24/9/21 Ecclessiastes Study 2: overview

 This week we will continue our overview of the book, remembering that:

• Ecclesiastes, as a 'wisdom' book, teaches us about the fear of the Lord.
• Qoheleth approaches this topic by making the difficult observations and asking the hard questions about life.
• The book teaches us that life is hard and can be meaningless and unpredictable, but we can still trust in God's power and provision.
  

 

 1. As you go through the book, how do you think Ecclesiastes contributes to your understanding of 

God?

• God has given people an unhappy life (1:13) "t is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with"
• God has given ability for us to enjoy some parts of life (2:24) "There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment^[c] in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, ²⁵ for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment?"
• God rewards those who please Him, and punishes sinners by giving their fruit of their labour to those who please Him (2:25-26) "There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, ²⁵ for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? ²⁶ For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God."
•  God has given mankind things to be busy with (3:10) " I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with."
•  God has planned everything well (3:11a) "He has made everything beautiful in its time."
•  God has given mankind an internal awareness of reality beyond time, an awareness that cannot penetrate God's mystery (3:11b) "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. "
•  God gives us the gift of being joyful and do good and to enjoy life (3:12-13) "I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; ¹³ also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God's gift to man"
•  God's work is eternal and final, so that people fear His power (3:14) '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"
• God "seeks what has been driven away (or pursued) (3:15) 
• God will judge the righteous and wicked. (3:17)"I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time for every matter and for every work."
• God tests people to see that we are like animals (all will die) (3:18-19) "I said in my heart with regard to the children of man that God is testing them that they may see that they themselves are but beasts."
• God should be feared and held in awe. We must listen to Him (5:1-3,7) "Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil. ² Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few"
• God demands that vows be repaid. He hates dishonest/insincere people ("fools") and will punish them by destroying their efforts (5:4-6) "When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools"
• God has given us a limited lifespan (5:18) "the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot."
• God gives us good things and the power to enjoy then, even to the extent that our life passes quickly (5:19-20) "Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God. ²⁰ For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart."
  
•  God also gives to some people good things but not the power to enjoy them (6:1-2)"a man to whom God gives wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God does not give him power to enjoy them, but a stranger enjoys them."
• God's decrees are final and cannot be changed by men (7:13) "Consider the work of God:who can make straight what he has made crooked?"
• God makes both good and bad days . The future is unknown (7:14)  "In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him."
• God, if pleased, will escape dangerous women (7:26) "He who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is taken by her."
• God created the world perfect, but man sought wickedness (7:29) "See, this alone I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes."
•  God set people in authority over us (8:2) "I say Keep the king's command, because of God's oath to him."
• God gives us a life of effort (8:15) "man has nothing better under the sun but to eat and drink and be joyful, for this will go with him in his toil through the days of his life that God has given him under the sun."
• God purposely shrouds our life in mystery (8:17) "then I saw all the work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. However much man may toil in seeking, he will not find it out. Even though a wise man claims to know, he cannot find it out."
• God holds righteous and wise people in His protection and care (9:1) "how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God."
•  God approves of enjoyment of life (9:7) "Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do."
• God makes everything, and we do not understand how He does it (11:5) "As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything"
• God will judge us for the way we spend and enjoy our life (11:9) " Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment."
• God is our source and our end (12:7) "the spirit returns to God who gave it."
• God will judge every good and bad action, even if it is secret (12:14) "For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil."

Qoheleth's view of God is that He is Creator, Sovereign, in control and Judge.

His ways are mysterious: He sets limits on man's understanding even as He gives us enough understanding to seek for something beyond ourselves.

He gives pleasures, ability to enjoy them, and holds us accountable for how we experience pleasures

He gives work and toil with unhappiness as well as with joy 

His dealings with us are not predictable, so we cannot tell the future

Sometimes He appears inconsistent in His dealings with people - nothing is guaranteed. There are principles of His dealing with us, and there is randomness.

If we please Him it will go well with us.

I asked if there is grace in Ecclesiastes. Joseph’s answer was ‘yes’, because God gifts things to us, and those gifts are always undeserved. When people ask us how we are, the theologically correct answer is, “Better than I deserve” :)

Fearing God?

• People should fear God because of His power to make final decrees(3:14) "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."
• The fear of God should lead to a tendency to say little (5:2-3) "Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few. ³ For a dream comes with much business, and a fool's voice with many words."
• The fear of God should lead to the keeping of our vows to Him (5:4-7) "When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow. ⁵ It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay. ⁶ Let not your mouth lead you^[c] into sin, and do not say before the messenger that it was a mistake. Why should God be angry at your voice and destroy the work of your hands? ⁷ For when dreams increase and words grow many, there is vanity; but God is the one you must fear"
• If we fear God he will save us from the dangers of over-righteousness or wickedness (7:18) " It is good that you should take hold of this, and from that withhold not your hand, for the one who fears God shall come out from both of them."
• It will go well with those who fear God, but badly with those who do not fear Him (8:12-13) "I know that it will be well with those who fear God, because they fear before him. ¹³ But it will not be well with the wicked, neither will he prolong his days like a shadow, because he does not fear before God."
• Fearing God and obeying him is our whole duty (12:13)  "Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man"

 

 4.     What about the book is disturbing or confusing to you? 

• It can be hard to tell which part of the book is meant to be provocative and which part is meant to teach truth.
• Qoheleth makes statements that appear to contradict each other. 
• It is hard to see how he substantiates his claim that he arranged the book 'with great care:'