The Teacher continues examining the frailty of life and its works. Earlier he has emphasized the perpetual endless cycle of life.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, Turn, turn, turn
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
The cycles of life include times of good and bad, in a natural rhythm of the years. We weep and laugh and weep again. Sometimes we mourn, sometimes we dance. Then we mourn again. In my youth, this beautiful passage was popularized by the song Turn! Turn! Turn! by the Byrds.
The Teacher gives us, in short rhythmic lines, seven verses, fourteen antithetical parallelisms. It is no coincidence that these verses come in a perfect seven.
Ecclesiastes 3:9-11, Eternity in the heart of man
What does the worker gain from his toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on men. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
The Teacher returns to his questions about value. Work seems to only be a burder from which man does not gain. It is a burden God places on mankind. God makes everything beautiful in its time and places "eternity in the hearts of man" -- yes, we all long for eternal purpose and value! -- and yet God also keeps us ignorant of all His plans and purposes. Is this good news or bad? Are we encouraged here or in despair?
The Hebrew word olam, translated here "eternity", suggests long periods of time, antiquity, the future. It first appears in the Old Testament in Genesis 3:22 where the NIV translates it as "forever." Eternity, time past, time future, are an enigma to us mere mortals.
Ecclesiastes 3:12-15, Find satisfaction
I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil‑‑this is the gift of God. I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him.
Whatever is has already been,
and what will be has been before;
and God will call the past to account.
The Teacher repeats an earlier claim: the mortal man should just enjoy the good things given him.
Ecclesiastes 3:16, Corruption
And I saw something else under the sun:
In the place of judgment‑‑wickedness was there,
in the place of justice‑‑wickedness was there.
The observant Teacher is very aware that there are injustices -- where there should be righteous judgment, there is wickedness and corruption.
Ecclesiastes 3:17-18, Is there judgment?
I thought in my heart, "
God will bring to judgment both the righteous and the wicked,
for there will be a time for every activity, a time for every deed."
I also thought, "As for men, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals.
The Hebrew text is not clear in verses 17 and 18 (say both Alter and Davidson) and both interpret verse 17 as a quotation, as a proverb, with a response in verse 18. It is likely that the Teacher is saying, I thought that God brings judgment and justice but still, ultimately, man dies just like the animals. This is consistent with the next passage.
Ecclesiastes 3:19-21, Like the animals
Man's fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; man has no advantage over the animal. Everything is meaningless. All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?"
Mankind, says the Teacher, is just like the animals. We don't know what happens after death; we see no evidence that the spirit (breath, Hebrew ruach) of humans is different than that of the animals. As Genesis 3:19 says, we came from dust and we return to dust.
Ecclesiastes 3:22, Relax and enjoy what you have.
So I saw that there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work, because that is his lot. For who can bring him to see what will happen after him?
We don't know what happens after death, so, relax, try to find satisfaction and joy in what you have.
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