Ecclesiastes

The human race isn't worth fighting for, only worth killing. Give the Earth back to the animals. They deserve it infinitely more than we do. Nothing means anything anymore……..Columbine shooter

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

There is a specific time, in the future, for everything; that's what the word for 'time' means.  The 'season' for every activity means a 'suitable time'.  This specific and suitable can be good news or bad news, really depending on where you are.  The implication is that God controls these times, He knows them and don't get to know.  If you feel stuck in a difficult season, the idea that the variety of another one soon coming offers you hope.  If things are the other way around, we feel cheated or disappointed when a good season ends, as if we thought that good season was life and would last indefinitely.  We could look at this poem and say it speaks of the variety of life; yet another might see the monotony of the endless cycle of times.

When we are down and things aren't changing, we complain we are in a rut.  When life is good and unchanging, we are in a groove.  In a groove, we feel the momentum keeping us on track.  In a rut, we see it as tedium and unable to turn. 

The difference between a groove and rut? 

• Someone said a rut is a grave with no ends.
• Another said the difference is the dimensions.
• A positive outlook changes a rut into a groove. 

The poem presents groups of life events in antithesis:

• First pair:
  • Born; die – the beginning of life and the end.  We go from longing to grow up and be old enough to hating the idea of growing old.
  • Planting; uprooting – these seem insignificant after line one, yet they could simply be metaphors for life and death.  Also, to be considered is that life between birth and death has times for putting down roots and others for pulling up and moving on.
• Second pair:
  • Kill; heal – They don't seem to be opposites, but again we see life and death and the reality of life issues.
  • Tear down; build up – As with the first pair, the tearing down and building up seem insignificant in comparison to first pair.  Yet, in life, these things bear down on us. 
• Third pair:
  • Weep; laugh – This is the response to sadness or distress.  It's a profuse, emotional expression of heart.  Laughing can have the same, but opposite intensity. 
  • Mourn; dance – This word for 'mourn' is specific to observing the custom of mourning after the death of someone.  (Romans 12:15)
• Fourth pair:
  • Scatter stones; gather stones – Scattering is a reference to putting stones in the field of your enemy to prevent its cultivation.  Likewise, gathering stones is preparation for cultivation.
  • Embrace; refrain from embracing – Because this second part involves embracing, it makes one rethink the first pair.  Many commentators relate the first pair as a sexual euphemism to pair with embracing. 
• Fifth pair:
  • Search; give up the search – The search is to be in pursuit of something useful.  To give it up is to lose the value,
  • Keep; throw away – Keeping is retaining possession of that which is useful or valuable to you.  To throw away is a clear indication of lack of value or worth.
• Sixth pair:
  • Tear; mend – Nothing can be caught with a torn net.  Mending corrects the net to once again capture.  Every tear must be paired with mending to regain value or worth.
  • Silent; speak – Silence is the positive season while the negative is speaking.  Proverbs warns us often of the use of out tongue (Prov 18:6-7; 21:23).  James also warns us these dangers. 
• Seventh pair:
  • Love; hate –  hate can be lack of love or our attitude toward our enemies.  Of all the contrasted lines, this one seems to be the most extreme.  We think of the ultimate act of love is the sacrifice of Christ for us.  Hate them is an enemy that would strip that from us, keep us from Him or harm an established relationship.
  • War; peace – War then is engaging in a conflict against an enemy.  Peace is the ceasing of war, harmony restored.

What do these seasons mean?  Are they meaningless, monotonous, repeating cycles of life?  Or, are they variety.  Does God set these times and seasons in our life?  Or, are they part of the human condition?  After all, this is the tree we ate from; the knowledge of good and evil.  Now that we know the evil of war, hatred, torn lives, cast away people, love grown cold, mourning, destruction and death; do these things not make sweeter the season of peace, love, mending, laughter, healing, mending, embracing and life? 

Isn't the meaning found in the Journey, in our ability to live, regardless of the seasion?  Meansing can't be found in the place or the season because it is ever changing, seemingly random-like.

Paul said:

I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. ¹² I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. ¹³ I can do all this through him who gives me strength. (Philippians 4:11-12)

Meaning is not found in the place.  But in the journey, the adventure itself.  Paul said God prepared him and sustained him through this journey.  He gave him all that he needed for the season he was in.

The rut or groove seem to be in the eyes of the beholder.

Ecclesiastes 3:9-14

So, what is the implication of these seasons, times?  Why toil to get ahead?  If God sets these times and seasons, is everything already established?  What's the sense in doing hard things?  Does it all seem senseless and frustrating?  It did to Solomon?  Or at least he is presenting life in the world this way. 

As in verse 1:13, Solomon mentions the burden laid on the human race.  All the work, all the wisdom, all the resources of this world offer nothing towards explaining purpose or meaning.  The human heart is not created to be satisfied by the things of a sinful world.  God has created a beautiful arrangement for all things in life.  All this was done "in its time" which the time ordained by God.  Yet, the human heart will find no satisfaction in these beautiful things.  Augustine said it this way:

"You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they can find peace in you."

As God's finite creatures, we cannot begin to fathom the mind of God that knows the beginning from the end.  So, Solomon draws the conclusion that we can do no better in this life than to find contentment in the (beautiful) place and time of your life.  The ability to enjoy life in this way is a gift from God.  While God's scope is forever, ours isn't.  The best we can do is trust Him and abide in Him in the life He's given us.  Therefore, with the sovereignty of God in view, our proper place is one of humility before the Almighty, revering Him from our human condition.

Ecclesiastes 3:15-17

In 1:9 Solomon declared there is nothing new under the sun.  Verse fifteen is much the same idea.  Then he adds another observation; where there is supposed to be judgment and justice, he found injustice and wickedness.  In light of this observation Solomon trusted God to handle the ultimate justice.  In the end, all accounts would be settled.

Ecclesiastes 3:18-22

There is a distinct advantage that mankind has over the animal kingdom, we build, create and reason, solve and resolve to accomplish.  Yet, in the end, life ends; we die.  In death, we are no different than the animals.  Everything living suffers the same fate.  Any advantage is quickly erased by death.  We, like the animals, cannot in our human knowledge know what happens to our soul.  We can only know this by the revelation of the Lord, when He forgives us and does a work in our heart.  Verse 22 isn't mean to offer any knowledge of the afterlife, only convey our human inability to see past death. 

In light of this, we are reminded that God gives us the ability to enjoy this life.   Everything is beautiful in its time.  God has given you time and a place; this is your lot.  What are we doing with it? 

²⁵ "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

©2018 Doug Ford