Reflections on Ecclesiastes 9

 

Ecclesiastes 09 (Contemporary English Version)


1. I thought about these things. Then I understood that God has power over everyone, even those of us who are wise and live right. Anything can happen to any of us, and so we never know if life will be good or bad.
   
2. But exactly the same thing will finally happen to all of us, whether we live right and respect God or sin and don't respect God. Yes, the same thing will happen if we offer sacrifices to God or if we don't, if we keep our promises or break them.
   
3. It's terribly unfair for the same thing to happen to each of us. We are mean and foolish while we live, and then we die.
   
4. As long as we are alive, we still have hope, just as a live dog is better off than a dead lion.
   
5. We know that we will die, but the dead don't know a thing. Nothing good will happen to them--they are gone and forgotten.
   
6. Their loves, their hates, and their jealous feelings have all disappeared with them. They will never again take part in anything that happens on this earth.
   
7. Be happy and enjoy eating and drinking! God decided long ago that this is what you should do.
   
8. Dress up, comb your hair, and look your best.
   
9. Life is short, and you love your wife, so enjoy being with her. This is what you are supposed to do as you struggle through life on this earth.
   
10. Work hard at whatever you do. You will soon go to the world of the dead, where no one works or thinks or reasons or knows anything.
    
11. Here is something else I have learned: The fastest runners and the greatest heroes don't always win races and battles. Wisdom, intelligence, and skill don't always make you healthy, rich, or popular. We each have our share of bad luck.
    
12. None of us know when we might fall victim to a sudden disaster and find ourselves like fish in a net or birds in a trap.
    
13. Once I saw what people really think of wisdom.
    
14. It happened when a powerful ruler surrounded and attacked a small city where only a few people lived. The enemy army was getting ready to break through the city walls.
    
15. But the city was saved by the wisdom of a poor person who was soon forgotten.
    
16. So I decided that wisdom is better than strength. Yet if you are poor, no one pays any attention to you, no matter how smart you are.
    
17. Words of wisdom spoken softly make much more sense than the shouts of a ruler to a crowd of fools.
    
18. Wisdom is more powerful than weapons, yet one mistake can destroy all the good you have done.
    

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Solomon offers little that is positive in this chapter, other than his common theme that it is good to enjoy the fruit of one's labor. The chapter starts by pointing out the common destiny for both the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad. That is, that everyone is destined to die. No matter what type of person we have been or what accomplishments we have had, we all will die. It would not be accurate, though, to say that all share the same fate after death, but that is not what Solomon is addressing. He is merely saying that no one will escape death. He considers this an evil.

As long as one is alive, though, there is hope. Hope for what? Hope to enjoy the fruit of one's labor. We can still eat and drink with cheerful hearts and can enjoy the wife we love. But once we are dead there is no opportunity for any of this. In this, too, however, we all share a commonality - we are subject to uncertainty of the future and do not know what will happen to the fruit of our labor. There is no difference in this for the swiftest or the strongest, the wisest or the richest, "time and chance happen to all."

Having said this, he commends wisdom. The wise die the same as anyone else and they are subject to the same uncertainties of life as anyone else, but there is still an advantage to wisdom. It can trump the strong and the great. The calm words of the wise are better heeded than "the shouts of a ruler over fools." He adds a caution to this as well, though. A wise man may save the day, but he may also go unrecognized, and though wisdom is better than weapons of war, wisdom's value can be nullified by a little folly.

What can be concluded from this passage? Do we learn from this an attitude of cynicism? I don't think so. Solomon has merely pointed out what becomes evident to any of us eventually. Regardless of what we do or who we are, we will die. And no matter how blessed we may be at any given time, everything is subject to loss. We don't know what the future brings. It is uncertain and in a moment without any warning, it can all be gone. Nevertheless, what advantage is there in cynicism? What advantage is there to living recklessly? The cynic loses his ability to enjoy anything, and the reckless one runs the risk of cutting it all short. It is still best, as Solomon points out, to enjoy the fruit of one's labor and to seek the benefits of wisdom.