Reflections on Ecclesiastes 11

 

Ecclesiastes 11 (Contemporary English Version)


1. Be generous, and someday you will be rewarded.
   
2. Share what you have with seven or eight others, because you never know when disaster may strike.
   
3. Rain clouds always bring rain; trees always stay wherever they fall.
   
4. If you worry about the weather and don't plant seeds, you won't harvest a crop.
   
5. No one can explain how a baby breathes before it is born. So how can anyone explain what God does? After all, he created everything.
   
6. Plant your seeds early in the morning and keep working in the field until dark. Who knows? Your work might pay off, and your seeds might produce.
   
7. Nothing on earth is more beautiful than the morning sun.
   
8. Even if you live to a ripe old age, you should try to enjoy each day, because darkness will come and will last a long time. Nothing makes sense.
   
9. Be cheerful and enjoy life while you are young! Do what you want and find pleasure in what you see. But don't forget that God will judge you for everything you do.
   
10. Rid yourself of all worry and pain, because the wonderful moments of youth quickly disappear.
    

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Solomon seems to express a tension in Ecclesiastes between diligence and enjoying the fruit of one's labor. This tension is no more evident than in this chapter. The first half of the chapter is about diligence while the second half is about enjoyment. As for diligence, Solomon offers good business advice in verses 1-6, which, in my terminology, is to diversify and to avoid over analyzing. As for diversification, he gives two examples. One relates to maritime trade. "Send your bread on the surface of the waters," he says. Though some have understood this to be a reference to generosity in giving to others, I prefer the maritime trade meaning. In sending out your bread, or products, across the waters you may have a return. But don't send it to just one location. Send it to seven or eight places instead. Why? "Who knows what disaster may happen?" Thus, if there is a shipwreck or some other disaster with one market a return can still be expected from the other markets.

A second example of diversification relates to farming. Solomon says to be continually sowing your seed. You don't know what sowing will succeed, and if you have only sown in one field and it doesn't produce, you have nothing. But don't over analyze. If you spend too much time trying to discern the weather before you sow you will never get anything done. Besides, what do you really know about the weather or the future for that matter? He says the one who watches the wind or looks at the clouds will neither sow nor reap. To further emphasize our ignorance of these things, he points out our lack of understanding about the direction of the wind, the developing of a child in the womb, and the work of God. There is too much we don't know so it is useless to try to figure out the best timing or environment to sow our seed. Just do it!

Then we come to the other side of the equation - enjoying the fruit of our labor. As with the first half of the chapter, there are also two parts to this half: Enjoy life because death is coming, and enjoy life while you are young because youth is fleeting, but do so responsibly. Solomon's remarks in verses 7-10 are sandwiched between two statements emphasizing the brevity and uncertainty of life. In verse 7 he says, "it is pleasing for the eyes to see the sun," because there will be many days of darkness. In other words, enjoy the light when you have it. He comes back to this thought in verse 10, "Remove sorrow from your heart . . . because youth and the prime of life are fleeting." Life is too short to spend it sorrowing. Together the thoughts send the message to enjoy life when you can. Don't use up the days of sunshine in sorrow over what cannot be changed. Enjoy them. This thought is filled in more with the verses that come between them. "Walk in the ways of your heart and in the sights of your eyes." (verse 9) Or as it is stated in the Message bible, "Follow the impulses of your heart. If something looks good to you, pursue it." This sounds like an open license to do anything, but it is immediately followed with the admonition, "but know that for all of these things God will bring you to judgment." Our enjoyment must be done responsibly.

In overview, Solomon's counsel is to have balance in life. We do need to be diligent or we have nothing, but if we become overly diligent we cannot enjoy life and the fruit of our labor. On the other hand, we cannot spend all our time enjoying life or there is no fruit from labor to enjoy. Most of us have difficulty with balance in our lives. Depending on our personalities we are either inclined toward too much diligence or too much enjoyment. But one is not possible without the other. The trick is to have balance and this is where Godly wisdom is needed.