17/6/22. Study 27. Ecclesiastes 11:5-10

 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.

⁶ In the morning sow your seed, and at evening withhold not your hand, for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good.

⁷ Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun.

⁸ So if a person lives many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember that the days of darkness will be many. All that comes is vanity.

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.

¹⁰ Remove vexation from your heart, and put away pain from your body, for youth and the dawn of life are vanity. (Ecc 11:5-10)

1. What does Ecclesiastes teach us about the human sprit in  3:21, 11:5 and 12:7? What does 11:5 teach us about God, and where else in Ecclesiastes has the latter truth been mentioned?

The spirit of man survives death - it returns to God (12:7), who gives it. But its destiny is not fully understandable ('known'). The way the spirit comes to a man is also not understandable. The ESV reading supports the idea of an individual immediate creation of the spirit of human beings at an undetermined time that is united with the physical body. An alternative reading of 11:5 would be "As you do not know the way of the wind, or how the bones grow in the womb..."

God's workings are not fully comprehensible by man, so life has many uncertainties and cannot be predicted (cf. 3:11, 7:14, 8:17). Life's unpredictabilities and uncertainties do not mean that God is not in control.

2. What approach is encouraged in v.6?   What additional idea about risk-taking is given here in addition to what we have learned in 11:1-4?

In v.1-4 we learned that we should diversify efforts, be patient and to be aware that inaction or hesitancy in risk-taking, just like action might lead to an adverse outcome 

Here in v.6 Qoheleth encourages us to be constantly engaging in endeavour (cf. "It is good that you should take hold of this, and from that withhold not your hand" 7:18) - at different seasons and times. The reason for this is that we cannot predict which of our efforts will be successful or unsuccessful. We should not give up constant effort.

 

3. What approach to life is encouraged in v.7 -10? 

We should enjoy life to the fullest (cf. 9:7 "Go eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart")

We should enjoy life as long as we live (v.8)

We should enjoy life while we have the physical and mental capacity to do so (v.9). We should fulfil our desires.

God does not command us insincerely to enjoy life. Like the command to rejoice in our salvation, the warnings safeguard our joy by providing boundaries for us. The joy is primary, front and centre. 

How would we each rate our enjoyment of life?

4. What does 'light' refer to in v.7, and the ''days of darkness" in v.8?

'Light' likely refers to life - when we can still see the sun and live 'under the sun'. (cf.  6:3-5 "a stillborn child...has not seen the sun" and 7:11 "wisdom is..an advantage to those who see the sun"). So - it is good to be alive, even though life is full of suffering and uncertainty.

"Days of darkness" likely refer to the pains of aging rather than death (which is a one-time event). Those who live long will have many of these difficult days. (cf. 11:10, 12:1)

 

 

5. What warnings are given to us in v.7-10?

• We must be prepared for suffering, since all of life is transient, ending in death (v.8). There is unpredictability/randomness, injustifce and dissatisfaction under the sun. We and our legacy will be forgotten.
•  God will bring us to judgment for all that we do in life. We are held accountable for how we live and how we enjoy ourselves.(v.10, cf. 2:10 "whatever my eyes desired, I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure", also 12:14)
• We should not focus on our physical and emotional pains (v.10), because the times when we are not in pain are going to be transient anyway.

6. How can we rightly apply Qoheleth's encouragement in these verses to our own lives?