Folly Proves Itself

One of the most advantageous functions of the Christian belief is that it tends to root out those beliefs that are added on to its core and do not fit with the inerrant Word of God. Scrutiny of fake Christian tenets is guided by a strict and infallible gradebook, and one way or another, false beliefs always fail the test against the Bible, against God.

Solomon relates this to us in Ecclesiastes 10:1-4, which my Bible most accurately entitles, “The Burden of Folly.” Verse 1 says, “Dead flies make a perfumer’s oil ferment and stink; so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.

A perfumer’s oil should smell good, pleasant; however, the presence of dead bugs would cause the perfume to react in quite an unpleasant manner. I’m no biologist or chemist, so my less than satisfactory scientific explanation of this verse will have to suffice, but when animals die and are broken down, they typically begin to stink. A perfume would most certainly go from pleasant to unpleasant in the smells department if it were to ferment thanks to the introduction of any organic material that could complete the process.

But since I’m no scientist, and that breakdown was certainly lackluster, here’s an explanation that we can all make sense of:

Foolishness is a dense weight on the scales of life. A visual explanation of folly’s load can be easily found in the riddle, “What weighs more: 100 pounds of bricks or 100 pounds of feathers?” The answer, of course, is that they each weigh the same, but the conundrum is in the number of feathers one must use to equal the bricks. To balance the scales with a single brick of folly, you must match it with 100 feathers of wisdom.

The effect of that riddle, however, is that it plays on the mind by seeming to equate to unequal objects, and we do much the same when it comes to our choices and decisions. The idea of one good decision being the equal of one bad decision is one that has been perpetuated through many cultures and religions since the first sin. It’s the whole idea behind karma, and it is even prominent in certain sects of Christianity. It’s the entire function behind the “good works” faith denominations. If you do enough good, you can outweigh your bad deeds and make it to Heaven.

Speaking of which, this verse does not, in any way, affirm that good works can get you to Heaven. Even ignoring the verses in the New Testament that clearly state you can be saved by God’s grace alone through faith alone, Solomon, I believe because God wrote this through him, is quite intentional with his word choice here in saying that “a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.” Just the one sin is enough to outweigh all you good deeds.

With all that said, how does one spot a fake Christian belief? Well, by its stench, of course. A nonbiblical belief will stink beyond reason, even if it appears to be on the right path. By default, every other way will prove itself to be wrong at some point in its belief structure. That’s what Solomon says in verses 2-3.

“A wise man’s heart goes to the right, but a fool’s heart to the left. Even when the fool walks along the road, his heart lacks sense, and he shows everyone he is a fool.”

These verses are talking about people, but the idea behind the people applies to everything. A wise man walks the right path. If we equate the Bible with the “right path,” which it is anyway, the wise man follows the tenets of the Bible, and so too do wise ideas. Yet, a foolish man will not follow this path; he wanders aimlessly and, on occasion, stumbles across the road and travels along it for a bit before departing for the wilderness again. So, too, do foolish beliefs.

We can actually see this when we confront even something so broad among nonbelievers as simple morals and laws. To a nonbeliever, killing is, typically, just as wrong as it is to a believer. In this way, they’ve stumbled upon the path, but their reasoning for why killing is wrong will never hold up.

Once you jump down the rabbit hole of questions, there stands no good reason from an atheistic viewpoint that murder is wrong. No matter which way you take it, either no one had the power to decide that it was wrong, or it truly isn’t wrong. But down one path of questioning or the other, the belief has no foundation.

In terms of beliefs among Christians, the good works belief is the easiest demonstration because it can be dismantled with one question: If good works can get you to Heaven, why did Jesus have to sacrifice Himself for our sins? Because, really, if we were capable of paying for our burden ourselves, why would Jesus do it for us and then expect us to do it again by performing good deeds? He wouldn’t.

Metaphorically speaking, then, verse 4 tells us how to react when we spot beliefs that try to usurp God’s character and truth: “If the ruler’s anger rises against you, don’t leave your place, for calmness puts great offenses to rest.”

Being a follower of Christ is a great offense to some. They won’t be able to stand the fact that you believe in God. But the best thing to do is always to remain calm and stay down your path. Your best witness to those people is to always continue doing what you know is right. If you poking holes in the logic of their argument angers them, remember to treat them with love and kindness.

You don’t need to track down false beliefs or threats against the foundations of Christianity; they’ll weed themselves out by virtue of their own imperfections. In your own walk, remember to confront all teachings and beliefs with the Bible. If it doesn’t hold up to God’s Word, it’s not right, no matter what pastor, preacher, podcaster, YouTuber, blogger, or whoever tells you.

Life Isn't Fair

I think it’s incredible how some people are capable of taking incredibly complex topics and thoughts—wanderings about life, eternity, God, and anything else—and turning them into a paragraph or less that conveys the entirety of the thought process in just a few words. Take a couple of the following quotes, for example:

“The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall”

            -Nelson Mandela

“If life were predictable, it would cease to be life and be without flavor.”

            -Eleanor Roosevelt

“Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man.”

            -C.S. Lewis

I mean, I understand words pretty well, and I think I’m decent enough at using them, but some of these folks are able to grasp and synthesize information so well that they’re able to tell books worth of stories in a single sentence. But I came across a sentence today that tells billions of lives worth of stories. It’s found in Ecclesiastes chapter 9, verse 11.

“Again I saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, or the battle to the strong, or the bread to the wise, or riches to the discerning, or favor to the skillful; rather, time and chance happen to all of them.”

Man, is there a ton to unpack in that. Not only is Solomon explaining a universal truth that most people accept in each statement, like “the race is not to the swift,” but he’s counteracting them by pointing to the contradictions that come from the world we live in, which is both logically imperfect and divinely oriented.

This sentence briefs the hubris of man in every case, believing that we have guaranteed success when we have gathered sufficient skill, that our achievements come from the diligent work of our own hands and abilities. That’s a fact of our own human pride, and why many believe the way to Heaven is through works.

We believe if we are fast enough, we can outrun others to our goals; if we are strong enough, we can beat back the competition; if we are wise enough, we can make ourselves rich beyond imagination; if we are skilled enough, we can accomplish anything; if we are good enough, we can get to Heaven. In fact, this sentence reflects on similar events to the Tower of Babel, wherein people determined it among themselves that they could reach Heaven if only they could build a tower tall enough.

And if you know the story of the Tower of Babel, the Lord humbled those who attempted to reach Heaven in that way. He turned the hubris of the people into their humbling by acting in such a way to turn their beliefs on their heads. Because no matter how fast, wise, strong, or skilled we are, God is greater, and no amount of anything we possess is enough to displace God and His will.

But not only are we incapable of surpassing God’s will and feats, but we are also victim to sin, which has corrupted the world and turned the good processes God created here upside down in order to wreak havoc. Sometimes, we end up with people being in places they have no business being. Some businessmen have no understanding of running a business, but because of extenuating circumstances, they find themselves in control of a business. An unskilled worker may get a promotion over a skilled worker due to in-company politics. Because of the corruption of sin, things don’t always turn out like they logically should.

But more than that, things don’t always turn out like they morally should. Verses 13-16 say, “I have observed that this also is wisdom under the sun, and it is significant to me” There was a small city with few men in it. A great king came against it, surrounded it, and built large siege works against it. Now a poor wise man was found in the city, and he delivered the city by his wisdom. Yet no one remembered that poor man. And I said, ‘Wisdom is better than strength, but the wisdom of the poor man is despised, and his words are not heeded.’”

It’s not likely that this is the case, though I’m sure it’s possible Solomon could have had a vision about the future, but these verses remind me of Sennacherib’s invasion against Hezekiah. Compared to Sennacherib, Hezekiah had an incredibly small army, and he was expected to give in to Sennacherib’s strength. Instead, Hezekiah outwitted Sennacherib and forced his armies to retreat, delivering the city by his wisdom. Though his story is written in the Bible, he’s probably a less popular historical figure than Sennacherib.

But I know for sure that no one remembered Hezekiah’s wisdom, which came from the Lord. Not even Hezekiah himself. Shortly after, Judah returned to its old ways, abandoning God, and finding themselves in trouble once again. I think it fits pretty well, but what Solomon’s getting at more than a possible reference to events that happened a couple hundred years in the future, is that, sometimes we are outfitted with gifts and skills for a position we aren’t in.

It’s probably better explained in Ecclesiastes 10:7, “I have seen slaves on horses, but princes walking on the ground like slaves.”

This could be a literal reference to captured princes being forced to walk while servants of a conquering kingdom ride horses, but, as I wrote here: (https://nathanielgevans.net/blog/god-of-metaphors), God is a big fan of teaching us through metaphors, and I can think of no better figurative representation for Solomon’s statements in verses 11-16 than this.

Sometimes, you just happen to have skills for one thing but be in a place to do another. I’m sure there are many people out there who could be smart enough to cure cancer, fix many world issues, or unite people, but who will never see a science lab, a government seat, or a place of influence; it is simply a fact of this world.

Verses 17-18 say, “The calm words of the wise are heeded more than the shouts of a ruler over fools. Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner can destroy much good.”

The good news is that, more often than not, people end up where they are supposed to be to do what they are called to do. Generally, you’ll find the science whizzes in the lab, the thinkers writing and speaking their thoughts into existence, the mathematicians with a calculator, the physicists discovering more of God’s design. But all it took was one to change this world from, “everyone will end up where they’re supposed to be,” to, “most will end up where they’re supposed to be.”

In the end, you can boil Solomon’s statements down even more—to just three words, in fact. Life isn’t fair. But I’ll qualify that statement. Keep this in mind the next time you see someone whose talents aren’t being employed properly, even more so when you become disgruntled with your position and believe it is your own talents that are being wasted. Life isn’t fair, but the God who holds it in His hands is just and good. He will not forsake you nor abandon you; He will use you as He needs you used and work things together for your good.

Today's a Gift

Are you enjoying your life? Or is it something you just muddle through because you have responsibilities you feel you must attend to? Do you live in the moment, or are you constantly attacked by the problems that may arise in the future?

I rather like this quote (it’s been attributed to various people in various forms, but I like this version best), and I think it fits perfectly with the ideas conveyed in Ecclesiastes 9:1-10: “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift from God, which is why we call it the present.”

Solomon begins to tackle the ideas presented in this quote from verse 1. “Indeed, I took all this to heart and explained it all: the righteous, the wise, and their works are in God’s hands. People don’t know whether to expect love or hate. Everything lies ahead of them.”

He skips the history because it’s not relevant to his point, but he tackles the mystery of tomorrow with “People don’t know whether to expect love or hate. Everything lies ahead of them.” This is fairly clear. We don’t know what’s coming next, so we have no way to determine the outcome of our actions until we live through them. And then Solomon qualifies this further while relating back to chapter eight’s themes.

Verses 2-3 say, “Everything is the same for everyone: there is one fate for the righteous and the wicked, for the good and the bad, for the clean and the unclean, for the one who sacrifices and the one who does not sacrifice. As it is for the good, so it is for the sinner; as for the one who takes an oath, so for the one who fears an oath. This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: there is one fate for everyone. In addition, the hearts of people are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live—after that they go to the dead.”

See, while you can’t know a lot of what’s coming, there is one thing that comes for us all: death on this Earth. As we discussed last week, the consequences of sin affect everyone, even if you feel like you’re a good person, even if you follow closely the commands of God. The product of being in a sinful world is sinful consequence. So, the one thing about your future that is not mystery is death. You won’t know the time or hour, but you know it’s coming.

So, for many, it’s difficult to not live for the future, to plan and prepare in hopes that they can determine what’s coming. In doing so, they often forget to live for today. But God gives us three gifts if we choose to live in the present. The first is the ability to hope.

Verses 4-6 say, “But there is hope for whoever is joined with all the living, since a live dog is better than a dead lion. For the living know that they will die, but the dead don’t know anything. There is no longer a reward for them because the memory of them is forgotten. Their love, their hate, and their envy have already disappeared, and there is no longer a portion for them in all that is done under the sun.”

I think this points directly to salvation and the ability of people to pursue God and find His salvation while they are still alive. We know, for a fact, that once you’re dead, your chance is gone for good, so it only makes sense that this is what Solomon’s referring to.

The comparison between a live dog and a dead lion is striking in this case for a number of reasons, but mainly the position of each animal in a food chain. A dog is one who relies on a master to feed and care for it, while a lion is a top predator in its habitat. Once a beloved dog is dead, its body is cared for and it lives on in the memory of its master. But once a mighty lion dies, its body is torn apart by scavengers and memory of it, its loves, hates, whatever, is gone. Similarly, a believer who is taken care of by God is taken care of and remembered after death by God, but a predator of sin who chooses no master but herself dies and is torn apart by other predators. That’s a pretty clear image of humanity’s treatment of the dead. If given the chance and the provocation, a dead man’s reputation will be torn down without hesitation just because he’s no longer around to defend himself. There’s no place for the dead among the living. In essence, the gift of hope God is providing is for safety, both in life and death.

The second gift God provides is a reward. It comes with having your name listed in the Lamb’s Book of Life—the Lord your God will remember you and care for you, just like a master would his dog. Your reward is undying loyalty, love, and care that only God can provide.

The third gift God promises for today is joy from peace, from verses 7-9, which say, “Go, eat your bread with pleasure, and drink your wine with a cheerful heart, for God has already accepted your works. Let your clothes be white all the time, and never let oil be lacking on your head. Enjoy life with the wife you love all the days of your fleeting life, which has been given to you under the sun, all your fleeting days. For that is your portion in life and in your struggle under the sun.”

This is also fairly cut and dry. God grants us the ability to enjoy the days we have in this life in the moment with the pleasures of good food, drink, and companionship. These are all things we are granted by God, knowing that He had already planned out the days, weeks, months, years, decades, and centuries ahead. He has already accepted us into Heaven when we become His children, so we are granted the peace to enjoy the gift of today.

But the real power of these verses becomes apparent when we reverse the gifts and apply the consequences to nonbelievers. While believers are granted the gift of hope, nonbelievers are not. Hope disappears with worry, and for many nonbelievers, all they can do is worry about tomorrow, next week, next month, etc. That’s not to say worry isn’t a problem with believers, but the stress that comes with the belief that you are fully in control and responsible for everything in your life reduces the chance of hope being alive and well.

Straight from verse 5, we know that they don’t receive a reward because they declare themselves to have no master. When they do well, they have no one to whom they can turn to be rewarded except themselves, and when they’re dead and gone, their only reward is to be devoured by scavengers.

Finally, they can have no joy, no pleasure, because they aren’t capable of living in the present. Their circumstances are always monitored, always important to them. In the same way worry blocks hope, worry blocks joy and pleasure because worry is a distraction to what is good.

This works with the quote, too. For believers, our yesterday is history, as God has removed our transgressions from us, freeing us from the past. Our tomorrow is a mystery, but not to the God who has it planned out. And we are truly able to enjoy the gift of the present because we have no need to despair over the past or future.

But for nonbelievers, their yesterday is no history because they must account, and face punishment, for their transgressions come judgment day. Tomorrow is a mystery, but one they believe they must work tirelessly to uncover and change. And because they are so obsessed with tomorrow, they are incapable of living in the gift of today. The worst part is that these beliefs set them up for a rude awakening come time for them to pass on from this life.

Verse 10 says, “Whatever your hands find to do, do with all your strength, because there is no work, planning, knowledge, or wisdom in Sheol where you are going.”

Sheol refers to, basically, death. Its meaning is complicated and somewhat confusing biblically, but it’s pretty much just the land of the dead, a euphemism for the afterlife, if you will. The depth of the frustrations of nonbelievers in life will become apparent in death because nothing they’ve lived for will prepare them for what death is like and the things that come from it. Work, planning, knowledge, wisdom, none of the things that matter to a nonbeliever on Earth will matter in death.

And that takes us back to verse 4. There remains hope for any who are still alive to turn from being a proud, dead lion to become a living, loved dog. The life of a nonbeliever, the mindset of a nonbeliever, will not prepare anyone for death and eternity. Only God can do that, which I think is a key point of these verses. The other is a reminder to believers to have faith and take the gifts that God gives you.

Life in Moderation

I’m typically a proponent for the idea that extremism is almost always bad. I say “almost always” because, invariably, there will be something that my thoughts on the subject do not account for and requires extremism, but for the most part, an extreme reaction or thought pattern is incredibly inferior to actions taken in moderation.

Take exercise for example. Too far to one extreme leaves you in bad shape: too little exercise leaves you obese, but too much exercise can be a ridiculous strain on your body. When you try to lose weight, it’s important to maintain a difficult workout, but one that’s not so difficult you can’t do it multiple times a week. If you work out too hard the first time, lactic acid builds up and the pain of overly sore muscles ensues.

For those still in school, excessive laziness when it comes to studying means you won’t know your material, while excessive cram studying last minute leaves the information jumbled and unable to stick in your mind. Both leave you without having the knowledge you need to pass your tests.

Religiously, extreme devotion to correct actions leaves you living life like a Pharisee, while extremism on the other end results in failure to do what God has asked of us.

While many parts of the Bible encourage believers to extreme actions in some cases, such as when it comes to separating ourselves from the world and the things of it, Solomon reminds us that there are times when we need to remember that the extreme answer isn’t always the right answer.

Ecclesiastes 7 verse 15 says, “In my futile life I have seen everything: there is a righteous man who perishes in spite of his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who lives long in spite of his evil.”

This can be equated to questions people often have: why do good things happen to bad people? And why do bad things happen to good people? The answer, of course, is that we live in a fallen world of sin, and the bad things that occur are a result and a consequences of the place we live. Bad things often happen indiscriminately simply because they are bad things and Satan loves to cause as much pain as he can. And sometimes, that pain comes in the form of horrible people living lives with less pain than those who are good.

Solomon merely uses this well-known principle to point out that being good will not save you from the evil of this world while you live in it. No matter how righteous you are, no matter what good you do, you will hurt, you will cry, and you will die on this Earth.

Another way to think of it is like risk assessment. Skydiving is a good example of this. The “wicked” don’t even think of the risk of jumping out of a plane. These are like the people who ignore the safety instructions and do what they think is best. The “righteous” obsess over the safety instructions to the point they drive themselves nuts in doing so and don’t enjoy the experience. The moderate, on the other hand, follow the safety instructions to the letter, but do so in a rational way. When they jump out of the plane, they know they are likely safe from the parachute failing, and so they can enjoy the thrill of skydiving.

Here’s the thing to realize, too. Unlike most risk assessments, which determine whether you should make a choice to do something based on the relative risk of the action, you don’t have a choice on taking an action or not. You only get to choose which action you take. You’re already on the Earth. You’re already alive and you didn’t get to choose not to be born. So now, the choice is not between doing and not doing, but which form of doing things your life will take: either wicked, moderate, or righteous.

Verse 16 says, “Don’t be excessively righteous, and don’t be overly wise. Why should you destroy yourself?”

This can be easily paralleled with the Pharisees of Jesus’s time. They were so bent on appearing righteous that they destroyed who they were as a person. As Solomon says later, there is no person who can live without sin, so don’t rip yourself apart trying to follow every law and rule to the letter. You can even compare this to the idea that you can work your way into Heaven. People who believe this will ruin themselves by trying to do enough good deeds to earn their salvation, even though that’s not how salvation works.

Verse 17 says, “Don’t be excessively wicked, and don’t be foolish. Why should you die before your time?”

Put simply, don’t go around doing things you know will get you in trouble, either. Something that can be rationalized about sin is that many of them can put your very life in real danger. Get angry at the wrong people? They might kill you. Have sex with enough people and you’re likely to catch and STD, possibly even HIV/AIDS, which is deadly. Get greedy and rob a bank at gunpoint? You might get shot. It’s possible to drink your blood alcohol content so high you die, or you could drive drunk into a tree and die. I could go on forever if I needed to. But the fact of the matter is that doing bad things likely comes with a pain/death sentence, so it’s best to avoid as many bad things as possible.

Verses 18 and 20 say, “It is good that you grasp the one and do not let the other slip from your hand. For the one who fears God will end up with both of them. (20) There is certainly no righteous man on the earth who does good and never sins.”

Verse 20 is likely one of the most concrete verses about this subject in the Bible. If we take it at face value, with the knowledge we have from the rest of the Bible, we know that we are made righteous by Jesus’s death, resurrection, and our trust in Him as our Lord and Savior. Not a single one of us only does good. We are incapable of not doing some evil in the sight of God because we will sin as long as we live on this Earth. So, it is inevitable, then, that the one who trusts and fears God will have the goodness of God living in him while also still doing evil acts in the sight of God as we fall short.

I think the note I wrote in my Bible near verse 18 fits the idea and imagery pretty well, if I can toot my own horn for a minute. It says, “We can’t escape sin in this life, so all we can do is hold on to God and drag our sin behind us.”

Listen, I know that the goal is to become so much like Jesus that we no longer sin, just like He did not sin. But let’s all be realistic and realize that we’ll never get there. We’re not good enough. We’re not perfect. We will not be while we live here. Only when we reach Heaven will we be made perfect. Until then, let us live our lives for Christ, but let’s not beat ourselves up when we make a mistake here and there. Just go to God, be forgiven, and continue to live the live the Lord has given you as well as you can.

Solomon's Wise Sayings

Chapter seven of Ecclesiastes begins with a Proverbial section of text—it has a number of wise sayings, many of which sum up the previous six chapters in some way. Some are fairly simple, but others carry a lot of weight and require some understanding of the first six chapters to make the connection, so let’s just dive into them.

Verse 1 says, “A good name is better than fine perfume, and the day of one’s death than the day of one’s birth.

What’s important to understand is that one’s name is synonymous with their reputation. In essence, it’s your character. In some cases, it’s character that is somewhat delineated from your family’s reputation and position in society, in others, it’s the reputation you’ve built up for yourself. But the important idea being conveyed here is that, even if you can cover up an ugly character with perfume, it will wear off. It’s better to make a good name for yourself by establishing good character than to attempt to cover up your actions when you need to look good.

This fits pretty well with a key theme of integrity from Ecclesiastes 5. It’s important to establish yourself as someone who does good rather than someone who does bad. The second part of that verse is similar to the topic I discussed last week and fits well with Philippians 1:21. Life after death will be beyond conceivably better than life on Earth for the believer.

Verse 2 is a request to take this life seriously and not to live it as though it’s an 85-year party, even though this life isn’t the end. “It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, since that is the end of all mankind, and the living should take it to heart.”

For the importance of this life to sink in, it is necessary to understand that it does end at some point. Similar to the phrase, “you don’t know what you have until it’s gone,” you don’t know how valuable this life is until you understand that it is limited. It’s far better for your eternal health to understand that there is importance to this life beyond just having a good time.

Verse 3 says, “Grief is better than laughter, for when a face is sad, a heart may be glad.” This refers back to joy. It’s an outlook on life that allows you to go through hard times and still be glad. It’s a perspective shift granted by a life reliant on God that only allows circumstantial events to affect you on the surface.

And on the flip side of this statement, though likely not intended here by Solomon, it’s possible for someone to appear happy but in reality be sad—something that our society today faces and understands better than most. So, don’t fool yourself, or let yourself be fooled by, an appearance of happiness. You’re looking for a root of happiness rather than a flower.

Verse 4 takes us all the way back to chapter 1. “The heart of the wise is in a house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in a house of pleasure.” Those who truly understand the position people on this Earth are in mourn for it. We believers should be mourning for the state of the world, for the lost, because we know the end result for those who do not know our God.

And now more than ever we see the second half of verse 4 being lived out wherein people gleefully cheer and celebrate about going to Hell. They exclaim that Satan is for them because they’ve found pleasure on this Earth.

In light of the explanation of verse 4, verses 5-6 are fairly self-explanatory, so I’ll leave those to you and move on to verse 7. “Surely, the practice of extortion turns a wise person into a fool, and a bribe destroys the mind.”

Personally, I think a better word to use for “mind” in this verse is “heart.” The Hebrew word used here could mean both. Using wisdom to take advantage of others or accept bribes is, in essence, incredibly unwise. It destroys your heart and changes who you are as a person. It’s degrading to your character, which changes how you can employ wisdom. To say it another way, wisdom without morals is tantamount to folly. We’ll expand on that in verse 12.

“For wisdom is protection as money is protection, and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of its owner.”

The thing about money is that it’s a finite resource. Yes, it can be used to protect you, but only until it runs out. The advantage of wisdom is that it is endless, and the one who owns it automatically uses it to his/her advantage. It’s a biased resource to be used, whereas money is completely unbiased. But that’s also why you should use it wisely because the tool of wisdom is only as good as the actions it is used for.

For all the procrastinators out there, verse 8 is for you, and me, “The end of a matter is better than its beginning; a patient spirit is better than a proud spirit.”

The beginning of anything is difficult, whether it’s because of an anxiousness for it to start but having to wait or it’s because you know you need to start but are too anxious to do so. But once you get over the hump of doing it, the thing itself, and the conclusion of the thing, is well worth the satisfaction of starting it.

I like the idea of reading the second half of verse 8 as “give time for others to notice your work rather than being quick to justify your own skill.” We sometimes have this sentiment that no one else will notice what we do, so we have to be the ones to announce all our accolades. But it’s far better to wait—people don’t like prideful people, so be patient and others will notice.

Verse 10 says, “Don’t say, ‘Why were the former days better than these?’ since it is not wise of you to ask this.”

I like this one a lot because it covers the grass is always greener idiom. It’s not right to dwell on the past or the lives of others. Comparison is the root of jealousy, which is often the root of greed. You’ll never have joy in good or bad times if you’re constantly comparing your current situation to times you thought were better. We’re tasked to live in the moment so we do not rob ourselves of joy.

Verse 11 says, “Consider the work of God, for who can straighten out what He has made crooked?”

This verse has a hefty meaning behind it, and it’s one that we often overlook in our fervor for righteousness. But there are some things in this world that are just unchangeable for us. And instead of railing against the immovable object, we should learn to work with what we have. There are some avenues of sharing the gospel that just won’t work. Think of it this way: there are just some avenues for sharing the gospel that have a roadblock on them. People have been made fully obstinate in this way, but often, we try to beat the dead horse to prove God when God’s saying, “try another way to reach this person’s heart.”

Finally, verse 14 says, “In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity, consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man cannot discover anything that will come after him.”

And I think of that simply like this: God has made times for us that are easy, and He has times for us that are hard. But both are under God’s domain. Both are under His control. There is nothing that happens in this world that He does not see, know, and have power over. In times that are rough, be reminded that the Lord is still in control, and place your joy in that.

God is Goodness

I feel fairly certain in saying that the phrase “don’t beat a dead horse” came around long after Solomon lived. Perhaps, someone came up with the phrase after reading Ecclesiastes for the first time, because it sure does feel like Solomon is absolutely demolishing the dead horse that is the troubles of wealth. Thankfully, it’s only for awhile longer to lead into the second topic he discusses in chapter six: goodness.

I won’t lie to you; this chapter gets fairly dark, and I will be discussing a very heavy topic that might be difficult for some and will sound extremely harsh. Unfortunately, though, it does make sense with what we understand of life and eternity. For those affected, I understand your pain, as my family and I have been affected by similar circumstances. The good news is that there is hope.

The first two verses of chapter six are merely a transition from the last subject into Solomon’s final statements on the matter, so we’ll jump straight into verse 3, which says, “A man may father a hundred children and live many years. No matter how long he lives, if he is not satisfied by good things and does not even have a proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he.”

I think a lot of people recoil from that because of our perspective of live on this Earth being good. How can someone who lived, was rich, and had a large family here ever have it worse off than a child who came into the world dead and never got to experience what could be had on Earth?

First, we have to understand what happens to a stillborn child, or indeed, any person who passes away without having knowledge of good and evil. This can extend to young children whose brains cannot yet comprehend such things, or those born with genetic and mental diseases that prevent them from grasping the subject.

This is an issue that becomes rather clear if you can understand even a portion of God’s character: that He is just. He gives punishment where it is deserved, and He provides salvation where it is deserved. Punishment comes because of knowingly committing evil acts. Salvation comes from having never committed an evil act in the sight of God—being washed clean by Jesus’s sacrifice is how this works for most people.

But for those who cannot knowingly commit evil, well, can they really sin against God? I argue no, and for a couple of reasons.

The first is that Adam and Eve could not commit sin until they had the knowledge of evil. Because they knew God, they already had knowledge of good, but until they knew what was evil, they could not commit evil. Really think about why the tree is called “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” That name is important, and I think it’s likely for this very reason, among a few others.

The devil’s advocate argument for this belief is that we are born into a sinful world and thus must suffer the price of sin no matter how long we exist in it, but we know from Ezekiel 18:20 that no child is punished for the sins of their parents. And we know from multiple places in the NT (2 Cor 5:10, and Rev. 20:11-12, to name a few) that we will be judged by our own actions.

So, what really happens to that stillborn child? They experience no evil. Their first experience will be Jesus’s arms wide open accepting them into Heaven. The only thing they will ever experience is pure goodness and joy from being in the presence of the Father.

And that child is much better off than the man who lives a long life on Earth without knowing good because all it will know is good while the man experiences the evils of this world.

Furthermore, the real importance comes when we talk about what he is satisfied by. What is a “good thing?” From our perspective, there are a lot of things we consider “good.” Grades, jobs, cars, houses, kids, parents, restaurants, clothes, food, views…I think you get my point. But are those things actually “good?” From God’s perspective, not really. The things that are good are the things that are godly. If something is not in line with God’s character, it cannot be good. Put simply, this is because God is the only thing that is good.

So, if he is not satisfied by good, thus by God, then what happens to him to make a stillborn child better off? Verse 4-6 explain.

“For he comes in futility and he goes in darkness, and his name is shrouded in darkness. Though a stillborn child does not see the sun and is not conscious, it has more rest than he. And if he lives a thousand years twice, but does not experience happiness, do not both go to the same place?”

Now it’s time for me to test your memory of what I’ve been writing about all this time: what things can satisfy us? Nothing on this Earth can satisfy us. Nothing we do here that is spawned from here can light up the world around us. The only thing that can satisfy us is God and his goodness. Without that, there is not joy; there is no true happiness.

So, this man who lives a long time with a large family and incredible wealth is stumbling around in darkness if he does not allow God to satisfy him. Life is evil for him and there is no rest in this world for him. Everything he does has no meaning.

And from there, we can interpret verse six two different ways. The first is that the “same place” Solomon is referring to is the grave. As simple as that, he just meant they both die. On the other hand, he could be referring to a man who will go to Heaven just as that stillborn child will, but he did not enjoy life because he did not lean on Him strong enough. You can take your pick because the meaning of the comparison doesn’t change either way, but the imagery does get stronger depending on which interpretation you choose.

If the man does not get to Heaven because he did not believe in God, then the stillborn child is far better off. On top of the fact that it did not experience evil on Earth, it will never experience evil or suffering. On the other hand, the man will forever suffer on top of experiencing the evils of the world.

For the second interpretation, while both get to experience the ultimate good that is being in God’s presence, the man still had to go through the suffering and evil on Earth wile the stillborn child did not. Both ways, the stillborn child has it better.

The rest of the chapter pretty much just doubles down on this illustration, but there are a couple more verses I want to talk about in particular.

Verse 8 says, “What advantage then does the wise man have over the fool? What advantage is there for the poor person who knows how to conduct himself before others?”

I really like these illustrations Solomon uses because, to me, they indicate the great equalizer that the gift of salvation really is. The way to salvation isn’t to be wiser than someone else. You don’t get any advantage for that over someone who isn’t as intelligent. Likewise, knowing how to work social circles will not get you to the front of the line to receive salvation. No matter your lot in life on this Earth; poor, rich, wise, foolish, capable, incapable, strong, weak, whatever it may be, not one of these has a better chance at salvation than any other.

I like verses 11-12, too. “For when there are many words, they increase futility. What is the advantage for man? For who knows what is good for man in life, in the few days of his futile life that he spends like a shadow? Who can tell man what will happen under the sun?”

I read this almost as Solomon being facetious. It’s like he’s saying, “You can talk and talk and talk about what life’s purpose is and what happens after you die, but you don’t know, and you won’t figure it out by yourself.”

The only one who knows what is good and who knows what happens after we die is the one who created us. We can deliberate about it all we want, but unless we’re getting our information from God, we’ll never know anything good.

If you would like to read through a more complex argument for children going to Heaven than I included, you can check out the excerpts from an essay written on the topic at this link: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/do-all-infants-go-to-heaven/

Corruption of Wealth

I find it disturbingly ironic that the wealthiest king in the history of kingdoms hated wealth so much that he dedicated more page space to it than any other worldly pursuit of happiness in Ecclesiastes. Of all the things that Solomon could have pointed out as failures in attempt to reach the joy that only Christ can give, he spent the most time railing on wealth. The page space is ridiculously disproportionate.

Solomon even goes so far as to say, “When you see people being bribed and swayed by money to oppress others, don’t be surprised! If it gets them more profit, they’re going to do it.” In his actual words, it reads like this:

Ecclesiastes 4:8-9, “If you see oppression of the poor and perversion of justice and righteousness in the province, don’t be astonished at the situation, because one official protects another official, and higher officials protect them. The profit from the land is taken by all; the king is served by the field.”

And while I generally want to avoid talking about current times in an effort to make this blog friendly to all individuals and a break from the ridiculousness that is our world, there is no more perfect example than America’s current government. There really isn’t.

We’re dealing with judges who let rich kids get off easy for raping a girl after three months of jail time but sentence poor kids to years for a drug charge. We have a system designed to allow people to get away with murdering unborn children because it brings in more tax money. The upper government appears to be infested with a pedophile ring that covers for each other. (This is not a statement of my political affiliation or thoughts in any way, for the record. I will avoid stating any of that here. It’s merely a report of facts for the sake of proving Solomon’s point from Ecclesiastes.)

But really, you shouldn’t be surprised. We’ve been dealing with the wealthy and powerful breaking systems and taking advantage of others since the beginning of sin. Be righteously upset and work to end it, but don’t be surprised it’s happening. People will do anything for money, even though it never satisfies.

Verses 10-12 say, “The one who loves money is never satisfied with money, and whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with income. This too is futile. When good things increase, the ones who consume them multiply; what, then, is the profit to the owner, except to gaze at them with his eyes? The sleep of the worker is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of the rich permits him no sleep.”

There’s a lot to unpack there. Those who love and have money will never be satisfied with it because it is empty. What is money but paper? What is wealth but metal coins? It can’t buy happiness. It can’t buy salvation. It might as well be useless. At some point, even, you may end up with so much wealth that you can’t buy enough to put a dent in your stockpile of cash. Then what good is it for but to stare at?

Interestingly enough, too, another conundrum around wealth appears from verse 11. The more money you have, the more you need to spend. Think about it this way: the more money you have, the more luxuries you can afford, but the more money it costs to keep those luxuries functional, so the more money you need. As a further example, say you’re married, and you desire to make enough money to have a child. Once you get there, it requires money to continue to raise that child. The more you get, the more wants you can have, but the more you need to satisfy the upkeep on those wants. It’s a fairly futile circle if your whole goal for money is to satisfy your desires.

Another point Solomon makes is the satisfaction of a hard worker in contrast to the despair of the rich, who likely no longer needs to really work to maintain his riches. That’s a pretty simple connection; the harder you work, the better you relax. If you never work, you’re always high strung, especially if part of your wealth goes towards the corruption and oppression of people.

I don’t know about y’all, but I always sleep better if I had a busy day working my body and mind. It keeps me from wasting time in bed overthinking and gets me right to dreaming, whereas a day of relaxation gives me time and energy for my mind to worry and obsess over problems, making the relaxation pretty difficult. That’s the concept Solomon was aiming for. If all your time is relaxation, is relaxation really relaxing?

Another thing that plagues the rich is the heartbreak and disaster that can come from mismanaging wealth.

Verses 13-14 say, “There is a sickening tragedy I have seen under the sun: wealth kept by its owner to his harm. That wealth was lost in a bad venture, so when he fathered a son, he was empty-handed.”

A lot like the example of the prodigal son, mismanagement of wealth can be horribly detrimental, and many a wealthy person has found themselves without any money at all from a lack of discretion when it comes to spending.

Then Solomon attacks the popular Egyptian worldview of death again in verses 15-16:

“As he came from his mother’s womb, so he will go again, naked as he came; he will take nothing for his efforts that he can carry in his hands. This too is a sickening tragedy: exactly as he comes, so he will go. What does the one gain who struggles for the wind?”

The Egyptian idea of the afterlife was that anything you were buried with could be enjoyed in the next life, and this is a refuting of that idea. What is the point of hoarding your wealth? You can’t use it when you’re gone, and there’s no guarantee that your kids will manage it wisely either (not that this means you shouldn’t leave them something).

But the most powerful verse, to me, in this section of chapter 5 is verse 17:

“What is more, he eats in darkness all his days, with much sorrow, sickness, and anger.”

I could unpack this verse for a long time in a lot of detail, but suffice it to say that this is, once again, Solomon saying that without the joy of the Lord, everything is dark and futile, void of satisfaction. Literally speaking, if God is light, which He is, then believing that money is satisfaction and joy will literally leave you sitting in the darkness—that is, without God—living in sorrow, sickness, and anger at your lack of joy.

Solomon ends this section of his rant against wealth with a reminder that we shouldn’t take wealth or lack of wealth to extremes in verses 18-20:

“Here is what I have seen to be good: it is appropriate to eat, drink, and experience good in all the labor one does under the sun during the few days of his life God has given him, because that is his reward. God has also given riches and wealth to every man, and He has allowed him to enjoy them, take his reward, and rejoice in his labor. This is a gift of God, for he does not often consider the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with the joy of his heart.”

This is a great reminder that joy can only be found in God, but that He has also given us the opportunity to have some happiness in the things of this Earth. But we can only have fun with what’s here because we are not occupied with the existential dread that comes from worrying over wealth and other pursuit of this world.

Approaching the Lord

The first seven verses of Ecclesiastes chapter five express the need to approach God and your relationship with Him with caution. As with any significant relationship, our relationship with God is one that must be intentional and guarded so that we do not cause any undue issues.

And, in fact, this must be stressed more so with God because He is perfect and just and has a standard higher than we can ever reach, unlike our earthly relationships. You can’t afford to be lackadaisical when it comes to being righteous. Even though God forgives when we ask, the damage that it can do to you on Earth is significant.

The first verse opens up with how our relationship with God should look; it should not be something that is done by obligation, but by obedience and desire. It describes a mindset with which we should chase after God. “Guard your step when you go to the house of God. Better to draw near in obedience than to offer the sacrifice as fools do, for they are ignorant and do wrong.”

I’d like to note that my Bible version translates the Hebrew word “shama” differently than most versions, which use “to hear” or “to listen” in place of “obedience” in mine. However, the meaning remains the same. The use of obedience in my translation likely serves to highlight the difference between the “this or that” proposition Solomon was making here.

The two options when you approach God as Solomon presents them are “to hear/listen/be obedient” or “to talk/do/sacrifice.” You can either come to God with a heart of obedience that desires to do what He would have you do, or you can come before Him with a heart that says, “Look, I recognize that you’re God and all, but I’m just going to do what I want.” This is a cautionary statement to not let your own desires be placed higher than God’s calling for your life.

This is quite similar to the introspective actions we should take before partaking in communion, as indicated in 1 Corinthians 11:27-32. We must examine ourselves as we come to God, humbling ourselves before Him and recognizing who He is and who we are in comparison.

Verse 2 and verses 4-6 say, “Do not be hasty to speak, and do not be impulsive to make a speech before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few. When you make a vow to God, don’t delay fulfilling it, because He does not delight in fools. Fulfill what you vow. Better that you do not vow than that you vow and not fulfill it. Do not let your mouth bring guilt on you, and do not say in the presence of the messenger that it was a mistake. Why should God be angry with your words and destroy the work of your hands.”

There are plenty of reasons why it’s important to not make promises to God beyond, but the main reason is that we can’t keep them. If you say, “I will not sin,” you will sin. If you say, “I will pursue you wholeheartedly for my entire life,” you will fail to do so in a moment of weakness. We’re not good enough to live up to our promises like that.

James 5:12 says, “But most of all, my brothers and sisters, never take an oath, by heaven or earth or anything else. Just say a simple yes or no, so that you will not sin and be condemned.”

But another reason is that God knows so much more than we do that it’s not worth trying to claim we will adhere to whatever our fickle minds decide on in this moment. Where our God is unchanging, we are constantly in a state of flux, moving from one desire to the next as fast as a hummingbird’s wings flap.

“God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few,” is pretty clear in meaning: you don’t know enough to make promises about what you will do. Let your words to God be, “Yes, I will do as you say.” You don’t need more than that. He knows your heart, anyway.

One final reason, if the first two don’t satisfy your curiosity, stems from the fact that God is omniscient, all knowing, and sometimes the consequences of your vows to satisfy your own desires don’t turn out for your benefit. A great example comes from Jephthah in Judges 11.

Jephthah, following pagan customs, proposed a bargain with God in order to win a battle against the Ammonites. Why, exactly, he chose to make this bargain when the Spirit of the Lord was with him is unclear to me, but the results of the vow were very clear. The bargain was that the first thing that came out of Jephthah’s house when he returned home from his battle with the Ammonites would be sacrificed to God. Unfortunately for him, the first thing that came running out of his front door was his only child, his only daughter.

Had he remembered who God was and what strength was given to him by the Lord’s divine power, he would not have lost his only daughter because he was too quick to speak to the Lord. (Granted, I’m not saying every time you make a promise to God, something like this will happen, but you should know that our God is a just God, and your words have power, meaning. Failing to go through with a promise is a lie to God, and His punishment must be just. I think I speak for us all when I say that I’m thankful He is also a forgiving God and Jesus is the sacrifice for our sins.)

There are a ton of verses on guarding your mouth, guarding your speech, guarding your tongue, but the one I like most is certainly in verse 6: “Do not let your mouth bring guilt on you.” Don’t let what you say make you guilty before God.

My dad is rather fond of this saying, and we can, and should, all take this to heart a little more: “Better to keep your mouth closed and let everyone think you’re a fool than to open it and prove that you are.” The tongue is a betrayer, it’s lashing at the bit to make you mess up—it cannot be tamed and made to say only what is good. Sometimes, the best thing for us to do is shut up.

Finally, verses 3 and 7 say, “For dreams result from much work and a fool’s voice from many words. For many dreams bring futility, also many words. So, fear God.”

This is fairly simple, yet complicated at the same time, but the essence of the message is that rewards come from effort, not from words. It’s very much like our common phrase “If you’re going to talk the talk, you need to walk the walk.” If you’re going to talk the talk of being obedient to Christ, you must then walk the walk He has set before you. The rewards come from actually doing what He says, not from saying you’re going to do it.

Verse 7 leans its meaning more towards the ideas expressed in verse 2 about God being in Heaven and us on Earth. Humans, especially compared to God, have an incredibly small attention span. It’s so small that I probably lost eighty percent of the people who clicked on this article by now. We are so easily distracted that when we try to decide what we’re going to do instead of listening to God’s plan, we change our minds 300 times in the span of our lives. Why? Because we don’t know what God knows.

We’re like a child who is presented with five of their favorite desserts but is told they can only choose one of them. That child is going to point at the first, then the second, then the third, and so on, over and over and over again without ever actually sticking to a choice. Then, that child will attempt to eat all of them instead of choosing.

We are too fickle to decide what we will do. That’s why, when we approach God, we should approach Him with obedience and our ears open to hear what He has to say to us, then we should endeavor to do as He asks with as much effort as we can give because that’s where the rewards come from.

Success and Companionship

The second part of Ecclesiastes chapter 4 in my personal Bible is titled “The Loneliness of Wealth,” and I don’t know about y’all, but that hits deep.

There’s a song by Brandon Heath titled “It’s No Good to be Alone,” and one of the lines from that song says, “You know it doesn’t matter how high you climb if no one’s there to share the ride when you get there.” (You can listen to this song down below.) To me, this sums up the pursuit of wealth as an ideal, and really, the pursuit of a lot of things on this Earth. Humans have a need for companionship, for socialization. God knew this at the beginning. It’s why he created Eve for Adam.

We were designed to have perfect companionship with God and other people, but sin entered the world and that perfection in companions was lost. Things like jealousy began to intervene as soon as Cain and Abel. It’s interesting to me that Solomon touches on that subject right off the bat when he starts talking about wealth in-depth.

Verse 4 says, “I saw that all labor and all skillful work is due to a man’s jealousy of his friend. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.”

Why do you want to be wealthy? I don’t think anyone says they want to be wealthy for a pure, selfless reason, though I admire anyone who can truthfully say that’s the case for them. Likely, the reason you want money is to satisfy your desire for what you’ve seen others have. You want that nice car, the big house, the boat for the lake, a new set of golf clubs, your own personal library, an in-ground swimming pool, a massive yard, the ability to fly to Hawaii for a week-long vacation, or even something as small or simple as your friend’s easy to use and fantastically clever coffee machine.

Regardless, the point is that you want something you don’t have. You’re jealous of someone else’s possessions, so you work to get what they have that you don’t. But obviously such a thing is futile because getting what they have won’t satisfy you. Speaking personally, I’ve bought things my friends had because I thought they were cool, and within two weeks I was bored of it completely. After a brief honeymoon period with that item, it just became a waste of money.

Verses 7-8 say, “Again, I saw futility under the sun: There is a person without a companion, without even a son or brother, and though there is no end to all his struggles, his eyes are still not content with his riches. ‘So who am I struggling for,’ he asks, ‘and depriving myself from good?’ This too is futile and a miserable task.”

You’ve probably heard the phrase, “It’s lonely at the top.” And that’s a pretty true standard in the world we live in. It’s cutthroat. To get to the top, you often have to cut others down and climb the mountain of metaphorical bodies to reach higher than those who lost to you. It’s a grim image, I know, but it’s a grim reality. When you strive solely for wealth and career, you have to give up everything else, including making relationships with other people.

As Solomon often does, he recommends a middle-of-the-line approach to this because extreme reactions in this area tend to not work well. Verses 5-6 say, “The fool folds his arms and consumes his own flesh. Better one handful with rest, than two handfuls with effort and pursuit of the wind.”

You should neither be lazy in the pursuit of wealth such that you rely totally on others to take care of you, and you should not pursue wealth so fervently that you do not take time apart from that ambition to spend in other areas.
Rest is important to us. Taking time away from our goals is important. All you achieve when you refuse to take breaks is stress and failure. To put it this way, a guy graduated my high school with a 5.2 GPA and got a full ride to Yale, but by graduation, he had given up hours and hours of sleep, likely a large portion of his social life, and created undue stress for himself to the point his hair was graying as a high school graduate. There’s no satisfaction in pushing yourself so hard that you hurt yourself.

A lot of this chapter actually leans towards a saying many of us have heard often: “It’s about the journey, not the destination.”

Verses 9-12 say, “Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their efforts. For if either falls, his companion can lift him up; but pity the one who falls without another to lift him up. Also, if two lie down together, they can keep warm; but how can one person alone keep warm? And if somebody overpowers one person, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not easily broken.”

It’s about how you achieve your goals. How you overcome your struggles. How you lean on God and your companions. This is why you need others by your side in this life. We’re not capable of doing this life on our own. We’re just not. There will be times when we are unable to stand under our own power, but by sharing our burdens with our friends, we can lift the weight pressing down on us. But if you don’t have anyone there when you’re being crushed by a burden, you’ll be saddled with that weight for good.

The cord example Solomon provides is actually such a great illustration even today. Let’s expand on it:

Now, I’m not the most knowledgeable when it comes to ropes and cords, but I do know that, essentially, the more strands a rope has, the stronger it is. That’s because, to break a cord made of three intertwined strands of rope, you have to create a force greater than the strength of all 3 strands combined, rather than just the individual strength of one strand because the strands compensate for each other and share the burden of weight. So, if one rope can hold ten pounds, then a cord with three strands that rope can hold 30 pounds, basically.

This works because of the distribution of force and tensile strength. I won’t get into a detailed explanation, but I’ll try to express the essence of it. A rope fails at a point that gets stretched too far for it to hold onto itself any longer. This weak point, however, can be negated, in a cord with multiple strands of rope. The multiple strands of rope work to distribute the force better such that the tensile strength of each individual strand increases. That weak point on each strand gets stronger because when one strand takes up too much force, it can pass some of that force on to the second and third strand.

So, bringing that back around to the comparison: where you would snap under the load, intertwining yourself with a companion or two will help you hold strong under weight you wouldn’t be able to carry alone. Now that I’ve beaten that horse six feet under, let’s move on.

One of the more important functions of companionship is the ability to have a somewhat objective view on decision making. Your friends serve as people whom you can and should be accountable to and who can help you see things from perspectives that you wouldn’t consider. This idea is all over the New Testament and within the Christian community, so I don’t need to touch on it too much, but Solomon mentions it here in verse 13, “Better is a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer pays attention to warnings.”

It’s better to be have good friends who can advise you than it is to be wealthy and think the advice of others is beneath you. To broaden it a bit, it’s better to avoid thinking wealthier or more influential people are superior to others because of their lot in life. A poor man can be just as wise as a rich man. A mildly successful friend is just as good as a wildly successful friend.

But even more so, Solomon stresses the idea that recognition does not come from wealth. Verses 14-16 say, “For he came from prison to be king, even though he was born poor in his kingdom. I saw all the living who move about under the sun follow a second youth who succeeds him. There is no limit to all the people who were before them, yet those who come later will not rejoice in him. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.”

Even the most heroic stories of prevailing against unfortunate circumstances won’t get you true companionship by its own merits. As soon as one successful person is gone, another will rise up in their place and the people will jump on that bandwagon. That’s why good, loyal companions are more valuable than wealth. People who will never abandon you are a rock on which you can find strength, even if they aren’t the rock on which your foundation should be built. Wealth can be lost in a moment, but a good companion will stick by you through rich and poor.

Listen to It's No Good To Be Alone on Spotify. Brandon Heath · Song · 2011.

Are we Animals?

This is a topic often considered when discussing apologetics with those who believe in Darwin’s evolution theory. Are we just animals? Or are we something more? What does it mean if we are just animals? How many differences are there if we are no different, no better than the soulless creatures that roam the Earth around us, that we were given to command?

Well, God says we are different, special. We were formed out of clay by God’s hand as he breathed life into us while he merely spoke animals into existence from the earth. We were designated as God’s special creation while animals were not given such a position. We were made in the image of God while animals were not.

And in creating each in the manner they were created, God designated an important distinction between human and animal: one has the character of God imprinted in its very nature—humanity—one has earthly character imprinted in its nature—animals. It doesn’t seem that important at first, and I’m sure many of us have just glossed over these verses in Genesis before, but they are incredibly valuable when we talk about our nature, and especially in the argument of morals and death.

Solomon had to deal with this in his time thanks to Egypt’s worship of animals, and he does so in a form of mocking, but there are some important things to take from his mocking of Egypt’s mythology in Ecclesiastes chapter 3.

First, let’s establish the relationship of animals, humans, and God. Animals are representative of a sin nature. They lack the likeness of God and as such they can only perform in a manner of sin (you’ll see what I mean later). Humans, now, sit in this middle ground. We have the capability to live and be like God in our behavior, but we also have the ability to act like animals. And God is the ultimate good. He only acts within His character.

Now, we must ascribe a spectrum of morality because that is the key difference separating each of these three groups. Animals have no morals. They act to benefit themselves or their offspring. There is no altruism in animals. Humans have the capability to be animalistic—acting selfish—or Godly—acting selfless. And God is the ultimate morality. Everything He does is morally perfect. He was the ultimate morality when Jesus died on the cross for us.

Ecclesiastes 3:16-18 says, “I also observed under the sun: there is wickedness at the place of judgment and there is wickedness at the place of righteousness. I said to myself, ‘God will judge the righteous and the wicked, since there is a time for every activity and every work.’ I said to myself, ‘This happens concerning people, so that God may test them and they may see for themselves that they are like animals.’”

As with all things in Ecclesiastes, the purpose of this is to remind us that we need God. Earlier, I said that animals are a moral representation of sin. They only act to benefit themselves. They have no moral system. If an animal kills another of its kind, no other comes to punish it. If an animal steals, it receives no justice. Revenge, perhaps, but certainly not justice. But especially, there is no quandary that occurs when an animal does something morally incorrect like killing or stealing. An animal does not concern itself over whether it does right or wrong because, to it, nothing is objectively wrong. Everything is subjective to its place.

But humans have an innate moral compass. This was imprinted on us because we were created in God’s image. A person will feel perplexed when confronted with a situation that would have them compromise that compass, such as killing or stealing. And upon performing such an action, a human will feel convicted that they did wrong, ideally.

But because of sin, we have injustice just like the animals. We have people who can kill, steal, lie and do all manner of harm and not feel as though they have done wrong. But, even worse, we are all capable of doing wrong and feeling no remorse. It is only through just judgment that we see through God’s character that we have done wrong. That’s what Solomon is describing. When we see that we are like animals, we see that there is a God who can help us to be more like Him and less like soulless beasts.

So, no, we are not animals, though we certainly can act like them at times. The existence of our morality is clear evidence there is a distinction between us and God’s other creations. That distinction is important because there is no hope without it. If we are animals, there is nothing after life here. There is nothing but a meaningless life and then death, as Solomon describes in verses 19-20.

“For the fate of people and the fate of animals is the same. As one dies, so dies the other; they all have the same breath. People have no advantage over animals, for everything is futile. All are going to the same place; all come from dust, and all return to dust.”

Again, this is Solomon picking at the Egyptian worldview that when you die, life after is the same as life here. But at an even larger scale, this is Solomon talking about existence without God. Without God, the reality of these verses is all you have to look forward to. You live and you die. You are meaningless dust. If we are merely animals, this is all there is.

Personally, I thank God we are not merely animals, but that we are special creations of one who loves us.

The Appropriate Time

Ecclesiastes chapter three expands upon the latter statements in chapter two, wherein Solomon indicates that it is a gift of God to enjoy the things of this Earth. But, chapter three also provides some context in an important caveat to remind us that, even though many things are appropriate for enjoyment, they are only appropriate in the right time.

When we study the Bible, we know that context is absolutely key to understanding what is written and ensuring we don’t misunderstand what was being written for us. Of course, this is true for any teaching, as many sentences on any single subject can be misconstrued if removed from their appropriate setting. But context is especially important with Ecclesiastes—I’d even argue that it is the book of context in that each chapter builds off itself to show us a narrative of Christian behavior and thought processes we should adhere to.

That being said, on to the verses! The first eight verses talk about “an occasion for everything, and a time for every activity under heaven.” Notice a change in word choice here. When talking about activities we partake of in this life in the first two chapters, Solomon continuously referred to them as being “under the sun.” Now, however, we’re talking about activities “under heaven.” This distinction is important.

I don’t think there’s any clear, definitive separation between “under the sun” and “under heaven,” but contextually, there is a separation of drastic importance. Culturally, there are many parallels between the style of Egyptian literature and the style of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, both of which were written by Solomon, who would have had a view and understanding of Egyptian culture due to marrying Pharaoh’s daughter. Egyptians worshiped Ra, the sun god, as their most important, most powerful deity; therefore, “under the sun” could have referred to the pagan religion of the Egyptians. This would lead “under heaven” to mean “under God.”

But, even within the book of Ecclesiastes itself, there is a contextual difference between the two. “Under the sun” invokes things that are sinful in nature, while “under heaven” invokes things that are of God. You’ll likely notice that each time “under the sun” is mentioned, it is in a negative tone to refer to sinful actions that do not satisfy us. The first verse of chapter three is set in direct context to that as a tone shift.

So, with the background set, chapter three is meant to contextualize and clarify some of the final statements in chapter two, mainly the idea that it’s okay to enjoy some of the things we have to experience in this life. It does this by first separating things that are inherently under the sun—evil—and under heaven—good.

The things that are inherently evil are not listed in chapter three, but it’s pretty simple to determine what those things are. Merely take those things that God commands us not to do and understand those are evil and there is no time or place for them. The good, however, are those things which God has gifted to us: friendships, marriage, sex, money, knowledge, entertainment, food, happiness, etc.

All these things, which are not inherently sinful, have their place. Sure, overindulgence or an idolization of these things can lead to sin, but they are not sin in and of themselves. That’s what Ecclesiastes means by things being appropriate in their time. If you were to have sex outside of marriage, that is sin. If you have sex in its time in marriage, it’s not sin. See where I’m going with this?

There are also double and triple layers to the information provided here. There are three important separations within the listed activities: one group is a list of actions where one must happen before the other; the second is one that requires understanding of one to truly understand the other; and the third are antonyms—direct opposites.

An example of one leading into another is verse two, “A time to give birth and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to uproot.” You can’t die before you are born, and you can’t pull up a plant that hasn’t been planted. In other words, some things are only able and appropriate to occur after something else has, so trying to do them out of order makes them inappropriate, i.e., marriage and sex.

The second group involves things like in verse 4, “A time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance.” We’re doubling down on context here: you can’t fully understand the extent of happiness until you have experienced sadness. For you to know the full measure of one, you must know the other.

And the third is as in verse 8, “A time to love and a time to hate; a time for war and a time for peace.” Yes, there are appropriate times and things to hate and war against. Love and hate are complete polar opposites, but they each have their place. Even God loves and hates things. He loves us but hates our sin. These are to let us know that there are times even for actions that we don’t necessarily like.

The appropriate context of actions is stressed so heavily in Ecclesiastes to, once again, remind us of the limitations of our life here. As Solomon says in verse 11, “He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also put eternity into their hearts, but man cannot discover the work God has done from beginning to end.”

I’ll point your attention mostly to “He has also put eternity into their hearts, but man cannot discover the work God has done.” As I’ve said time and time again, our problem with these actions comes about when we try to use them to fill what only God can fill. We try to take these contextualized things and fit them into eternity because we know we need something for eternity, but we cannot understand the vastness of what God has done. So, in its time, the things we do are appropriate. Just don’t take them out of their place and put them in the place of God because there is no adding to or taking from God.

Value of Wisdom

A lot of people, even a number of Christians, try to find satisfaction in life through the things they do or own: work, partying, sex, money, houses, cars, pets, a spouse, kids, etc. Last week, I wrote about Solomon’s experience trying all of these things to achieve that satisfaction and realizing exactly how unfulfilling they are.

The way Solomon makes it sound in Ecclesiastes is as if living life and achieving things here have no meaning, then, but that’s not the case either. At the end of my last article on Ecclesiastes, I left you with this:

See, as Christians, we can have happiness in the things we do here because we have the joy of Christ in knowing that, once we’re done here, there is everlasting joy to look forward to. We can enjoy the things of this world because we are already satisfied by Christ. We will never be satisfied by the things of this world, but we can have a little fun doing the things that are not sinful. There’s nothing wrong with pursuing some of these empty things if you’re already full.

Solomon tackled the why behind this in verses 13-17, but specifically, I want to point your attention to verse 14. “The wise man has eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness.”

See, we’re all, prior to Christ, walking around on the road of life. None of us know where we’re going or how to get there. It’s like we’re stumbling around, trying to feel the road with our feet, or grasping for a guardrail that lays alongside it. That’s the fool walking in darkness. The worst part: the fool even has the ability to see. The fool has eyes, but either does not know how to open them or willfully refuses to do so.

The wise, on the other hand, have had our eyes opened by God. We see clearly the road that lies ahead of us and know exactly where to put our feet. We have no need to feel the road with our feet or grab onto the guide rope or a guardrail to go in the right direction. God is above us shining brightly on the entire road so that we can always see to follow it.

But the rest of verse 14 says that the same thing happens to us all: “Yet I also knew that one fate comes to them both.” But at the end of it all, whether you can see the road you travel or not, every person will eventually come to the end of their life on this Earth and find an eternal existence. There is an end to the road of life.

Think of it this way: the road of life isn’t a very nice road. There are portions of the path that are overgrown with vines and trees and thorned plants. Some parts have giant holes with a thin beam of wood stretching across it. Some portions of the road are guarded by wild animals. But just as much as it has bad parts, the road has good parts, too.

At one section of the road, there’s a quaint restaurant giving away refreshing drinks and food. At another, the road changes from hard asphalt to a nice, soft grass so you can take your shoes off and walk barefooted. At one point, you even get to take a ride in an air conditioned limousine. And if you make it to the end? You walk off the edge and fall to your death. But afterwards, you are resurrected to live eternally with God.

But some people walk along this road and, because they cannot see, they stumble into the nasty traps laid out on it. Some may get past a few obstacles, but if their eyes remain closed, they will eventually succumb to one of the traps and die. Instead of finding eternal life in Heaven, they are condemned to an eternal existence of suffering in Hell.

But all of that isn’t the real point of this section of Ecclesiastes. The real point is made to those of us who had our eyes opened to see the road. Some of us who are blessed with wisdom take it far too seriously.

When we come to the restaurant handing out drinks and food, we walk by it without partaking because we’re suspicious it’s poisoned. When we reach the soft, grassy section, we keep our shoes on and step gingerly, afraid of potential spikes hiding in the soft grass that could pierce our feet. When we get to the limousine, we ignore the chauffeur telling us to get in out of fear that it would turn off the road into disaster.

When I say we take it too seriously, I mean it. There are some believers out there who don’t allow themselves to have fun with anything, and that’s just not it. Yes, our absolute, primary goal is to turn people to Christ, but what good is it to walk this life on Earth just to die without enjoying some of the pleasures that God has put here for us to experience?

Solomon realized that, as he says in verses 15-16. “So I said to myself, ‘What happens to the fool will also happen to me. Why then have I been overly wise?’ And I said to myself that this is also futile. For, just like the fool, there is no lasting remembrance of the wise man, since in the days to come both will be forgotten. How is it that the wise man dies just like the fool?”

See, there’s no special reward for ignoring the restaurant, the grass, and the limousine. You don’t get an extra commendation from God because you forsake the pleasures He provided for us on the path we walk. Not everything that exists on this Earth is a lie from the pit of Hell meant to distract you from Christ. You can build up some things on this Earth without it being sinful.

The important thing about each of these enjoyable parts of the road of life is the perspective of the one experiencing them. For the believer, we know that it is just a blessing on the road to our final destination: Heaven. We know that there’s no point in putting our stock in those enjoyable activities. We partake and continue on, preparing for our eternal life.

Wisdom, sight, is valuable not because it is the be all end all but because it can give you perspective for each situation. It allows you to determine that the pits and thorns are surpassable. It shows you that the restaurant, soft grass, and the limousine are not the end of the line.

Foolishness, blindness, however, blocks the perspective of those who come across the obstacles and pleasant experiences on the road. While a believer might eat a meal at the restaurant and move on, the nonbeliever will sit at the restaurant for days, stuffing himself with food believing that the death that comes from overeating is the fulfillment of the road.

Whereas she with sight might see the grass and feel the softness of it on her feet until she crosses to the next section of the road, she who is blind might frolic in the grass until she dies of starvation thinking that the ultimate joy of life is to experience the softness of it on her feet.

While the wise man might ride in the limousine to the stop, exit, and thank the driver for the ride, he who is foolish might ride in the air-conditioned limousine long after he was supposed to get out, reveling in the coolness of the air and the comfort of the leather seat until it careens off the edge and takes him to his death.

And that’s what Solomon is saying in verse 13, “And I realized that there is an advantage to wisdom over folly, like the advantage of light over darkness.”

See, on the road of life, we all get to experience some hardship and some happiness. The advantage believers have is that we know that neither the hardships nor the happiness are the end of the line, but that the end of the road is us being smothered in absolute, never-ending joy as we experience an eternity of worshiping Christ.

Life is Empty

Ecclesiastes chapter 2 expands upon the pointlessness of earthly pleasures, going so far as to call everything achieved in this life emptiness. My personal Bible has subheadings for parts of the chapters, and three of them in this chapter are titled “The Emptiness of Pleasure,” “The Emptiness of Possessions,” and “The Emptiness of Work.”

It’s really interesting how Solomon hits on the three main things that we consider the largest vices in today’s times: pleasure: sex, partying, and the like; possessions: money, a house, nice cars, etc.; and work: a solid career, things built by your own two hands, and more. These three things are the trifecta of unfulfilling tragedy.

Let’s start examining the emptiness of these with pleasure. Verses 1-3 say, “I said to myself, ‘Go ahead, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy what is good.’ But it turned out to be futile. I said about laughter, ‘It is madness,’ and about pleasure, ‘What does this accomplish?” I explored with my mind how to let my body enjoy life with wine and how to grasp folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom—until I could see what is good for people to do under heaven during the few days of their lives.”

Sounds dreary, doesn’t it? It might even sound untrue to many. Because, surely, laughter can’t be madness! It’s happiness in a sound. It’s contentment. It’s joy. And pleasure absolutely accomplishes something! It gives happiness, comfort, and contentment. But do these things really do that? I say no, and here’s why.

Look at laughing from an outside perspective: how long does it last? When you laugh, you may go on for as many as few minutes, but when you’re done laughing, the effect is gone. Your eyes uncrinkle, your lips settle back into a relaxed position, and the sound of merriment is snuffed out. As soon as the moment has passed, so too has laughter. So too, has any benefit. It’s fleeting.

And what about pleasure? Parties, alcohol, foolishness. It all feels great temporarily, but what happens when you leave the party? When you sober up? When you face the consequences of your foolishness? All of what you experienced in the midst of these actions is gone. You break free of the monotony for a few moments, and then it comes right back.

Next is possessions. Verses 3-10 described all that Solomon gained in his life. He had houses, vineyards, gardens, parks, every kind of fruit tree, a whole irrigation system to water his trees, tons of servants, more cattle and sheep than he knew what to do with, silver, gold, and all kinds of treasures, his own private musicians, more than 700 wives and 300 concubines. As he says in verse 10, “All that my eyes desired, I did not deny them. I did not refuse myself any pleasure, for I took pleasure in all my struggles. This was my reward for all my struggles.”

So, if there was any person to ever exist who could have found joy in things he owned, it was Solomon. Yet, he didn’t. Verse 11 says, “When I considered all that I had accomplished and what I had labored to achieve, I found everything to be futile and a pursuit of the wind. There was nothing to be gained under the sun.”

Even though he worked hard to get all those things, they weren’t worth it. I find that this part of Ecclesiastes fits really well with Mark 8:46, “For what does it benefit a man to gain the whole world yet lose his life?” Clearly, it benefited Solomon in no way. As we know from the book of 1 Kings, he had the kingdom he presided over taken away from him and given to David for the things he owned and did.

And finally, we get to the emptiness of work. In verses 18-19, 23, it says, “I hated all my work that I labored at under the sun because I must leave it to the man who comes after me. And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will take over all my work that I labored at skillfully under the sun. (23) For all his days are filled with grief, and his occupation is sorrowful; even at night, his mind does not rest. This too is futile.”

Man, talk about dreary, yet again, with Ecclesiastes. But really, take some time to think about this. Personally, I’ve had those moments where I’ve thought deeply about my life on this Earth, having to wake up early in the morning, drive to work, work all day, drive home, work at home, and then sleep, just to do it again the next day. If I think too hard about it, I nearly have an existential crisis worrying about how meaningless those actions are. Just thinking about the monotony of it could drive me insane, and I doubt I’m the only one who has considered this.

Don’t you spend some nights wherein you consider just giving up going to work because you’re not accomplishing anything, anyway? That’s what Solomon’s talking about here. Solomon was wise and skilled at many things, and he dreaded the idea of passing on the achievements of his work to someone who would not do it as well as him. He dreaded it to the point that he dreaded doing the work, and he realized that there’s no point to it all.

Here’s the conclusion: Everything about this Earth and life on it is empty. Your happiness is empty because it cannot hold you up. Your possessions are empty because they are worth nothing in the grand scheme of things. Your work is worth nothing because after you’re gone, someone else will come along and ruin it. Not to mention that there’s nothing satisfying about the monotony of 50 years of a career.

As I’ve mentioned before about Ecclesiastes, its whole job is to drill it deep into your heart and mind that the things on this Earth cannot and will not satisfy you or bring you joy because its goal is to point you to the only one who can: God.

Let me tell you that I did not write all this down and post it online to disenfranchise you about life to the point you decide to do nothing with yours, and neither did Solomon write Ecclesiastes for this reason. In fact, now that I’ve made the point that you can’t find joy and satisfaction in these things, I’m going to tell you to go out and do those things anyway. Because while you can’t find joy and satisfaction in them, you can find happiness.

This is about perspective. In the long term, yes, this life means very little. But in the here and now, God has given us time here to do these things. I think Solomon says it best in verses 24-26:

“There is nothing better for man than to eat, drink, and enjoy his work. I have seen that even this is from God’s hand, because who can eat and who can enjoy life apart from Him? For to the man who is pleasing in His sight, He gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy, but to the sinner He gives the task of gathering and accumulating in order to give to the one who is pleasing in God’s sight. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.”

See, as Christians, we can have happiness in the things we do here because we have the joy of Christ in knowing that, once we’re done here, there is everlasting joy to look forward to. We can enjoy the things of this world because we are already satisfied by Christ. We will never be satisfied by the things of this world, but we can have a little fun doing the things that are not sinful. There’s nothing wrong with pursuing some of these empty things if you’re already full.

Wisdom is Sorrow

This is part two of the study I’m writing for Ecclesiastes. It is the remainder of chapter 1—verses 13-18—so if you haven’t read that one yet, please check it out under the article titled “Earth is Pointless.”

I like to group people into three standard categories of understanding when it comes to Ecclesiastes chapter 1. There are the ignorant, the knowledgeable, and the wise. This grouping comes from Ecclesiastes 1:15, “What is crooked cannot be straightened; what is lacking cannot be counted,” and verse 18, “For with much wisdom is sorrow; as knowledge increases, grief increases.”

In the first part of my study of Ecclesiastes, I talked about how we’re all searching for a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment for our lives. But, while you and I and many other Christians can put a finger on exactly what it is we’re searching for, a number of people can’t. Verse 15 refers to this. Every fully cognizant human knows we’re missing something. There’s a hole in our lives that we just can’t understand or fill no matter how hard we try.

The first grouping is the ignorant. These people are blissful because they don’t know about the hole they’re trying to fill yet. Most of the people in this group are children because their brains simply aren’t developed enough to understand, and better yet for those who already have faith in Jesus because their ignorance is blessed on top of being blissful.

The second grouping is the knowledgeable. They are those who know there is a hole, there is something missing, and they know they can find things that will temporarily cover the bottom of that hole, but have yet to find a solution to the feeling of missing something. Generally speaking, these are the nonbelievers. They’re the ones doing the pointless, useless, futile things like hoarding money, having sex, or any other number of things while looking for a solution.

And finally, the third grouping is the wise. These are the people who have come to the realization that Earth’s “satisfaction” is pointless and have found the one and only thing that can fill the hole in their lives. Generally speaking, these are the believers who know that Jesus is the only one who can satisfy and fulfill us and provide us with joy. They have seen past the knowledge of the world and have applied wisdom, which can only be found through God.

Let’s make this a metaphor, shall we. Picture a painting inside a frame hanging on a wall that is just ever-so-slightly tilted off level. Not a huge amount, but just enough that, were you to look at it, you’d raise one eyebrow and say, “that looks a little off,” to yourself.

In this metaphor, the ignorant group looks at the painting and just sees the pretty colors held within the frame. They don’t notice or care that the frame is slightly crooked. The picture looks nice, and that’s all that concerns them.

The knowledgeable group sees the frame and immediately makes that quizzical face, saying, “That’s a bit off.” Then, they reach up, grab the frame, and tilt it back towards level. However, they tilt it just a little too far, and now it’s off-kilter the other way. They step back, notice it’s crooked again, and reach up to tilt it once more. And they continue to do so in an infinite loop because they never get it quite right.

The wise group sees the frame and has the same initial reaction as the knowledgeable group. But instead of reaching up and trying to fix the frame, they go find a level, set it on top of the frame, and tilt it until it’s perfectly level. Then, they admire the painting for a few moments and move on.

Ecclesiastes describes the second group perfectly in verses 13-14, “I applied my mind to seek and explore through wisdom all that is done under heaven. God has given people this miserable task to keep them occupied. I have seen all the things that are done under the sun and have found everything to be futile, a pursuit of the wind.” Attempting to level that frame by hand is a miserable task. You’ll only get more frustrated the longer you try and fail to fix it.

Solomon says it’s like pursuing the wind. Have you ever tried to chase the wind? First of all, it’s ridiculously fast, but that doesn’t even matter. Why? Because even if you could run faster than the wind, you can’t even capture it! It’ll slip right through your fingers every time you grab at it.

Now, this is all great, but why, then, is wisdom sorrow, as Ecclesiastes 1:18 says: “For with much wisdom is sorrow; as knowledge increases, grief increases.” That’s actually pretty simple, in essence, because the sorrow doesn’t refer to yourself. Sorrow is something that can be felt for others just as much as yourself.

Remember the wise group in the metaphor that admired their paintings for a few moments and moved on? Well, that group now has the distinct displeasure of walking by every person in the knowledgeable group and watching them fiddle and fidget with their frames. That’s where the sorrow is. It’s sorrow for those who know they have a problem but can’t fix it. It’s sorrow for the grief those people experience as they tilt that frame back and forth and back and forth and back and forth.

Strong’s Concordance has the word for grief in verse 18 as “makob” meaning “pain” or “suffering.” In other words, as the group with knowledge becomes more knowledgeable, tilting that frame back and forth, filling that hole, becomes more and more painful with each repetition. Each failure increases their suffering.

And this leads me to a point not detailed in chapter 1, but that I feel led to write down anyway. This is exactly why we are called to go out and make disciples of all nations, to show them to Christ. You, as someone with wisdom, are supposed to stop by each knowledgeable person you pass as they tilt their frame and introduce them to the level, to wisdom, to Christ. You should feel so much sorrow for them that you can’t help but stand by and show them how to end their suffering and find the satisfaction of fixing that frame and admiring that painting. Don’t let people suffer.

Earth is Pointless

Ecclesiastes is my favorite book of the Bible because it has an absurd amount of experiential wisdom. It’s the troubleshooting guide for life, at its essence, because it cuts past all the clutter of living and gets straight to the point. It’s the book wherein Solomon says, “Look, I’ve tried to find satisfaction in literally every way you could possibly attempt. There is not a single thing on this planet that can satisfy you.”

Consider the things we believe will satisfy us: money, relationships, a career, aggrandizement, knowledge, pleasure, happiness, etc. Solomon tried all of that, and best of all, he wrote about how pointless it was so we wouldn’t waste our lives trying them, too.

Verse 2 says, “‘Absolute futility,’ says the Teacher. ‘Absolute futility. Everything is futile.’”

The ESV and KJV have “vanity” in place of futility here, but Strong’s Hebrew Concordance says that the word can be translated as emptiness, vanity, transitory, or unsatisfactory, and futility fits that definition just as clearly as vanity can. Futility means useless, pointless, and ineffective.

So, Solomon says that everything is pointless, and then he asks a question. Verse 3, “What does a man gain for all his efforts that he labors at under the sun?”

Take a moment to think about that, and don’t try to be optimistic about it. Solomon wasn’t being optimistic here. What do you really get for waking up early in the morning and working hard all day? You get some money, but what’s that worth? You’re just going to spend it. No, you don’t get money. You get to wake up and do it again the next day just to survive. It’s pointless. Even if your goal is to set up your children for their own life, it’s pointless. Why?

Verse 4, “A generation goes and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever.” Even if you set up your children for a little better life on Earth, they’re going to do the same thing you did: wake up every morning and work all day, then go to sleep and do it again the next day. And their children will do it, and their children’s children will do it.

This is the bleak reality of this world. What you’re doing is going to repeat ceaselessly because what is here is the same forever. It’s an unbreakable cycle because there is nothing to add and nothing to take away. You can apply that to almost everything you do: help someone? Sure, you’ll feel good about it, but there are always more people to help, and that good feeling goes away, soon. It’s depressing, it really is, but that’s the point!

Solomon breaks this down with a few metaphors in verses 5-7, “The sun rises and the sun sets; panting, it returns to its place where it rises. Gusting to the south, turning to the north, turning, turning, goes the wind, and the wind returns in its cycles. All the streams flow to the sea, yet the sea is never full. The streams are flowing to the place, and they flow there again.”

Verse 5 refers back to verse 3. You work hard, like the sun, to do your daily routine, then you return home to rise and do it again.

Verse 6 is another reference to the repetition and pointlessness of everything. If you know anything about weather patterns, you’ll know that wind has its cycles and seasons. There are occasional variations, just like our lives occasionally have some energy injected into them via unscripted, irregular events, but in the end, they always go straight back to where they came from. That’s the thing about spheres: no matter which way you go around it, you’ll always end up right back where you started.

The point that Solomon makes with verse 7 is simple, in essence, and it’s that nothing that you do in this life will fill you up. If you’re the ocean in this metaphor, then the things you pour out into—the money, the friends, the career—are pouring back into you. But, as with the oceans and rivers of Earth, you don’t become more full as those things you’ve emptied yourself into pour back into you because you empty into them at the same rate they give their return. It’s a net gain of zero.

It’s a wearisome prospect, as Solomon says in verse 8. “The eye is not satisfied by seeing or the ear filled with hearing.” Think about that for a second. Your eyes and ears were literally designed to see and hear, and yet they’re not satisfied by doing their job. Neither are you. But as 8a describes, “All things are wearisome; man is unable to speak.” This problem we have can’t even be put into words. I think the closest we get is when we get fed up with it all and say “I’m tired.”

Verses 9-11 are Solomon affirming what I mentioned at the beginning of this article. “What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing new under the sun. Can one say about anything, ‘Look, this is new,’ It has already existed in the ages before us. There is no remembrance of those who came before; and of those who will come after there will also be no remembrance by those who follow them.”

Take a moment to think about a circle: it’s one continuous line bent around to meet itself. It has no definable starting or ending point. In fact, it’s pointless. Now think of a sphere: what is a sphere except an innumerable amount of circles put together to create a 3-D object? That’s us and Earth. We’re in a cycle on this sphere where everything on it and in it has been tried before, but just as we finish going around in our lives, another generation will follow and do the same thing.

Every generation of the human race has tried and tries the same things available to us on Earth to achieve satisfaction, not knowing that it’s all been done before, and it has never worked and never will. The sins and behaviors that plague us today are the same ones that plagued the people in Biblical times because we’re all walking in circles looking for pointless things because we’re missing the point.

I said earlier that Ecclesiastes is the troubleshooting guide for us because it has all the attempted fixes in it. But the final step of the guide is a finger pointing to the rest of the Bible, to Christ, because He is the only one who can satisfy us. So skip to the back page of the guide, don’t try all the things of this Earth. You won’t find satisfaction here. Skip straight to Christ.