Author: Lamar Austin

If there is anyone who needs wisdom, it is the ruler of a nation.  There are not only a multiplicity of problems to deal with, but those problems can be extremely complex.  When God asked Solomon what gift he especially wanted, the king asked for wisdom (1 Kings 3:3-28).  Lyndon B. Johnson said, “A president’s hardest task is not to do what is right, but to know what is right.”  That takes wisdom!

Unfortunately, wisdom isn’t a given in leaders.  Sometimes leaders can be and act very foolishly.  Verses 4-7 give us practical advice on how to deal with foolish bosses and leaders.

4 If the anger of the ruler rises against you, do not leave your place, for calmness will lay great offenses to rest. 5 There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, as it were an error proceeding from the ruler: 6 folly is set in many high places, and the rich sit in a low place. 7 I have seen slaves on horses, and princes walking on the ground like slaves.

The kings of Israel and Judah were not immune to leading poorly.  Neither are we.  Zack Eswine reminds us: “God does not remove foolish leaders from our lives.  Nor does he give us immunity from becoming foolish in our leadership.  Just because we follow God, this does not mean that we aren’t capable of folly” (Recovering Eden, p. 94).

This ruler could be in a position of government, or possibly a boss in the marketplace.  As for foolish government leaders, we can appreciate Mark Twain’s humorous comment: “Suppose you were an idiot.  And suppose you were a member of congress.  But I repeat myself.”  That Solomon has political rulers in mind seems the case from the context, but verse 4 can be applied in a variety of situations.

Fools are known for giving vent to their anger and rulers are not exempt (Prov. 12:16; 29:11).  Earlier Solomon had said, “anger lodges in the bosom of fools” (Eccl. 7:9).  In this case, the leader’s anger makes the workplace miserable.  In other words, you might “work for a jerk.”

Some of us have known what it’s like to work for a jerk—someone who is critical and nitpicky, someone who is cruel in their criticisms and just looks for something to nail you on.  It is hard to work in that kind of environment; it wears you down.

What should you do?  The temptation is to want to quit.  That is the easy thing to do, and it might be the right thing to do.  But Solomon recommends another option: “do not leave your place.”  Don’t quit.  Don’t run away just because it is difficult.

Not only should we not run away from this problem, but we should, on the positive side, interact with calmness.  The preacher recommends a calm and quiet response that turns away wrath.

In the words of one commentator, “The anger of a ruler must be soothed with a calm forbearance that neither panics in fear nor deserts in bitterness” (Eaton, Ecclesiastes: An Introduction and Commentary , p. 134).

The wise man does not quit his job when his boss gets angry with him.  He maintains his composure and so gives the impression, rightly or wrongly, that his boss did not need to be angry.

The Preacher is not condoning verbal abuse.  Nor is he saying there is never a time for people in authority to put down a tyrant or for someone to walk away from a fight.  In fact, back in Ecclesiastes 8:3 he seemed to indicate that on certain occasions we should walk away.  But here the Preacher is saying that ordinarily the best response to anger is to stay, not to run away, and to remain calm, not to get angry.

Getting angry would only make things worse, for as Derek Kidner explains, “it is better to have only one angry person than to have two!” (Kidner, The Message of Ecclesiastes , p. 90).

This is good counsel for workers with an angry boss, for students with an angry teacher, for parents with an angry child, and for wives with an angry husband (or vice versa).  It is good counsel for all the situations in life when someone else is suddenly provoked to anger and it makes us mad that he or she is angry.  Just because someone else gets upset does not mean that we have the right to walk away from a relationship, especially if that relationship is ordained by God and is sealed with a promise (the way marriage is, for example).  The way to deal with foolish anger is not to be intimidated by it or to respond in kind but to keep calm, which we can only do by the power of the Holy Spirit.

James recommends that we be “quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger” (James 1:19).  It seems that this verse is saying that if we can slow down our response time and not just blurt out whatever comes to mind, we can curb our anger.

Then, when we do speak, Solomon tells us in Proverbs 15:1 to speak with a “soft answer” that turns away wrath.  Usually, as Solomon said back in Ecclesiastes 9:17 that the ruler may be “shouting.”  You can de-escalate the situation by just calming down and using “soft” words.

In Proverbs 25:15 Solomon says, “With patience a ruler may be persuaded, and a soft tongue will break a bone.”

When someone is shouting at us in anger, we generally opt for one of two responses: fight or flight.  We either respond back and vent our anger verbally or physically, or we walk away and slam the door on our way out.

Neither of these responses help resolve the problem.  When someone gets angry towards us, it is quite tempting to say, “I’m not going to take this anymore!”  And while there are times when walking out is appropriate, it doesn’t necessarily resolve the problem.  Depending on the relationship (marriage for example), we have a covenant commitment to that person.  In those cases we need to stay and act calmly and help the person with their anger.

Staying calm is part of God’s winning strategy for dealing with foolish anger.  Stay faithful to your commitments and work towards a peaceful resolution.

In the famous children’s book The Wind and the Willows, by Scottish author Kenneth Grahame, Toad is portrayed as a great fool, whose friends (Badger, Rat and Mole) try to rescue him from his follies.  Toad tires easily of good activities and is lazy and prone to wanderlust and self-aggrandizement. He easily loses “all fear of obvious consequences” and gives “animals a bad name … by [his] furious driving and [his] smashes and [his] rows with the police.” The wise Badger tells him, “Independence is all very well, but we animals never allow our friends to make fools of themselves beyond a certain limit; and that limit you’ve reached.”

And that is what we often have to do with fools.  We have to confront them with reality, but in a calm, sensitive way.

Sometimes we don’t even have to speak up.  We can transform a situation just be our calm and consistent actions.  Peter commended a life of quiet gentleness.  He told Christians to submit to the governing authorities, even when they were persecuting the church, because by doing good deeds, the suffering church would “put to silence the ignorance of foolish people” (1 Peter 2:13–15).  He told servants to respect their masters, even if they were unjust, for it is a gracious thing to endure injustice (1 Peter 2:18–19).  He told wives to submit to their husbands, even if they were unbelievers, so that by pure and respectful conduct they might win their husband’s heart for Christ (1 Peter 3:1–2).

If we doubt the wisdom of Peter’s counsel — or if we think that it is impossible for us to follow — then we should remember the example that Peter gives.  Why should we keep serving people who make us suffer?  Peter said, “Because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps” (1 Peter 2:21).

Jesus Christ didn’t open His mouth (1 Peter 2:23).  But in quietness and calmness sacrificed his life for us.

There may be a time for you to leave.  There may also be a time when your own anger (hopefully truly righteous indignation) will move you to address the issue.  But don’t just allow your anger to explode.  It is always good to remain cool and calm.  Never let another person’s action determine your reaction.  You choose to act according to God’s directions.

David Hubbard says, “”The lesson is that the self-controlled person who has less rank is really more powerful than the out-of-control supposed superior.”  Solomon would agree.  He said, “Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city” (Prov. 16:32).

Verses 5-7 are less clear in what they mean.

5 There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, as it were an error proceeding from the ruler: 6 folly is set in many high places, and the rich sit in a low place. 7 I have seen slaves on horses, and princes walking on the ground like slaves.

“There is an evil that I have seen under the sun” clues us in that this is not an ideal situation.  He seems to be saying that in these topsy-turvy conditions in which social order is not observed is the responsibility of a ruler who is not doing his job.  The fool should not be exalted, the slave should not be treated as a ruler.

According to verses 6 and 7, the ruler’s error was putting the wrong people in important positions, and the damage resulting from inept people in responsible positions can be immense.

Of course, this does not reflect the modern rhetoric of class warfare; his concerns are focused upon a person’s competence for the task.  Qoheleth believes that important positions in government run better when filled with capable and competent people, irrespective of considerations such as social status or wealth.  His complaint has to do with competent people being moved aside in favor of inept and inexperienced people who happen to have the right political or family connections.

Of course, this may not be totally the fault of the rulers.  Solomon has shown how even the best preparations don’t always lead to the expected conclusions.  Despite wisdom, sometimes things don’t turn out as expected.

Warren Wiersbe calls this man a pliable ruler.  I’m not sure that’s his problem.  Being flexible is a good trait for leaders.  Ken Blanchard, for years, has talked about being a situational leader, the kind of leader that people need.  He talks about a person’s performance readiness.  A person may be able, confident and willing to do a task, or he or she may be able but insecure or unwilling.  They might also be unable, but confident or willing to take up a task, or they might be unable and insecure and unwilling.  Each of these four needs a different kind of leadership and direction from the top.

But the problem with this man is that he just didn’t seem to be able to keep things in order.  He let people do what they wanted to do.  He didn’t put people in the right roles for them or for the organization.  Leadership guru Jim Collins calls this “getting the right people on the bus.”

In particular, putting fools in charge always leads to our hurt.  “Like snow in summer or rain in harvest, so honor is not fitting for a fool” (Prov. 26:1).  “Whoever sends a message by the hand of a fool cuts off his own feet and drinks violence” (Prov. 26:6).  “Like an archer who wounds everyone is one who hires a passing fool or drunkard” (Prov. 26:10).

Why does it hurt people when folly gets promoted?  “Because foolish people have their wires crossed.  They exalt themselves and deem wise only those things which will do the same.  Wisdom gets viewed as folly.  The wise are overlooked and passed over” (Zack Eswine, Recovering Eden, p. 196).

A male butterfly will pass by a living female of his own species in favor of a painted cardboard one, if the cardboard one is larger than himself and larger than her.  While the living female butterfly opens and closes her wings in vain, her life and theirs together seem small.  The male has eyes for larger things.  He gives his time and attention to the cardboard. (Annie Dillard, The Writing Life, p. 18).

So Eswine concludes: “Folly leads us to overlook what is small and what would bless us in order to chase after what is large and what in the end will leave us barren.  This is why foolish leaders hurt people.  They overlook what they ought not in order to honor what they most want for themselves.  For this reason, just like a bully who looks for someone who values his bullying to join him, so a foolish leader looks to promote those who value his folly.  Overlooked, then, are the wise” (Recovering Eden, pp. 196-197).

Another factor that may be in play here is called the Peter principle—when you get promoted to a level you cannot handle.  The Peterprinciple is a concept in management developed by Laurence J. Peter, which observes that people in a hierarchy tend to rise to “a level of respective incompetence”: employees are promoted based on their success in previous jobs until they reach a level at which they are no longer competent, as skills in one job do not necessarily translate to another.  It is uncanny to see the number of people who are promoted to a level above their competency.

It is clear that the upheaval of verses 6 and 7 arise from the inadequate leadership of the ruler of verse 5.  He is putting the wrong people in the wrong places.

Some of us are offended by this poetry.  We root for the underdog.  We want social leveling in which the slave finds freedom and the rich are humbled.  But this is not the way Solomon understood them.

It is true that the wisdom literature sometimes points out the folly of riches.  But at other times the Sage presents riches as a blessing (Prov. 10:4; 28:20).

Also, notice that Solomon does not contrast the rich “in a low place” with the “poor” but instead puts folly “in many high places.”  In this case, the “rich” is in antithesis with a “fool” and therefore what Solomon is doing is presenting the “rich” person not so much as having material possessions in abundance, but having the true, steady and faithful character (or integrity) from which a measure of wealth generally comes in the Scriptures.

“The Preacher’s point is that an erring leader overlooks this kind of faithful character and places impatient, wandering, slothful, get-rich-quick schemers tragically in charge” (Eswine, Recovering Eden, p. 198).

Similarly, “slave” is not contrasted in this analogy to freed people, but with “princes.”  As in Prov. 19:10, the Preacher is setting up a contrast to show the impropriety of this appointment.  “It is not fitting for a fool to live in luxury, much less a slave to rule over princes” (Prov. 19:10).

This has nothing to do with the shameful American enslavement of colored people.  In the Scriptures “slaves” would be those who were criminals, or debtors, or prisoners of war.  It had nothing to do with the color of the skin.

In historical context, what Solomon is saying is that it would be unwise to put criminals, or debtors, or prisoners of war, in places of governmental leadership.

Finally, the language of Solomon is proverbial, which always states something that is normative, but not ultimate or final, or something that is always true.

We all have stories, personal or in history, of people who rose out of humble circumstances and became wonderful leaders.  Of course, that happens.  But what Solomon is referring to is normal life, what would normally happen.

Sin in the world corrupts any community or organization.  People who ought to be leaders shy away from leadership.  People who shouldn’t become leaders grab for power.  And those who have unfairly grabbed the reigns of power tend to reward those who practice the same underhanded strategy.

In conclusion, Derek Kidner remarks: “If some are inclined to applaud (this seeming social leveling of vv. 6-7), Qoheleth will not exactly quarrel with them—for his aim, throughout, is to shake our pathetic faith in the permanence of affairs; and in any case he has no illusions about the men at the top.  But neither does he view these upsets as triumphs of social justice.  The examples he has witnessed have been either turns of the wheel of fortune (v. 7) or else appointments that went to the wrong people (folly…set up in many high places, 6).  We can make our own guess at the intrigues, threats, flatteries and bribes that paved the way for them” (The Message of Ecclesiastes, p. 90).

Understanding how sin invades any group of people should lead us to expect less from those organizations and to trust more in our Lord.  He is always wise and just and rewards righteous efforts, even those deeds done in secret.

In the last few chapters of Ecclesiastes we’ve seen the Preacher scratch his head in bewilderment over the fact that being righteous or having wisdom, though obviously good in themselves, do not always pay off.  No matter how much we might prepare and forecast, life is unpredictable.  It is good to plan, but we must hold those plans loosely.  We must learn to trust God’s sovereign purpose even when it leads us in places we’d rather not go—into sickness, failure, financial problems, relational difficulties, even to death.

But even though wisdom cannot save us from every misfortune, it is still better to be wise than foolish.  That is the way Solomon starts off Ecclesiastes 10:

1 Dead flies make the perfumer’s ointment give off a stench; so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor. 2 A wise man’s heart inclines him to the right, but a fool’s heart to the left. 3 Even when the fool walks on the road, he lacks sense, and he says to everyone that he is a fool. 

Throughout this chapter Solomon gives us a series of maxims concerning wisdom and foolishness, similar to his book of Proverbs.

The main motif is yet another survey of observations about life under the sun.  The general import of the proverbs is hinted in verse 10: “wisdom helps one to succeed.”  Some specific topics include the following: brief snapshots of folly (vv. 1–3); observations about power structures and rulers (vv. 4–7); satiric snapshots of people who do not use their head or take adequate precautions, accompanied by latent humor (vv. 8–11); the importance of words (vv. 12–15); political observations (vv. 16–17); laziness made vivid (v. 18); a cynical observation about living high on the hog (v. 19); not criticizing one’s superior (v. 20). (Literary Study Bible)

The first proverb is “Dead flies make the perfumer’s ointment give off a stench, so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.”

In this proverb “the perfumer’s ointment” and “wisdom and honor” are good things, things to be desired.  However, “a little folly,” just like little dead flies, can turn something good into something undesirable.

Although there was nothing wrong with the perfume, it had attracted a swarm of flies and the stench of their carcasses had turned the perfume rancid.  Just like “one sinner destroys much good” (Eccl. 9:18) and a “little leaven leavens the whole lump” (Gal. 5:9) so a few flies turn the perfume bad.  Likewise, just “a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.”

This is the metaphorical confirmation of the truth at the end of chapter 9.  One sinner destroys much good.  One sin can destroy much good.

All it takes is one rash word, one rude remark, one hasty decision, one foolish pleasure, or one angry outburst to spoil everything.  As Derek Kidner observes, “It is easier to make a stink than to create sweetness.”  Another way of viewing it is that it takes a lot of effort to build up a reputation for wisdom, but it only takes one bad decision to ruin it.

The unguarded moment–the hasty word–the irritable temper–the rudeness of manner–the occasional slip–the supposed harmless eccentricities–all tend to spoil the fragrance of the ointment.  (Charles Bridges, The Geneva Series of Commentaries: Ecclesiastes, 234)

Jay Adams remarks: “Some stupid remarks or some foolish actions can destroy what ought to be a delightful family or church gathering.  It doesn’t take much to destroy a relationship that was months in the building.  Some complaint, some argument, some thoughtlessness or wickedness–that’s all it takes.  Just a few flies!  (Jay E. Adams, Life under the Son, 101)

Pay attention:  Little things, single moments, have great impact on our lives and the lives of others.

So Derek Kidner comments: “There are endless instances of prizes forfeited and good beginning marred in a single reckless moment – not only by the irresponsible, such as Esau, but by the sorely tried, such as Moses and Aaron.”

The Wesleyan commentator Adam Clarke says: “Alas!  Alas!  In an unguarded moment how many have tarnished the reputation which they were many years in acquiring!  Hence, no man can be said to be safe, till he is taken to the Paradise of God.”

The power of a Spirit-filled life cannot be overestimated.  But every Christian must also be aware of the tremendous danger of compromising with sin.  A little too much self-confidence, a small yielding to the flesh, and our testimony can be lost.  (Richard W. De Haan, The Art of Staying Off Dead-end Streets, 126-27)

Solomon had already compared a good name to good perfume (Eccl. 7:1), so here he is showing how quickly that reputation can be ruined, by a little folly.

It is vital to know the difference between wisdom and folly.  Most Christians can distinguish good from evil.  Our conscience tells us that some things are morally right, while others are morally wrong.

This kind of thinking is fine, as far as it goes.  The trouble, however, is that some of the most important choices in life are not between good and evil but between wisdom and folly.  Or, to put it another way, sometimes we have a whole range of choices we could legitimately make as far as following God’s moral guidelines—so which one do we choose?

Sometimes folly and wickedness are partners in crime.  The Preacher put them together just a few chapters earlier: “Be not overly wicked, neither be a fool” (Ecclesiastes 7:17; cf. Jeremiah 4:22).  However, one can do something foolish that it not necessarily wicked.  Wickedness has to do with actions that are deliberately malicious and harmful.  Foolish decisions, however, may just be impulsive and rash, not thought through and hurtful and generally doesn’t regard God.  That’s bad enough, but not wicked.

The Preacher has told us many things about the fool already.  He is lazy (Ecclesiastes 4:5), ill-tempered (7:9), and morally blind (2:14).  He refuses to take advice (9:17).  His life is not pleasing to God (5:4).

Here the Preacher adds that the fool is directionally-challenged: “A wise man’s heart inclines him to the right, but a fool’s heart to the left” (10:2).

By the way, Solomon is not talking about politics here.  He is not necessarily recommended conservative over liberal political stances.

The “right hand” is often associated with strength and blessing in the OT (e.g., Ex. 15:6, 12; Ps. 16:11; 17:7; Isa. 41:10, etc.), and the Preacher is either referring to the “left hand” with a correspondingly negative connotation (Gen. 48:14; Judg. 3:15).  By the way, did you know that the Latin word for left hand is sinistera, from which we get “sinister.”

With apologies to left-handers, the Bible generally treats the right side as the good side: “The right hand was associated with a strength which saves, supports and protects” (Michael A. Eaton, Ecclesiastes: An Introduction and Commentary , Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1983), p. 133).

In addition, the right hand was used to convey blessing, such as the time that Jacob crossed his arms to place his right hand on Ephraim’s head and thus give him the greater blessing (Genesis 48:13–20; cf. Proverbs 3:16).  The right hand was also associated with authority, which is why Jesus sits on the right hand of the Father (e.g., Colossians 3:1).  Given this background, it is not surprising that at the final judgment, the sheep will be on the right, but the goats will be on the left (Matthew 25:31–33).

When the Preacher says that the fool is on the left, therefore, he is telling us that the man is going the wrong direction in life.  There are plenty of examples in the Bible. Think of the contrast between Abraham and his cousin Lot.  When the two men divided the land of promise (see Genesis 13), Abraham was content with what God provided. Lot, on the other hand, chose the better territory for himself (or so he thought).  Foolishly, he moved to Sodom, an evil city that was later destroyed by God.

There is a similar contrast between Ruth, who remained faithful to Naomi and the people of the one true God, and her sister-in-law Orpah, who abandoned Naomi and went back to the worship of pagan idols (Ruth 1:6–18).

So it could be that Solomon is simply stating that wisdom and foolishness invariably reveal themselves in one’s behavior (cf. Eccles. 10:3; see also the note on 8:1), in opposite behaviors.

Perhaps this contrast is captured best in the Jerusalem Bible: “The wise man’s heart leads him aright, the fool’s heart leads him astray.”

Someone has noted that when a rocket is launched, if it’s path is off one degree it can miss its target.

In 1979 a passenger jet carrying 257 people left New Zealand for a sightseeing flight to Antarctica and back.  Unknown to the pilots, however, there was a minor 2 degree error in the flight coordinates.  This placed the aircraft 28 miles to the east of where the pilots thought they were.  As they approached Antarctica, the pilots descended to a lower altitude to give the passengers a better look at the landscape.  Although both were experienced pilots, neither had made this particular flight before.  They had no way of knowing that the incorrect coordinates had placed them directly in the path of Mount Erebus, an active volcano that rises from the frozen landscape to a height of more than 12,000 feet (3,700 m).  Sadly, the plane crashed into the side of the volcano, killing everyone on board.  It was a tragedy brought on by a minor error—a matter of only a few degrees.

Experts in air navigation have a rule of thumb known as the 1 in 60 rule.  It states that for every 1 degree a plane veers off its course, it misses its target destination by 1 mile for every 60 miles you fly.  This means that the further you travel, the further you are from your destination.

If you’re off course by just one degree, after one foot, you’ll miss your target by 0.2 inches. Trivial, right? But…

• After 100 yards, you’ll be off by 5.2 feet. Not huge, but noticeable.
• After a mile, you’ll be off by 92.2 feet. One degree is starting to make a difference.
• If you veer off course by 1 degree flying around the equator, you’ll land almost 500 miles off target!

If you only live a few days, one mistake won’t make that much difference.  But over the course of a lifetime, little sins can ruin a life, taking it places no one would want to go.

Which direction are you going in life?  Are you moving toward temptation or away from evil?  Are you moving the right way in discipleship or falling away spiritually?  Are you drawing closer to the people of God or going off by yourself?  Only a fool would go the wrong direction in life.

Eugene Peterson called discipleship “a long obedience in the same direction.”  The direction you choose is important and wisdom helps you make the right choice.

Why does the fool move in the wrong direction?  Because his heart is already leaning in that direction.  In Scripture, the heart is the central command center of our being.  The heart has desires and affection, thoughts and reflections, and makes decisions.  Everything in life follows the heart.

The wise man goes the right way because his heart leans the right way, but the wicked man’s heart leans in the opposite direction, which is where he ends up going.  Wisdom and folly are inclinations of the heart.

Solomon connected the heart with the way one lives in Proverbs 4:23, encouraging his son: “Keep [guard, watch over] your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.”  It all starts with the heart.  Or, as an old mentor used to say, “the battle is fought at the thought.”  Guard your heart and your control your behavior.  Guarding the heart is an active, vigilant process.  We want to fill our heart with God’s wisdom, not the world’s foolishness, or the world’s wisdom. 

That is why Solomon spent so much of his time in Proverbs teaching his son to value and love wisdom.  In Proverbs 4 we read:

1 Hear, O sons, a father’s instruction, and be attentive, that you may gain insight, 2 for I give you good precepts; do not forsake my teaching. 3 When I was a son with my father, tender, the only one in the sight of my mother, 4 he taught me and said to me, “Let your heart hold fast my words; keep my commandments, and live. 5 Get wisdom; get insight; do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth. 6 Do not forsake her, and she will keep you; love her, and she will guard you. 7 The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight. 8 Prize her highly, and she will exalt you; she will honor you if you embrace her.

In Proverbs 3 Solomon said:

13 Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding, 14 for the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold. 15 She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her. 16 Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. 17 Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. 18 She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; those who hold her fast are called blessed. 

Solomon encouraged his charge to give utmost effort to gaining wisdom in Proverbs 2:1-4:

1 My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, 2 making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; 3 yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, 4 if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures,

So, if we want to be blessed, we will seek wisdom from God’s Word, represented here by a parent’s teaching.

The fool is on the wrong road completely, but sadly, he does not even realize it.  According to verse 3, “Even when the fool walks on the road, he lacks sense, and he says to everyone that he is a fool.”  This is part of the definition of a fool: he seems to be the only person who does not know that he is a fool!

There are at least two ways to take the second half of verse 3 (“he says to everyone that he is a fool”).  One is to take it literally, in which case the fool is always busy telling other people that they are fools.  He is not saying that he himself is a fool, but rather that everyone else is foolish.  This certainly is what fools usually believe — that they alone are wise and that everyone else is a fool (which, of course, is a very foolish thing to think!).  A fool is always “right in his own eyes” (Prov. 12:15).

It is also possible that verse 3 should be taken metaphorically.  The fool does not literally “say” that he is a fool, yet this is exactly what his words and his actions communicate.  He (or she) has such an obvious lack of spiritual good sense that his (or her) folly is evident to everyone.  Fools have a way of refusing to listen to good advice (see Proverbs 12:15; 18:2; 23:9) or of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time (see Proverbs 18:6) or of doing something else that shouts, “Look at me, I’m a fool!”  As it says in the book of Proverbs, “a fool flaunts his folly” (Proverbs 13:16; cf. 12:23).

Dan Allender says it well: the fool “will follow a path that seems to be right, even when the blacktop gives way to gravel and gravel to dirt and dirt to rocks and debris. Almost nothing will stop the fool from plunging ahead into peril” (Dan B. Allender and Tremper Longman III, Bold Love (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 1992), p. 263).

A fool’s actions speak for themselves, but the fool doesn’t hear.  He is unaware.

Walking is a common metaphor for living a life.  Our Christian walk is a lifestyle, the way we live our lives.

Verse 3 pictures the ordinary lifestyle of a stupid person.  It is not necessary for him to do anything extraordinary to proclaim his stupidity.  Everything he says and does as he walks through life, makes the fact abundantly clear.  (Jay E. Adams, Life under the Son, 102)

Even when the foolish tries to keep in the middle of the road, his encounters with normal people show him up for what he is (v. 3).  (Frank E. Gæbelein, Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Vol. 5, 1185)

The application of these verses is simple: Don’t be a fool!  One of the reasons why the Bible defines the difference between wisdom and folly is so we can choose well how to live.  Do not be the kind of person who refuses to listen to constructive criticism or ignores what godly people are trying to say or erupts with disproportionate anger every time something goes wrong.  Instead turn your heart toward God and ask him for the grace to go the right way rather than the wrong way — his way rather than your own way.

Since we are not eternal and omniscient like God, we don’t know what will happen next.  It could be good or bad, we just don’t know.

That fills some people with all kinds of anxiety.  Into this vacuum called “the unknown” rush all kinds of insecurities and fears.

Consider the curious case of Molière, the French actor and playwright.  While performing the title role in the final scene of his own drama The Hypochondriac, or The Imaginary Invalid, Molière was seized by a violent coughing fit.  As it turned out, his malady was not playacting. Molière died just a few hours later (“Molière, The Imaginary Invalid,” in the Literature, Arts, and Medicine Database of New York University).

Or consider Bob Cartwright.  Bob Cartwright was disappointed when he was unable to accept an invitation to fly to New York with his friend Tyler Stanger and the professional baseball player Cory Lidle for a playoff game between the Yankees and the Tigers.  He felt differently when he saw the news that Stanger and Lidle had crashed into an apartment building and perished. “I was supposed to be on that plane,” Cartwright said.  Yet just one month later Cartwright died in another plane crash, near his mountain home in California (See http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15759622/?GT1=8717).

Then there is Donald Peters, who bought two Connecticut lottery tickets on November 1, 2008 — just as he had for the previous twenty years.  As it turned out, one of his tickets was worth $10 million.  But Peters was not as lucky as one might think, because he died of a heart attack later on the very day that he bought the winning ticket (As reported in China Daily (January 5, 2009), p. 6).

None of these unfortunate, unexpected events would have surprised the Preacher who wrote Ecclesiastes. “Time and chance happen to them all,” he would have said. “Man knows not his time.”

Listen to the Preacher’s words in Ecclesiastes 9, starting in verse 11.

11 Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all. 12 For man does not know his time. Like fish that are taken in an evil net, and like birds that are caught in a snare, so the children of man are snared at an evil time, when it suddenly falls upon them. 13 I have also seen this example of wisdom under the sun, and it seemed great to me. 14 There was a little city with few men in it, and a great king came against it and besieged it, building great siegeworks against it. 15 But there was found in it a poor, wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that poor man. 16 But I say that wisdom is better than might, though the poor man’s wisdom is despised and his words are not heard. 17 The words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools. 18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.

Solomon’s emphasis in 9:2-10 was on the fact that a righteous person could not be more certain of his or her earthly future than the wicked.  In 9:11—10:11, his point was that the wise cannot be more sure of his or her earthly future than the fool.

Earlier we learned (9:2) that good things don’t always happen to good people.  Here we find that no matter how talented or gifted we are, we cannot be sure that we will be rewarded.

Here, the Preacher seems to struggle against a sense of fatalism—that it doesn’t matter what we do, we cannot guarantee our outcome.  In other words, we really have no control over our future.

“Time and chance are paired, no doubt because they both have a way of taking matters suddenly out of our hands” (Derek Kidner).

He had earlier expressed the idea that our times are in God’s hands (Eccl. 9:1), but wondered whether that was a good or bad thing.  If God’s heart is not for us, then being in his hands can be a bad thing! (Heb. 10:31)

Fortunately, on this side of the cross, we can know that we know that we know that God is for us, because He already did the most difficult thing—giving his one and only Son to be the satisfaction for our sins (Romans 8:31-32).

But Solomon didn’t know that, or wasn’t focusing on that.

Again, Solomon is bemoaning this reality from an “under the sun” perspective.  From a purely physical viewpoint, life is unpredictable.  It would make sense that the swift would win the race.  Most of the time they do, but sometimes misfortune takes place—an injury, a baton drop, a lane violation.  Which is why Paul reminds us that “An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules” (2 Timothy 2:5) and therefore they must remain disciplined in order to win the prize (1 Cor. 9:24-27).

Think of the tortoise and the hare.  Rabbits should always win, but not if they lollygag along.

Yes, the battle usually goes to the strong, but some unforeseen event can turn the tide in battle.  How many times throughout history has a smaller force beaten a larger force?  Think of Abraham’s 318 men against the five kings of the East (Gen. 14:14).  Think of Gideon’s 300 men (originally 32,000) against the 120,000 Midianites (Judges 7).  Or think of David vs. Goliath.  In many cases this happened so that God would get the glory and that man would learn to trust in God alone.  God didn’t want Israel to trust in horses and chariots.  In Psalm 33:17 they were encouraged, “The war horse is a false hope for salvation, and by its great might it cannot rescue.”

The Olympic slogan says citius, altius, fortius — swifter, higher, stronger!  But the race is not always won by the swift, nor the battle always by the strong.

In the early 1900s Jim Thorpe won two gold medals at the Olympic Games.  He stood before the king of Sweden and was publicly acknowledged as the greatest athlete of his time.  Yet those medals and honors had to be given back when it was learned that years earlier he had played professional baseball for five dollars a season, which rendered him no longer an amateur.  Only recently were his medals restored, posthumously.

Bo Jackson was one of the greatest athletes of our generation.  An All-Pro NFL football player and a Major League All-Star baseball player.  Bo Jackson was a marvel to watch.  In 1991, he was at the height of his career and the prime of his powers.  He was disciplined, determined and focused.

Despite his natural gifts and hard work, on January 13, 1991, he was tackled from the side while running down the sidelines for the Oakland Raiders.  Bo injured his hip and had to be helped from the field.  Within a year he was forced to undergo hip replacement surgery, and though he returned briefly to baseball, his career was essentially over.  Time and chance overtake them all.

Then the Preacher augments his list of physical attributes by mentioning several intellectual abilities.  Ordinarily we would expect someone with a superior mind to be worth a fortune, or at least to make a good living.  But when the markets crash, even the sharpest financial adviser suddenly realizes that he is not as smart as he thought he was.   Wisdom does not guarantee a good job or a prosperous future.

What the Preacher says is true: the wise do not always have bread, intelligence does not guarantee a good income, and having a lot of knowledge will not necessarily do us any favors.

In short, human ability is no guarantee of success in life.  Disaster can overtake any one of us.

As the Preacher says, “time and chance” happen to us all.  This phrase doesn’t deny the sovereignty of God.  We know that God “works all things according to the counsel of his will” (Ephesians 1:11).  Everything is under his wise providence and sovereign control.  What happens in life is not actually arbitrary, therefore, but is subject to God’s authority and plan.

However, we don’t know what God is up to.  And we cannot control the outcomes.  We can do our best and sometimes still come out receiving the short end of the stick.  We often hear, “You have to be the right person, in the right place, at the right time.”  But the Preacher is saying that life is really not under our control.

As Proverbs 16:9 says, “The heart of man plans, but the LORD establishes his steps” and Proverbs 19:21 says, “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand.”  These Proverbs are not arguing against planning; they just mean that we have to hold our plans loosely.  We have to trust God with the outcome AND with the journey.

It reminds me of a story.

There was once a farmer who owned a horse and had a son.

One day, his horse ran away.  The neighbors came to express their concern: “Oh, that’s too bad.  How are you going to work the fields now?”  The farmer replied: “Good thing, Bad thing, Who knows?”

In a few days, his horse came back and brought another horse with her.  Now, the neighbors were glad: “Oh, how lucky!  Now you can do twice as much work as before!”  The farmer replied: “Good thing, Bad thing, Who knows?”

The next day, the farmer’s son fell off the new horse and broke his leg.  The neighbors were concerned again: “Now that he is incapacitated, he can’t help you around, that’s too bad.”  The farmer replied: “Good thing, Bad thing, Who knows?”

Soon, the news came that a war broke out, and all the young men were required to join the army.  The villagers were sad because they knew that many of the young men will not come back.  The farmer’s son could not be drafted because of his broken leg.  His neighbors were envious: “How lucky!  You get to keep your only son.”  The farmer replied: “Good thing, Bad thing, Who knows”.

We don’t know.  If don’t know if some success will be disastrous or if some misfortune is the key to victory.  We just don’t know.

That is why we have to trust God with the outcome and with the journey.  If we trust God, we can have an “above the sun” mentality.

There is a time for everything (Eccl. 3:1-8), we just don’t know when that time will be.  If we trust God and give Him thanks we can be content, whether it is a “good thing” or a “bad thing.”

Solomon says, “Man does not know his time” (Eccl. 9:12).  Then he illustrates this truth with a pair of images, drawn from nature.  “Like fish that are taken in an evil net, and like birds that are caught in a snare, so the children of man are snared at an evil time, when it suddenly falls upon them” (9:12b)

The fish and the birds get caught before they know it.  If they had realized they were swimming into a net or flying into a snare, they would have gone the opposite direction.  But by the time they were trapped, it was too late to escape.  Things can be going along great, and then all of a sudden, disaster.

Solomon had used this image earlier when he was encouraging his son to do all he could to escape the tempting snare of the adulterer: “as a bird rushes into a snare; he does not know that it will cost him his life” (Prov. 7:23).  This is why Solomon recommended prudence, an ability to strip through the camouflage of the world’s deceptions and perceive the consequences of an action.  In Proverbs 14:15 the prudent “gives thought to his steps.”  In Proverbs 22:3 Solomon says, “The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it.”

The same thing happens to us human beings.  “Time” and “chance” overtake us.  Suddenly life is out of our hands.  God may “rudely” interrupt your life at very inconvenient times.  How many plans have been interrupted over the last two years over things outside of our control?

The word “time” may refer to the seasons of life or possibly to a time of judgment.  Either way, in this context is represents something bad.  As Philip Ryken says, “Before we know it, we will get trapped in a bad situation at work, or afflicted with a fatal disease, or caught in a financial tsunami. At the very end, of course, the time will come for us to die and go to judgment—a time that God knows, but we do not” (Ecclesiastes: Why Everything Matters, p. 223).

In this context, “chance” refers to “bad luck.”  From the rest of verse 12, which talks about “an evil net” and “an evil time,” it is clear that when the Preacher talks about “chance,” he is not talking about something good that happens but something bad. In a fallen world, many unhappy things happen every day, from natural disasters and environmental catastrophes to military conflicts and economic downturns (Ecclesiastes: Why Everything Matters, p. 223).

Derek Kidner comments: “All this counterbalances the impression we may get from maxims about hard work, that success is ours to command.  In the sea of life we are more truly the fish…taken in an evil net, or else unaccountably spared, than the masters of our fate and the captains of our souls” (The Message of Ecclesiastes, p. 84).

“Try as he might, he will not be able to finesse the circumstances to effect a positive result.  The way things are is the way things are” (James Bollhagen, Ecclesiastes, p. 340).

So Solomon is saying that life is unpredictable.  In His mercy God is telling us to expect the unexpected.  Like Peter tells us, when hardship comes, we shouldn’t be surprised.  We need reminders that we are not in control.  But God is and we can trust Him.

So, what are we to do?  Just throw up our hands and give up and sit on the couch and flip through channels trying to find something that will take our minds off of life?  If the race doesn’t go to the swift, then why run, we might conclude.  If the battle is not won by the strong, then why get ready for battle?  If an education doesn’t guarantee a good salary, then why bother?

But Solomon does not give in to fatalism.  He commends the relative value of wisdom, telling us that it does matter if we live wisely.

And above all, we need to leave our lives in God’s hands—trusting him and being content with everything that comes into our lives.  This is what James, the wisdom book of the New Testament, tells us…

13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”– 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 

Yes, wisdom is good; but no, it doesn’t keep us from having to trust God with the outcome.

The Preacher does this first by giving us the example of someone wise (Ecclesiastes 9:13–15) and then by comparing wisdom to several (less advantageous) alternatives (Ecclesiastes 9:16–18).

Here is the Preacher’s example: “I have also seen this example of wisdom under the sun, and it seemed great to me.  There was a little city with few men in it, and a great king came against it and besieged it, building great siegeworks against it.  But there was found in it a poor, wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city.  Yet no one remembered that poor wise man” (Ecclesiastes 9:13–15).

Okay, so everything’s positive about wisdom right up until that last sentence.  Wisdom can deliver a city, but the wise person will eventually—maybe sooner than later—be forgotten.  It kind of reminds me of coaching in the SEC.  If you’re not winning for me today, it doesn’t matter if you were national champions two years ago.  Scram!

Although some commentators perceive this story as a parable, many regard it as a true account of an historical event.  It was something the preacher had seen or heard of himself, not something he invented for the sake of making a point.

A poor man was wise enough to save his city from a “great king.”

According to Philip Ryken, “Some scholars have even tried to determine the precise historical context. Certainly we know similar stories from the Bible.  In 2 Samuel we read about a wise woman who saved the city of Abel by sacrificing the life of one evil man (20:14–22).  Wise King Hezekiah saved Jerusalem a different way — by praying to God for deliverance (2 Kings 19).  There are examples from ancient history as well, like Archimedes who reportedly saved Syracuse from the Romans by sinking their ships”

Despite the fact that this man was forgotten, his wisdom did save the city.  And that was significant.  This city had almost no chance of surviving.  It was totally outnumbered by a great king who had the latest military technology.

But this battle didn’t go to the strong.  Praise God!  In this case, one man knew exactly what to do.  And that is what wisdom is—the ability to live successfully—whether in one’s relationships, one’s responsibilities, one’s finances, or one’s problems.  For Qoheleth, this was an example of what wisdom can do.

Wisdom imparts saving faith (2 Tim. 3:15) the forgiveness of sins and eternal life.  On the one hand, this wisdom can definitely give a person an edge over his foolish neighbors in dealing with life.  Wisdom compares to folly like light to darkness (2:13).  A wise child is better than a foolish king (4:13).  Wisdom gives an advantage, provides protection, and prolongs one’s life—forever (7:11-12).  Wisdom brings understanding and make one’s countenance shine (8:1).

On the other hand, however, even wisdom cannot protect us from everything.  It cannot solve every problem, nor prevent every suffering.  We won’t be able to predict the future.  But we can trust God with it.

Happy is the city that has even one person who is wise enough to rescue its citizens.

Clearly, in this situation, wisdom is better than strength, but even so it does not guarantee a reward (cf. Judg. 9:53; 2 Sam. 20).  People generally do not value wisdom as highly as wealth, even though wisdom is really worth more.

Kidner reminds us that the point of this story is that we are to identify with this wise man, not because we are successful consultants, but simply that “sadly enough, we should learn not to count on anything as fleeting as public gratitude.”

We live in the world of “what have you done for me lately” and our good deeds are quickly forgotten.

Under the premise that death ends existence and consciousness for all, Solomon protested that the only lasting meaning this man might have – to be remembered – was taken away.  The almost unbelievable fleetingness of fame added to the sense of meaninglessness of life.

16 But I say that wisdom is better than might, though the poor man’s wisdom is despised and his words are not heard. 

Even though unappreciated, it is better to be wise.

17 The words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools. 18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.

“In the pattern of this chapter this is one more example of what is unpredictable and cruel in life, to sap our confidence in what we can make of it on our own.  The last two verses (17-18) give an extra thrust to the parable by showing first how valuable and then how vulnerable is wisdom.  We are left with more than a suspicion that in human politics the last word will regularly go to the loud voice of verse 17 or the cold steel of verse 18.  Seldom to truth, seldom to merit” (Derek Kidner, The Message of Ecclesiastes, p. 85).

And don’t we see that so often today?  It is not the reasonable preacher of truth that gets heard, but the voice that shouts the loudest and heaps public shame upon others.

The practical upshot for the wise person might simply be this: sometimes people will listen to you, sometimes they won’t, and you cannot anticipate which reaction will prevail.  Regardless of what response is expected, a wise person will always speak the truth in love (Eph. 4:15).

Two things we might learn from verse 17.  One, the truth of a person’s statement cannot be assessed by the volume with which he says it.  Loudness, in fact, is often used to overcome a poor argument or reason.

Second, note the mass hysteria, “among fools.”  Groupthink can be a real problem today.  When “everybody” believes or says something, then we have a hard time bucking the trend.  It takes courage to stand alone and be the quiet voice of wisdom.

The Preacher continues to emphasize how often and how easily wisdom can be neglected.  The shouts of the powerful among fools or just one person can derail the good effects of wisdom.  Just as one wise man can save a city, one sinner can destroy it.

Solomon sensed that it was much easier to destroy than to build.  Establishing things by wisdom is much more difficult than destroying them by the work of even one sinner.

Deane reminds us:

“Adam’s sin infected the whole race of man; Achan’s transgression caused Israel’s defeat (Joshua 7:11, 12); Rehoboam’s folly occasioned the great schism (1 Kings 12:16).”

Solomon also may mean that even a wise man may give some foolish advice at times.  It just reminds us how credibility may take years to build and can be destroyed in a moment of weakness or foolishness.

Or, like J. Vernon McGee used to say: “A mother spends twenty-one years teaching a son to be wise, and some girl will come along and make a fool out of him in five minutes.”

Warren Wiersbe has a different perspective.  He thinks the wise man could have saved the city, but louder voices prevailed and nobody paid attention to him.  Verse 17 suggests that a ruler with a loud mouth got all the attention and led the people into defeat.  The wise man spoke too quietly and was ignored.  He had the opportunity for greatness but was frustrated by one loud, ignorant man.

The reminder of this painful fact of life is not intended to discourage the wise person from trying to work the good, but to help him keep his eyes wide open (2:14) and to present him from becoming disillusioned when his well-intended efforts meet with failure.

Yes, misfortune can happen even to the wise.

By the end of chapter 9, Solomon has made his case against all our self-sufficiency.

Last week we began a section in Ecclesiastes 9 where Solomon is recommending that despite that fact that we cannot discern everything God is up to–especially with regard to the inequities of life and the specter of death that hangs over everyone–we should still enjoy life.  We should enjoy the little blessings of life.  Here is our passage…

7 Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do. 8 Let your garments be always white. Let not oil be lacking on your head. 9 Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that he has given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun. 10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.

We ended last week talking about verse 9, where Solomon commends “enjoying life with the wife whom you love.”  And we ended by talking about how sometimes that is not easy, that the romance may have fizzled and even the friendship may be on the rocks.

What enables the marriage to survive, much less thrive?  It is the commitment of agape love—that willingness to do what is best for the other person, even when it hurts and even when they don’t deserve it.

You see, a lot of people get married believing that it is a 50-50 relationship.  Have you ever heard it put that way—that “marriage is a 50-50 contract”?

That view, however, is not what the Bible says.  The Bible tells us that marriage is a “covenant” and a covenant requires 100% commitment.  In fact, many covenants that God made with individuals and nations in the Bible required 100% from God.  He guaranteed the covenant by His own initiative and actions.

Our salvation is like that.  He initiated it and it is through his actions that we are saved.  All we have to do is receive that forgiveness by faith.  We don’t have to do anything.

In premarital counseling I often talk about the “blessing zone” and the “misery zone.”  Let’s picture marriage as played on a football grid and the husband gives 40% of himself (maybe believing that he’s giving a lot more) and the wife gives 30% of herself.  Thus, you have a 30% gap I call the “misery zone.”  As long as we are playing the 50-50 game, we will not be enjoying the marriage.

However, if we take the biblical view of marriage as a covenant requiring 100% on our part, we try and let’s say we give 80% of ourselves to our mate and they give the same 30%.  Well, guess what, now we have a 10% overlap.  And that is the “blessing zone.”  That is when marriage begins to get interesting and enjoyable.

Most of the time, when we go “above and beyond” in showing love to our mate (or anyone), they will begin to reciprocate.  Maybe they won’t go “above and beyond,” but they will begin to respond.

If you remember the movie Fireproof, put out by the Kendrick brothers and starring Kirk Cameron, he had really blown it, putting their marriage “in the hole” and he had to work hard to rebuild trust and love with his wife.  He went on a 40 day “love dare” and it wasn’t until he was well into that last few days that she began to respond.

So, if you want the spouse of your dreams, just begin treating her (or him) differently.

There’s a joke that goes like this:

A man went to a counsellor for advice.  His marriage was really bad and he wanted out, but he wanted to hurt his wife as much as possible.  The counsellor thought for a while, then said, “I have an idea.  This is the way to really hurt her.  For the next three months, treat her like a princess.  Love her, bring her flowers, buy her gifts, take her out to dinner, do some of the housework.  Treat her like she’s the most wonderful woman in the world.  Then suddenly, you just leave.  That’ll really kill her.”

So he did.

A few months later the counsellor saw the man walking and said, “So how’s bachelor life treating you.”  “What do you mean?”  “You know.  How’d it go when you dumped your wife?”  “You’ve got to be kidding.  I’m married to the most wonderful woman in the world.”

If you don’t think your wife is worth enjoying right now, just treat her like a princess for a while and she will become a person you really will enjoy.  It’s called The Pygmalion Effect, as illustrated in the play My Fair Lady.

My favorite story is about Johnny Lingo.  Patricia Gerr recorded this experience in The Reader’s Digest (pp. 138-141, February 1988) from a trip to Kiniwata, an island in the Pacific.  Johnny Lingo wasn’t his real name, but apparently he was a networker and a real bargain hunter.

“Get Johnny Lingo to help you find what you want and let him do the bargaining,” advised Shenkin (the manager of the guest house she was staying in). “Johnny knows how to make a deal.”  In getting some more information about Johnny Lingo, he said, “Five months ago, at fall festival, Johnny came to Kiniwata and found himself a wife. He paid her father eight cows!”

I knew enough about island customs to be impressed. Two or three cows would buy a fair-to-middling wife, four of five a highly satisfactory one.

“Good Lord!” I said, “Eight cows! She must have beauty that takes your breath away.”

“She’s not ugly,” he conceded, and smiled a little. “But the kindest could only call Sarita plain. Sam Karoo, her father, was afraid she’d be left on his hands.”

“But then he got eight cows for her? Isn’t that extraordinary?”

“Never been paid before.”

“Yet you call Johnny’s wife plain?”

“I said it would be kindness to call her plain. She was skinny. She walked with her shoulders hunched and her head ducked. She was scared of her own shadow.”

She finally found Johnny Lingo and got to talking about the price he had paid.

“They ask that?” His eyes lighted with pleasure. “Everyone in Kiniwata knows about the eight cows?”

I nodded.  Maybe it was vanity.

And then I saw her. I watched her enter the room to place flowers on the table. She stood a moment to smile at the young man beside me. Then she went swiftly out again. She was the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. The lift of her shoulders, the tilt of her chin, the sparkle of her eyes all spelled a pride to which no one could deny her the right.

I turned back to Johnny Lingo and found him looking at me. “You admire her?” he murmured.

“She…she’s glorious. But she’s not Sarita from Kiniwata,” I said.

“There’s only one Sarita. Perhaps she does not look the way they say she looked in Kiniwata.”

“She doesn’t. I heard she was homely. They all make fun of you because you let yourself be cheated by Sam Karoo.”

“You think eight cows were too many?” A smile slid over his lips.

“No. But how can she be so different?”

“Do you ever think,” he asked, “what it must mean to a woman to know that her husband has settled on the lowest price for which she can be bought?  And then later, when the women talk, they boast of what their husbands paid for them.

One says four cows, another maybe six. How does she feel, the woman who was sold for one or two? This could not happen to my Sarita.”

“Then you did this just to make your wife happy?”

“I wanted Sarita to be happy, yes. But I wanted more than that. You say she is different. This is true. Many things can change a woman. Things happen inside, things happen outside. But the thing that matters most is what she thinks of herself. In Kiniwata, Sarita believed she was worth nothing. Now she knows she is worth more than any other woman in the islands.”

“Then you wanted–”

“I wanted to marry Sarita. I loved her and no other woman.”

“But–” I was close to understanding.

“But,” he finished softly, “I wanted an eight-cow wife.”

How you treat your wife, and how she sees herself, makes all the difference in the world.

Well, there’s one more thing that Solomon recommends we take pleasure in—our work. 

Remember that work itself is not the curse, but rather a stewardship from God.  Work was a joy until Adam and Eve sinned, then it became fraught with all kinds of difficulties.  The toil that we now do is “under the sun” (v. 9).

Even the rabbis learned a trade (Paul was a tentmaker) and reminded them, “He who does not teach a son to work, teaches him to steal.”  Paul wrote, “If any would not work, neither should he eat” (2 Thess. 3:10).

Here Solomon says, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might” (Ecclesiastes 9:10). 

First of all, he is saying “do whatever lies at hand,” the work that is before you.  This doesn’t mean to work randomly and not “go” to work, but it simply means to take responsibility for the work that lies before you.  Don’t shirk it.  Do, don’t dream of doing.

In his sermon on this verse Charles Spurgeon described a young man who dreamed of standing under a banyan tree and preaching eloquent sermons to people in India. “My dear fellow,” said Spurgeon, “why don’t you try the streets of London first, and see whether you are eloquent there!” (Charles Spurgeon, “A Home Mission Sermon,” The New Park Street Pulpit (Pasadena, TX: Pilgrim, 1975), 5:274).

It also implies that we can only do what God has given us to do, not the things that he has placed outside our reach.  We must, therefore, seek contentment in the work that we have been given and not be constantly pining for some other job.

The Preacher also tells us the way to do this work — not just what to do but how to do it: with all our might.

This is reflected in Paul’s writings in Colossians 3:17; Colossians 3:23 and Romans 12:11. In Colossians 3:17 Paul says, “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

Work can cover a whole gamut of activities.  It doesn’t matter whether the work is sacred or secular—”Whatever you do,” Paul says, “do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus.”  Do it for Jesus sake, for His glory.

In Colossians 3:23 Paul says, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men…”  There he emphasizes that our real supervisor is not man but God, who is always watching us.  We all know how easy it is to slack off when no one is watching and show off when someone is.  Well, we should work at it “with all our might” simply because God is watching.

Are you giving God (and your boss) 100 percent of your working time, or are you giving him something less than your very best?  The Puritan William Perkins said, “We must take heed of two damnable sins. . . . The first is idleness, whereby the duties of our callings . . . are neglected or omitted.  The second is slothfulness, whereby they are performed slackly and carelessly” (William Perkins, Works , 2 vols. (London, 1626), 1:752).

In Romans 12:11 Paul writes, “Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.”  This verse applies to any type of ministry for the Lord, possibly even those outside the church.  We should do any job, any ministry for God’s glory.  And our attitude should show zeal and fervency, not a lazy, carefree attitude.

We should also work while the still have the strength.  The day may come when we have to stand aside and allow someone younger to take our place.

The spirit of what the Preacher says about the pleasures of wine, women, and work is captured well by Eugene Peterson’s loose paraphrase in The Message :

Seize life! Eat bread with gusto, Drink wine with a robust heart.
Oh yes – God takes pleasure in your pleasure!
Dress festively every morning.
Don’t skimp on colors and scarves.
Relish life with the spouse you love Each and every day of your precarious life.
Each day is God’s gift. It’s all you get in exchange For the hard work of staying alive.
Make the most of each one!
Whatever turns up, grab it and do it! And heartily! (Ecclesiastes 9:7–10)

This is a call to Christian hedonism—pursuing pleasure in God and His good gifts.  his is a beautiful, bountiful world, and we were designed to enjoy its pleasures.  So make the most of every day.  Taste the joys of life with your children, your spouse, your friends.

But there is also a deadly spiritual danger in the pursuit of pleasure.  We may get so distracted by earthly pleasures that we lose our passion for God.  How tempting it is to worship the gift and forget the Giver!

Some people live for food. They make a god out of their belly (Philippians 3:19), and thus they are guilty of gluttony (which has little or nothing to do with how much people weigh, but everything to do with our attitude toward food).   people are addicted to wine or strong drink.  They are guilty of drunkenness and dissipation (Luke 21:34).  Others turn their relationships into idols by needing them so much they are willing to sacrifice their morals or their spiritual life.  Some pine for relationships so much that they think of nothing else.  Then, there are those who live for their work, or for the money that work produces, or for prestige and applause, or maybe just to avoid problems at home.

The pleasures that people pursue are usually good in themselves.  The danger comes when they take the place of God. “Sin is not just the doing of bad things,” writes Tim Keller, “but the making of good things into ultimate things.  It is seeking to establish a sense of self by making something else more central to your significance, purpose, and happiness than your relationship to God” (Tim Keller, The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism (New York: Dutton, 2008), p. 162).

There are many things that can either be enjoyed as gifts from God, or can come between us and God as god substitutes.  When we seek to find our deepest satisfaction in those things we will be disappointed.

So what do we do?  Deny ourselves?  There are those who recommend self-denial and asceticism.  We know there are some things we need to avoid.  “‘All things are lawful,’” the Scripture says, “but not all things are helpful” (1 Corinthians 10:23).

In general, though, God wants us to enjoy his good gifts with gratitude.  “Everything created by God is good,” the Scripture says, “and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving” (1 Timothy 4:4).

This gives us a good test to use for all our earthly pleasures.  We can ask ourselves: When I pray, is this something I would feel good about including in my thanksgiving, or would I be embarrassed to mention it?  Am I thanking God for this pleasure, or have I been enjoying it without ever giving him a second thought?  When we are enjoying legitimate pleasures in a God-honoring way, it seems natural to include them in our prayers.  But when we pursue them for their own sake, usually we do not pray about them much at all (or about anything else, for that matter).  And we especially neglect to thank God for those gifts.

God alone “is the source of all the gifts of earthly life: its bread and wine, festivity and work, marriage and love” (Derek Kidner, The Message of Ecclesiastes , The Bible Speaks Today (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1976), p. 83). 

Every pleasure comes from the God of all pleasure, and therefore it should be received with thanksgiving and praise. Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote, “Earth’s crammed with heaven, / And every common bush afire with God; / But only he who sees, takes off his shoes / The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries” (Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Aurora Leigh (New York: Penguin, 1996), book 7). 

See the gifts that God has given to you, and then respond with holy praise.  Everything we enjoy in this life should point us back to the Giver of “every good and perfect gift.”

God is good and God has given us good things to enjoy in this life, and we should enjoy them with thanksgiving.  We should remember that He has given them to us and to give thanks and praise to Him for all the goodness that He shows us throughout this good life—whether they be our work or our wives or all the simple pleasures of life that He has given us to enjoy.

We should give thanks to God for all of them, for they are good and He is good.

People may not sing it much anymore, but the following song was popular in its day:

You’re gonna take that ocean trip, no matter come what may;
You’ve got your reservations made, but you just can’t get away.

Next year for sure, you’ll see the world, you’ll really get around;
But how far can you travel when you’re six feet under ground?

Then the refrain:

Enjoy yourself, it’s later than you think!
Enjoy yourself, while you’re still in the pink.

The years go by, as quickly as a wink,
Enjoy yourself, enjoy yourself, it’s later than you think.

Herb Magidson, “Enjoy Yourself (It’s Later than You Think),” 1934.

“Enjoy Yourself” was written in the 1930s and popularized in the 1950s, but its perspective on life is as old as Ecclesiastes. Our time on earth is short, so we had better make the most of it, finding joy in its many pleasures.

Solomon says it like this:

7 Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do. 8 Let your garments be always white. Let not oil be lacking on your head. 9 Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that he has given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun. 10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.

This doesn’t sound like the doom and gloom that Solomon has been relating to us.  He had just bemoaned the fact that both the righteous and the wicked, both the wise and the foolish, all die and are forgotten.  But here, as he has done so often (cf. 2:24-26; 3:12-13, 22; 5:18-19), Solomon recommended the present enjoyment of the good things God allows us to experience in life.

This was his conclusion, since our future on the earth is so uncertain, and since after that we die, we cannot enjoy these things, after death.

In particular, we should enjoy food and drink (v. 7), clean clothing and perfume (v. 8), and marital companionship (v. 9), among other of life’s legitimate pleasures.  Notice that this list includes some luxuries as well as the necessities of life (cf. 5:19).

I know I’ve mentioned this before.  It is important that our primary satisfaction must be in Jesus Christ Himself.  We are to “glorify God by enjoying Him forever.”  Keeping that in mind keeps any of God’s good gifts from becoming idols that we “must have” in order to be happy.  But, when we make Him our greatest joy, then we are allowed to enjoy all other good gifts for His sake, or for His glory.  We are to receive those gifts (Eccl. 2:24; 3:13; 5:20) with humble gratitude, knowing that we don’t deserve them, and then enjoy them as we rejoice in His generosity and kindness to us.

I find it God’s timing that this passage comes up during Thanksgiving week.

Solomon is providing some balance in perspective from the consternation and frustration that he feels about being unable to understand all of God’s ways.  Solomon has said a lot about life that is vanity and chasing wind.  He acknowledges that life is unfair and we often cannot figure out what God is up to.

But, while we may not be able to figure out the big things, we can enjoy and rejoice in the little things, the little gifts of life that God so generously and graciously gives us.

We need to respond to the times (Eccl. 3:1-8), remembering that there are times to be sad and times to be glad.  Experiencing both of these realities is what life is really about.  It is not a continual party; neither is it a perpetual funeral.  Some people need to spend more time at funerals, but others need to go to a party and enjoy themselves every once in awhile.

Of course, Solomon is not encouraging us to get sinfully involved in any of the pleasures of life.  When he says in v. 7 that “God has already approved what you do” he is not giving a blanket endorsement of everything a person might do.  Rather he is saying that enjoying the simple gifts of life finds approval with God.  God delights in our delighting in His good gifts.

“God has already approved what you do (v. 7) means such enjoyment is God’s will for us.  This encouraging word does not contradict the fact that we are the stewards of all God entrusts to us.  However, this verse should help us realize that it is not sinful to take pleasure in what God has given us, even some luxuries.  

We all need to learn to balance grateful participation and generous sharing, keeping and enjoying some things and giving away others so that others might enjoy them.  This balance is not easy, but it is important.

What kinds of pleasure has God given his people to enjoy?  The Preacher mentions at least three pleasures in particular: contentment, comfort, and companionship.

He begins with the basic pleasures of eating and drinking: “Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart” (Ecclesiastes 9:7).

The word “go” here conveys a sense of urgency.  It is a command to engage in eating and drinking “with joy” and “with a merry heart.”  It is probably not the gastric eating and drinking that Solomon is commending, as much as the heartfelt joy in experiencing God’s good gifts.

How do we know if our eating and drinking are “with joy”?  I think the way we stoke our joy is through rejoicing, in expressing verbally our gratitude and our delight in God’s good gifts.  Yes, thank your hostess, but thank God too for the tastes of the food and drink.

For those of you who might have experienced the symptoms of COVID-19, you understand the blessing of being able to taste your food and drink.

Warren Wiersbe points out that Solomon, unlike the normal Israelite family, sat down to a daily feast (1 Kings 4:22-23).  However, there is evidence that he didn’t always enjoy it.  “Better is a dinner of herbs where love is than a fattened ox and hatred with it” (Prov. 15:17).  “Better is a dry morsel with quiet than a house full of feasting with strife” (Prov. 17:1).  He says, “The most important thing on any menu is family love, for love turns an ordinary meal into a banquet” (The Wiersbe Bible Commentary: Old Testament, p. 1137).

The celebration continues in verse 8: “Let your garments be always white. Let not oil be lacking on your head.”  White garments were the “dress-up clothes” of the ancient Near East.  Many festive occasions were adorned with robes of white.

They were worn by war heroes in a victory parade, by slaves on the day they gained their freedom, and by priests on the high holy days of Israel (e.g., 2 Chronicles 5:12).  To put this into a contemporary context, the Preacher is telling us to put on tuxedos and evening gowns so we can dance the night away.

Again, he is telling us to enjoy life.  There’s nothing wrong with that.  God approves of it.

Qoheleth also tells us to wear sweet perfume.  To anoint someone’s head with oil (see Psalm 23:5) was to pour out something richly scented, like cologne — what the Bible terms “the oil of gladness” (Psalm 45:7).  This is an important part of getting ready for a celebration — not just looking good but also smelling good, especially in a hot climate.  People didn’t bathe that often, so perfume made up for that.  The Preacher is telling us to get ready for a party!

“White garments and anointing oil make life more comfortable in a hot climate.” (Eaton)

Although white garments and perfume were normally for special occasions, Solomon is advising people to “always” wear white garments and never be lacking oil on the head.  This is akin to Paul’s exhortation “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice” (Phil. 4:4).

Again, Wiersbe says, “Among other things, this may be what Jesus had in mind when He told His disciples to become like little children (Matt. 18:1-6).  An unspoiled child delights in the simple activities of life, even the routine activities, while a pampered child must be entertained by a variety of expensive amusements.  It’s not by searching for special things that we find joy, but by making the everyday things special” (The Wiersbe Bible Commentary: Old Testament, p. 1137).

I love this quote by G. K. Chesterton:

“Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged.  They always say, “Do it again”; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead.  For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony.  But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony.  It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again” to the moon.  It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them.  It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.”

There is more. The Preacher also invites us to “enjoy life with the wife whom you love” (Ecclesiastes 9:9).  Literally he says, “with the woman you love,” but he is not just saying, “Love the one you’re with.”  That can be a dangerous sentiment.

Solomon knew nothing of cohabitation or trial marriages.  He saw a wife as a gift from God (Prov. 18:22; 19:14), and marriage as a loving commitment that lasts a lifetime.  It is not, ultimately, based on passion or chemistry, but commitment.  M. Scott Peck calls commitment “the foundation, the bedrock of any genuinely loving relationship” (The Road Less Traveled, p. 140).

As Tremper Longman has argued persuasively in his commentary, the woman in view is understood to be none other than the man’s beloved wife (Longman, The Book of Ecclesiastes , pp. 230–231).  The Preacher is commending the daily pleasures of marriage and family life.

It’s too bad Solomon didn’t live up to his own ideals.  He abandoned God’s pattern for marriage—remember he had 1000 women—and then allowed some of them to seduce him away from faithfulness to the Lord (1 Kings 11:1-8).  If he wrote Ecclesiastes later in life, as I believe he did, then verse 9 is his confession, “Now I know better!”

Here it seems appropriate to give a word of practical exhortation to married couples.  We could apply the principle of this verse to other relationships, of course.  We should enjoy the company of others as well.  The love between a man and his wife is not the only pleasure we can experience in human friendship.  

But here the Bible gives a specific command to husbands, who need to pay attention to exactly what the Preacher says.

9 Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that he has given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun. 

Every husband is called to enjoy his wife.  This means spending time together as friends.  In all the busy demands of life, set aside time to do things together that you both enjoy.  If you have to, schedule time together.  Some people go on regular date nights, just to get away by themselves.

Some people have the love language of quality time, but that can mean different things.  Some enjoy doing things side by side, like gardening, sports, or watching movies.  But for others, quality time means face to face, heart to heart conversation about the things that really matter.

It means prizing one another as lovers.  Speak terms of affection and get away — just the two of you — to fuel the fires of romantic love.  Emotional intimacy means sharing your love and affection for one another.  This form of intimacy can also be nurtured through empathizing with each other and trying to understand each other’s feelings.

Enjoying one’s wife also means valuing her as a person.  Listen carefully to what she says, without immediately pointing out where she’s wrong or trying to solve problems that she’s not even asking you to solve until she has been understood.  Value her opinion and take it into consultation when making a decision.

Enjoy her sexually.  Solomon is very explicit in the book of Proverbs, telling men to enjoy their wives sexually instead of going to prostitutes.  In Proverbs 5 Solomon says:

15 Drink water from your own cistern, flowing water from your own well. 16 Should your springs be scattered abroad, streams of water in the streets? 17 Let them be for yourself alone, and not for strangers with you. 18 Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth, 19 a lovely deer, a graceful doe.  Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight; be intoxicated always in her love. 20 Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with a forbidden woman and embrace the bosom of an adulteress? 

Those are pretty sexual words.  If that isn’t enough, read Song of Solomon 4.

1 Behold, you are beautiful, my love, behold, you are beautiful! Your eyes are doves behind your veil. Your hair is like a flock of goats leaping down the slopes of Gilead. 2 Your teeth are like a flock of shorn ewes that have come up from the washing, all of which bear twins, and not one among them has lost its young. 3 Your lips are like a scarlet thread, and your mouth is lovely. Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate behind your veil. 4 Your neck is like the tower of David, built in rows of stone; on it hang a thousand shields, all of them shields of warriors. 5 Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle, that graze among the lilies. 6 Until the day breathes and the shadows flee, I will go away to the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense. 7 You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you. 8 Come with me from Lebanon, my bride; come with me from Lebanon. Depart from the peak of Amana, from the peak of Senir and Hermon, from the dens of lions, from the mountains of leopards. 9 You have captivated my heart, my sister, my bride; you have captivated my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace. 10 How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride! How much better is your love than wine, and the fragrance of your oils than any spice! 11 Your lips drip nectar, my bride; honey and milk are under your tongue; the fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon. 12 A garden locked is my sister, my bride, a spring locked, a fountain sealed. 13 Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates with all choicest fruits, henna with nard, 14 nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense, myrrh and aloes, with all choice spices– 15 a garden fountain, a well of living water, and flowing streams from Lebanon. 16 Awake, O north wind, and come, O south wind! Blow upon my garden, let its spices flow. Let my beloved come to his garden, and eat its choicest fruits.

Whew.  That’s at least PG rated!  But can you see the delight these two find in each other?

Physical intimacy can be as light as holding hands, hugs and kisses, or it can involve engaging in sex.

These are only a few of the many ways that husbands are called to enjoy their wives.  But the key word is “enjoy” her.  Don’t just live with her and put up with her.  If you’re not enjoying your wife, it’s not her fault, but yours.

And notice that this enjoying of your wife is to be lifelong—“all the days of your life”—and even amidst all the difficulties or regular responsibilities—your portion in life and toil in life.

At this point some husbands (and not a few wives) will be tempted to complain that their wives (or husbands) are not always easy to enjoy.  The romance has fizzled away and sometimes even the friendship can be on the rocks.

If that is the case, then we need to notice exactly how the Preacher words this command: the wife when we are told to “enjoy” is also the wife whom we are said to “love.”  Maybe your wife, or your husband, can be very hard to enjoy right now, but you can at least obey God’s command to love them.

That’s because the love the Bible recommends as the basis of marriage is not a feeling, but a sacrificial commitment to do what is best for your spouse, even if it hurts and even if they don’t deserve.

That is exactly the kind of love that Jesus Christ shows to us through the cross.  He demonstrates His love in that “while we were still sinners” (undeserving) He died for us.  That is the kind of love that Paul says keeps a marriage strong.

Solomon has been hard at work trying to figure out what life is all about, hoping to come up with some simple, unambiguous answer, something to print and hang on the bedroom wall or put up on Pinterest.  But the more he looked into things, the more he struggled to make sense of his world.

Looking for the meaning of life was like chasing one’s tail—it didn’t get Solomon anywhere.  This is a book that shows us that we will struggle with the problems of life, but as we struggle we need to learn to trust God.  Although we cannot perceive all the answers or solve all the problems, we trust that God can.  The subsections that follow begin “no one knows” or the equivalent (9:1, 12; 11:2; cf. 9:5; 10:14, 15; 11:5 twice, 6).

So Derek Kidner comments:

“Before the positive emphasis of the final three chapters can emerge, we have to make sure that we shall be building on nothing short of hard reality.  In case we should be cherishing some comforting illusions, chapter 9 confronts us with the little that we know, then with the vast extent of what we cannot handle: in particular, with death, the ups and downs of fortune, and the erratic favours of the crowd.”

And this is how the Christian life works: it is not just about what we get at the end, but also about what we become along the way. Discipleship is a journey, and not merely a destination.

And even though there is mystery in life, and especially in death, this doesn’t diminish our ability to experience joy (8:15-9:9) or to continue working with all our might (9:10-11:6). 

The Bible never condemns our attempts at understanding life.  Rather, the pursuit of knowledge is everywhere encouraged in Scripture.  We must never adopt the attitude of anti-intellectualism that characterizes some segments of Christianity.

The mind does matter.  We are to reason and think about what God is doing and what life gives us.  But we must always remember, as the argument makes clear here, that no matter how much we try to understand life, mysteries will still remain.  (Ray Stedman, Is This All There Is to Life?, 128)

No matter how hard we try or how long we labor, we cannot figure out the infinite workings of God.  With His help, we can understand His activity in part, but a full grasp of it is beyond our ability.  This point leads to the second matter we must realize–namely, that God’s mysteries go beyond human intellect and wisdom.  We cannot discover them on our own.  If He wants us to know them at all, then He must reveal them to us.  Of course, the mysteries we cannot resolve frequently cause us to struggle in our faith.  (Charles R. Swindoll, Living on the Ragged Edge, 82-83)

Peter Kreeft, in Three Philosophies of Life reminds us that although the whole Bible is divine revelation, the book of Ecclesiastes has no speech directly from God, no direct revelation.  The book is not a dialogue, but a monologue.  It represents the best of man’s wisdom without the benefit of divine revelation.  He says, “In this book God reveals to us exactly what life is when God does not reveal to us what life is (Three Philosophies of Life, p. 23).

Here is the way Solomon puts it:

16 When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done on earth, how neither day nor night do one’s eyes see sleep, 17 then I saw all the work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. However much man may toil in seeking, he will not find it out.  Even though a wise man claims to know, he cannot find it out. 1 But all this I laid to heart, examining it all, how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God.  Whether it is love or hate, man does not know; both are before him. 2 It is the same for all, since the same event happens to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean, to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice.  As the good one is, so is the sinner, and he who swears is as he who shuns an oath. 3 This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that the same event happens to all.  Also, the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead. 4 But he who is joined with all the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion. 5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. 6 Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished, and forever they have no more share in all that is done under the sun.

As we’ve seen over and over again, this is an amazing book before us.  Solomon gives us every reason under the sun to be gloomy.  He tells us that death always wins, and life always cheats.  He tells us that the best effort we can put forth guarantees exactly nothing.  Then, as always, he tells us to be joyful!   (David Jeremiah, Searching for Heaven on Earth, 240)

In vv. 16-17 Solomon acknowledges that all his seeking after wisdom and to know the works of God, despite sleepless days and nights of searching, were fruitless.  His conclusion is that “man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun.”  Here “under the sun” simply means on earth.

“The very busyness of life worries us into asking where it is taking us, and what it means, if it does mean anything. We hardly need Qoheleth to point out that this is the very question that defeats us.” (Kidner)

His conclusion is that we must be content not to know everything.  Neither hard work (toil), persistent endeavor (seeking), skill or experience (wisdom) will unravel the mystery.  Wise men may make excessive claims; they too will be baffled.  (Michael A. Eaton, Tyndale OT Commentaries: Ecclesiastes, 124)

From everything that we have read so far (e.g., Ecclesiastes 1:13), we know that the Preacher is telling us the honest truth about his spiritual quest.  He has been trying to learn as much about life as he can.  Both by personal experience and by careful observation, he has tried to discover the truth about things as they actually are.

His conclusion so far is that it is impossible to know for certain what God is up to in the world.  Restless days and sleepless nights might not only speak to his incessant pursuit of this knowledge, but the reality of his anxieties in not coming to a satisfying conclusion.

No matter how wise we are, and no matter how much we “toil in seeking” (Ecclesiastes 8:17), we fail to comprehend his holy ways.

You know, there is a lot of information out there in the world.  As of 2006, researchers estimated that the world generated almost 200 billion gigabytes of digital information every year (Brian Bergstein, “Overload,” The Philadelphia Inquirer (March 8, 2007), C1).  Yet that does not begin to give us a clue to the mysterious workings of God’s sovereign plan.

But Solomon does not turn into a cynic, believing that life is only “a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing” (William Shakespeare, Macbeth , Act 5, scene 5).  He does believe that what happens in the world is “the work of God” (Eccl. 8:17).

The wise choice is to humbly submit to God’s mysterious will and to trust Him.  We should lift our hearts and voices in praise of God, like Paul did when he arrived at the great mysteries of the mind of God with regard to Israel: “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! ‘For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?’ ” (Romans 11:33–34).

Beginning in Ecclesiastes 9 Solomon once again contemplates death.  Why?  Because remembering that we die is the great authenticator to insure that our worldview is based on reality, not illusion.

What we learn from Solomon’s “under the sun” perspective is that whether you are good or evil, a wise person or a fool, we all end up dead.  “Under the sun” it is always better to be living that dead.

The only thing that comforts us in the midst of death is this truth about God’s sovereignty expressed in verse 1: “But all this I laid to heart, examining it all, how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God” (Eccl. 9:1).

The Bible uses the image of “the hand of God” to express God’s power, love, supervision, and control. Here the metaphor expresses his sovereign supervision of his people and their actions. God really does have “the whole world in his hands,” as the old gospel song says.  “Each one of us,” writes T. M. Moore, “without regard for what we’ve done in life, or whom we know, or what place we might occupy in our society — each one is in the hand of God, and he decides for each of us just what will be for us throughout our lives” (T. M. Moore, Ecclesiastes: Ancient Wisdom When All Else Fails: A New Translation and Interpretive Paraphrase (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2001), p. 65).

What a comfort and assurance to every believer!  Our lives are in his hands—hands of protection, love and security.  And we can surrender all our burdens and anxieties into His hands.

Of course, this was not the Bible’s full understanding of this issue, for Solomon was writing before the cross.  However, he realized that God was sovereign over the life of every believer.  He still struggled to understand what God was doing in the world.

His uncertainty comes out very clearly in the second half of Ecclesiastes 9:1: “Whether it is love or hate, man does not know; both are before him.”

The meaning of this verse is debatable.  The Preacher may be talking about love and hate as human emotions.  That is certainly what he means in verse 6, where he talks about “their love and their hate.”  So perhaps in verse 1 he is saying that human beings have trouble discerning the difference between love and hate.

Yet it is hard to see how this idea fits very well into the flow of his argument.  It seems more likely, therefore, to see love and hate as attributes of God.  When the Bible applies these terms to God, “love” refers to his acceptance, and “hate” refers to his rejection.  For example, when the Lord says, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated” (Romans 9:13), he means that Jacob is accepted by faith, but Esau is rejected in his unbelief.

And that leaves Solomon in a dilemma.  How does one know whether God loves and accepts, or hates and rejects, us?  He knows that our fate is in God’s hands, but is unsure how we can know our fate.  Being in God’s hands can be a good thing, as is expressed in John 10 where Jesus says “no one can ever snatch us out of his hand,” yet Scripture also affirms that “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31).  Therefore, it is not enough to know that we are in God’s hands.  We have to ask whether God’s hands are for us or against us?

The Preacher goes on to say that this is impossible to determine based on life’s circumstances.  We tend to think that the evidence of God’s blessing is a person’s health, wealth, success and popularity, but this is not necessarily so.  In Solomon’s experience God seems to treat everyone roughly the same, again making it hard to figure out whether he “loves” us or “hates” us.

In verse 2 Solomon says…

2 It is the same for all, since the same event happens to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean, to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice.  As the good one is, so is the sinner, and he who swears is as he who shuns an oath.

The “same event” mentioned at the beginning of verse 2 is death.  Both the righteous and the wicked, the good and the evil, the clean and the unclean, the sacrifice and the person who does not sacrifice—they all die.  Again, this is the way life (and death) appears in Solomon’s “under the sun” mentality.

Earlier the Preacher assured us that things would go well for the righteous, but not for the wicked (Ecclesiastes 8:12–13).  This will be true enough on the Day of Judgment. But in the meantime, the Preacher struggled to understand why the righteous were not blessed and the wicked were not cursed.

Back in Ecclesiastes 8:14 he talked about a reversal of fortune, in which good people get what bad people deserve and vice versa.  Here in Ecclesiastes 9:2–3 he makes a different point — not that there is a reversal of fortune, but that everyone suffers the same misfortune.

One reason it is so hard to tell whether God is for us or against us is because the same things happen to everyone.

There are two different categories of people, and in general it is good to be a part of the “good” category, but Solomon struggles with how unfair it seems that in life the righteous don’t always get what they deserve and then in death they all experience the same fate.  Again, Solomon is speaking from the “under the sun” viewpoint.  It is the same fate for all, and Solomon doesn’t like it.

Derek Kidner opines:

“To all appearances, God is just not interested.  The things that are supposed to matter most to Him turn out to make no difference – or none that anyone can see – to the way we are disposed of in the end.  Moral or immoral, religious or profane, we are all mown down alike.”

If there are heavy storms, the righteous get flooded out with the wicked.  If there is an earthquake, both of their houses fall down, and if there is a depression, they both go broke.  Thinking more optimistically, when times are good, the rising tide will lift all boats.  Therefore, we will never be able to separate the righteous from the wicked on the basis of what happens in the world.  Since God “sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45), it is impossible to tell who has and who does not have God’s eternal favor.

This frustrated the Preacher no end. In fact, he begins verse 3 by saying that the equivalence of earthly outcomes is an evil thing.  Then he ends the verse by saying, once again, that human beings are desperately wicked: “Also, the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead” (Ecclesiastes 9:3; cf. 7:29; 8:11).

Can you sense the frustration of Solomon here?  The Preacher ended chapter 8 by denying that anyone can understand the work that God does in the world.  For a moment he gave us some hope that our lives were in the hands of a sovereign God, but then he said that it was impossible for us to know whether God is for us or against us — the same fate awaits us all.

And, on top of that, the human heart is full of so much evil that it almost drives us to madness.

Boy, don’t we see that in our culture today?  People commit acts of lawless violence, pursue self-destructive addictions, engage in sexual immoralities.  Families fall apart, children are abused, marriages end.  We are living in a world of madness.

And, worst of all, we all end up dead.  “After that,” the Preacher says, “they go to the dead” (Ecclesiastes 9:3).

In light of all this, Solomon’s “under the sun” conclusion is to live at all costs, to stay alive.  Verse 4 says…

4 But he who is joined with all the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion. 

Now, a lion is the “king of beasts” (Prov. 30:30), admired throughout the ancient world.  But Solomon concludes that it would be better to be a living dog than a dead lion.  Unlike dogs today, dogs in the ancient world were not “man’s best friend” or beloved pets.  They were wild scavengers (1 Kings 14:11) notorious for uncleanness (Prov. 26:11).  To call someone a dog was a social insult.  Thus, to more highly value being a dog rather than a lion was a major reversal of social and moral order.  The key factor is that the dog is still alive!

That is why Solomon says, “he who is joined with all the living has hope.”  As long as you are alive you have hope, after that, who knows?  Where there is life there is hope, “there’s always tomorrow.”  Better to face the perplexities and questions of life than to step into the nothingness of death.

Solomon goes on in vv. 5-6 to express that the living know they will die, but the dead know nothing.  They are now forgotten and have “no more reward.”  Again, remember that this is the “under the sun” worldview that omits the revelation of the afterlife with its rewards.  And, of course, there is nothing good in the afterlife, and no reward, for those who die outside of Christ.

Because of all that we lose in death, it should make us grateful to be alive.

Fortunately we have more revelation from God that helps us to know that death is not an end, but a new beginning for those of us who know Jesus Christ.  We will step into the presence of Jesus Christ, enter into the joy of our master and experience rewards and eternal life.  This book pushes us to seek after God’s truth about what comes after this life.  Fortunately, He has revealed that to us.

Every few years at Grace Bible Church we have a series called “You Asked for It,” which consists of questions people have about the Bible and theology.  One of the more common questions is “Why do bad things happen to good people?”  Of course, that is also a common objection that unbelievers have against Christianity.  It is hard for us to understand, and the “answer” is often quite complex.

Solomon deals with that same issue in this last paragraph of Ecclesiastes 8.

10 Then I saw the wicked buried. They used to go in and out of the holy place and were praised in the city where they had done such things. This also is vanity. 11 Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil. 12 Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs his life, yet I know that it will be well with those who fear God, because they fear before him. 13 But it will not be well with the wicked, neither will he prolong his days like a shadow, because he does not fear before God. 14 There is a vanity that takes place on earth, that there are righteous people to whom it happens according to the deeds of the wicked, and there are wicked people to whom it happens according to the deeds of the righteous.  I said that this also is vanity. 15 And I commend joy, for man has no good thing under the sun but to eat and drink and be joyful, for this will go with him in his toil through the days of his life that God has given him under the sun.

Once again, Solomon deals with a situation that he feels is vanity, emptiness.  It has to do with death and how it doesn’t seem to matter whether one is righteous or wicked.  Death comes to us all.

Solomon has been pondering about the power of earthly kings and how we might respond to them (8:2-4), and over God’s sovereignty over death (8:8).  Death sobers us.  It makes us face our own mortality.  It forces us to ask ultimate questions.  We are often distracted by the pace and problems of life, but standing next to a grave reminds us of something we try all too hard to forget: that death is coming for us all.

What was troubling Solomon, as it troubled many biblical writers and many people today, is that bad people seemed to have a good life.  If God were just, then He ought to judge the wicked and reward the righteous.  But when he looked around, he saw just the opposite.  The wicked received a good burial; the righteous were quickly forgotten.  That didn’t seem fair.

Solomon is saying that the wicked deeds of the wicked were forgotten in the eulogy.  Like today, only good words were spoken at their funeral.  Like the Living Bible says “I have seen wicked men buried and as their friends returned from the cemetery, having forgotten all the dead man’s evil deeds, these men were praised in the very city where they had committed their crimes!”

Solomon was like Asaph, who admitted that he was “envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked” (Psalm 73:3).  Asaph makes this complaint in Psalm 73, where he also writes, “They have no pangs until death; their bodies are fat and sleek.  They are not in trouble as others are; they are not stricken like the rest of mankind” (vv. 4–5).  In other words, God’s enemies seem to get all the blessing. They make more money, have more power, and experience more pleasure and more popularity than the people who try to do what God says.

This is what Asaph saw, and the Preacher saw it too.

Here was his epitaph for the wicked: “They used to go in and out of the holy place and were praised in the city where they had done such things” (Ecclesiastes 8:10).

Although wicked people are prominent in the city, and sometimes even in the church, when they are dead they will be forgotten.

As far as this present life is concerned, however, the wicked often seem to get what they do not deserve.  Qoheleth writes about this injustice in Ecclesiastes 8:14: “There is a vanity that takes place on earth, that there are righteous people to whom it happens according to the deeds of the wicked, and there are wicked people to whom it happens according to the deeds of the righteous.  I said that this also is vanity.”

In other words, the wicked get rewarded (seemingly by God) while the righteous receive punishment, or bad things in life.  We see this happen in the world all the time.  Life seems grossly unfair.

Solomon calls this “vanity.”  The Reformation theologian Theodore Beza called it “repugnant to reason.”  It smacks of injustice and it grates on our sensitivities.

To make matters worse, the apparent inequity between the rewards of the righteous and the unrighteous makes some people more likely to do evil.  Notice what happens when the sins of the wicked go unpunished: “Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil” (Ecclesiastes 8:11; cf. 7:29).

Here we get another ugly glimpse into the total depravity of the human heart.  Because we are not punished right away for our sins, we are emboldened to keep sinning.  Because we don’t reap what we sow right away, we think we are getting away with it and so we keep right on sinning.  Justice is so painfully slow that some people think they can get away with murder.  Remember how Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez, professional baseball players, kept using steroids, even though they had been banned, simply because no one was holding them accountable.  If there are never any consequences, why not go ahead and sin?

When people operate unrighteously, they are taking advantage of God’s patience.  God is patient to allow people time to repent, but He won’t be patient forever.  He is “slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love” (Exodus 34:6), but judgment will come.  The Scripture says, “God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance” (Romans 2:4). Yet many people abuse the kindness and the patience of God by making them an excuse for their immorality.

Peter tells us that in the last days there will be scoffers who deny the coming of Christ as judge, arguing that things will continue as they were from the beginning of creation (2 Peter 3:4).

Cornell University’s William Provine makes this exact argument in his book on Darwinism. “When you die,” he says, “you’re not going to be surprised, because you’re going to be completely dead.  Now if I find myself aware after I’m dead, I’m going to be really surprised!  But at least I’m going to go to Hell, where I won’t have all of those grinning preachers from Sunday morning.”  Then Provine summarizes his own worldview, which has no room for God or for a final judgment:

There are no gods, no purposes, and no goal-directed forces of any kind.  There is no life after death.  When I die, I am absolutely certain that I am going to be dead.  That’s the end of me.  There is no ultimate foundation for ethics, no ultimate meaning in life. . . . Since we know that we are not going to live after we die, there is no reward for suffering in this world. You live and you die. (from a 1994 debate with Phillip Johnson at Stanford University, “Darwinism: Science of Naturalistic Philosophy?”)

Dr. Provine offers a long list of things that he “knows,” yet they are actually things that he believes , since none of them are capable of rational or scientific proof.  

But notice how similar his worldview is to the one we are warned about here in Ecclesiastes.  When people do not believe in God, they misunderstand why life matters and lose their foundation for righteous living, and therefore they turn their hearts toward evil.

To regain God’s perspective on good and evil, instead of this secular perspective, go to the graveyard.  Go visit the grave of someone evil.  The reality is, they die too.

Now, Alexander MacClaren offers a different perspective.  He thinks it is God’s design that justice doesn’t come upon sinners swiftly.  Even though the time lapse between sin and punishment may encourage some to sin, it can also be an opportunity for repentance.  He says…

If evil-doing was always followed by swift retribution, obedience would be only the obedience of fear, and God does not desire such obedience.  It would be impossible that testing could go on at all if at every instant the whole of the consequences of our actions were being realized.  Such a condition of things is unthinkable, and would be as confusing, in the moral sphere, as if harvest weather and spring weather were going on together.  Again, the great reason why sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily lies in God’s own heart, and His desire to win us to Himself by benefits.  (Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture, 2 Kgs – Eccl, 369)

Likewise, the Puritan Charles Bridges reminds us…

Were the execution instantly to follow the sentence, how many glorious manifestations of grace would have been lost to the Church!  We might have known Paul as “a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious;” but not as the “chief of sinners, who obtained mercy,” as a special display of “all long-suffering; and for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe.”  (1 Tm 1:13-16).  (Charles Bridges, The Geneva Series of Commentaries: Ecclesiastes, 197)

The Preacher believed that although there were plenty of injustices in this life, he was convinced that God would make things right in the end: “Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs his life, yet I know that it will be well with those who fear God, because they fear before him.  But it will not be well with the wicked, neither will he prolong his days like a shadow, because he does not fear before God” (Ecclesiastes 8:12–13).

It seems that the Preacher is asking us to look beyond this life and see that ultimate justice occurs in the next life.  This is what Asaph discovered.  Troubled by what he saw—the good life of the wicked—he went to the sanctuary, spent time with God getting His perspective right and “then I perceived their end.”

Whereas before he had almost slipped because he believed that God was rewarding the wicked, now he sees it differently:

18 Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin. 19 How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors! 20 Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms. 

God treats them like a bad dream and despises them.  They will be cast down to ruin, destroyed and swept away by terrors.

Asaph admits that he was thinking more like an animal than a human.  In other words, that his perspective was all earthly and temporal and man-centered.

21 When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart, 22 I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you. 

But God is faithful to reward Asaph, in this life and in the life to come.

23 Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. 24 You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. 

Qoheleth also knows that ultimately things will not go well for the wicked.  One day that wicked person will die, be buried, and then forgotten.

T. M. Moore offers the following paraphrase of verse 10: “And then they die.  The funeral’s nice enough: we give the guy his due; his loved ones weep; his friends all say they’ll miss him; then we bury him away from sight, and everyone forgets him.”

Verses 12–13 tell us more.  Verse 12 tells us that the wicked want to prolong their days. Because they do not have the assurance of Heaven, they desperately cling to this life.  But verse 13 affirms that they will not experience even one more moment than God gives them.  The wicked cannot prevent or postpone their own death.  David said something similar: “I am gone like a shadow at evening” (Psalm 109:23).

The Preacher says further, and rather ominously, that “it will not be well with the wicked” (Ecclesiastes 8:13; cf. Isaiah 3:11).   He is likely thinking about what happens to him after he dies.  After death, the wicked faces judgment (Hebrews 9:27).  Their sins will be counted against them.  And because their names are not written in the Lamb’s book of life, they will be cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:15).

Therefore, we are not to envy the wicked, no matter how good their lives seems right now.  It will not go well for them on the day of judgment.  They will be “thrown into the outer darkness,” where there will be “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 8:12).

Given the iniquities of life and the reality that we all die, Qoheleth is still more hopeful about those who live a God-fearing life.  “I know that it will be well with those who fear God,” he says, “because they fear before him” (Ecclesiastes 8:12).

What is significant about this statement is that the Preacher usually tells us about things he “sees” and experiences, but this is something he “knows.”  I think this is something he knows through revelation.  His reply is “not an observation, but the answer of faith.”  He believes something that he cannot yet see—that one day all will be well for the person who fears God.

Again, the “fear of God” is not living in terror of God, as if at any moment He will strike us with lightning for a single misstep.  It is, however, a recognition that God is judge and we will one day give an account to Him.  Michael Eaton calls it “the awe and holy caution that arises from realization of the greatness of God” (Ecclesiastes: An Introduction and Commentary , p. 122-123).

In this case, the realization of God’s greatness also comes with a realization of his nearness. Those who fear God are said to “fear before him” (Ecclesiastes 8:12), meaning that they know they are in his presence.

Most of us walk through our lives without any recognition that God is right there with us, watching us, hearing us, knowing every thought.  We would live more carefully and cautiously if we did remember that God is always near, always aware of what we are doing, saying and thinking.  He is with us in every moment, with a desire to help us.

The proper fear of God is an important theme throughout Ecclesiastes, but especially at the end.  The Preacher has told us to fear God because he is sovereign over the times of life (Ecclesiastes 3:14) and also to fear God when we go into his house for worship (Ecclesiastes 5:1, 7).  Later he will tell us to fear God by keeping his commandments (Ecclesiastes 12:13).  Here he says that if we fear God, it will go well for us in days to come.

Remember the words of the thief on the cross next to Christ.  Two thieves were crucified that day, one on either side of Jesus.  One of them mocked our Lord, but the other thief rebuked him by saying, “Do you not fear God?” (Luke 23:40).  Then he demonstrated his own fear of God by asking the crucified Christ to be his Savior. “Jesus,” he said, “remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Luke 23:42).  This is the way for anyone to begin living in the fear of God: Ask Jesus to save you!

Steve Brown reminds us:

There were two thieves on the cross.  One is there so that we might not presume.   The other is there so that you might not despair..  One is damned and the other is saved.

Anyone who asks for forgiveness will receive the same promise of eternal life that the thief received when he was dying on the cross next to Jesus.  Jesus will say to us what he said to that thief: “You will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43).  It is for this reason, and for this reason alone, that all “will be well” for the man, the woman, or the child who fears God.  It is only because Jesus died for our sins on the cross.

Qoheleth’s conclusion that he has returned to so often is: “And I commend joy, for man has no good thing under the sun but to eat and drink and be joyful, for this will go with him in his toil through the days of his life that God has given him under the sun” (8:15).

In spite of all the vanity “under the sun,” it is possible for us to find genuine joy in the ordinary things of daily life.  Indeed, that is one of the main points of this book.

Here is how Augustine summarized its message: “Solomon gives over the entire book of Ecclesiastes to suggesting, with such fullness as he judged adequate, the emptiness of this life, with the ultimate objective, to be sure, of making us yearn for another kind of life which is no unsubstantial shadow under the sun but substantial reality under the sun’s Creator.”

I don’t think Solomon is resigning himself to cynicism here.  He reminds us that life is a gift from God and that we should choose to rejoice in the good gifts that God has given us.  We don’t have to figure out all of the mysteries or resolve the inequities of life, we can simply trust God with it and enjoy the simple things of life.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, “Our life is not only a great deal of trouble and hard work; it is also refreshment and joy in God’s goodness.  We labor, but God nourishes and sustains us.  There is a reason to celebrate. . . . God is calling us to rejoice, to celebrate in the midst of our working day” (Life Together, quoted in James Limburg, Encountering Ecclesiastes: A Book for Our Time (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2006), pp. 47–48).

Philip Ryken shares this story from World War II which sets up what Solomon has to say about authority and how we interact with authority in Ecclesiastes 8.

Helmuth von Moltke was drafted to work in counterintelligence for Nazi Germany; yet his Christian faith made him a resolute opponent of Adolf Hitler.  Although he believed it would be wrong for him to use violent force against the Nazis, von Moltke used his high position to rescue many prisoners from certain death.  Not surprisingly, eventually he was accused of treason, put on trial, and sentenced to die.

In his final letter home to his beloved wife Freya, Helmuth described the dramatic moment at his trial when the judge launched into a tirade against his faith in Christ. “Only in one respect does the National Socialism resemble Christianity,” he shouted: “we demand the whole man.”  Then the judge asked the accused to declare his ultimate loyalty: “From whom do you take your orders, from the other world or from Adolf Hitler?  Where lie your loyalty and your faith?”

Von Moltke knew exactly where his loyalty lay.  He had put all his hope and trust in Jesus Christ.  Therefore, he stood before his earthly judge as a Christian and nothing else.  His faith had enabled him to act wisely in government service, and now it enabled him to act wisely when he faced his final hour.  As a believer in Christ, von Moltke understood the difference between the proper exercise of authority and the abuse of power.  He also knew the wise course of action when he was under someone else’s control and in danger for his very life.

In Ecclesiastes 8 Solomon instructs us in how to conduct ourselves before the king (8:1-4), then he discusses the interaction between divine authority and human response (8:5-8).  Then he reflects upon the abuse of authority in vv. 9-15 before his final reflection that deals with the human inability to know what God is up to (8:16-17).

These verses give us practical guidance for dealing with earthly government, whether good or evil, even in matters of life and death.

So let’s look today at Ecclesiastes 8:1-4.

1 Who is like the wise? And who knows the interpretation of a thing? A man’s wisdom makes his face shine, and the hardness of his face is changed. 2 I say: Keep the king’s command, because of God’s oath to him. 3 Be not hasty to go from his presence. Do not take your stand in an evil cause, for he does whatever he pleases. 4 For the word of the king is supreme, and who may say to him, “What are you doing?”

In Solomon’s day, the king had far-reaching power over his subjects.  They literally had the power of life and death in their hands and no one could hold them accountable.  Therefore, it became imperative to avoid his wrath.  We must keep this background in view because it lies behind what Solomon says throughout chapter 8.

This chapter begins by lauding wisdom (v. 1), and it ends by showing that it has limitations (v. 17).  Once again, Solomon applauds wisdom.  It does make his face shine.  It can change the hardness of his face.

The wisdom of the gospel can make that difference—exchanging a stony heart for a heart of flesh—and it shows upon our faces when we experience that grace!  Like the Psalmist says, people who look to the Lord “are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed” (Psalm 34:5).

A striking example comes from a 2008 essay by a prominent atheist about a strange phenomenon he had observed in Africa.  The journalist Matthew Parris wrote a piece for The Times entitled “Why Africa Needs God.”  Although Parris made it clear that he does not believe in God at all, he admitted that Christianity made a tangible difference in the lives of people he knew in his boyhood home of Malawi and in other countries across Africa.  Not only did he admire the good work that Christians were doing to care for the poor and sick, but he also liked the way they looked.  “The Christians were different,” he wrote. “Their faith appeared to have liberated and relaxed them.  There was a liveliness, a curiosity, an engagement with the world. . . . Whenever we entered a territory worked by missionaries, we had to acknowledge that something changed in the faces of the people we passed and spoke to: something in their eyes” (“As an atheist, I truly believe Africa needs God,” TimesOnline , December 27, 2008; http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/matthew_parris/arti-cle5400568. ece.

Biblical wisdom brings personal transformation.  As we behold the face of Jesus in Scripture, we are transformed from glory to glory (2 Cor. 3:18).

This opening verse summarizes what chapter 7 said about wisdom, while preparing us for what chapter 8 says about things that lie outside our control.  Wisdom still benefits us even if it does not answer all our questions or solve all our problems.

Chapter 7 ended by revealing how rare wisdom is—only one in a thousand men possess it.

Solomon seems to be describing an officer in the royal court, a man who had to carry out the orders of a despotic ruler.  Fortunately, this officer has wisdom.  It showed on his face.

The wise advisor, for all his gifts, is confronted by royal power and is totally dependent upon the royal pleasure. It is all very well to praise the wisdom of the wise (v 1), but one must attend to the risks they run at court (vv. 2–4).

Now, suppose the ruler asked this officer to do something that officer didn’t want to do, or something that was immoral to do.  What should this officer do?

We see this happened with Daniel.  He had to make a decision about eating the king’s cuisine and another time he kept on praying even after that was outlawed.

So what options does wisdom give us when faced with a command that goes against our desires, or more importantly, God’s will?

The first possible approach is disobedience.  And there is a case for civil disobedience in some situations.  But Solomon first begins by saying, “I say, keep the king’s command.”

Why?  After all, there are hints throughout the passage that the ruler in question may or may not exercise his authority in a godly way.  In fact, verse 9 indicates that earthly authority is often abused: “All this I observed while applying my heart to all that is done under the sun, when man had power over man to his hurt.” 

R. N. Whybray captures well the ambivalence in Qoheleth’s attitude toward political authority: “on the one hand he counsels obedience and submission to it on the grounds of prudence, while on the other he does not hide the fact that he regards it as brutal and tyrannical.”

How do we honor God by honoring the king?

Our first duty is obedience.  So the Preacher begins by telling us to “keep the king’s command” (Ecclesiastes 8:2).  A wise servant will do what the king tells him to do. He will say, “Your wish is my command.”

Reverent obedience to the king is part of the wisdom teaching (Prov. 24:21).  One is expected to respond to him with “honest lips” (Prov. 25:6) and “to claim no honor in his presence” (Prov. 25:6).  Royal displeasure is frequently mentioned as something you definitely want to guard against (Prov. 14:35; 16:14; 19:12; 20:21).  A wise person should pacify the king’s wrath (Prov. 16:14) rather than stir it up.

This, of course, is Paul’s contention in Romans 13.  “There is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore, whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed” (Romans 13:1–2).

The first reason we should obey the king is that God made an oath to him.  Rightful kings in Israel ruled because of God’s promise, just like the promise God made to David in 2 Samuel 7.  The people of God were obliged to obey their earthly king because he was anointed by Almighty God.  To obey the king, therefore, was to give honor to God.

A second reason to obey the king is that they possess ultimate control.  Verse 4 tells us that the “word of the king is supreme.”  You can’t argue with him or accuse him of wrongdoing.  There is no law that would find him guilty.

Third, when you go against the king, you will be punished (v. 5).

Some day that ruler will appear before the ultimate judge and they will be held accountable.  But that does not always happen in this life.

But suppose the officer simply cannot obey his master?  What other possibilities are available?

A second possibility that Solomon poses, then denies, is desertion.  This is what is meant by “be not hasty to go from his presence.”

Even leaving the palace would not guarantee one’s safety if the king became angry. 

It would not be as precarious to walk out on a company engaged in immoral practices today.  It may cost you financially, but you would keep your integrity.

A third option in the face of immoral or abusive leadership is defiance.  But Solomon says “Do not take you stand in an evil cause, for he does whatever he pleases.”  I believe what Solomon is saying here is don’t become involved in an overthrow of the king, even if he is doing evil.

Maybe he is telling us not to use evil to fight evil.

But is there ever a place to stand up for what is right, or to stand against what is wrong?  Is there ever a place for “civil disobedience”?

When it comes to matters of conscience and it obviously breaks God’s laws, believers have pretty much agreed with Peter: “We ought to obey God rather than man” (Acts 5:29).  Christian prisoners and martyrs down through the ages testify to the courage of conscience and the importance of standing up for what is right.  This doesn’t mean that we can resist the law on every minor matter that bothers us, but it does mean we have the obligation to obey our conscience.  How we express our disagreement with the authorities demands wisdom and grace.

That is where vv. 5-6 lead us.  The fourth option, rather than disobedience, desertion or defiance, is discernment.

We need discernment, because the word of the king is law (v. 4).  The sage has little protection against the authority of his royal master.  Therefore, if we are unwise in the way we challenge the king’s authority—or worse—if our resistance is evil—then we may fall under his judgment (see Romans 13:4).

You just have to be careful before an all-powerful ruler.  According to Derek Kidner, therefore, there are times when “wisdom has to fold its wings and take the form of discretion, content to keep its possessor out of trouble.”

The discerning person knows there is “a proper time and the just way” (v. 5).  It takes discernment to know how to object to authority in the right time and the right way.  The impulsive person who overreacts and storms out of the room (v. 3) is probably only making the problem worse.

This is illustrated for us in the lives of several Old Testament believers.  Joseph didn’t impulsively reveal to his brothers who he was so that they would have time to deal with their guilt.  Once he heard them confess their sins, then he knew it was the right time to reveal himself to them.  His handling of this delicate matter was a masterpiece of wisdom (Genesis 43-45).

Nehemiah had a burden to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, but he was unsure if his king would allow him to go.  He waited and watched and prayed for the right moment.  When that time came, Nehemiah was able to share his heart’s desire with his king (Nehemiah 1).

We’ve already mentioned Daniel, a refugee in a foreign land, who was required to eat the king’s food.  But Daniel realized that some of these foods were unclean.  Rather than make a big fuss about it, he proposed a test.  This pleased the king (Daniel 1).

Michael Eaton also mentions Jonathan with Saul (1 Samuel 19:4-6), Nathan with David in 2 Samuel 12 and Esther before the king (Esther 7:2-4).  They used wisdom and discernment to guide their interactions with authority.

When the king is determined to pursue a policy that appears to be wrong or harmful, it is important to avoid responding in ways that reflect a lack of loyalty to the king.  It is tempting to react with anger or revulsion or to join in a rebellion against the ruler.  Qoheleth’s advice is to be patient, obey the king, and look for opportunities to turn the king away from the ill-conceived course.  In such situations it is essential to keep the power and authority of the king clearly in view—he has ultimate authority on the human level, is answerable to no other human being, and does whatever he chooses.  Wise people can often identify the right time and the right way to bring about significant changes for good.  The dangers inherent in such situations are obvious because of many factors that not even the most skilled sage can predict or control.

Verses 6 and 7 remind us that we cannot know or predict everything.

6 For there is a time and a way for everything, although man’s trouble lies heavy on him. 7 For he does not know what is to be, for who can tell him how it will be? 

Once again we find ourselves up against the limits of earthly wisdom.  The wise person has a sense of God’s timing.  This is in keeping with what the Preacher said earlier, that there is “a time for every matter under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1).

If the Preacher is still thinking about kings and governments, he is saying that there is a time to obey the king and a time to leave his presence, or even to start a righteous rebellion.  We can apply the same principle to other situations that involve authority.  There is a time to submit and a time to stand against oppression.

The problem is that knowing that time, and the right way to go against authority, is hardly ever clear.  It can be quite complex.

The biggest uncertainty of all is the time of death.  No amount of wisdom can define the time that we die.  That is beyond our control.

The Preacher says, “No man has power to retain the spirit, or power over the day of death” (Ecclesiastes 8:8).  Under the sun death has no winners, there is no release from that battle.

Life and death are in God’s hands.  As David says in Psalm 139:16b, “in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.”  God has scripted out our lives.  We have no control over the date of our birth or our death.

Someday soon we will take our very last breath, and when that day comes, there will be absolutely nothing we can do to extend it.  The Scripture says, “It is appointed for man to die once” (Hebrews 9:27), but that appointment is on God’s agenda, not our own.  It also says that there is “a time to die” (Ecclesiastes 3:2), but that time is not on our timetable.  The last breath we take is the last breath we get, and there will be no way for us to take even one more breath after that.

The remainder of verse 8 provides a specific example of the uncertainty of life and death—being a soldier in wartime.  “There is no discharge from war, nor will wickedness deliver those who are given to it” (Ecclesiastes 8:8).

Military service is regarded as noble.  John the Baptist, when calling for repentance, did not require the soldiers to quit their post, but to honor God in the way they completed their duty (Luke 3:14).

However, military service is dangerous.  It is not always possible to stay out of harm’s way.

Of all the things that a government commands people to do, this is the most demanding, namely, to defend their country.  It is also the duty that brings the most danger, and with that danger, the most uncertainty about the future.  A soldier in wartime deals with the real possibility of death at any moment.  He of all people knows that he does not have knowledge of the future or power over the day of death.  Nevertheless, a soldier must do what he is commanded to do.

The wise way to live in this situation is to submit ourselves to the sovereignty of God and entrust our lives to Jesus Christ.

In the last days of his life on earth, Helmuth von Moltke experienced the comfort of knowing Christ.  Although he was innocent of all charges, once he was convicted by the Nazis, von Moltke knew that he was a dead man.  Any day could be his last.  Nevertheless, in his last letter home he was filled with joy and confidence in the goodness of God.

We who know Jesus Christ as our Savior can have that same confidence, even as we approach the day of our death.

In the book of Ecclesiastes Solomon has been seeking meaning, purpose, fulfillment and satisfaction in this life.  He has tried wisdom and pleasure, but came up empty.  Maybe because of the gift God had given him of an understanding heart, he still hasn’t given up on wisdom.  But it is a frustrating pursuit.  Listen to what he says at the end of Ecclesiastes 7:

23 All this I have tested by wisdom. I said, “I will be wise,” but it was far from me. 24 That which has been is far off, and deep, very deep; who can find it out? 25 I turned my heart to know and to search out and to seek wisdom and the scheme of things, and to know the wickedness of folly and the foolishness that is madness. 26 And I find something more bitter than death: the woman whose heart is snares and nets, and whose hands are fetters. He who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is taken by her. 27 Behold, this is what I found, says the Preacher, while adding one thing to another to find the scheme of things– 28 which my soul has sought repeatedly, but I have not found. One man among a thousand I found, but a woman among all these I have not found. 29 See, this alone I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes.

Doesn’t that sound like exasperation?  Wisdom, wisdom that satisfies and makes life better, seems just out of reach.  The Preacher has touted wisdom’s strength and value in v. 19, but now tells us how hard wisdom is to find.

Solomon seems to have dedicated his life to this pursuit.  Notice the active verbs he uses to describe his quest.  “All this I have tested by wisdom,” he says (Ecclesiastes 7:23).  Or again, “I turned my heart to know and to search out and to seek wisdom and the scheme of things, and to know the wickedness of folly and the foolishness that is madness” (Ecclesiastes 7:25).

His words actually apply to everything that he has investigated since the beginning of Ecclesiastes, when he said, “I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 1:13).

Yet at the end of all his questing he had to admit — very reluctantly — that he had failed to find the wisdom he had been seeking all his life.  “It was far from me,” he lamented.  “That which has been is far off, and deep, very deep; who can find it out?” (Ecclesiastes 7:23–24).  

At this point it almost seems as if the whole book of Ecclesiastes may end in dismal defeat.  Solomon is looking for wisdom that he cannot find.  His quest has failed.  He is unable to explain the purpose of life, or to explain why everything matters.

Derek Kidner describes these verses as “the epitaph of every philosopher” (The Message of Ecclesiastes, p. 71).  Indeed, many philosophers have come to this point in their search for meaning and have struggled to go any farther.  According to Horace, “Life’s short span forbids us to enter on far reaching hopes” (Horace for English Readers: Being a Translation of the Poems of Quintus Horatius Flaccus into English Prose , trans. E. C. Wickham (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1903), p. 30).  Or consider the words of Pascal, from his famous Pensées :

When I consider the short duration of my life, swallowed up in the eternity that lies before and after it, when I consider the little space I fill and I see, engulfed in the infinite immensity of spaces of which I am ignorant, and which know me not, I rest frightened, and astonished, for there is no reason why I should be here rather than there. Who put me here? Why now rather than then? (Thoughts, The Harvard Classics, Vol. 48, trans. W. F. Trotter (New York: P.F. Collier & Son, 1910), p. 78)

Sooner or later we all come to this point.  Unanswered questions and lingering doubts.

Why am I here?  What is my purpose in life?  Is there anything left after death?

Some give up at this point.  But the better course is to proceed with a newfound humility, with the disposition of realizing just how unfathomable God is, yet He has called us into a relationship and wants to be known.

As Tommy Nelson reminds us, “You don’t abandon your faith because you can’t figure it out.  You don’t punt because God didn’t behave.  You trust in what you know, not in how you feel” (Tommy Nelson, A Life well Lived, 126)

Knowing the limits of wisdom is part of wisdom.  The more we know, the more we should realize how little we know, and that whatever wisdom we gain comes as a gift from God.  As
Derek Kidner says…

“The honest admission of failure to find wisdom – of watching it in fact recede with every step one takes, discovering that none of our soundings ever gets to the bottom of things – this is, if not the beginning of wisdom, a good path to that beginning.”

The heart of the problem, of course, is sin.  Solomon has made several references to human sinfulness in 3:16-17; 4:1; 5:8; 7:7, 20.  Here in this section he provides insight into how this sorry condition came about.  He says in verse 29, “God made man upright, but they have sought our many schemes.”  It resonates with that passage which expresses total depravity in Genesis 6:5, “The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”

This theological assessment of human evil underscores the spread of sin in at least three ways.

First, it describes sin’s distributive spread among humans.  Just as people began to “multiply” on the face of the land (6:1a), so sin proportionately multiplied until it was “great.”

Second, the verse highlights the inward spread of sin.  Not merely the actions of humans but their mental conceptions and volitional affections are tainted and inclined towards evil.

Moreover, this inward character of sin is pervasive and prevailing in the words “every” and “only.”  Thus Moses affirms the doctrine of total depravity.

Thirdly, Genesis 6:5 underscores the durative spread of sin.  That is, as God surveys the human landscape, he does not only see intermittent discreet acts of sin but a perpetual habit (“continually”) toward sinful behavior.  Humankind is thoroughly given over to the sway of evil.

And as we notice in the next verse, it breaks God’s heart.

You might notice the play on words.  Solomon has been searching to find out “the scheme of things” (vv. 25, 27), while as a sinner we seek out “many schemes” of sin.

The reality is, as Solomon had painfully learned, that the connections between wisdom and righteousness, on the one hand, and folly and wickedness on the other, are especially close in this paragraph.  As in Proverbs 9, the dames wisdom and folly both call out.  Wisdom helps us escape the folly of sin.

In one way or another, the troubles of life always come back to the existence of sin in our lives.  And that sin affects our relationships as well.

By way of example, Qoheleth describes one kind of woman that it would be wise to avoid: “I find something more bitter than death: the woman whose heart is snares and nets, and whose hands are fetters.  He who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is taken by her” (Ecclesiastes 7:26).

Is Solomon referring to a literal woman, a seductress like Delilah?  Or is he referring metaphorically to the woman of folly in Proverbs 9?  Some believe that the Preacher was referring specifically to pagan philosophy.

I think he is speaking of a literal woman.  As Philip Ryken says…

Somewhere along the way he met a woman who tried to destroy him (cf. Proverbs 2:18–19; 5:4–5).  He is not saying that all women are like this, but some of them are, and a wise person will heed his warning to flee from their temptations.

We see this happening in Solomon’s life in 1 Kings 11:

1 Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, 2 from the nations concerning which the LORD had said to the people of Israel, “You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love. 3 He had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart. 4 For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father. 5 For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. 6 So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and did not wholly follow the LORD, as David his father had done. 

Throughout Proverbs 5-7 Solomon had warned about the seductive adulteress.  He acknowledges there and here in Ecclesiastes 7 that there is great danger, more bitter than death.  She will lead you into soul-destroying sin, your capacity for true intimacy will be destroyed, and your fellowship with God will be broken.

This verse, as well as Proverbs 5-7, tells us that there is a way of escape.  “He who pleases God escapes her.”  Like Joseph, he flees the grasp of the adulteress.  But the “sinner is taken by her.”  One who gives in to his sexual desires will be trapped.

When we are in the midst of temptation, we tend to stop thinking rationally.  We forget God’s promises and we ignore the consequences of sin.  This is why, to enable us to say “no” to temptation, we need to strengthen our inner resolve and our conscience through regular interaction with God’s Word in a way that we keep ourselves in the love of God.  The greater we realize that He loves us, the more we will love Him and be able to say no to lesser joys.  We sin because we don’t maintain our joy in Jesus.  We think we will find greater joy in our sin.  But there is no greater joy than Jesus Christ.

By telling us that there is a way of escape (see 1 Corinthians 10:13), the Preacher made it clear that he believed in the possibility of holiness.

But he was still disappointed by all the ungodliness around him. If he had met one sinful woman, he had met a thousand.  Listen to the futility of his quest to find someone living a wise and righteous life: “Behold, this is what I found, says the Preacher, while adding one thing to another to find the scheme of things — which my soul has sought repeatedly, but I have not found.  One man among a thousand I found, but a woman among all these I have not found” (Ecclesiastes 7:27–28).

Jamieson sees in this allusion to “a thousand” a reference to Solomon’s three hundred wives and seven hundred concubines.  Obviously this was not a happy situation, even though we can be sure that he added more and more wives thinking that it would make him more happy.

Again, Solomon is looking diligently for wisdom, seeking it “repeatedly, but I have not found.”

He looked for it in his relationships and found it to be sorely lacking.  One man in a thousand had wisdom, but not a single woman.  His point is the absolute rarity of wisdom and righteousness.

This speaks more about Solomon’s choice of female companionship than it does about the relative wisdom of men and women.

“His fruitless search for a woman he could trust may tell us as much about him and his approach, as about any of his acquaintances.” (Derek Kidner)

“Such as he knew her to be in Oriental courts and homes, denied her proper position, degraded, uneducated, all natural affections crushed or underdeveloped, the plaything of her lord, to be flung aside at any moment.  It is not surprising that Koheleth’s impression of the female sex should be unfavorable.” (Deane)

“He found that a harem did not provide the appropriate companion for man.  How much better he would have been with one good wife, such as he speaks of in Ecclesiastes 9:9 and Proverbs 31!” (Wright)

Now, before we think that Solomon is being sexist, realize that if we take the whole of Scripture (and I think even what Solomon is saying in context) is that both men and women are foolish sinners.

Lest we think that the Preacher viewed men any more positively than women, we need to remember what he said in verse 20: “Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.”  Even the one good man that he found in a thousand was still a sinner.

Solomon in vv. 27-28 is not universalizing this situation, but speaking of his own situation.  In fact, his foreign wives, according to 1 Kings 11, had led him into sin.  Their hearts were a bitter trap that led to his downfall.  Apparently he had not experienced a Proverbs 31 woman among his own wives.

Verses 20 and 29 do universalize the reality that every person has sinned.  Again, verse 20, “Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.”  Every person is a sinner.  And verse 29, “God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes.”

Here we have a broad indictment against humanity — what Charles Bridges called a “humbling testimony to the universal and total corruption of the whole race of man” (A Commentary on Ecclesiastes , p. 168).

In this verse Solomon is clearly not saying that men are proportionately more righteous than women.  Every person—male or female—is a sinner.

As to the original creation, Adam and Eve were created innocent.  They were not originally sinners.  “He was created neither sinful, nor neutral, but upright, a word used of the state of the heart which is disposed to faithfulness or obedience.” (Eaton)

But sin entered into the world through Eve and Adam.  Even though Eve ate first, God held Adam primarily responsible because he was the head of the household.  According to Paul, he sinned willingly.

By “his own free will,” wrote Charles Bridges, Adam “became the author of his own ruin” (Ibid. p. 179).

Not just his own ruin: Adam’s sin is the ruin of us all.  John Calvin thus compared Adam to a root that goes rotten and then ruins a whole tree.

God made us upright, thus able to make wise and righteous choices and please God.  Who is responsible for the universal failure to please God?  Not God.  We are.

To come from “the Lord Adam and the Lady Eve,” said C. S. Lewis, “is both honor enough to erect the head of the poorest beggar, and shame enough to bow the shoulders of the greatest emperor on the earth” (Prince Caspian (New York: HarperCollins, 1979), p. 233).

Depravity is the one doctrine of the Christian faith that can be proven empirically.  Mark Twain may not have been much of a theologian, but as an astute observer of human nature he made this wry remark about the effect of Adam’s sin: “Whoever has lived long enough to find out what life is, knows how deep a debt of gratitude we owe to Adam, the first great benefactor of our race. He brought death into the world” (The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson and the Comedy of the Extraordinary Twins (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1922), p. 18). 

The Apostle Paul would agree: “sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned” (Romans 5:12).

That is as far as Ecclesiastes will take us, but thank God the rest of the Bible tells us the remedy for our sin.

The first Adam is not the only Adam.  There is the last Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45), Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ is the only man who ever remained totally upright and never fell into sin.  By virtue of his perfect life and atoning death, he offers to forgive us for all our wicked schemes. 

J. Gresham Machen, a stalwart defender of the faith against the onslaught of liberalism in the early 20^th century, traveled to North Dakota to fulfill a number of speaking engagements.  Already exhausted, the bitterly cold weather caused him to develop pneumonia.

On January 1, 1937, Machen, near death, dictated his final words in a telegram to colleague John Murray at Westminster: “I’m so thankful for [the] active obedience of Christ.  No hope without it.”

What did he mean?  The “active obedience” of Christ was the fact that He lived His life without sin.  His “passive obedience” was His submission to death on the cross.

Although it is true that “many died through one man’s trespass,” it is also true that those who “receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness” will live “through the one man Jesus Christ” (Rom 5:15, 17). 

Even if we do not have the wisdom to solve all the deep mysteries of life or to figure out everything there is to know about our place in the universe, we should at least be wise enough to see the deadly sin in our own hearts and to ask Jesus to be our Savior.  (Philip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word: Ecclesiastes, 179)

Learn much of the Lord Jesus. For every look at yourself, take ten looks at Christ. He is altogether lovely.  Such infinite majesty, and yet such meekness and grace, and all for sinners, even the chief! Live much in the smiles of God. Bask in His beams. Feel His all-seeing. Eye settled on you in love, and repose in His almighty arms.

Cry after divine knowledge and lift up your voice for understanding. Seek her as silver, and search for her as hid treasure, according to the word in Proverbs 2:4. See that verse 10 be fulfilled in you. Let wisdom enter into your hearts, and knowledge be pleasant to thy soul; so, you will be delivered from the snares mentioned in the following verses.

Let your soul be filled with a heart-ravishing sense of the sweetness and excellency of Christ and all that is in Him. Let the Holy Spirit fill every chamber of your heart; and so there will be no room for folly, or the world, or Satan, or the flesh.

I must now commend you all to God and the word of His grace. My dear people are just assembled for worship. Alas! I cannot preach to them tonight. I can only carry them and you on my heart to the throne of grace. Write me soon. Ever yours, etc.

Andrew Bonar, Memoir and Remains of the Rev. Robert Murray McCheyne, (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1966), 293.