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 emphasizes our lack of knowledge of the future and gives advice accordingly. Since one cannot know what the future holds it is wise to diversify one's efforts, not focusing on just one thing. This might be applied to investments to farming or to labor. If one effort fails another may prosper. By contrast, rather than diversifying one might choose instead to optimize their efforts by waiting for the most opportune time to do what they will do, or seek the most profitable commodity for their efforts. But this will lead to doing nothing. One will always be looking for a more opportune time. Even if the time is good they will wait until it is better and as a result never act.

Solomon then turned his principle of diversification to the farmer. As we don't know the path of the wind or how a fetus is formed in the womb, neither do we know the work of God who makes everything. So the farmer should not plant just one crop but should instead plant several. Since he doesn't know which planting will succeed he can be reasonably sure that at least some will succeed

While life is uncertain one can be certain that there will be dark days. Therefore we should enjoy the light while we have the light for we can be sure the dark will come. This can be applied specifically to the young. Solomon advises the young to enjoy life while they can, for "youth and the prime of life are fleeting." However, they should temper their enjoyment with the knowledge that God will bring a judgment.