Beloved, I am glad to share with you today the above theme from Ec 3:1 and following. Indeed, God commands “the times” of all His creatures. He thus determined the date of our birth and that of all the events of our lives. Like the psalmist, the Christian can confidently say, Lord, “My times are in your hand” (Ps 31:15-17). To all that He does “there is nothing to add, nor nothing to subtract from it” (v. 14). He “made all things beautiful in his time” (v. 11); creation came out perfect from the hands of God. But, despite all the wonders that are still visible in nature, we can no longer admire it today in its primitive splendor and freshness. Man has defiled and degraded her with her wickedness (v. 16); he subjected her to vanity (Rom 8:19-23). The thorns and brambles remind him of his fall (Gen 3:17-21). Moreover, in the midst of the shipwreck produced by sin, man himself remains only as a sad wreck of his past blessings. And, finally, v. 20 evokes the sentence of Gen 3:17-21: “You are dust and you will return to dust.” For everyone falls “the time to die”, closer often than he thinks. Ah, dear reader, if you are not yet saved, know that there is also a time to convert and that it is today.
After the subject that the Preacher developed in the first two chapters of this book, it seems that he is addressing a new subject here. Inverses 1-8, he begins by establishing that human activity is a succession of contrasts, of opposite things, each of which happens in its own time. A hidden will directs them. Sin is shown everywhere: death, destruction, murder, ruins, tears, lamentations, stoning, hatreds, wars. On the other hand, an opposite trend is also showing everywhere; there are restored breaches, soothed pains, healed wounds. All these things follow one another; the times and seasons are regulated to maintain balance in this poor world. The world is not, as it is taught, a mixture of evil and good, because it is entirely “plunged into evil” and to see it will be the experience of the Preacher, the world is a scene of evil, but which does not take away from God his privilege to change the order of things by using man to rebuild what he himself destroyed or to destroy what was rebuilt. So, everything happens in its season.
It was very important to note that if, on man’s side, everything is vanity (2:26), God can use man himself in his time to apply remedies to wounds or to introduce good into the midst of evil. In summary, we find here a different aspect of the world than in the first verses of chapter 1. There, we were told of the regular return of all the phenomena of creation, succeeding each other in a uniform circle that did not give rise to the appearance of a new phenomenon. Here, God makes us witness a work of destruction and regular reconstruction, in a world where, from the beginning, sin has spoiled everything, but where divine Providence uses man to maintain the present balance until the hour of final destruction has come.
Now the question arises: Why does all the very real activity of man bring in nothing? The answer is this: In the beginning God made everything beautiful, then he put man at the center of his creation with the faculty of understanding and dominating it: “He put the world in their hearts.” The heart of man has thus become a “microcosm” in the midst of this immensity, a small world in which the whole creation is reflected. Now what has come of this initial beauty and all this ordained order of God? Sin has entered, creation has been spoiled, the world still remains in man’s heart, but man is no longer able to conceive of the order according to God, in the midst of the disorder produced by sin: “so that man cannot understand, from the beginning to the end, the work that God has done” (v. 11). For toreduce “the world in the heart” by “eternity in the heart” seems to us, although this translation has defenders, in contradiction with all the thought of Ecclesiastes who stands outside the spiritual realm and considers only the persistence of the present things, with its desolate conclusion. Eternity in the heart could never lead man to conclude that everything is vanity.
In fact, asa result of this incapacity, produced by sin, the Preacher returns to what he said in the beginning: 1° “There is nothing good for them except to rejoice and to do good to themselves during their lives; and also that every man eats and drinks, and that he enjoys well-being in all his work: this is a gift of God”. He had similarly concluded in chap. 2:24, and does not deny it. This enjoyment was ordained for man at creation, where God had given him all things to enjoy. 2° Everything God does is immutable and remains. This is what the Preacher recognized from the beginning (1:4-7). There is nothing to add to it, nor anything to subtract from it. The purpose of this complete and magnificent order was that the fear of the Creator God should be established in the heart of man: “God does it, that before Him one may fear.” But here (vs. 16:17) everything is spoiled by sin. Instead of good, wickedness is found under the sun; the fear of God no longer exists in the heart of man; justice does not reign. So what will happen? It is that God will judge the just and the wicked. Thus, without positive Revelation, the wise man, placed in front of the enigma of the world, must conclude. This wise man knows God; knowing him, he fears him; fearing him, he knows that God cannot bear evil and must one day judge him, wherever he is, whether in the righteous or in the wicked. There is no need for a Revelation for this. Doesn’t the natural consciousness of the falling man tell him? Adam hides before his judge, a poor idolatrous pagan seeks to appease him.
And now, a sad observation, which in no way excludes God’s judgment, where does it come from that man follows the same path as the beast? Was he originally subject to death? Does he have an advantage over the beast? No, he goes back to the dust like her. It is the fruit of sin, like everything this chapter presents to us (Gen. 3:19). Wisdom without a Revelation does not go beyond this thought. It cannot say whether the spirit of man goes above, and that of the beast below. This simple question stops the wisdom of man who is unable to solve it. It cannot probe even the nearest future. God so commanded him to test man and make him touch with his finger the cause of so much misery and ignorance. It therefore remains for man only to rejoice “in what he does, for this is his part”, before a future whose sight, except judgment, is completely closed to him.
The moral of this book goes even further than that of Proverbs – on the one hand at least; for let us remember that this is this world (under the sun). Wisdom is worth no more than madness. Between them the difference is as great as light to darkness; but the same thing happens to everyone, and many reflections have the effect of making us hate life. The heart gets tired from probing and after all, one dies like any other. The world, as a system, is ruined, and death cuts the thread of thoughts and projects, and destroys any relationship between the most skilful worker and the fruit of his labor. What has been gained? There is a time for everything; one must do everything in one’s season, and enjoy, by the way, what God gives. But God is the same in everything He does, so that He may be feared. God will judge the just and the unjust, but as for what He knows, man will end up as the beast; and who can say what happens next? This is not about the revelation of the world to come, but about the consequences drawn from the experiences of what is being done in this world. The knowledge of God teaches that there is judgment; for man, everything is darkness beyond the present life.
The following verses have been compiled for your edification and grouped together for your better understanding.
Better to be dead than alive:
- Oppression, examples
Ec 4.1 I then considered all the oppressions that are committed under the sun; and behold, the oppressed are in tears, and no one who consoles them! they are subjected to the violence of their oppressors, and no one who consoles them! Isaiah 5:7 The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah is the plant he cherished. He had hoped for righteousness, and here is bloodshed! Justice, and here are cries of distress! John 2:6 And you degrade the poor! Isn’t it the rich who oppress you, and who drag you to court? John 5:4 Behold, the wages of the workers who have harvested your fields, and of whom you have frustrated them, cry out, and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.
- Weariness of life
Gen 27:46 Rebecca said to Isaac: I am disgusted with life, because of Heth’s daughters. If Jacob takes a woman, like these, from the daughters of Heth, from the girls of the land, what good is life for me? Ec 2:17 And I hated life, for what is done under the sun displeased me, for all is vanity and the pursuit of the wind. Ec 4:1-2 I then considered all the oppressions that are committed under the sun; and behold, the oppressed are in tears, and no one who consoles them! they are subjected to the violence of their oppressors, and no one who consoles them! 2 and I have found the dead who have already died happier than the living who are still alive, Jon 4:8 At sunrise, God blew a warm wind from the east, and the sun struck Jonah’s head, to the point that it failed. He asked for death, and said: Death is better for me than life.
- Solicitude, madness of the
-Unsuccessful Ps 39:7 Yes, man walks like a shadow, He agitates in vain; He amasses, and he does not know who will collect. Ec 1:13 I have applied my heart to seek and probe with wisdom all that is done under heaven: this is a painful occupation, to which God submits the sons of man.
-The fate of the sinner Ec 2:26 For he gives the man who is pleasing to him wisdom, science, and joy; but he gives the sinner the care to collect and amass, in order to give to him who is pleasing to God. This is again a vanity and the pursuit of the wind.
-Cast out sleep Ec 8:16 When I applied my heart to knowing wisdom and considering the things that are happening on earth, for man’s eyes taste sleep neither day nor night,
-Indicates a lack of trust in providence Mt 6:31-32 Do not worry, then, and do not say: What will we eat? what will we drink? what shall we be clothed in? 32 For all these things are sought by the Gentiles. Heavenly Father knows that you need it.
- Unfathomable God, His Ways and Works
Ec 3:11 He does all good things in his time; even he has put in their hearts the thought of eternity, although man cannot grasp the work that God does, from beginning to end. Ec 8:17 I have seen all of God’s work, I have seen that man cannot find what is done under the sun; no matter how tired he is to search, he does not find; and even if the wise man wants to know, he cannot find. Esa 40:28 Don’t you know? didn’t you learn it? It is the God of eternity, Jehovah, Who created the ends of the earth; He does not get tired, he does not tire; One cannot probe his intelligence. 1 Cor 2:16 For Who knew the lord’s mind, to teach him? But we have the thought of Christ.
From all the above, we note that one must respect God and the one to whom he gave authority, the king. We can still see in chapters 9 and 10 how little things respond to the apparent capacity of man; and even, if this capacity is real, how little it is estimated. However, the wisdom of the righteous and the folly of the fool each bear their consequences, and God judges after all. In short, we must remember God before weakness and old age reach us; for the obvious conclusion of all that has been said is: “Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole of man.” The main subject of this book, therefore, is the folly of all man’s efforts in the search for happiness here on earth. He also shows that wisdom, which judges all this, only makes man even more unhappy. Then, all this experience of the man of the highest capacity is contrasted with the simple principle of all true wisdom, namely submission and obedience to the One who knows everything and governs everything, because: “God will bring every work to judgment.” If we remember that this is man’s experience, that these are man’s reasoning about what is happening under the sun, we will not see any difficulty in the passages that have the appearance of disbelief. Man’s experience is necessarily incredulous. He confesses his ignorance; for beyond what can be seen, she cannot know anything. But the solution of all moral problems is above and beyond what we see. The book of Ecclesiastes makes this manifest. The only rule of life, therefore, is to fear God who disposes of life, and who judges everything that man does every day of life by his vanity. This is neither grace nor redemption, but the experience of the prescribed life and what God has said in this regard, that is, His law, His commandments, and the judgment that will follow — what is commanded to men. It is man with his natural faculties, as he is, no doubt having the awareness of what he has to say to God, but seeking, by his own thoughts, where he can find happiness. Only it must be admitted that consciousness has its part in the matter and that the fear of God is recognized in the end. God is truly recognized, but here we find man in the world with the full experience he has of all that is in it. Our prayers are with you all.
PRAYER OF ACCEPTANCE OF JESUS CHRIST AS LORD AND PERSONAL SAVIOR
I now invite every person who wants to become a new creation by walking in the truth, to pray with me the following prayer:
Lord Jesus, I have long walked in the lusts of the world ignoring your love for humans. I admit to having sinned against you and ask your forgiveness for all my sins, because today I have decided to give you my life by taking you as Lord and personal Savior. I recognize that you died on the cross of Calvary and rose from the dead for me.
I am now saved and born again by the power of the Holy Spirit. Lead me every day to the eternal life that you give to all who obey your Word. Reveal yourself to me and strengthen my heart and faith, so that your light may shine in my life right now.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for accepting me into your divine family, so that I may also contemplate the wonders of your kingdom.
I will now choose a nearby waterpoint to baptize myself by immersion, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
All adoration, power and glory are yours, now and forever and ever. Amen!
I would be happy to react to any questions and comments you may have, before sharing with you tomorrow ” Life is full of torment and disillusionment (Ec 4).
May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you abundantly.
David Feze, Servant of the Almighty God.