
lips even of those for whom it has no spiritual
significance or suggestion.
Yet it is the devout and pious mind which turns such
reflections to
profitable uses.
prosperity of those who are
highly endowed, and who have employed and
developed their native gifts.
Life is a race, and we expect the swift to
obtain the prize; it is a
battle, and we look for victory to the strong. We
think of wealth and prosperity
as the guerdon due to skill and prudence; we
can hardly do otherwise. When
the seed is sown, we anticipate the harvest.
There are qualities adapted to
secure success, and observation shows us
that our expectations are
justified in very many cases, though not in all.
When we behold a young man begin
life with every advantage of health,
ability, fortune, and social
recommendations, we forecast for such a one a
career of advancement and a
position of distinction and eminence. Yet how
often does such an expectation
prove vain!
human hope is crushed. The swift
runner drops upon the course, and the
bold warrior is smitten upon the
battlefield. As the fishes are caught in the
net, and the birds in the snare,
so are the young, the ardent, the gifted, and
the brave cut short in the
career of buoyant effort and brilliant hope. All
our projects may prove futile,
and all our predictions may be falsified. The
ways of
hands of God, whose thoughts are
not as our thoughts. “Man also knoweth
not his time” (v.
12). Attention is called to the
suddenness with which our
aims may be frustrated, our
anticipations clouded, and our efforts defeated.
And the observation of every
experienced mind confirms the warning of the
text. It is often when the sun
is brightest that the cloud sweeps across its
disk, when the sea is calmest
that the storm arises in which the ship is
foundered.
OVERTURNINGS OF HUMAN ANTICIPATIONS.
Ø
They rebuke human
pride and self-confidence. It is
natural for
The young, the vigorous,
the prosperous, to glory in their gifts, and to
indulge bright hopes of the future,
based upon their consciousness
of power. Yet we have this
lesson which the strong and fortunate
will do well to lay to heart, “Let not the strong man glory in
his strength,” (Jeremiah 9:23-24)
Ø
They check
worldliness of spirit. We are all
prone to attach
Importance to what is seen
and temporal, and to allow our heart’s
affections to entwine
around what is fair and bright, winsome and
hopeful. God would teach
us the supreme importance of those
qualities which are imparted by His own blessed Spirit,
and
which endure unto
everlasting life.
Ø
They lead the
soul to seek a higher and more enduring
satisfaction than earthly prosperity can
impart. When
riches take to themselves
wings and fly
away, this may enhance
the value of the true, the unsearchable riches. When
a fair, bright
youth is plucked like a
rosebud from the stem, and beauty withers,
this may lead our thoughts
and our hearts’ desires away from this
transitory scene to that region into which sorrow and death
can never enter,
and where God wipes away every tear.
12 “Man also knoweth not his time:” - Vulgate, Neseit homo finem
suum, understanding “his
time” to mean his death-hour; but it may include
any misfortune or accident. The particle gain, “also,”
or “even,” belongs to
“his time.” Not only are
results out of man’s control (v. 11), but his life is
in higher hands, and he is
never sure of a day – “as the fishes that are
taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in a
snare:” –
The suddenness and unforeseen nature of calamities that befall men
are here expressed by two forcible similes (compare
Proverbs 7:23;
Ezekiel 12:13; 32:3). Thus Homer (‘Iliad,’ 5:487)
“Beware
lest ye, as in the meshes caught
Of some
wide-sweeping net, become the prey
And booty
of your foes.”
(
“so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth
suddenly upon them.”
Men are suddenly overtaken by calamity, which
they are totally unable to foresee or provide against. Our Lord says
(Luke 21:35) that the last day shall
come as a snare on all that
dwell in the
earth (compare Ezekiel 7:7,12).
Time and
Chance for All (vs. 11-12)
·
AN UNDENIABLE PROPOSITION — that the issues of life are
incalculable. This truth is set forth in five illustrations.
Ø
The race not to the swift. Sometimes, perhaps often, it is,
yet not always
or necessarily, so that men can calculate the issue of any
contest. Just as
swiftness of foot is no guarantee that a runner shall be first at
the goal, so
in other undertakings the possession of superior ability is
no proof that
one shall attain pre-eminence above his fellows.
Ø
The battle not to the strong. By many experiences
that “the battle is the Lord’s (1 Samuel
17:47), and that there is “no
king saved by the multitude of a host” (Psalm 33:16). Neither Pharaoh
(Exodus 14:27), nor Zerab the Ethiopian (II Chronicles 14:12), nor
the Moabites and Ammonites who came against Jehoshaphat (ibid.
ch. 20:27),
nor Sennacherib (II Kings 19:35), were the better
for their innumerable armies; and though Napoleon was wont to
say that
God was always on the side of
the strongest battalions, instances can be
cited in sufficient numbers to show that it is God who giveth the victory
to kings (Psalm
144:10), and that He does not always espouse the side of
those who can summon the most warriors into the field.
Ø
Bread not to the wise. Here again the sense is that while capacity and
diligence are usually rewarded, yet the exceptions to the rule are
so
numerous as to prove that it cannot certainly be predicted that a
man of
sagacity will always be able to secure for himself the means of
subsistence.
Ø
Riches not to men of understanding. At least not always.
Men of talent,
and even of industry, sometimes fail in amassing riches, and
when they
do succeed, cannot always keep the riches they have amassed
Nothing
is commoner than to find poor wise men (v. 15) and rich fools
(Luke
12:20) Though
as a rule the hand of the diligent maketh rich
(Proverbs
10:4), men of splendid abilities
often spend their strength for naught.
Riches are no sign of wisdom.
Ø
Favor not to men of skill. Even genius cannot always command
the
approbation and appreciation it deserves. The world’s inventors and
discoverers have seldom been rewarded according to their merits. The
world has for the most part coolly accepted the productions of
their
genius, and remanded themselves to oblivion. The fate of the poor
wise
man after mentioned (v. 15) has often been experienced.
·
AN INCONTROVERTIBLE ARGUMENT — that death, though
certain as to fact, is uncertain as to incidence.
Ø
The momentous truth stated. “Man knoweth
not his time,” i.e. of his
death, which ever falls upon him suddenly, as a thief in the
night. Even
when death’s approach is anticipated, there is no reason to
suppose its
actual occurrence is not always unexpected.
Ø
The simple illustration given. “As the fishes that
are taken in an evil
net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare, even so are
the sons
of men snared in an evil time,” viz. that of death, “when it falleth
suddenly upon them.”
Ø
The easy argument applied. This being so, it is
obvious that no one can
surely reckon upon the issues that seem naturally to belong to
his several
qualities or abilities, to his swiftness, or strength, or wisdom, or
understanding, or skill. Death may at any moment interpose — as, for
instance:
o
before the race is
finished and the goal reached,
o
before the battle is
concluded,
o
before the wise plan
has been matured or carried out;
and then, of course, man’s expectations are defeated.
·
LESSONS.
1. Diligence: let every man do his best.
2. Humility: beware of overconfidence.
3. Prudence: neglect not the possibility of failure.
4. Submission: accept with meekness the allotments of
Prosperity — The Rule
and The Exception (vs. 11-12)
We shall find our way to the true lessons of this passage
if we consider:
·
THE RULE UNDER GOD’S RIGHTEOUS GOVERNMENT. The
Preacher either did not intend
his words to be taken as expressing the
general rule prevailing everywhere, or else he wrote these words
in one of
those depressed and doubtful moods which are frequently
reflected in his
treatise. Certainly the rule,
under the wise and righteous government of
God, is that the man who labors
hard and patiently’ to win his goal
succeeds in gaining it. It is
right that he should. It is right that the race
should be to the swift, for swiftness
is the result of patient practice and of
temperate behavior. It is
right that the battle should be to the strong, for
strength is the consequence of discipline and virtue. It is right that bread
and riches and the favor of the strong should fall to wisdom
and to skill.
And so, in truth, they do where
the natural order of things is not positively
subverted by the folly and the guilt of men, it is the case that human
industry, resting on human virtue as its base,
conducts:
Ø
to competence,
Ø
to honor, and
Ø
to success.
It does, indeed, happen that the crown is placed on the
brow of roguery and
violence; yet is it not the less true that wisdom and integrity
constitute the
well-worn and open road to present and temporal well-being.
·
THE OBVIOUS AND SERIOUS EXCEPTION. No doubt it is
frequently found that “the race is not to the swift,” etc. No doubt piety,
purity, and fidelity are often left behind, and do not win the
battle in the
world’s campaign. This is due to one of two very different and,
indeed,
opposite causes. It may be due to:
Ø
Man’s interfering wrong.
The human oppressor comes down upon the
industrious and the frugal citizen, and sweeps off the fruit of his
toil and
patience. The scheming intriguer steps in, and carries off the
prize which
is due to the laborious and persevering worker. The seducer
lays his nets
and ensnares his victim. There is, indeed, a lamentable
frequency in
human history with which the good and true, the wise and
faithful, fall
short of the honorable end they seek.
Ø
God’s intervening wisdom. It may often happen that God sees that
human strength or wisdom has outlived its modesty, its beauty,
and its
worth, and that it needs to be checked and broken. So He sends
defeat
where victory has been assured, poverty where wealth has been
confidently reckoned upon, discomfiture and rejection where men
have been holding out their hand for favor and reward. What,
then, are:
·
THE PRACTICAL CONCLUSIONS?
Ø
Do not count too confidently on outward good. Work for it
faithfully,
hope for it with a well-moderated expectation, but do not set
your heart
upon it as an indispensable blessing. Be prepared to do without
it. Have
those inner, deeper, diviner resources which will
fill the heart with
grace and the life with an admirable contentment, even if the goal is
not gained and the prize is not
secured. Be supplied with those treasures
which the thief
cannot steal, and which will leave the soul rich though
the bank be broken and the purse be emptied.
Ø
Guard carefully against the worst evils. Be so fortified
with Divine
truth and sacred principles within, and secure so
much of God’s
favor and protection from above, that no snares
of sin will be able
to mislead and to betray — that the feet will never be found entangled
in the nets of the enemy.
Ø
Anticipate the Divine discipline. Live in such conscious and in such
acknowledged dependence upon
God for every stroke that is struck, for
all strength and wisdom that are gained, for all bounties
and all honors
that are reaped, that there will
be no need for the intervening hand
of
heaven to
break your schemes or to remove your treasures.
Time and Chance
(vs. 11-12)
In the preceding passage our author has exhorted the timid
and slothful to
bestir themselves and put forth all their powers, since death is
ever at hand,
and
when it comes a period will be put to all endeavors; the wisdom that
guides, the hand that executes, will be silent and still in the
grave. He now
exhorts the wise and strong not to be too confident about success
in life, to
be
prepared for possible failure and disappointment. So full and varied is
his
experience of life that he has useful counsels for all classes of men.
Some need the spur and others the curb. Some would, from timidity hang
back and lose the chances of usefulness which life gives; others are so self-
confident and optomistic that they need to
be warned of the dangers and
difficulties which their wisdom and skill may not succeed in
overcoming.
Plans may be skillfully constructed and every effort made
to carry them
into effect, but some unforeseen cause may defeat them, some
circumstance which could not have been provided against, may bring
about
failure. The Preacher records the observations he had made of
instances of
failure to secure success in life, and gives an explanation. of how it is that
the
strenuous efforts of men are so often baffled.
·
THE PHENOMENA OBSERVED.
(v. 11.) Five instances of failure
are enumerated:
Ø
the swift defeated in
the race,
Ø
the strong in battle,
Ø
the wise unable to
make a livelihood,
Ø
the prudent remaining
in poverty, and
Ø
the gifted in obscurity.
In none of the cases is the
fault to be traced to the want of
faculties or abilities of the kind needed to secure the end in view,
or to a
half-hearted use of them. The runner endowed with swiftness might
reasonably be expected to be first in at the goal, the strong to be
victorious
in fight, the wise and prudent to be successful in acquiring
and amassing
riches, the clever to attain to reputation and influence. It is
taken for
granted, too, that there is no omission of effort; for if there
were, the cause
of failure would easily be discovered. But the phenomena
being noted as
extraordinary and perplexing, we are to understand that in none of the
cases observed is there anything of the kind. And it is implied
that while
those who fulfill all the conditions of success sometimes fail,
those who do
not sometimes succeed. The phenomena referred to are familiar
to us all.
We have known many who have
begun life with the fairest promise, and
who have apparently, without any fault of their own, failed to
make their
mark. The impression they have made upon us has convinced us
that they
have ability enough to win the prizes in life; but somehow or
other they
fail, and remain in obscurity. And, at the same time, others
whose abilities
are in our opinion of a commonplace order come to the front,
and succeed
in gaining and keeping a foremost place.
·
THE EXPLANATION OF THE MATTER. (v. 11b.) “Time and
chance happeneth to them all.” There need to be favorable circumstances
as well as the possession and use of the requisite faculties,
if success is to
be won. The time must be propitious (favorable), and give
opportunities for the
exercise of gifts and abilities. “There are favorable and
unfavorable times in
which men’s lot may be cast; and such times, too, may occur
alternately in
the experience of the same individual. A man of very inferior
talent, should
he fall on a favorable time, may succeed with comparative
ease; whereas, in
a time that is not propitious, abilities of the first order
cannot preserve their
possessor from failure and disappointment. And even the same period
may
be advantageous to one description of business, and miserably
the reverse
to another; and it may thus be productive of prosperity to
men who
prosecute the former, and of loss and ruin to those engaged in the
Latter;
although the superiority in knowledge, capacity, and prudence may
be all,
and even to a great degree, on the losing side” (Wardlaw). At first sight it
might seem as if the explanation given of the reason why the
race is not
always to the swift, or the battle to the strong, were based on a
denial of
the Divine providence, and unworthy of a place in the Word of
God. But
this opinion is considerably modified, if not contradicted, if
we find a
reference, as we may fairly do, in the word “time” to the statements
in
Ecclesiastes 3.,
that there are “times and seasons,” for all things are
appointed by God Himself. And so far from the conclusion here
announced
by our author being a solitary utterance, out of harmony with
the general
teaching of Scripture, we may find many parallels to it; e.g.
“The Lord
sayeth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the Lord’s,
and He will
give you into our hands”
(1 Samuel 17:47). “Some trust in chariots,
and some in horses: but we will remember the Name of the Lord
our God”
(Psalm 20:7). “There
is no king saved by the multitude of an host: a
mighty man is not delivered by much strength” (ibid. ch. 33:16). Probably
the unfavorable impression of which I have spoken arises from
the ideas
suggested by the word “chance” in our English Version,
which does not
convey exactly the meaning of the Hebrew pega’.
It is a word only found
twice in Scripture, here and in 1 Kings 5:4, and means a stroke.
The
general idea is that of adversity or disappointment inflicted by a
higher
power, and not merely that of something accidental or fortuitous
interfering with human plans. “Chance,” therefore, must here refer
to the
great variety of circumstances over which we have no control,
but by
which our schemes and endeavors are affected, which may take
away
success from the deserving, and in all cases render it extremely
difficult to
calculate beforehand the probabilities of success in an undertaking.
The
final result, whatever we may do is conditioned by God. Though
our
author does not here use these terms, yet we cannot doubt that
they
express his meaning. He does not
say that life is a lottery, in which the
swift and the slow, the strong and the weak, the wise and the
simple, the
industrious and the lazy, have equal chances of drawing prizes. He knew,
as we all know, that success is won in most cases by those
who are best
qualified in ability and character for securing it; that the race is generally to
the swift, and the battle to the strong. It is the exception
to the rule that
excites his astonishment, and leads him to the conclusion that mere human
skill and power are not sufficient of themselves to carry the
day. Failure
and disappointment may at any moment and in any case overtake
man, and
these from causes which no wisdom could have foreseen or
exertion have
averted. Such a consideration is calculated to humble human pride,
and
create in the heart feelings of reverent submission to the great
Disposer of
events. “So
then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of
God that showeth mercy” (Romans
9:16). This
thought of the
limitation of man in his efforts, in spite of all his gifts and
abilities, is
expressed again with still greater emphasis in v. 12. The time when
life
must close is a secret hidden from each of us, and we may be
arrested in
the mid-course of our endeavors just when our labors are about
to be
crowned with success. It may come upon us so unexpectedly as to
take us
as fishes are taken in a net or birds in a snare. This may be
the event that
snatches the prize from the runner, the victory from the strong
(II Chronicles 18:33-34). The
arrow shot at random may strike down the
brave soldier who has successfully borne the brunt of battle,
and lay his
pride in the dust. To those whose whole interests are centered
in the
business and pleasures of the world, the sudden summons of death
comes
in an evil time (Luke 12:19-20); but those who are wise are
not taken
by surprise — “they understand and consider their latter
end.”
(Deuteronomy 32:29)
Section 9 (vs. 13-16).
That wisdom, even when it does good service,
is not always rewarded, is shown by an example.
13 “This wisdom have I
seen also under the sun,” - better, as the
Septuagint, This also I saw to be wisdom under the sun.
The experience
which follows he recognized as an instance of worldly
wisdom. To what
special event he alludes is quite unknown. Probably the
circumstance was
familiar to his contemporaries. It is not to be considered
as an allegory,
though of course it is capable of spiritual application.
The event in Bible
history most like it is the preservation of Abel-Beth-maachah by the
counsel of the wise woman (whose name is forgotten)
narrated in II
Samuel 20:15-22 - “and it seemed great unto me:” - Septuagint,
Καὶ μεγάλη
ἐστι πρὸς
μέ,
-Kai megalae esti pros me - And it is
great before
me. To my mind it
appeared an important example (compare Esther 10:3).
14 “There was a little
city, and few men within it” - The substantive
verb is, as commonly, omitted. Commentators have amused
themselves
with endeavoring to identify the city here mentioned. Thus
some see herein
unsuccessfully by Antiochus the Great, B.C. 218, though we
know nothing
of the circumstances (Polyb.,
5:66); but see note on v. 13. The
Septuagint takes the whole paragraph hypothetically,
“Suppose there was a
little city,” etc. Wright well compares the historical
allusions to events
fresh in the minds of his hearers made by our Lord in his
parable of the
pounds (Luke 19:12, 14-15, 27). So we may regard the
present section
as a parable founded on some historical fact well known at
the time when
the book was written -
“and there came a great king against it,” –
The term points to some Persian or Assyrian potentate; or
it may mean merely
a powerful general (see I Kings 11:24; Job 29:25) – “and
built great bulwarks
against it:” The Septuagint has χάρακας μεγάλους - charakas megalous -
great palisades; the Vulgate, Extruxitque munitiones
per gyrum. What are
meant are embankments or mounds raised high enough to
overtop the walls of
the town, and to command the positions of the besieged. For
the same purpose
wooden towers were also used (see Deuteronomy 20:20; II
Samuel 20:15;
II Kings 19:32; Jeremiah 52:4). The Vulgate rounds off the
account in
the text by adding, et perfects est
obsidio, “ and the beleaguering was
completed.”
15 “Now there was found in
it a poor wise man,” - The verb,
regarded as impersonal, may be thus taken. Or we may
continue the subject
of the preceding verse and consider the king as spoken of:
“He came
across, met with unexpectedly, a poor man who was wise.” So
the
Septuagint. The word for “poor” in this passage is misken, for which see
note on ch.4:13 – “and he by his wisdom delivered the
city;” -
When the besieged city had neither soldiers nor arms to
defend itself
against its mighty enemies, the man of poor estate,
hitherto unknown or
little regarded, came forward, and by wise counsel relieved
his countrymen
from their perilous situation. How this was done we are
left to conjecture.
It may have been by some timely concessions or
negotiations; or by the
surrender of a chief offender as at Abel-Beth-maachah; or by the
assassination of a general, as at Bethulia
(Judith 13:8); or by the clever
application of mechanical arts, as at
Archimedes (Livy, 24:34; Plutarch, ‘Marcell.,’ 15-18.) – “yet no man
remembered that
same poor man.” As soon as the exigence
which brought
him forward was past, the poor man fell back into his
insignificance, and
was thought of no more; he gained no personal advantage, by
his wisdom;
his ungrateful countrymen forgot his very existence. Thus
Joseph was
treated by the chief butler (Genesis 40:23). Classical
readers will think
of Coriolanus, Scipio Africanus, Themistocles, Miltiades, who for their
services to the state were rewarded with calumny, false
accusation,
obloquy, and banishment.
16 “Then said I, Wisdom is
better than strength:” The latter part
of the verse is not a correction of the former, but the
whole comes under
the observation introduced by “I said.” The story just related leads to this
assertion, which reproduces the gnome of ch. 7:19, wherein it
is asserted that wisdom effects more than mere physical
strength. There is
an interpolation in the Old Latin Version of Wisdom of
Solomon 6:1 which seems
to have been compiled from this passage and Proverbs 16:13
– “nevertheless
the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words not heard.”
In
the instance
above mentioned the poor man’s wisdom was not
despised and his words were
heard and attended to; but this was an abnormal
case, occasioned by the extremity
of the peril. Koheleth
states the result which usually attends wisdom emanating from
a disesteemed source. The experience of Ben-Sira pointed to the same issue
(see Ecclesiasticus 13:22-23).
Horace, ‘Epist.,’ 1:1.57 —
“Est animus tibi, sunt mores et lingua fidesque,
Sed quadringentis sex septem
millia desunt;
Plebs
“In wit,
worth, honor, one in vain abounds;
If of the
knight’s estate he lack ten pounds,
He’s low,
quite low!”
(Howes.)
“Is not this the
carpenter’s Son?” asked the people who
were offended at
Christ (Mark 6:2-3).
An Apologue
(vs. 13-16)
The truth of the aphorism, that “the battle is not to the strong…
nor yet
favor to men of skill”
(v. 11), is illustrated by the Preacher in a striking
little story or apologue, taken doubtless from the history of’
some
campaign familiar to his readers. It represents in a vivid manner
the power
of
wisdom, and also the ungrateful treatment which the possessor of it
frequently receives from those who have found him a deliverer in time
of
danger. A little city, with few in it to defend it, is besieged
by a great king.
The place is surrounded by his army, and round about it
great mounds are
erected from which missiles are hurled into it. All hope seems to
be gone;
no
material forces which the besieged can muster for their defense are at all
adequate to repel the assailants. When suddenly some poor man,
whose
name was perhaps known to few in the city, delivers it by his wisdom. The
great king and his army are compelled to retire baffled from
before the
walls of the city, which probably when they first beheld them
moved them
to
scornful laughter by their apparent insignificance and weakness. The
picture is not overdrawn; history affords many parallel instances.
The
defense of
(Livy, 24:34),
of
times of
material is to moral force. This is the bright side of the picture. “Wisdom is
better than strength” (v.
16); “wisdom
is better than weapons of war”
(v. 18). The dark side is that it is often rewarded by the basest
ingratitude. It was the wisdom of a poor man that delivered the city
in
which he dwelt; but when the danger was past he sank again into
obscurity.
No one thought of him as he deserved to be thought of. The
public
attention was caught by some new figure, and the savior of the city
remained as poor and unnoticed as he had been before the great
crisis in
which his wisdom had been of such great service. Had he been
high-born
and
rich, his great services would have been acknowledged in some notable
manner; but the meanness of his surroundings obscured his merit
in the
eyes of the thoughtless multitude. It was this vulgar failing which prompted
some to despise wisdom itself incarnate in Jesus of Nazareth, and to ask
scornfully, “Is not this the carpenter?” (Mark
6:2-3) Wisdom is
unassuming, calm, and deliberate (compare Isaiah 42:2; Matthew
12:19),
yet
fall of strength and resources, and the pity is that it should so often lose
its
reward, and the public attention be caught by the
blustering cry of fools
(v. 17). It is, indeed, often a better defense than weapons of war;
and
therefore it is sad that it should sometimes be nullified by folly,
that one
perverse blunderer should sometimes be able through carelessness or
passion to destroy all the defenses that wisdom has carefully
erected.
Section 10 (vs. 17-18).
Here follow some proverbial sayings
concerning wisdom and its opposite, which draw the moral from the story
in the text.
17 “The words of wise men
are heard in quiet more than the
cry of him that ruleth among
fools.” This verse would be better
translated, Words of the wise in quiet are heard better
than the shout of a
chief among fools. The
Vulgate takes the tranquility to appertain to the
hearers, thus: Verbs sapientium
audiuntur in silentio;
but, as Delitzsch
points out, the contrast between “quiet” and “cry” shows
that it is the man,
and not his auditors, who is quiet. The sentence says that
a wise man’s
words, uttered calmly, deliberately, without pompous
declamation or
adventitious aids, are of more value than the blustering
vociferation of an
arch-fool, who seeks to force acceptance for his folly by
loudness and
swagger (compare Isaiah 30:15; 42:2 and Matthew 12:19,
passages which
speak of the peacefulness,
reticence, and unobtrusiveness of true wisdom,
as seen in THE SON OF GOD!). The verse introduces a kind of exception
to the general rejection of wisdom mentioned above. Though
the multitude turn
a deaf ear to a wise man’s counsel, yet this tells in the
long run, and there are
always some teachable persons who sit at his feet and learn
from him. “He
that
ruleth among fools” is not one that governs a silly people, but one who is a
prince of fools, who takes
the highest place among such.
18 “Wisdom is better than
weapons of war,” - Such is the moral
which Koheleth desires to draw
from the little narrative given above (see
vs. 14-16; and ch.7:19). Wisdom
can do what no material force can effect,
and often produces results which
all the implements of war could not
command – “’but one sinner destroyeth much good.” The
happy consequences which the wise man’s counsel might
accomplish, or
has already accomplished, may be overthrown or rendered
useless by the
villany or perversity of a bad man. Adam’s sin infected
the whole race
of man; Achan’s
transgression caused
Rehoboam’s folly occasioned the great schism (I Kings 12:16). The
wide reaching effects of one little error are illustrated
by the proverbial
saying which every one knows, and which runs in Latin thus:
“Clavus unus
perdit equi soleam,
soles equum, equus equitem, eques castra, castro
rempublicam.”
The Praise of Wisdom
(vs. 13-18)
It has been remarked that, whilst the leading idea of
religion in the earliest
stage of
form of wisdom. It is not
well to discriminate too carefully between that
wisdom which is shown in great works and that which is synonymous
with
piety. All light is from God,
and there is no holier prayer than that in His
light we may see
light. (Psalm 36:9) It is a commonplace remark that men may
be
clever and yet not good; but every reflecting mind discovers in a character
so
described a lack of harmony. The philosopher, the sage, the leader in
learning or science,
should, beyond all men, be religious. “An undevout
astronomer is mad.” No more melancholy
and pitiable spectacle is to be
seen
on earth than the able man whose self-confidence and vanity have led
him
into atheism. In
considering the case of the truly wise man, it is well to
regard him as displaying wisdom not only upon the lower but
upon the
higher plane.
·
WISDOM MAY BE ASSOCIATED WITH LOWLY STATION.
Solomon was an example of an
illustrious and splendid king who was
famed for wisdom. But the instance of the text is striking; poverty and
obscurity are not necessarily
inconsistent with unusual insight, ability,
and skill.
·
WISDOM MAY ACCOMPLISH GREAT WORKS WITH SMALL
MEANS. A mighty
king with a numerous and formidable army besieges a
small city. How shall the besieged offer resistance to the foe?
The
inhabitants are few, feeble, ill-armed, half-starved; and their case
seems
hopeless. But a citizen hitherto unknown, with no apparent
resources,
arises to lead the dispirited and helpless defenders. Whether by
some
marvelous device, or by the magnetic power of his presence and
spirit, he
accomplishes a task which seemed impossible — vanquishes the besiegers
and raises the siege. Such things have been, and they are a
rebuke to our
worldly calculations, and an inspiration
to courage and to faith.
·
WISDOM MAY NEVERTHELESS IN PUBLIC BE
OVERLOOKED AND DESPISED. “No man remembered that same poor
man.” How often does
it happen that the real originator, the prime mover,
gains no credit for the enterprise which he conceived, and for
whose
success he prepared the way; whilst praise is given to some person of
social or political eminence who joined the movement when its
success was
assured! It is “the
way of the world.”
·
YET WISDOM, UNHONORED IN PUBLIC, MAY BE
ACKNOWLEDGED IN SECRET AND IN QUIETNESS. Those who
look below the surface and are not dazzled by external
splendor, those who
listen, not merely to the earthquake, the thunder, and the
tempest, but to
the “still, small voice,” discover the
truly wise, and, in their heart of hearts,
render to them sincere honor. Much
more He who seeth in secret
recognizes the services of His lowly, unnoticed servants who use
their gifts
for His glory, and work in obscurity to promote His kingdom,
by whose toil
and prayer cities are sanctified and saved.
·
THUS WISDOM IS SEEN TO BE THE BEST OF ALL
POSSESSIONS AND QUALITIES. There is greatness which consists in
outward splendor, and this may awe the vulgar, may dazzle
the imagination
of the unthinking. But in the sight of
God and of just men, true greatness is
that of the spirit; and
the truly wise shine with a
luster which poverty and
obscurity cannot hide, and which the lapse of ages cannot
dim.
The Parable
of the Little City (vs. 13-18)
·
THE PARABLE.
Ø
The picture delineated. A little city threatened by a powerful assailant,
deserted through fear by the main body of its inhabitants, and
occupied by
a small garrison of men capable of bearing arms, among them
a poor wise
man. Advancing against it a mighty monarch, who besieges and
storms it
with armies and engines, but is ultimately compelled to raise
the siege by
the skill of the aforesaid wise poor man.
Ø
The historical foundation. Probably:
o
the
deliverance of Abel-Beth-maachah through the wisdom
of a wise
woman (II
Samuel 20:15-22) (Wright); or
o
some
event not recorded in history, but well known to the public for
whom the
Preacher wrote (Graetz); rather than
o
an
incident which may have occurred in the siege of Dora by Antiochus
the
Great, in B.C. 218 (Hitzig), since Josephus (‘
describes
this siege, relates nothing corresponding to the Preacher’s
statements,
and certainly does not mention its deliverance by any wise
man,
either rich or poor.
Ø
Some suggestive parallels. Incidents resembling that to
which the
Preacher here alludes may have
happened often; as e.g. the deliverance of
5; Thucydides,
1:74), and of
a time at least delayed the capture of the city by the
wonderful machines
with which he opposed the enemy’s attacks (Livy,
24:34), according to
some doubtful accounts, setting fire to their ships by means of
mirrors.
Ø
Spiritual applications.
o
“The poor man with his
delivering wisdom is an image of
(Hengstenberg);
on which hypothesis the little city will be the
suffering Hebrew nation, and the great king their Persian
oppressors.
o
“The beleaguered city
is the life of the individual; the great king
who lays siege to it is death and the judgment of the Lord”
(Wangemann).
o
“The little city is
the
prince of hell and darkness; the poor wise man, the Lord
Jesus Christ” (Fausset).
·
THE LESSONS OF THE PARABLE.
Ø
That wisdom and poverty are frequently allied. Not always, Solomon
being witness (1 Kings 3:12-13); but mostly, God seldom
bestowing all
His gifts upon one individual,
but distributing them according to His
good pleasure to one wealth and to another wisdom, dividing to
each
severally as He will (1 Corinthians 12:11). Nor is it difficult to
discern
in this marks of special wisdom and goodness.
o
Wisdom
in not always conjoining with riches or high mental
endowments;
partly in case of leading to undue exaltation on the part
of the
recipients, and partly to convince such recipients of the
worthlessness of wealth apart from knowledge secular, and much
more
religious, and to show observers how hard it is to guide
wealth
without wisdom, especially the highest.
o
Goodness
towards the poor, whose scanty share of this world’s goods
He not
infrequently compensates with great intellectual capacity, and
even with
celestial wisdom. Nothing more remarkable than the number
of the world’s
thinkers, philosophers, poets, painters, writers,
astronomers,
chemists, inventors, and discoverers that have sprung
from the
poor; while in religion it is everywhere apparent that God
hath not
chosen the mighty and the noble and the wealthy as such,
but
rather the poor of this world, rich in faith, to be heirs of the
kingdom
(1 Corinthians 1:26-27; James 2:5).
Ø
That wisdom is superior to force. “Wisdom is better than strength,”
and “wisdom is better
than weapons of war.”
o
True of merely human wisdom. Illustrations almost numberless
might be
furnished of the superiority of wisdom to force, in the way
both of overcoming
force and of effecting what force is unable to
accomplish.
Had the Preacher lived today, he might have penned a
brilliant
commentary on his own text in both of these respects. The
history
of modern civilization but another name for the record of man’s
victories
over brute strength and material force through the power of
mind; and
the all-important moral of its story, that vast as are nature’s
powers,
huge, gigantic, and irresistible as are the forces slumbering
everywhere
within its bosom, the human intellect can control and
combine
these, and compel them to subserve its purposes and
schemes.
o
True of wisdom spiritual and Divine. Not only is this not destructible
by force,
else it would have long since been banished from the world,
but it
can stand up, as through past centuries it has done, against the
fiercest
assaults, fixed and immovable, smiling defiance on every
assailant,
feeling inwardly confident that no weapon formed against
her shall
prosper (Isaiah 54:17), and that even the gates of hell shall
not
prevail against her (Matthew 16:18); yea, anticipating confidently
the
advent of a time when she should trample this grim adversary of
brute
force beneath her feet, and even chase it from the field (Isaiah
11:9; 60:18).
And more, she can do what mere force and weapons of
war are
powerless to accomplish:
§
change hearts of unbelief and sin into hearts of faith and
holiness,
§
rein in, hold down, and even crush out
impure lusts and
fierce passions,
§
tame and sway human wills, and
§
convert children of the devil into sons
of God (Job 28:28;
James 3:17).
o
That wisdom
mostly speaks into unwilling ears. “Nevertheless the
poor man’s wisdom
is despised.” Partly because of the world’s want of
appreciation
of the intrinsic excellence of wisdom, the world usually
possessing a keener relish and finer instinct for
folly; and partly
perhaps chiefly,
because of the wise man’s poverty. At
all events,
it has
been the world’s way to treat its wise men with disdain. The
picture
of wisdom crying aloud in the street
into unheeding ears
(Proverbs
1:20-25) has often been reproduced, as e.g. in the persons
of
Jehovah’s prophets (Leviticus 26:43; II Chronicles 36:16; Isaiah
53:1; Matthew 21:34-36) and of Christ (John 5:40). To this day the
world’s
treatment of Christ is not dissimilar, His words of wisdom
being
by men for the most part despised, and in particular the
special
wisdom he displayed in effecting their deliverance from
sin and Satan BY HIMSELF
submitting to shame and death,
and extending to them the
offer of a full and free forgiveness,
being
frequently regarded with scorn and contempt.and partly,
perhaps
chiefly, because of the wise man’s poverty. At all events,
it has
usually been the world’s way to treat its wise men with disdain.
The picture of
wisdom crying aloud in the street into unheeding ears
(Proverbs
1:20-25) has often been reproduced, as e.g. in the persons
of
Jehovah’s prophets (Leviticus 26:43; II Chronicles 36:16; Isaiah
53:1; Matthew 21:34-36) and of Christ (John 5:40).
o
That wisdom is more influential than
folly. “The words of the wise,”
spoken “in
quiet, are more than the cry of him that ruleth among
fools,” or that is the ringleader among fools,
their very prince and chief.
This assertion
may seem to conflict with that of the preceding verse,
but in
reality it does not. The noisy demagogue who by sheer vociferation
stirs the
unthinking populace may appear to be more influential than the
quietly
speaking man of wisdom, but in the long run it is the latter that
prevails.
After all, it is ideas that move the world, in science, in
philosophy,
in religion, and these have their birth in meditative
souls
rather than in fiery spirits, and diffuse themselves, not amid
the
tempests of passion, but through the medium of calm and earnest
speech. Remarkably
was this exemplified in Christ — read in
connection Colossians 2:3; John 7:37; Isaiah
42:3; and to this
day the
most powerful force operating in and on society is not that
of
eloquence, or of intellect, or of learning, all confessedly influential,
but of
goodness, which works silently and often out of sight like leaven.
o
That wisdom is
commonly repaid with ingratitude. “No man
remembered that same poor man.” The Preacher says it with a touch of
sadness,
as if after all it was a strange and almost a new thing beneath
the sun —
which it is not. Whether the wise woman who saved the city
Abel was
remembered by her citizens is not recorded; but history
reports
that Themistocles, who delivered
was afterwards
ostracized by his countrymen. Alas! ingratitude
has
never been an uncommon sin among
men. Pharaoh’s butler has
had many
a successor (Genesis 40:23). The world has never been
guilty of
overlauding its benefactors or overloading them with
gratitude.
Rather the poet accurately likens Time to a sturdy
beggar
with a wallet on his back:
“Wherein
he doth put alms for oblivion,
A great-sized monster of ingratitudes.”
And
goes on to add —
“Those
scraps are good deeds past, which are devoured
As fast as they are made, forgot as soon As done,” etc.
(‘Troilus
and Cressida,’ act 3. sc. 3.)
Nor is it merely the world of
which such ingratitude can be predicted, but
the Church also has been too often guilty of forgetting Him to whom she
owes her deliverance.
How many of His words, for instance, are not heard
by those who profess to have been redeemed and saved by Him:
o
words of counsel for
the path of duty,
o
words of comfort for
the day of trial,
o
words of caution for the hour of danger!
And yet the remembrance of these would be the highest
tribute of gratitude
they could offer THER DIVINE REDEEMER!
Wisdom and
Strength (vs. 13-18)
The picture which is here drawn is both picture and
parable; it portrays a
constantly recurring scene in human history. It speaks to us of:
·
THE
things; its import varies much. It includes:
Ø
Knowledge; familiarity
with the objects and the laws of nature, and with
the ways and the history of mankind.
Ø
Keenness of intellect;
that quickness of perception and subtlety of
understanding which sees through the devices of other men, and keeps a
watchful eye upon all that is passing, always ready to take
advantage of
another’s mistake.
Ø
Sagacity; that nobler
quality which forecasts the future; which weighs
well many considerations of various kinds; which baffles the
designs
of the wicked; which defeats the machinations and the
measures of
the strong (vs. 14-15); which is worth far more than much
enginery
(technology)
(v. 18); which builds up great institutions; which goes
forth on hazardous and yet admirable enterprises.
Ø
Wisdom itself; that
which is more properly considered and called such,
viz. the discernment of the true end, with the adoption
of the best means
of attaining it; and this applied not merely to the
particulars of human
life, but to human life itself; the determination to seek that
good thing,
as our true heritage, which
is in harmony with the will of God, and to
seek it in the divinely appointed way. To us who live in this Christian
era, and to whom Jesus Christ is Himself “the Wisdom of God”
(I Corinthians 1;24), this is found in seeking and finding, in
trusting
and following, in loving and serving Him.
·
ITS FAILURE TO BE APPRECIATED. “No man remembered that
same poor man.” Wisdom
in each one of its particular spheres is valuable;
in the larger and higher spheres it is of very great account,
being far more
effective than any quantity of mere material force or of worldly
wealth; in
the highest sphere of all it is simply invaluable. But it is
liable to be
disregarded, especially if it be found in the person of poverty and
obscurity.
Ø
It is often forgotten,
and thus overlooked (text).
Ø
It is either rejected
or visited with insults in the person of its author.
“Is not this the
carpenter’s Son?” it is asked. “And
they were offended
in Him,” it is
added. (Matthew 13:55-57) Many a man, with much
learning in his head, much shrewdness in his speech, much weight
in his counsel. much wisdom in his soul,
walks, unrecognized and
unhonored,
along some very lowly path of life.
·
ITS REWARD.
Ø
It is often heeded
when mere noise and station are disregarded. “The
words of the wise are listened to with more pleasure than the
loud
behests of a foolish ruler
(v. 17)” (Cox). And it is a satisfaction to
the wise that they do often prevail in their
quietness and their
obscurity when the clamorous and the consequential are
dismissed
as they deserve to be.
Ø
The time will come
when they who speak the truth will gain the ear of
the world; there are generations to come, and we may leave our
reputation to them, as many of the wisest and worthiest of our
race have done.
Ø
To be useful is a
better reward than to be applauded or to be enriched;
how much better to have “delivered the city” than to have
been
honored by it!
Ø
Our record is on high.
The Destructiveness of One Evil Life (v. 18)
How much of destruction may flow from one single life may
be seen if we
look at the subject:
considering:
Ø
How one evil life may
hinder the work of God; e.g. Achan,
Sanballat, Herod, Nero. Who shall say how much of Christian
influence has been arrested
by one
grossly inconsistent member
of a Church, or by one arch-persecutor of the gospel of Christ?
Ø
How much a man may
fail to do by refusing to spend
his powers in
the service of God. To a man with large means, great resources,
brilliant capacities, almost
anything is open in the direction of
HOLY USEFULNESS, of WIDE-SPREAD and FAR-
DESCENDING
INFLUENCE! All this is lost, and in a sense
destroyed, by a selfish and guilty withholding of it all from
THE SERVICE OF GOD AND MAN!
an evil life if we think that a
godless man may be injuring his neighbors:
Ø
By weakening or
undermining their faith; causing them
to lose
their hold on Divine truth,
and thus sinking into the miseries of doubt
or into the darkness and
despair of utter unbelief.
Ø
By undoing the integrity of the upright; leading them into
A FATAL MORASS of AN IMMORAL
LIFE!
Ø
By cooling, or even
killing, the consecration of the zealous;
causing them to slacken
their speed or even to leave the field
of noble service. One man,
by his own evil example, by his words
of folly and falsity, by
his deeds of wrong, may enfeeble many minds,
may despoil many hearts, may
misguide many souls, may blight and
darken many lives. (May God
help us to resist such exposure to
our lives! – CY – 2013)
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