Ecclesiastes 9
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Important messages
Chapter 9
1. But all this I
laid to heart, examining it all, how the righteous and the wise and their deeds
are in the hand of God. Whether it is love or hate, man does not know; both are
before him.
2. It is the same
for all, since the same event happens to the righteous and the wicked, to the
good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean, to him who sacrifices and him
who does not sacrifice. As the good one is, so is the sinner, and he who swears
is as he who shuns an oath.
3. This is an evil
in all that is done under the sun, that the same event happens to all. Also,
the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their
hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead.
4. But he who is
joined with all the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead
lion.
5. For the living
know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more
reward, for the memory of them is forgotten.
6. Their love and
their hate and their envy have already perished, and forever they have no more
share in all that is done under the sun.
The hope of the living
I will remind you again that we must think within the
sphere that the preacher is presenting. He has a charge and he is faithfully
discharging it in writing. We will be in serious trouble, if we form spiritual
doctrine around the literal interpretation of some of these earthly
observations. Solomon’s purpose is to awaken the reader to the vanity of living
for anything that is offered under the sun.
The king speaks transparently from his own experience and
he is in a position to do it with authority. Probably no one was ever better
equipped to deliver this message. The opening statement is to be taken into
consideration, before anything else is added. We give all that we cannot see
under the sun into the hand of God, because our human focus is only on the
limited understanding of what we see and know. We learned in the last chapter
that the calamity into which man falls, is not necessary a sign of God’s hatred
for him; nor are his prosperity and health a sign of God’s love. What then is
the lesson? We must live the life of faith, trusting God and laying our lives
and future totally in His hand (v.1).
The king’s thoughts are never far from a fundamental and
significant proof of vanity under the sun. That is that one event happens to
all, righteous and wicked, good and evil, clean and unclean, religious and
non-religious, saint and sinner, the one who vows and he who does not. Death
lies before him and claims everyone (v.2). Although there are traces of hope in
this book, they are few and incomplete. We must go to the gospel for hope.
Jesus, God made flesh, offers this powerful word: “I am the resurrection and the life.
Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who
lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (Jn.11:25-26).
Pauline theology is built on that hope: “When
the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality,
then shall come to pass the saying that is written ‘Death is swallowed up in
victory’ (Is.25:8). ‘O death, where
is your victory? O death, where is your sting?’ (Ho.13:14). The sting of death is sin, and the power
of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ” (1 Co.15:54-57). The
final proof of victory over death is the resurrected person of Jesus Christ
Himself: “I died, and behold I am alive
forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades” (Rev.1:18).
Those who live according to the evidence offered under
the sun have every reason to be depressed. Those who hold to earth’s philosophy
and have no hope besides, are prone to sin and find satisfaction in an evil
way. They are driven to insanity. Even though they pass the test of mental
soundness, given according to the norms of psychology or psychiatry, the
biblical verdict pronounced upon the sinner is madness. Earthly life is maddening and the happy-go-lucky person is
living under a foolish delusion. This is the story of their life and in the end
they die (v.3).
“Where there is life, there is hope,” the preacher states
and to this day, the adage is proclaimed. We have to understand that throughout
Bible times, the dog did not receive the kindness and fame that he has today as
man’s best friend. He was a low life in the animal kingdom and the lion, on the
other hand, was a noble king among the beasts. Loosely interpreted, Solomon
says, that it’s better to be a pauper and be alive, than to be a dead nobleman
(v.4).
To what hope is
the preacher referring? Is it a hope that clings to earthly life and a higher
form of living in the future? Then it is no hope at all. Gospel hope, is not a hope-so hope, but an unfailing and sure
hope, an “anchor of the soul, a hope
that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a
forerunner on our behalf” (He.6:19, 20). It is true, however, that, while a
person has life, he has opportunity to repent of sin and latch on to eternal
hope; for once he dies, that hope is gone forever.
In chapter 4, verse 2, Solomon put the state of the dead
over the living and here again in verse 5, he states that the living exists
under the dread of death. On the other hand, the empty corpse neither dreads
nor fears anything. He does not hope or expect a reward and the memory of him
will not last very long in the minds of the survivors. Every emotion that was
so important to him throughout his life has come to an end. The love that he
cherished and the hatred that he fed, everything, for which he envied and
longed, has perished forever (v.6).
7. Go, eat your
bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already
approved what you do.
8. Let your
garments be always white. Let not oil be lacking on your head.
9. Enjoy life with
the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that he has given you
under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which
you toil under the sun.
10. Whatever your
hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or
knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.
God-given privileges
Solomon repeats the legitimacy of enjoying temporal
pleasures. No one does God a favor by living within the gray walls of a
monastery under a vow of silence. That is a religious misconception of God’s
personality. The Lord of heaven and earth is the God of music and the creator
of the rainbow. Therefore, common sense tells you that He approves of
legitimate pleasure. Man does not offend Him by enjoying what He has created.
It is rather the opposite; God is offended by the misuse, the perversion, of
what He has made. Sin is in the mutinous nature of man and in his twisted value
system. God does not begrudge a happy heart or a pleasant, delightful meal
(v.7). Cleanliness and moderate, proper, personal grooming is not sinful (v.8).
Enjoy life with a life-long partner, counsels the man,
whose ruin came from disobeying this order, which was given by God from the
time of man’s creation. He knew the awful consequences of abandoning His
creator in an immoral and idolatrous lifestyle. “Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be
undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous” (He.13:4). Marriage was designed to be a
blessing throughout life and up until the time that death separated the couple.
It is a comfort and relief from the curse of laboring in order to exist on this
planet (v.9).
Blessed is the man who enjoys his profession, who goes
happily to work in the morning, instead of virtual slavery to make ends meet.
The preacher is pointing to areas of respite that God has given for the general
enjoyment of all of mankind. Since the fall of man, all of creation is under a
curse, and yet, in the goodness of the Creator, He lightens the burden. Yet,
bear in mind that these enjoyments end in the future existence, when the body
and the soul are separated (v.10).
11. Again I saw
that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong,
nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with
knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all.
12. For man does
not know his time. Like fish that are taken in an evil net, and like birds that
are caught in a snare, so the children of man are snared at an evil time, when
it suddenly falls upon them.
13. I have also
seen this example of wisdom under the sun, and it seemed great to me.
14. There was a
little city with few men in it, and a great king came against it and besieged
it, building great siegeworks against it.
15. But there was
found in it a poor, wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no
one remembered that poor man.
16. But I say that
wisdom is better than might, though the poor man’s wisdom is despised and his
words are not heard.
17. The words of
the wise heard in quiet are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools.
18. Wisdom is
better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.
The poor wise man
There are no guarantees in this unsure world that the fastest
person will always win the sprint, that the strongest person will always win
the fight, or that the people with the highest mental capacities will be able
to achieve their goals. We learned in chapter 3 that there were times, in which
certain actions were appropriate and other times, when exactly the opposite was
needed. The changing of times can bring unseen and unexpected obstacles, which
will prevent the expected success. We hear statements like, “It just wasn’t his
day” or “on another day, he would have come out on top”. It would be difficult
to give a better explanation for this kind of phenomena, so like Solomon, we
will charge it to time.
Also to be taken into account is what natural man would
call “bad luck”, but Solomon names it chance
(v.11). Chance might include accidents, bad weather, unexpected illness, or
some kind of natural upheaval, which turned the expected victory into defeat.
As fish go about following their instincts, they don’t take the net into
account, nor do the birds reckon with a snare. Mankind, says the preacher, are
no better and calamity strikes them suddenly (v.12). Therefore the God-fearing
person will not trust in his natural abilities, but will look to the Lord in
prayer for His will and favor in all his activities.
Solomon observed an incident, which he considered of
great significance. Apparently it was a true story, which serves as an example
to the lesson that he is teaching (v.13). He tells of a town with a small
population, which was attacked by a powerful king, using the best war equipment
of the day. In the town lived a poor man, who was very wise, and through his
wisdom, he found a way to deliver his town from the stronger enemy. Already, we
see the principle in the earlier verses come into play in two ways. Unexpectedly
the stronger army did not achieve its purpose and the wisdom of the citizen did
not make him rich (v.14, 15).
The poor man is not given credit or recognition for his
great, cunning plan that saved the town, nor did he gain favor with the townspeople.
He continued to be poor and despised and he has not gotten anyone’s
attention. The story gives a third
lesson, and that is that wisdom prevails against military strength (v.16 and
18)… the wisdom of one poor man versus a strong army. Verse 17 is also related
to the story, emphasizing a fourth lesson, which taught that the quiet words of
the poor man, which apparently were not heard by the general population, were
stronger than the loud commands of the attacking king (v.18). That teaches a
very simple lesson that people still do not practice: It’s not the one who
shouts the loudest, who has the strongest argument.
As the preacher declared from the beginning of the
chapter, behind all these lessons is the hand of God. He is the one who sets
the times and seasons. He is the one who brings “coincidences” into play that
change the outcome of events. The providence of God brings success or failure,
regardless of the speed, physical or mental strength of the participants.
One more spiritual lesson is added to all the former
ones: “One sinner destroys much good.” When
we consider the plight of the human race due to the sin of Adam, we could deem
that final sentence a huge understatement. What destruction it brought upon
God’s creation! What condemnation fell upon Adam’s race! It is also the cause
behind the theme of this book: Life under the sun is vanity, rather than joy
and purpose that the Lord willed, because of one sinner! (v.18).
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