ECCLESIASTES
CHAPTER 6
"Just existing... what's the use?"
Social media gives a temporary entertainment. Phones give a distraction. Where, though, is the meaning in life?
Verses 1 through 6 tell us that there must be more than merely existing, taking up space on this globe...
Contentment - do you have it? In John 6 Jesus says if you find Him you will never hunger nor will you thirst.
Now, look at this text in chapter 6. People get richer but become more miserable:
God gives some people wealth, possessions and honor, so that they lack nothing their hearts desire, but God does not grant them the ability to enjoy them, and strangers enjoy them instead. This is meaningless, a grievous evil.
There is an evil "under the sun" meaning it is common here on Earth. Our particular suffering is not unique. ...it weighs heavily on mankind
The person in verse 2 gets it all: riches, possessions, honor ... he lacks nothing. He has it all, yet he is missing something.
Terry Bradshaw won four Super Bowls and was named MVP of the Super Bowl many times, but he asked himself: "Is this all there is?"
An inheritor of a tobacco fortune committed suicide. On a note he left he said "I have tried the best of all the world. What else is there to live for?"
James 1 "every good and perfect gift comes from above, from the Father of Lights..." These things aren't automatic; they come from God the Father. He is in control. He can, to be honest, also take it away.
In the previous chapter you see another scene. 5:18-20 God gave gifts and the people do indeed enjoy it, but here in this passage they do not enjoy the gifts. Strangers do!
So where do we get our satisfaction? In Jesus alone. Everything else will fall short.
3:17-23 a person works hard and ends up leaving it to another.
Groucho Marx said "While money cannot buy happiness, it certainly lets you choose your own form of misery."
As people face frustration, many get hardened against God. Others will seek Him.
Verses 3 through 6
3 A man may have a hundred children and live many years; yet no matter how long he lives, if he cannot enjoy his prosperity and does not receive proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he. 4 It comes without meaning, it departs in darkness, and in darkness its name is shrouded. 5 Though it never saw the sun or knew anything, it has more rest than does that man-- 6 even if he lives a thousand years twice over but fails to enjoy his prosperity. Do not all go to the same place?
Verse 2 is expanded. Lets go past the life's wealth and honor. There are many days and many children but in the man's golden years, there still isn't any satisfaction. All the way to his soul, this writer is feeling awfully empty and frustrated. Something is lacking in the rich man's life!
The burial passage means that that his death ceremony was without lament or praise. Nobody notices. How insignificant was his life! This is so frustrating that the writer says a miscarriage is better off than a life that has so much in material yet without meaning.
4 It comes without meaning, it departs in darkness, and in darkness its name is shrouded.
This describes the person with no meaning, and though a man lives twice as long as Methuselah if he has no meaning, what's the use? Where's the enjoyment if you do not have a right standing with God?
If God is not the center, everything is off-balance You need to have a central point of balance that is steady forever.
Look at the defiance in verses 7 through 9:
7 Everyone’s toil is for their mouth,
yet their appetite is never satisfied.
The man will always be hungry. In order to exist you must eat. In order to get that food you will keep working. Everyone faces this reality, whether business owner or minimum wage worker. Your appetite will always be there; you will be continually needing food for the rest of your life. This could mean more than food - this could be all types of things.
8 What advantage have the wise over fools?
What do the poor gain by knowing how to conduct themselves before others?
There is no advantage. Smart or stupid, everyone deals with this problem.
9 Better what the eye sees
than the roving of the appetite.
This too is meaningless,
a chasing after the wind.
Don;t have wandering eyes for the desires that are beyond you. Be content. Isn't it true that "a bird in the hand is better than two in the bush?"
CHAPTER 6
"Just existing... what's the use?"
Social media gives a temporary entertainment. Phones give a distraction. Where, though, is the meaning in life?
Verses 1 through 6 tell us that there must be more than merely existing, taking up space on this globe...
Contentment - do you have it? In John 6 Jesus says if you find Him you will never hunger nor will you thirst.
Now, look at this text in chapter 6. People get richer but become more miserable:
God gives some people wealth, possessions and honor, so that they lack nothing their hearts desire, but God does not grant them the ability to enjoy them, and strangers enjoy them instead. This is meaningless, a grievous evil.
There is an evil "under the sun" meaning it is common here on Earth. Our particular suffering is not unique. ...it weighs heavily on mankind
The person in verse 2 gets it all: riches, possessions, honor ... he lacks nothing. He has it all, yet he is missing something.
Terry Bradshaw won four Super Bowls and was named MVP of the Super Bowl many times, but he asked himself: "Is this all there is?"
An inheritor of a tobacco fortune committed suicide. On a note he left he said "I have tried the best of all the world. What else is there to live for?"
James 1 "every good and perfect gift comes from above, from the Father of Lights..." These things aren't automatic; they come from God the Father. He is in control. He can, to be honest, also take it away.
In the previous chapter you see another scene. 5:18-20 God gave gifts and the people do indeed enjoy it, but here in this passage they do not enjoy the gifts. Strangers do!
So where do we get our satisfaction? In Jesus alone. Everything else will fall short.
3:17-23 a person works hard and ends up leaving it to another.
Groucho Marx said "While money cannot buy happiness, it certainly lets you choose your own form of misery."
As people face frustration, many get hardened against God. Others will seek Him.
Verses 3 through 6
3 A man may have a hundred children and live many years; yet no matter how long he lives, if he cannot enjoy his prosperity and does not receive proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he. 4 It comes without meaning, it departs in darkness, and in darkness its name is shrouded. 5 Though it never saw the sun or knew anything, it has more rest than does that man-- 6 even if he lives a thousand years twice over but fails to enjoy his prosperity. Do not all go to the same place?
Verse 2 is expanded. Lets go past the life's wealth and honor. There are many days and many children but in the man's golden years, there still isn't any satisfaction. All the way to his soul, this writer is feeling awfully empty and frustrated. Something is lacking in the rich man's life!
The burial passage means that that his death ceremony was without lament or praise. Nobody notices. How insignificant was his life! This is so frustrating that the writer says a miscarriage is better off than a life that has so much in material yet without meaning.
4 It comes without meaning, it departs in darkness, and in darkness its name is shrouded.
This describes the person with no meaning, and though a man lives twice as long as Methuselah if he has no meaning, what's the use? Where's the enjoyment if you do not have a right standing with God?
If God is not the center, everything is off-balance You need to have a central point of balance that is steady forever.
Look at the defiance in verses 7 through 9:
7 Everyone’s toil is for their mouth,
yet their appetite is never satisfied.
The man will always be hungry. In order to exist you must eat. In order to get that food you will keep working. Everyone faces this reality, whether business owner or minimum wage worker. Your appetite will always be there; you will be continually needing food for the rest of your life. This could mean more than food - this could be all types of things.
8 What advantage have the wise over fools?
What do the poor gain by knowing how to conduct themselves before others?
There is no advantage. Smart or stupid, everyone deals with this problem.
9 Better what the eye sees
than the roving of the appetite.
This too is meaningless,
a chasing after the wind.
Don;t have wandering eyes for the desires that are beyond you. Be content. Isn't it true that "a bird in the hand is better than two in the bush?"
ECCLESIASTES 7
verses 15 -18
I have seen everything during my lifetime of futility; there is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his wickedness. Do not be excessively righteous and do not be overly wise. Why should you ruin yourself? Do not be excessively wicked and do not be a fool. Why should you die before your time? It is good that you grasp one thing and also not let go of the other; for the one who fears God comes forth with both of them.
Pharisees didn't feel you should be submissive. They had it down to a balance of "if I do this, then God is required to answer positively to me.
This passage talks about the danger of self righteousness. Yet in verse 17 it addresses the other danger: overindulgence. It is never right to sin more since you sinned once. Verse 17 is a warning against this reasoning. lacking holiness is no excuse for a sinful life. Stop the patterns of sin and be Godly, and that taes submission.
Solomon says I have seen it all. Godly wisdom requires submission on our part. WE want evil to be punished and good to be rewarded. We cannot be premature however;
Atheists use this to bolster their argument.
Accept the good and the bad at God’s hand. Look at verse 13: Who can make straight what God has made crooked?
There is a restraint needed here. This is not a call to go sin. He did not say that it is okay to sin moderately. What does verse 16 teach.
What does it say? Don’t get super-righteous, or use showmanship.
Verse 18 It is good that you grasp one thing and also not let go of the other; for the one who fears God comes forth with both of them.
There are things you should say “no” to, whether it is a television show or a lustful thought.
Now 19-22
Wisdom provides strength. The comparison between wisdom and strength, as found in verses 19 and 20. :
Wisdom strengthens a wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city. Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins. (Doesn't that sound like Romans 3:23?)
Psalm 30:3
21 Also, do not take seriously all words which are spoken, so that you will not hear your servant cursing you. 22 For you also have realized that you likewise have many times cursed others.
Solomon says I have seen it all. Godly wisdom requires submission on our part. WE want evil to be punished and good to be rewarded. We cannot be premature however;
Atheists use this to bolster their argument.
Accept the good and the bad at God’s hand. Look at verse 13: Who can make straight what God has made crooked?
There is a restraint needed here. This is not a call to go sin. He did not say that it is okay to sin moderately. What does verse 16 teach.
What does it say? Don’t get super-righteous, or using showmanship.
Verse 18 It is good that you grasp one thing and also not let go of the other; for the one who fears God comes forth with both of them.
There are things you should say “no” to, whether it is a television show or a lustful thought.
Now 19-22
Wisdom provides strength. The comparison between wisdom and strength, as found in verses 19 and 20. :
Wisdom strengthens a wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city. Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins.
21 Also, do not take seriously all words which are spoken, so that you will not hear your servant cursing you. 22 For you also have realized that you likewise have many times cursed others.
The warning against hypocrisy is seen here. Verse 21 tells us to not listen too closely. The illustration is of a master who punishes his servant.
Here's the conclusion: I tested all this with wisdom, and I said, “I will be wise,” but it was far from me. (No one has come up with the overall plan with the entire universe) What has been is remote and exceedingly mysterious. Who can discover it? (Job 28:20-23 gives a good parallel) gives it
25 I directed my mind to know, to investigate and to seek wisdom and an explanation, and to know the evil of folly and the foolishness of madness. 26 And I discovered more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets, whose hands are chains. (Proverbs 5 gives insight on this: verses 25-26. Proverbs 2:12 tells us the danger of the "strange woman" who flatters and sets a path of death. Solomon admits his problem 1 Kings 11:3,4 "and he had 700 wives, and 300 conclubines, and they turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not perfect toward the Lord.) One who is pleasing to God will escape from her, but the sinner will be captured by her. (He wants to know, to search, to seek, to know)
27 “Behold, I have discovered this,” says the Preacher, “adding one thing to another to find an explanation, 28 which I am still seeking but have not found. I have found one man among a thousand, but I have not found a woman among all these. (This is not sexist; he is stating of his low view of people because he is disappointed in humanity. He found no satisfaction with sexual encounters with women) 29 Behold, I have found only this, that God made men upright, but they have sought out many devices.” (God made people virtuous but they corrupted themselves by seeking out inventions - solutions outside of God. Settling for something other than God. People pretend that they have the ability to figure out everything)
verses 15 -18
I have seen everything during my lifetime of futility; there is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his wickedness. Do not be excessively righteous and do not be overly wise. Why should you ruin yourself? Do not be excessively wicked and do not be a fool. Why should you die before your time? It is good that you grasp one thing and also not let go of the other; for the one who fears God comes forth with both of them.
Pharisees didn't feel you should be submissive. They had it down to a balance of "if I do this, then God is required to answer positively to me.
This passage talks about the danger of self righteousness. Yet in verse 17 it addresses the other danger: overindulgence. It is never right to sin more since you sinned once. Verse 17 is a warning against this reasoning. lacking holiness is no excuse for a sinful life. Stop the patterns of sin and be Godly, and that taes submission.
Solomon says I have seen it all. Godly wisdom requires submission on our part. WE want evil to be punished and good to be rewarded. We cannot be premature however;
Atheists use this to bolster their argument.
Accept the good and the bad at God’s hand. Look at verse 13: Who can make straight what God has made crooked?
There is a restraint needed here. This is not a call to go sin. He did not say that it is okay to sin moderately. What does verse 16 teach.
What does it say? Don’t get super-righteous, or use showmanship.
Verse 18 It is good that you grasp one thing and also not let go of the other; for the one who fears God comes forth with both of them.
There are things you should say “no” to, whether it is a television show or a lustful thought.
Now 19-22
Wisdom provides strength. The comparison between wisdom and strength, as found in verses 19 and 20. :
Wisdom strengthens a wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city. Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins. (Doesn't that sound like Romans 3:23?)
Psalm 30:3
21 Also, do not take seriously all words which are spoken, so that you will not hear your servant cursing you. 22 For you also have realized that you likewise have many times cursed others.
Solomon says I have seen it all. Godly wisdom requires submission on our part. WE want evil to be punished and good to be rewarded. We cannot be premature however;
Atheists use this to bolster their argument.
Accept the good and the bad at God’s hand. Look at verse 13: Who can make straight what God has made crooked?
There is a restraint needed here. This is not a call to go sin. He did not say that it is okay to sin moderately. What does verse 16 teach.
What does it say? Don’t get super-righteous, or using showmanship.
Verse 18 It is good that you grasp one thing and also not let go of the other; for the one who fears God comes forth with both of them.
There are things you should say “no” to, whether it is a television show or a lustful thought.
Now 19-22
Wisdom provides strength. The comparison between wisdom and strength, as found in verses 19 and 20. :
Wisdom strengthens a wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city. Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins.
21 Also, do not take seriously all words which are spoken, so that you will not hear your servant cursing you. 22 For you also have realized that you likewise have many times cursed others.
The warning against hypocrisy is seen here. Verse 21 tells us to not listen too closely. The illustration is of a master who punishes his servant.
Here's the conclusion: I tested all this with wisdom, and I said, “I will be wise,” but it was far from me. (No one has come up with the overall plan with the entire universe) What has been is remote and exceedingly mysterious. Who can discover it? (Job 28:20-23 gives a good parallel) gives it
25 I directed my mind to know, to investigate and to seek wisdom and an explanation, and to know the evil of folly and the foolishness of madness. 26 And I discovered more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets, whose hands are chains. (Proverbs 5 gives insight on this: verses 25-26. Proverbs 2:12 tells us the danger of the "strange woman" who flatters and sets a path of death. Solomon admits his problem 1 Kings 11:3,4 "and he had 700 wives, and 300 conclubines, and they turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not perfect toward the Lord.) One who is pleasing to God will escape from her, but the sinner will be captured by her. (He wants to know, to search, to seek, to know)
27 “Behold, I have discovered this,” says the Preacher, “adding one thing to another to find an explanation, 28 which I am still seeking but have not found. I have found one man among a thousand, but I have not found a woman among all these. (This is not sexist; he is stating of his low view of people because he is disappointed in humanity. He found no satisfaction with sexual encounters with women) 29 Behold, I have found only this, that God made men upright, but they have sought out many devices.” (God made people virtuous but they corrupted themselves by seeking out inventions - solutions outside of God. Settling for something other than God. People pretend that they have the ability to figure out everything)