ECCLESIASTES 2:12-3:15

READ 2:12-26

The Preacher sought to find meaning through pleasure and accumulating possessions, now he seeks it through wisdom, madness and folly.  He looks to the entire spectrum of thought and behavior--where can satisfaction be found?  If money and possessions can’t bring lasting meaning, perhaps it can be found through one’s lifestyle.  Since a man can’t do anything that the king hasn’t already done, all we can do is copy him, but we won’t be able to surpass him.  So, at the beginning, we are already defeated if we are attempting to find meaning in what we have.  Solomon couldn’t find it and neither can we.

In verse 13, Solomon comes to the correct conclusion--wisdom is better than madness and folly because the wise person can see, but the fool cannot.  He walks in darkness and has no discernment.  So, in this life, wisdom is to be chosen above foolishness.  But, that isn’t the end of the discussion--if it is better to be wise, then, why do the wise, like the fool, die?  Where is the reward in acting wisely?  Where is the punishment in acting foolishly?  In the end, we all have the same fate-whether wise or foolish, we die and are soon forgotten. 

You might be offended by the idea that the wise and foolish are alike because, in the end, we all die.  Consider this--God doesn’t allow the righteous to live on Earth forever while the unrighteous die--we all die, regardless of how we live.  Consider also, you and I live in post Messianic days--Jesus, the Messiah has come. 
He and the apostles taught about Heaven.  Who, in the Old Covenant shadows, taught about Heaven? 

We assume that Solomon knew about Heaven, but the Old Testament evidence isn’t there.   God, for His own reasons, did not make this teaching clear to Old Testament saints.  Therefore, we are reading beyond what was written to apply New Covenant teaching to the Old Testament prior to first understanding what has been written.  Understanding it in light of the New Covenant is important, but not without first understanding how the original hearers would have understood it.  Because we live in a sin cursed Earth, both the wise and foolish die.  That’s why even wisdom is seen as vanity and striving after the wind--it can‘t prevent death. 

In Christ, believers are assured that one day, there will be no more tears, nor death, nor crying nor mourning nor pain (Revelation 21:4) and Death, the enemy will be destroyed (1 Corinthians 15: 26).  That is our hope, but it will not come as long as we are living in a world tainted by sin.  Solomon is contemplating life ‘under the sun’ or apart from God, where there is no hope.

When the Preacher considers that all of his wealth, possessions and work will be left to another, he despairs.  Will the one who inherits be wise or squander everything?  Is it fair that someone enjoys that which he didn’t work for?  We work hard to provide, and many take an emotional beating everyday to do so--and then, someone else gets what we worked for.  Even after a hard day when we need rest, we often can’t sleep.  This too, is vanity.

Verse 24 provides the answer to his frustration and hopelessness --there is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his work.  This is repeated throughout Ecclesiastes--joy is found in the simple everyday things of life.  Not in what we acquire or in great accomplishments which we hope will make a lasting impact, but in eating, drinking and work.  Why is joy found in these things?  Because they are from the hand of God. 

This is the first mention of God since 1:13 because the Preacher is making a point--apart from God, who can have any true enjoyment?  Life, ‘under the sun’ brings no lasting contentment.  But, God enables us to enjoy life as we realize that He gives us good gifts in the ordinary things of everyday living.   With the curse of Genesis 3, work became difficult.  But, God redeems the curse and enables us to enjoy the work of our hands and the food and drink it provides. 

The passage ends with a statement of how God blesses those who please Him, (the context being that he is able to enjoy that which God gives) but takes away from the sinner (he cannot find enjoyment in God’s gifts) and gives it to him that pleases God. 

This foreshadows the words of Jesus, who said that what the unrighteous has will be taken away from him and given to the righteous (Matthew 13:12, Matthew 25:28, Mark 4:25, Luke 8:18, John 15:2).  Each of these verses is in the context of judgment.  God sees all that we do and stands ready to reward those who are righteous even as he judges the unrighteous. 

This passage can be summed up by saying that when we work to achieve more and more, it is a striving after the wind and ultimately meaningless.  Working for ‘someday’--in America, that is retirement--will leave us unhappy in the present.  Work to provide for your needs, and learn to not only be satisfied, but take joy in the simple things which God provides in the here and now, not what may come in the future.  Learn from the wisdom of Solomon.  Life is meant to bring joy in what God provides, not in what we accomplish. 

Life, under the sun, is vanity--a breath which is gone in an instant.  But, Jesus rescues us from the futility of life.  We have hope only because of Him.  And yet, the hope we have on Earth is nothing to be compared with what awaits us when we are in His presence and even more so when He redeems Creation and we are living with Him in eternity.  God will dwell with His people and nothing will be meaningless or striving after the wind. 

READ 3:1-8

At first glance, it seems that this section is teaching us to discern when it is the proper time to act.  Certainly, Scripture does admonish us to gain wisdom and discernment, but the context is about God, not about us.  In all of our striving ‘under the sun’, there is a proper time for everything ‘under Heaven’.  The phrases in verses 1-8 are opposites--the idea is that they encompass everything in between or completeness.  It is God who determines the times and seasons of our lives--He is sovereign and providential over all. 

None of us would choose the ‘negative’ seasons (die, pluck up, kill, break down, etc.) and we don’t have control over them--they happen.  But, good also happens and both are from the hand of God.  Life is meaningless apart from God--it is only in God that we can find true meaning--He orders the seasons and events of life--they are all according to His purposes.  Apart from God, life is nothing more than randomness and chance.  Some get the good roll of the dice, some don’t--there is no rhyme or reason.  And, this results in despair.  Life is an endless cycle (1:1-11), things come and go, but nothing is ever truly gained ‘under the sun’. 

In the endless cycle of life there can be meaning when we see that God orders that which will happen--there is an appointed time for everything.  The endless repetition is not futile, rather, it can be counted on.  We know the sun will rise tomorrow.  We know the ocean will not run dry.  We know that life will be born.   Living life ’under Heaven’ rather than ’under the sun’ makes all the difference between vanity and purpose. 

We live ‘under Heaven’ by our faith in Jesus.  He is the one who can change our reality of living ‘under the sun’.  Because of Him, all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28-29).  The context of this verse is suffering.  Like the Preacher, we can become discouraged if we forget that God has appointed a time for everything under Heaven.  God promises us that these things, both good and bad, work together for our good.  We must learn to view life from the perspective that God is in control and therefore, we must trust His sovereignty.

READ 3:9-15

God has given man toil, but by his efforts, he cannot change anything that has been ordained.  We make decisions everyday, but how these come together to prosper or thwart us is determined by God.  We have no control over the unknown--we gain nothing from our efforts ‘under the sun’.  But, God has made everything beautiful in its appropriate time.  The idea is that everything fits beautifully as God has appointed it.  Even the bad times are made to fit under God’s providential care.  He is not unaware of our labor and trials--He is not far away.

God has also placed ‘eternity’ in our hearts.  ‘Eternity’ is the Hebrew word ‘olam’ and its meaning is debated.  It is variously translated as ‘past and future’, ‘world’, ‘darkness’ and ‘ignorance’.   It can be translated:

 ‘God has set eternity in man’s heart, and yet, he can’t find out what God is doing’ 

 ‘God has set the world/darkness/ignorance in man’s heart, so that he can‘t find out what God is doing‘ 
Either way, the conclusion is the same--man is unable to know the mind of God, He is in control, not us. 

Because of this, there is nothing better for man to do but to be joyful, do good, eat, drink and find pleasure in our work--this is a gift from God.  As before, the Preacher tells us to find happiness in everyday things (2:24-25).  We can’t find lasting happiness in possessions or accomplishments or in knowing the mind of God, but we can find it in what God has for us, and what He has is simple.  

What God does lasts forever, not our accomplishments.  Nothing can be added or taken away, He is the one who is sovereign over all.  He appoints the times and seasons of life and makes it fit according to His purposes.  We have no ultimate control.  The reason?  So that people may fear Him.   We stand in awe of a God whom we can’t fully comprehend--if we could, we would be God.

Invictus, a poem written in 1875 and widely quoted, ends with:

I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

When we live life ‘under the sun’, we believe we are in control, there is no fear of God.  But it takes only one unforeseen tragedy to show that we have no control.  God is providential over past and future events, what He decrees will happen.  Even in the seemingly endless cycles of life, God is sovereign.  History is not meaningless, it has a purpose--the same God who appoints a time for everything under Heaven also appointed that the Savior would be born at just the right time:

‘But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,  to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons’.  (Galatians 4:4-5)

Jesus came at the right time in order to rescue His own and bring them into sonship.  There is a time appointed for everything under Heaven and it all points ultimately to Jesus.  Our times are in His hands (Psalm 31:15a) and the wise will find joy in what God provides.  Striving for joy ’under the sun’ will only lead to vanity--a chasing after the wind.