Ecclesiastes 9

Ecclesiastes 9:1

C. Enjoying Life Under the Sun (Chap. 9)9:1 In chapter 9, the Preacher considered all this, taking in as wide and exhaustive a view as possible. He saw that good people and wise people and all that they do are in the hand of God. But whether what will happen to them is a sign of God’s love or hatred, no one knows. The entire future is unknown and unknowable, and anything can happen. 9:2 What makes it all so enigmatical is that the righteous and the wicked, the good and the evil, the clean and the unclean, the worshiper and the nonworshiper all end in the same placethe grave. As far as escaping death is concerned, the righteous person has no advantage over the wicked. Those who put themselves under oath are in the same predicament as those who shun an oath. 9:3 This is the great calamity of lifethat death eventually claims all classes of men. People can live outrageous, insane lives, and after thatdeath. What is this but gross injustice if death is the end of existence? 9:4 As long as man is alive, there is hope; that is, he has something to look forward to. In that sense, a living dog is better off than a dead lion. Here the dog is spoken of, not as man’s best friend, but as one of the lowest, meanest forms of animal life. The lion is the king of beasts, powerful and magnificent. 9:5 The living at least know that they will die, but the dead don’t know anything about what’s going on in the world. This verse is constantly used by false teachers to prove that the soul sleeps in death, that consciousness ceases when the last breath is taken. But it is senseless to build a doctrine of the hereafter on this verse, or on this book, for that matter. As has been repeatedly emphasized, Ecclesiastes represents man’s best conclusions as he searches for answers “under the sun.” It sets forth deductions based on observations and on logic but not on divine revelation. It is what a wise man might think if he did not have a Bible. What would you think if you saw a person die and watched his body as it was lowered into the grave, knowing that it would eventually return to dust? You might think, That’s the end. My friend knows nothing now; he can’t enjoy any activities that are going on; he has forgotten and will soon be forgotten. 9:6 And so it is, thought Solomon. Once a person has died, there is no more love, hatred, envy or any other human emotion. Never again will he have a share in any of this world’s activities and experiences. 9:7 So once again the Preacher comes back to his basic conclusionlive your life, have a good time, enjoy your food, cheer your heart with wine. God has already approved what you do. It’s all right with Him. 9:8 Wear bright clothing, not mourning attire. And put perfume on your head rather than ashes. Some people think the world was made for fun and frolic, and so did Solomon. 9:9 The joys of the marriage relationship should also be exploited to the full as long as possible. It’s a vain, empty life anyway, so the best thing is to make the most of it. Enjoy every day because that’s all you are going to get out of your toil and trouble. Verses 7-9 are strikingly similar to the following passage in the Gilgamesh Epic, an ancient Babylonian account of immortality and of the great deluge: Since the gods created man Death they ordained for man, Life in their hands they hold, Thou, O Gilgamesh, fill indeed thy belly. Day and night be thou joyful, Daily ordain gladness, Day and night rage and be merry, Let thy garments be bright, Thy head purify, wash with water. Desire thy children which thy hand possesses. A wife enjoy in thy bosom. The significance of this is not that one was copied from the other, but that man’s wisdom under the sun leads to the same conclusion. I was impressed with this fact when I read Denis Alexander’s summary of what humanism offers us today: The humanist model does seem a very big pill to swallow. As a representative of a late twentieth-century generation of under-thirties, I am first asked to believe that I am the result of a purely random evolutionary process. The only prerequisites for this process are the presence of matter, time and chance. Because by some strange whim of fate, I and other men are the only physical structures which happen to have been bestowed with a consciousness of their own existence, I am supposed to think of both myself and others as being in some way more valuable than other physical structures such as rabbits, trees or stones, even though in a hundred years time the atoms of my decayed body may well be indistinguishable from theirs. Furthermore the mass of vibrating atoms in my head are supposed to have more ultimate meaning than those in the head of a rabbit. At the same time I am told that death is the end of the line. In the time-scale of evolution my life is a vapour which soon vanishes. Whatever feelings of justice or injustice I may have in this life, all my strivings, all my greatest decisions, will be ultimately swallowed up in the on-going march of time. In a few million years’ time, a mere drop compared with the total history of the earth, the memory of the greatest literature, the greatest art, the greatest lives will be buried in the inexorable decay of the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Hitler and Martin Luther King, James Sewell and Francis of Assisi, Chairman Mao and Robert Kennedy, all will be obliterated in the unthinking void. So, I am told, I must make the best of a bad job. Even though I have strong feelings of transcendence, a deep sense that I am more than just a blind whim of evolution, I must nevertheless forget such troubling questions, and concern myself with the real problems of trying to live responsibly in society. Even though my job involves studying man’s brain as a machine, like any other of nature’s machines, I must still believe that man has some special intrinsic worth which is greater than an animal’s worth, and while my emotions tell me that it may be true, I am not given any more objective reason for believing it. 9:10 The maxim in verse 10, one of the best known in the book, is often used by believers to encourage zeal and diligence in Christian service, and the advice is sound. But in its context, it really means to seize every possible pleasure and enjoyment while you can, because you won’t be able to work, invent, think, or know anything in the grave, where you are irreversibly heading. The advice given in this verse is excellent, but the reason is utterly bad! And even the advice must be restricted to activities that are legitimate, helpful, and edifying in themselves. 9:11 Another thing that the Preacher observed is that luck and chance play a big part in life. The race is not always won by the fastest runner. The bravest soldiers don’t always win the battle. The wisest don’t always enjoy the best meals. The cleverest are not always the richest. And the most capable do not always rise to the presidency. Bad luck dogs everyone’s steps. Time and chance are factors that play an important role in success and failure. When the billionaire J. Paul Getty was asked to explain his success, he replied, “Some people find oil. Others don’t.” 9:12 And no one knows when bad luck will strike. Like fish caught in a net or birds in a trap, man is overtaken by bad fortune or even by death. He never knows which bullet has his name on it. 9:13-15 Still another heartache in life is that wisdom is not always appreciated. To illustrate: There was a little city with few inhabitants and therefore poorly defended. A powerful king surrounded it with artillery and prepared to break through the walls. When the situation seemed hopeless, a man who was poor but very wise came forward with a plan that saved the city. At the moment he was a hero, but then he was quickly forgotten. 9:16 It grieved the Preacher that though wisdom is better than power, yet the poor man’s advice was subsequently despised. As soon as the crisis was past, no one was interested in what he had to say. This parable has a definite evangelistic ring to it. The city is like man’s soulsmall and defenseless. The great king is Satan, bent on invasion and destruction (2Co_4:4; Eph_2:2). The deliverer is the Saviorpoor (2Co_8:9) and wise (1Co_1:24; Col_2:3). Though He provided deliverance, yet how little He is honored and appreciated! Most people of the world live as if He had never died. And even Christians are often careless about remembering Him in His appointed way, that is, in the Lord’s Supper. 9:17 Yet in spite of man’s ingratitude and indifference it is still true that the words of the wise, spoken quietly, are worth more than the shouting tirades of a powerful ruler of fools. 9:18 Wisdom is superior to weapons and munitions. In 2Sa_20:14-22 we read how a wise woman delivered the city of Abel of Beth Maachah when Joab besieged it. But one sinful dolt can undo a lot of good that the wise person accomplishes, just as little foxes can spoil the vines.