Though the tone seems dry - the book of a pessimist in many ways, yet it is very helpful in gaining a right perspective of the pleasures in this life. I chose to read the whole book through in one sitting this time, as it seems to come together better with the perspective of the whole. Much of it shows the futility of man's wisdom - trying to reason out the world without God, and consistently, this way of reasoning shows that life has no purpose - only in God Who made us is our purpose found.
There were three main points that I noticed particularly. Funny how common it is to have three points, isn't it? Whether it is because people tend to write in threes or whether it is just a convenient number to group things by, I seem to see threes a lot... maybe it's just me though!
- This life is fleeting, anything we gain in this world is futile - death renders them unimportant in the end
- In the fleeting temporal life that we do have, God has gifted us with many pleasures to be enjoyed, and we should enjoy them
- God has created us for eternity, and nothing in this temporal life brings us true satisfaction. Pursuit of anything for satisfaction (without God) will never satisfy.
The Preacher is evidently Solomon, though not named specifically within the pages there are enough clues to pick that up just from the text. To put this in context when discussing the pleasures of the world, I quote a passage from Kings:
And Solomon reigned over all kingdoms from the river unto the land of the Philistines, and unto the border of Egypt: they brought presents, and served Solomon all the days of his life... And Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen.
(1Ki 4:21, 26)
And she gave the king an hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of spices very great store, and precious stones: there came no more such abundance of spices as these which the queen of Sheba gave to king Solomon. And the navy also of Hiram, that brought gold from Ophir, brought in from Ophir great plenty of almug trees, and precious stones. ... ... Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with the best gold... And all king Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold; none were of silver: it was nothing accounted of in the days of Solomon. For the king had at sea a navy of Tharshish with the navy of Hiram: once in three years came the navy of Tharshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks. So king Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth for riches and for wisdom.
(1Ki 10:10-11,18,21-23)
And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart.
(1Ki 11:3)
Even amongst the elite of today's society, there is no one that could match Solomon for wealth, and I don't know if any could match the power he wielded as King of a peaceful realm, or the number of sexual partners either - the wives being princesses they would probably have undergone beauty regimes like Esther - although possibly less intense - read Esther Chapter 1 for a description! In terms of the world's eyes he 'had it made' and possibly none in history had such opportunity to obtain satisfaction and happiness from pursuit of pleasure - he had the wealth, the time, and the power to pursue anything (or anyone) he wanted. And yet it was vanity.
I looked up in my study notes about vanity, and it shows that the concept of vanity is used three ways (another 3-grouping!): to be fleeting, like a vapour or something that disappears quickly; to be futile or meaningless; to be incomprehensible - something unanswerable. All are used in Ecclesiastes, and it seems clear when reading what he means each time by the other descriptors around it.
The Preacher inter-mixes his thoughts, going in a bit of a cycle between contemplating the futility, enjoyment of pleasure, and focusing on God.
The key to a good wisdom seems to be in Chapter 3:
What gain has the worker from his toil? I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil--this is God's gift to man. I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him.
(Ecc 3:9-14)
It is interesting how the meaning seems to change depending on what tone it is read in. You could look at this in the view of a weary pessimist - 'nothing will change, live and enjoy what you can, it won't last, God does what He wants anyway' - or you could read it excited to see our purpose in God's plan - 'God has planned things, He is in control - He has blessed us with many good things when we follow His timing - He has given us these gifts to enjoy, let us enjoy them and revere the God Who planned all these wondrous things!'
What a contrast to the futility of the self-indulgence of chapter 2! Laughter; alcohol/food; creativity in gardens and building; servants and sexual partners; wealth in precious metals, jewels or animals; wisdom and knowledge - self-indulgence in all these things gave nothing in the end 'striving after wind'.
I see a man running through a park - jumping and grasping, going round in circles and random patterns, exhausting himself as he rushes up slopes and down paths, tripping and falling only to rise up and again reach for something invisible that he never seems to get, but simply grows more frustrated. Asked what he is doing, he replies ' I am trying to catch the wind... if I can grasp it, I will be satisfied.'
Over and over the theme repeats - money, wisdom and knowledge (self-righteousness and self-importance, rather than Godly wisdom), food, work - the more you get, the less they satisfy. Even if we seek knowledge or 'wisdom' all our life, we will never know as much as God... it is good to seek wisdom, but let us seek it with God and not by ourselves!
Even when we do follow God's wisdom, we find that it is not the wise who get all the praise. Just because someone is the best at something doesn't mean they will win... in this life the credit does not always go to the person who did the job. But we are encouraged by the final verse:
The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.
(Ecc 12:13-14)
Let us learn and promote the wisdom of God while we are young! Why waste time chasing futile pleasures without God, when we can enjoy the pleasures of life with God, in His timing! We are not called to a life of flagellation - though there may be suffering - but a life of joy in Him and the gifts He has given.
No comments:
Post a Comment