one28 PodcastIt Happens to Everyone
Ecclesiastes 9:1-6
2007.12.16
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This is probably the most negative, pessimistic paragraph in the entire book of Ecclesiastes, and thankfully, it is as low as Solomon gets. There is virtually nothing positive in verses 1-6. The only positive thing is that it is better to be alive than dead. And ironically the only reason is that at least the living know they’re going to die.
Having come through eight predominately sad chapters so far we may ask why go through this again? Haven’t we already gotten the point? Do we really have something new to get from covering the evil and vanity and certainty of death yet another time? The answer is obviously Yes! Don’t forget who wrote the book: the wisest human ever, probably one of, if not the most rich and powerful man known in any nation or kingdom. King Solomon was not so disorganized that he had nothing else to do but repeat himself. He was not so disconnected from God that all he could do was protest and complain. He was not so ignorant that all he offered was another empty opinion. There is a method, a reason, I might even say a benefit in painting such a bleak picture.
But before I suggest the profitability of Solomon’s strategy, how bad is it really? It’s bad. Just read the paragraph.
It’s hard to believe that something written almost 3000 years ago in an entirely different culture could hit so close to the center of our modern frustrations and disappointments. In these verses we sense uncertainty; man does know know what’s going to happen to him. We feel man’s disconnection and helplessness; we are not in control. We sense the dread of being bound to certain death. We feel the heaviness of seeing a world full of unchallenged evil and madness. We sympathize with the hopelessness of knowing we will die and that everything we’ve done will drift into oblivion.
And so we are nervous, discouraged, depressed, wanting to shrink into a little ball, feeling like our legs have been cut out from under us and then someone ripped the rug out too.
Yet somehow we keep thinking what we can find–and protect–something that will make us happy under the sun. It’s like we spend all day long trying to suck in enough breath to blow another puff into our joy-balloon, like we’ll be able to keep it and like the balloon is a secure storage spot anyway.
Ecclesiastes 9:1-6 is Solomon’s pointy stick to pop our balloons. And I think a lot of us would do well to have our balloons popped. I guess some of you haven’t had your balloon deflated enough by pain and persecution and sickness and loss and failed attempts to know any better. So you just keep merrily skipping along playing with your balloon. You need to get real. Life is hard–and then you die. It happens to everyone. How are you dealing with that? That’s exactly the question Solomon points us to in this paragraph.
The structure of the paragraph (and our outline) is the Consideration (v.1), the Certainty (vv.2-3), and the Contrast (vv.4-6). The themes of the paragraph are divine sovereignty over life, a universal certainty about life, and the tragic irony about life under the sun.
The Consideration v.1
After finishing an extended section on injustice and hurtful authorities and unpunished wrong and the pitiful limits of wisdom to figure out what makes the world go round, Solomon summarizes his efforts in verse 1.
1 But all this I laid to heart, examining it all, how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God. Whether it is love or hate, man does not know; both are before him.
All this I laid to heart, examining it all describes his comprehensive (“all” twice) and personal (“laid to heart”) consideration. This wasn’t a quick or detached editorial, it was a thorough and involved examination.
What he considered was how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God. It’s curious to me that Solomon is interested in how the righteous respond. He doesn’t say that the deeds of the righteous and the evil are in the hands of God. I thought the limited focus was odd because obviously–based on everything else in Ecclesiastes (and Proverbs)–Solomon knew that everything everyone does is in the hands of God. God is involved and all-powerful and in control of it all. Not only that, but verses 2-3 make five contrasts between opposing groups. So why limit the examination to how the righteous and wise are impacted?
I think it’s because only the righteous care, or maybe even more accurately, we’re only surprised when bad things–and death–happens to the righteous. There is nothing that seems out of place or begs question when a wicked man suffers or dies. We may not like it, but there isn’t any reason to fight it. We kind of expect bad things to happen to bad people. Besides, it seems most wicked people are more concerned with now then to be bothered wasting time thinking about what’s coming.
But the righteous man thinks about what’s coming and the wise man tries to make sure he’s prepared for it. Even so, his life, all he does is in the hand of God. He plans his ways but the Lord directs his steps. For all his effort God does with him what He wants.
So whether it is love or hate, man does not know; both are before him. This is really an important part of the paragraph since it sets the stage for the rest of what he says, but it is as difficult to interpret as it is important. What doesn’t man know? Whether he will love or hate someone else tomorrow? Or whether someone else will love for hate him tomorrow? Or whether God will love or hate him tomorrow? Good question!
I think the best interpretation is that a man doesn’t know whether he is going to experience love or hate from other people, and in that sense he may not be certain whether God loves him or not based on the circumstances. There are no built-in, sure-thing guarantees even for the righteous that others will love them (as we saw in the last part of chapter 8). The wise cannot put themselves in a position certain to avoid hate. And under the sun you can’t really always tell who are God’s favored. Just one example, Jesus was the most righteous man ever. Was He loved or hated? Both. But there was no apparent rhyme or reason looking at it under the sun.
Like we said last time, life is not a formula. We can’t figure it all out. We are in God’s hands and tomorrow is unpredictable from our vantage point, even for the righteous.
The Certainty vv.2-3
Even though man doesn’t know what’s going to happen to him tomorrow, whether he will be loved or hated, there is something that he knows for sure: he is going to die. It happens to everyone.
2 It is the same for all, since the same event happens to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean, to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice. As is the good, so is the sinner, and he who swears is as he who shuns an oath. 3 This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that the same event happens to all. Also, the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead.
Three times (in the ESV) we see that something is “the same”, it is the same for all, the same event happens, and the same event happens to all. This is an axiom; a universal fact and reality. You can disregard it, you can try to deny it, but you cannot finally avoid it. No matter who you are, you will die.
In fact Solomon divides everyone into groups and identifies the end of each group as death.
- righteous and wicked die
- good and evil die
- clean and unclean die
- sacrificers and non-sacrificers die
- oath makers and non-oath makers die
Though there are five opposite groups there really are only two types of persons. The God-fearer is the moral, ethical, religious, obedient, and committed person, and the earthly person is described as the immoral, unethical, irreligious, and uncommitted. Both die. The same event happens to everyone. One gets up early and stays up late serving God and then he dies. Another works hard storing up treasures for himself, making money or making a name for himself and then he dies. Death itself is indiscriminate; it happens to everyone.
And it is actually even more depressing than that. The hearts of the children of man are full of evil and madness is in their hearts while they live. This is depravity at its finest–sin dominates life. Sin is universal among the children of men. Sin is penetrating in that that they are full of evil and madness is in the hearts. And sin is a life-long issue. Men hurt one another every chance they get. They don’t think or act rationally. They do stupid stuff and God is dishonored. Then they die.
Solomon says This is an evil that is done under the sun. That is, under the sun, death is not merely natural or neutral. It is brutal that everyone dies no matter how they lived. And when you look at it from an earthly perspective it doesn’t seem to fit. It is irritating, bothersome, upsetting, and heavy.
The Contrast vv.4-6
There is a flicker of hope under the sun, but it is really not that bright once you scratch at it a little.
4 But he who is joined with all the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion. 5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. 6 Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished, and forever they have no more share in all that is done under the sun.
But introduces a contrast with the evil fact that everyone dies. He who is joined with all the living has hope. Here is the only positive in the paragraph. It’s interesting that those with hope are just those who are alive, not the “righteous” who are alive; just anyone with a pulse.
A short proverb helps prove this contrast, for a living dog is better than a dead lion. Dogs were typically not pets in Israel. Solomon has in mind a wild, mangy, dirty dog (not a well-manicured chia-pet canine in a doggie sweater). A lion on the other hand was highly esteemed as powerful and stately. The point is that even a despised, scavenging, living dog is better than a formerly mighty, dead lion. It is all what you compare yourself to. Pretty much as long as you’re not dead it’s better.
But in verse 5 Solomon provides the primary reason why being alive is better: because the living know they’re going to die. For the living know that they will die, but the dead knows nothing. That is an eerily ironic reason for life being better. It’s not that life is better because you get to see sunsets or eat ice cream or open Christmas presents or go on your honeymoon. It’s better to live because you can think about dying.
The dead have it bad: they know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished, and forever they have no more share in all that is done under the sun. Once you’re dead, that’s it. No more friends; no more enemies; no more paychecks; no more wishing you had what someone else has. Life is over; hope is totally (“no more share”) and permanently (“forever”) gone.
But if you’ve got breath, a heartbeat, and a brain, there is hope. The hope in the paragraph is consciousness of the certainty of death. Thinking about death–your death–may be the most profitable first step you ever take because thinking about death leads us to think about God and if we’re ready to meet Him. It is an advantage to be aware of your impending, inevitable death.
Conclusion
Too many squander their life and spend their time pursuing a thousand distractions. But God is gracious in that He often arranges attention grabbing times for us to think about our death. I had one of these more traumatic opportunities on Thursday night when I was spinning in my car after being hit by an oncoming car in an intersection. It could have been worse in almost every way. And though I’m feeling fine physically, when I replay it in my head, I realize I did nothing to protect myself. Like is true for everyone, seconds and inches were the difference between life and death (or other life-altering injury). The last two days or so of driving have been almost constantly consumed with thinking about inches and breath and providence. It makes me more God-conscious.
But He doesn’t need to use trauma to get our attention. Calamity isn’t the only tool God uses, He also uses vanity. Being in pain and seeing others in pain, being frustrated and tired and overworked and unfairly treated and knowing that you’re still going to die and that no one will remember you is a balloon popper. It makes us think about things beyond the sun, things about eternity, things about God.
Like the divine law exposes our immorality and makes us aware that we need a Savior, so our daily experience uncovers vanity and makes us long for a Savior.
Students, you are going to die. It happens to everyone. The emptiness and disappointments and frustrations are woven into your life by God to get you ready for death. Are you ready, or are you just complaining about the very things that God is using to get your attention? Same goes for us, staff.
While we’re living there is hope. And next week Solomon will provide more instruction on how to actually enjoy life. But the first step to happiness is to reckon it true that it is appointed to man to die once and after that is judgment. May misery and uncertainty of life, and the certainty of His sovereignty and our death help get us ready.
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