| Studies in Ecclesiastes The Words and Work of God and Man Part Four | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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In the First Book, or chapter, of his work Ecclesiastes was wholly occupied with the problems of individual experience in the sphere of mental and technical activity; the Second Book (3:1-4:8) is wider in its outlook: The writer approaches the task of surveying the work of God.
The times and the seasons as a whole are subjected to review. They are introduced with the phrase, "To everything there is a stated time, and a season for every event under the heavens" (3:1). These important words indicate the special points dealt with in this section. Two distinct terms are used, referring to stated (or set) times and appropriate times (or seasons): The word rendered "stated times" signifies a time definitely set apart for a special purpose, by royal edict or divine appointment, as is clear from its occurrences. It is used in Ezra to denote the time specified by the chief officials for the adjustment of the mixed marriages among the returned captives (Ezra 10:14). Similarly it is used concerning the leave of absence granted to Nehemiah by letters of Artaxerxes (Neh.2:6), the Divine appointments relative to the temple services (Neh.10:34, 13:31), and the establishment of the feast of Purim by decree of Esther and Mordecai (Est.9:27,31). The meaning which inheres the word translated "season" is clear from its usage in other parts of Ecclesiastes. We will take two of the most typical occurrences. "The wise heart shall know season [appropriate time] and judgment" (Ecc.8:5b). Note the setting of the passage. The whole section deals with subjection to authority, and the thought is emphasized that within the limits of obedience to the king there is safety: "He who observes instructions shall know no evil matter" (8:5a). In what follows, Ecclesiastes seems to have in mind the possible objection that resistance to evil is as much of an obligation as submission to right, to which answers Ecclesiastes that the wise know when each is in proper order. Akin to this is a passage further on, "Happy are you, O land, whose king is a son of notables, and whose chiefs eat in season for mastery and not for a drunken bout" (Ecc.10:17). The idea is doing a thing in the proper manner at the proper time; its meaning is what we should express by the metaphor of place: "Everything is good in its proper place." The connections, therefore, in which the two terms are used suggest the ideas of divine appointment and appropriateness, so that the import of 3:1 is that, since for every work there is a time divinely determined, the events of our lives must be seen in relation to God's arrangement of things. Hence the idea (developed in Book Four) that events are neither good nor evil in themselves, but according to their relation to God's time of approving them. Hence, too, the thought (which forms the special subject of Book Five) that human happiness does not consist in carrying out one's every wish, but in fitting them with God's season; so that while the drift of things is irresistible, the individual can, by adapting himself to it, achieve satisfaction in his undertakings. HISTORIC EPOCHSThe times and seasons spoken of in Ecclesiastes 3:1, then, are the predetermined times which pass over Israel and over all the kingdoms of the countries (1 Chron.29:29), the phases in the experience of nations which constitute historic epochs, the historic stages which mark the accomplishment of God's purpose among the nations of the world. That this is the meaning is abundantly clear, not only from the scope of the passage, but also from the usage of the same phrases in other parts of Scripture. Can anyone believe, for example, that there is a proper time for any individual to kill and to heal? What are we to make of "a time to heal" according to this interpretation? Can one heal or restore the life of his fellow man which he has taken away? When all the passages where the same phrase is used are read together it becomes evident that the expression "kill and heal" refers to the administration of justice, the sentencing and pardoning of transgressors against civil law. In this poetic enumeration of the times and seasons our author unfolds a procession of history, the great underlying principles of historic movements. The piecemeal experiences which make up the history of nations are passed in review, each touched with that marvelous felicity of descriptive suggestion which is the chief charm of the Assembler's style. The seasons are twenty-eight in number. They commence with "birth," (3:2a) i.e., creation, when God gave outwardness, expression, to the archtypal thoughts of His mind, and they conclude with "peace" (3:8d). The intervening times are times of estrangement, marked by confusion, waste, ruin, toil, sweat, pain, passion, and blood. They are an epitome of the history of mankind: they begin with "death" (3:2b), pointing back to the sentence pronounced in Eden, and end with "war" (3:8c), looking forward to the great battle (later prophesied on the fields of Armageddon) which closes the history of Man's day. FITTING IN ITS SEASON
Having stated the times in poetic form, Ecclesiastes proceeds to consider them. First, he draws respecting them certain deductions which necessarily follow from revealed character of God (3.9-15); then he considers them from a matter-of-fact view of the actual condition of things (3:16-4:8). Considering the times which God has appointed for Adam's sons in the light of the Creator's character, Ecclesiastes expresses the conviction: "He has made everything fitting in its season; however, He has put obscurity in their heart, so that the man may not find out His work, that which the One, Elohim, does from the beginning to the terminus" (3:11). No one can find out how God is working His purpose out through the "seasons." His ways transcend human thought, but He has made everything fitting in its season and is working from the beginning to the terminus. GOD'S APPOINTED PURPOSEEcclesiastes next gives expression to the thought that God's appointed times were in the very nature of things intended for man's profit and enjoyment. "I know that there is no good for them but to rejoice and to achieve good in one's life, and, moreover, any one of humanity, that he should eat and drink and see good from all his toil, it is a gift of Elohim" (3:12,13). Whatever is, is for a purpose, and that purpose is God's thought in creation. This is true, not only of the works of nature, but also of the events of history. Another fact which follows from the truth of the Creator's supremacy is the immutability of the times. God acts on fixed principles which no effort of the individual will ever influence or alter. "I know that whatever the One, Elohim is doing, it shall be for the eon; onto it there can be nothing to add and from it there can be nothing to subtract" (3:14). The tremendous importance of this truth in its bearing upon man's conduct Ecclesiastes will develop in a subsequent chapter, meanwhile he ventures to suggest one of its practical values—to foster man's dependence on God. The One, Elohim, He does it that they may fear before Him. (3:14) In this statement Ecclesiastes is borne out by Paul, who, in his sermon to the Athenians, declares that God has determined the seasons of the nations that they should seek Him (Acts 17:26,27). Ecclesiastes concludes this side of the survey with voicing the oft reiterated belief (emphasized at the close as the chief aim of the book) in a future rectification. "That which is, it already was, and what is to come already has been; and the One, Elohim, He shall seek out what has been pursued away" (3:15). Here are two ideas: the law of "recurrence," in virtue of which the times ever repeat themselves; and the seeking out or "inquisition" of the times. He has already stated, in the preceding verse (14), that the times are leading up to the eon: They contain the seeds which will then yield their fruit. In other words, we may compare the times to a flight of stairs, leading step by step to the golden age of peace. PRESENT CONTRADICTIONS
In these verses Ecclesiastes proceeds to show that the previous representation is not borne out by the actual state of things. "Yet further, I have seen under the sun, where the place of judgment is, there is wickedness, and where the place of justice is, there is wickedness" (3:16). In spite of the reasonableness of the earlier deductions, they are at variance with actual experience. The actual condition things in the world tells a very different tale. The times are often seen reversed: wickedness is seen in the place of justice, and while this fact may be construed to argue for a future rectification, it more often leads to the view that man is not different in his end from the beasts (3:16-22); suffering under oppression which makes death preferable to life (4:1-3); skill attained at the price of baneful rivalry and bitter competition fostering idleness in some and egotism in others (4:5-6); tireless effort dismayed by the recognition of its lack of its satisfaction (4:7-8)—all these realities which cannot be ignored force totally different conclusions. The survey has yielded the following result: the theoretic side, founded on deductions flowing from the character of the Creator, argues that the "times" are for man's good; the practical side, resting on stubborn facts which everywhere stare us in the face, argues that the times and seasons contribute to man's misery and suffering. The reflective process has established an antagonism between good and evil. Here for the present the consideration of God's work is allowed to rest. But the clash between the ideal and the actual—the discrepancy between the traditional of the works of the Lord, and the growing difficulty of the recognition of evil in the world—has given rise to a number of perplexing practical questions. These are dealt with in a string of "notes" (4:9-5:9). NOTESWhen studying the form of this work we find that the intervals between some of the "books" are filed with strings of sayings, which sustain some relation to the preceding matter; in fact, they are in the nature of "notes" dealing with the practical side of certain points that have emerged in the course of investigation. In the group before us we have a series of four maxims arranged in pairs, each pair being founded upon an antithesis.
In a previous paragraph our author has been speaking of competition as fostering idleness in some (The stupid man folds his hands, 4:5), and isolation in others (Better is one palm full with rest, 4:6) In this maxim Ecclesiastes seeks to show that both these attitudes towards rivalry are as harmful as rivalry itself. The word "toil" is elsewhere rendered by "misery" (e.g. Judges 10:16). The point is, that the trouble involved in human associations, arising from differing mental attitudes, interests, temperaments, etc., is amply rewarded by such advantages as sympathy, help, strength. Two can stand firm (4:12) here has the sense of holding one's own: two or three can hold their own where one would be overpowered.
There is no historical allusion here: it is a pictorial representation of matters of general experience. "Better is a boy, provident and wise, than a king, old and stupid, who does not know how to take warning any more. For from a house of prisoners [i.e., the womb] one [the foolish king] came forth to reign; even though in his kingdom he was born destitute. I saw all the living who were going about under the sun, staying with the second boy [i.e., the successor, as in 4:8] who stood up in his stead. There was no end to all the people, to all before whom he [the successor of the stupid king] was set, yet those coming later were not rejoicing in him; indeed this too is vanity and a grazing on wind" (4:13-16). The thought of the whole is: In essence, apart from the trappings of royalty, the king is as destitute as any youth born in obscurity; both were born naked (cf 5:15) and what does this external finery amount to? When the old king is gone, all the world flocks to his successor; but that successor will equally be forsaken in his turn.
This has obviously in mind the materialism produced in some by the spectacle of wickedness seated in the place of justice. Two maxims enjoining reverence in things divine are contrasted with the folly of speaking against God. The drift of thought is best apprehended from the parallelism of clauses: Obedience better than sacrifice (5:1) Speaking against God is like the talking in sleep of an overworked brain.
The writer has before him the effects of oppression noticed in the survey. We follow the reading of the Septuagint: "If you should see extortion of the destitute and of judgment and justice in a province, do not be amazed over the event, for one lofty official above another lofty official is observing, and other lofty officials are over them" (5:8). The object of the passage is to emphasize the fact that, strange as it may seem, God has a purpose in all that takes place. Verse 9 seems to illustrate the effects of recognizing or ignoring that truth by rulers: the one looks the province as a thing to be developed, the other looks upon it as a field of extortion. Vladimir Gelesnoff
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