Delve Into The WritingsSample

DAY 10 – ECCLESIASTES PART II

Ecclesiastes is essentially a long series of individual reflections that make observations and draw conclusions about various aspects of life. These are gathered into seven larger reflections that all lead to the same conclusion: “There is nothing better for a person than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany them in their toil.” This means that people shouldn’t sacrifice present joys for fleeting and uncertain rewards in the future. Instead, they should find work that they enjoy while they’re doing it, and be sure not to miss the simple joys that life always has to offer. While this larger “reflection” pattern provides a loose structure for the book as a whole, the discourse is nevertheless intentionally repetitive, almost rambling, alternating between poetry and prose. This form is designed to mirror the book’s description of life, which it symbolizes in its opening speech by the wind that goes “round and round . . . ever returning on its course.” 

The words of the Teacher are provocative and unsettling, and the editor who presents them recognizes that they will serve as “goads” to prod readers out of their complacent assumptions and make them examine the course they’ve chosen in life. But the book isn’t ultimately pessimistic or despairing. It does offer a vital warning that the rewards of wealth, fame, and advancement aren’t guaranteed even to those who exhaust themselves in pursuit of them and that they’re therefore not worthy objects of a lifelong quest. But it also identities those joys and satisfactions that the uncertainty of life doesn’t threaten. These include finding joy in one’s daily work, as well as in friendship and marriage. Like Proverbs, Ecclesiastes also counsels the “fear of God.” But in this case, the phrase doesn’t mean acknowledging that we can’t escape the consequences of our actions. Rather, it means deferring to God’s infinitely greater wisdom and trusting in his providential administration of the world, not expecting to be able to understand how all of life works. There’s “a time for everything,” and we should be content to respond to each occasion as we meet it, cultivating the fear of God, joy in our work, and satisfaction in our relationships. 

The Teacher describes himself as “king over Israel in Jerusalem,” and the editor introduces him with the title “son of David.” Both of these mean that he was in the royal line of Judah. He isn’t further identified, and while tradition identities him with Solomon, who was renowned for his wisdom, it’s appropriate that we allow the cloak of anonymity to rest on this Teacher who warns us not to make fame our life’s pursuit, since, as he says, “Even those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow them.” 

PRAYER: Help me to follow the ways of my heart, banishing anxiety and casting off troubles.