Untitled Sermon
The words, I have seen something else under the sun (lit., “I turned and saw”) frequently mark a transition in thought for Qoheleth. Once again the sage reflects on the fate that every mortal faces. This time, however, he wrestles with the reality that this fate often comes quite unexpectedly. He begins by stating that no one can predict the outcome of events. What should be the expected consequences often are not.
Qoheleth gives five examples of the unexpected: 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. The list contains two general categories: that which relates to the physical world (running and fighting) and that which pertains to the mental (wisdom and learning). In spite of their talents and preparation, neither the swift nor the strong always win. In spite of their mental abilities and training, the wise do not always succeed. The last three terms are synonyms (“wise,” “brilliant,” “learned”), all pertaining to the activity of the sage. Sometimes events in life occur randomly. Therefore, one cannot always predict the outcome. The implication, as Qoheleth has stated before (e.g., 4:13–16), is that the wise do not always have the necessities of life (namely, food) nor are they always identified by the possession of wealth. Other factors beyond human control come into play.
The reason humans cannot control the outcome is that time and chance happen to them all. In this phrase, the two words “time” and “chance” are nouns expressing the same idea. Qoheleth is not expressing a belief in luck or a Que será será philosophy of life. In Qoheleth’s theology, God controls time and chance (recall 3:1–15). The problem is that humans neither know God’s time nor understand the bigger picture of God’s purpose in the world, so things do not necessarily come out the way humans expect them to.
The text moves from the random misfortunes that humans experience to the fate of all: death. Moreover, no man knows when his hour will come (v. 12). No person knows his or her “time” (עֵת, ˓ēth). This verse recalls the thought of the poem in 3:1–8, only here the specific focus of the “time” is death. Qoheleth follows this affirmation with two examples from the natural world of the unexpected nature of death. A fisherman’s net cast into the water does not distinguish between the type or age or value of the fish. All that the net catches, it kills. Death comes suddenly and without warning. The same is true with a bird taken in a snare. The snare does not respect the species of bird. It catches all by surprise. Humans experience the same phenomenon: men are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them. The purpose of the observation is to exhort the reader to enjoy the life that God gives in the present moment (9:7–10).