FIND A FLAW, OR FIX A FLAW? (ECCLESIASTES 9)
Last month, October 19, black rain unexpectedly hit Hong Kong without warning from the observatory. One of the most affected districts was Chai Wan. One of the most popular pictures on the Internet of the heavy rain that led to flash flooding in the city was by the title ¡§Starbucks Uncle¡¨ It showed an old sitting casually, sipping coffee and reading newspapers in a flooded Starbucks outlet in Chai Wan district.
A Starbucks employee said the elderly man sat in the shop for almost an hour. He left after the floodwaters receded and the staff cleaned up the floor, said the employee.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3855178/Hong-Kong-s-Starbucks-Uncle-latest-social-media-star-spotted-enjoying-newspaper-coffee-shop-seriously-flooded.html
Ecclesiastes is a celebration of life and a counsel to the living more than rather than the curse of dying and a closure to the dead. The word ¡§living¡¨ occurs seven times (vv 3, 4 twice, 59 thrice) to the word ¡§dead¡¨ four times (vv 3, 4, 5 twice), and the word ¡§good¡¨ seven times (vv 2 twice, 4, 7,16, 18 twice) to the word ¡§evil¡¨ four times (vv 3 twice, 7 twice).
Life is about hope, healing and help in the midst of hurt, helplessness, hatred heartbrokenness not hiding hostility.
How do death, disasters and destruction transform us? What do wise people do when others are suffering and struggling? Why is there help, hope and healing no matter the sorrow, storm setbacks?
Be Encouraged No Matter the Times
1 So I reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God¡¦s hands, but no one knows whether love or hate awaits them. 2 All share a common destiny¡Xthe righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not. As it is with the good, so with the sinful; as it is with those who take oaths, so with those who are afraid to take them. 3 This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all. The hearts of people, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead. 4 Anyone who is among the living has hope ¡Xeven a live dog is better off than a dead lion! 5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even their name is forgotten. 6 Their love, their hate and their jealousy have long since vanished; never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun.
Patient: ¡§Will I survive this risky operation?¡¨
Surgeon: ¡§Yes, I¡¦m absolutely sure that you will survive the operation.¡¨
Patient: ¡§How can you be so sure?¡¨
Surgeon: ¡§Nine out of 10 patients die in this operation, and yesterday died my ninth patient.¡¨
Quotes on the heart:
Follow your heart, but take your brain with you.
After the author¡¦s ¡§declare¡¨ in verse 1 is a lot of volume without verbs, nouns making noise but not worth noticing. The crucial verb is in verse 3, that the hearts of the people/sons of men are full (verb) of evil and madness (v 3). The noun ¡§heart¡¨ occurs three times, in its elementary form in verses 1, 3, and 7, and 5, and another heart in verse 3 which is an extended version of ¡§heart.¡¨ In chapter six the word ¡§nephesh¡¨ is all over the place. Now the noun ¡§heart¡¨ takes over. According to ISBE, the heart is the seat of the emotions and passions and appetites (Gen 18:5; Lev 19:17; Ps 104:15)¡Kand it has come to stand for the center of its moral, spiritual, intellectual life. (from International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, Electronic Database)
A sample of the translation to ¡§full¡¨ (v 3) includes fill (Gen 1:22), replenish (Gen 1:28), fulfill (Gen 25:24), satisfied (Ex 15:9), set (Ex 28:17), overflow (Josh 3:15) and accomplish (Jer 25:12). What does ¡§full¡¨ means? It is not 50%, 90% or 99%, but 110%!
The Chinese have a saying, Do not have a heart to harm others, but have a heart to beware of others.
Gen 6:13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
Prov 12:21 There shall no evil happen to the just: but the wicked shall be filled with mischief.
Eccl 6:7 All the labour of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled.
Eccl 8:11 Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.
What does ¡§full¡¨ means? It is not 50%, 90% or 99%, but 110%! It means entirely, extensively, and expertly. The Chinese say º¡¨ì·¸¥X¨Ó
What is the difference between evil and madness? The word madness is derived from praise (hallelujah). One is the badness and the other is the madness. One is the sin and the other is the sensation. One is immoral and the other is intense. One is in the ethics and the other is in the emotions, the depth of depravity versus the high in delivery.
The outcome of sin is death. Verse 4 is not the point because there is no legitimate verb except for participles, but the main verb is found in verse 5, which is ¡§die.¡¨ Because man is full of evil the consequence is death. Verse 6¡¦s ¡§vanish¡¨ (184x) is a minor synonym for ¡§die¡¨ (839x) and is translated destroy (Ex 10:7), perish (Lev 26:38), and undone (Num 21:29). It is a fate worse than death, outside of ¡§time¡¨ and beyond body life -destruction, doom, disgrace, defenselessness, damnation.
Be Energized No Matter the Tasks
7 Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God has already approved what you do. 8 Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil. 9 Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun¡Xall your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun. 10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.
11 I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all. 12 Moreover, no one knows when their hour will come: As fish are caught in a cruel net, or birds are taken in a snare, so people are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them.
Life¡¦s too short for the wrong job.
Life is too short to wake up in the morning with regrets¡C
Life's too short to be anybody else.
Life¡¦s too short for fake butter, cheese or people.
Life¡¦s too short for bad coffee.
Life is too short to waste time hating anyone
Life¡¦s too short for chess.
Life is too short for a person to bear grudges for very long.
There is a reason, an imperative and many contrasts for verses 9-12.
V 7-8 V 9 V 10
Imperative Go
eat
drink
joyfully
do
Reason 7 for God now accepteth thy works 9 for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labour which thou takest under the sun.
10 for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest
God Wife Self
Spiritual Emotional Physical
Walk See/Live Do
Pleasure Peace Participation
Food Fellowship Fitness
thy way,
thy bread
thy wine
thy works
thy garments
thy head thy vanity,
thy vanity
thy portion
thy labour thy hand
thy might
Life¡¦s too short for the wrong job.
The first imperative comes with a reason, that God has already approved what you do. The verb ¡§approved¡¨ is translated as please (Gen 33:10), accept (Lev 1:4), enjoy (Lev 26:34), reconcile (1 Sam 29:4), like (1 Chron 28:4), set affection (1 Chron 29:3), accomplish (Job 14:6), favor (Job 33:26), consent (Ps 50:18) and delight (Prov 3:12). It means to be thankful, trusting and true to God¡¦s provision, peace, pleasure and purpose.
From the future the author moves or transits to the present. The first imperative comes with a reason, that God has already approved what you do. The verb ¡§approved¡¨ is translated as please (Gen 33:10), accept (Lev 1:4), enjoy (Lev 26:34), reconcile (1 Sam 29:4), like (1 Chron 28:4), set affection (1 Chron 29:3), accomplish (Job 14:6), favor (Job 33:26), consent (Ps 50:18) and delight (Prov 3:12). It means to be thankful, trusting and true to God¡¦s provision, peace and purpose.
Verse 9¡¦s second imperative ¡§enjoy¡¨ is translated as see (879x), look (104x), behold (83x)¡Kenjoy (4x). It is more the sense of look out for each other, look after each other, look to each other and look up to one another. It can mean behold, beware, believe, benefit and bear. It is sight and insight, view versus viewpoint, look versus outlook.
The third imperative ¡§do¡¨ (v 10) come with a reason, life is soon gone. See implies understanding. The second reason has to do with ¡§neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom¡¨ or ¡§no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom¡¨ in the grave. This is the third no:
Eccl 9:5 not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.
6 neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.
10 for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.
Time refers to evil time (v 11) and chance (v 11) is the possibility. Time is fixed, chance (v 11) is not. Chance means opportunity, opening and output.
Be Enlisted No Matter the Treatment
13 I also saw under the sun this example of wisdom that greatly impressed me: 14 There was once a small city with only a few people in it. And a powerful king came against it, surrounded it and built huge siege works against it. 15 Now there lived in that city a man poor but wise, and he saved the city by his wisdom. But nobody remembered that poor man. 16 So I said, ¡§Wisdom is better than strength.¡¨ But the poor man¡¦s wisdom is despised, and his words are no longer heeded. 17 The quiet words of the wise are more to be heeded than the shouts of a ruler of fools. 18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.
There are limits to man. This chapter lists a series of bad things. There are three sequences in this last chapter but they all end up from no good to very bad. The two incidents, no matter no good or good start, went downhill in no time. The first instance was small city, a ¡§few¡¨ people ¡V translated as little (Gen 18:4), lightly (Gen 26:10), small (Gen 30:15), few (Lev 25:52) - versus a powerful king (great in Hebrew) and great siege works ¡V translated as net (Prov 12:12), snares (Eccl 7:26), bulwarks (Eccl 9:14) and munition). The only verb surround (v 14) is translated as compasseth (Gen 2:11), stood round about (Gen 37:7), environ (Josh 7:9), beset (Judg 20:5), walk about (Ps 48:12), go round about (Ps 59:6), every side (Ps 71:21), and turneth about ¡K whirleth about continually (Eccl 1:6).
The contrast is powerful versus poor, aggressive versus astute, superior versus sacrificial. The poor but wise man obtained deliverance but was despised (v 16). All the residents wanted was a savior and not a sage, a rescuer but not a relationship, and a turnaround but not teamwork.
Would you do what the poor but wise man did? Would you volunteer or sacrifice yourself to save the city? What happens when your wisdom is despised, and your words are no longer heeded? Wise means you are reliable, resourceful and rational, not rich, respected, and rewarded. Wisdom is a virtue, it means upholding your character, courage, compassion, calm and conduct no matter if you are criticized, cheated, cursed. The poor but wise man chose to help and not hide, hope and not hate, humbles rather than harden himself or herself. True wisdom is moral, ethical, just, godly, excellent, noble and true Godly includes revelation, redemption, and renewal.
Conclusion:
Would you like to be wise rather than to be prosperous, popular or powerful? James 3:17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.
1 Cor 1:30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.
