Consider God's Work
Outline
Consider what God has done (vv. 13–15)
As we consider the providential care of God, we soon become aware that it is not always as straightforward as we might expect. The crookedness and injustice of so many things we encounter, especially when we consider the problem of evil, seem to contradict the justice and sovereignty of God. Theologians and philosophers have long tried to ‘straighten out’ these things, but can never do so to man’s satisfaction. The Preacher does not even attempt this for, as Michael Eaton puts it, ‘[He] aims neither to abolish nor even explain life’s abnormalities, but to enable one to live with them.’ God has sovereign rule over everything—and will work everything to his own purpose for his glory and the good of his people (Rom. 8:18–30).
7:13 what he made crooked Echoes the earlier proclamation that God makes everything “beautiful,” “good,” or “appropriate” in its time (see 3:11 and note). People cannot change God’s order, regardless of the circumstances (3:14).
7:14 For God made one in place of another People should accept both good and bad situations in life, recognizing that they are dependent on God, not their circumstances (3:11). See note on 9:7–10.
cannot find out what will happen in the future God’s work is unknowable (3:11–14).
[13] Consider the work of God: for who can make that straight, which he hath made crooked?
Refer to 1:15—the crooked cannot be straightened; it is God who makes crooked (avath, upside down). Man cannot right what is upside down under the sun. For if it is upside down, God has made it upside down for His purposes.
[14] In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: God also hath set the one over against the other, to the end that man should find nothing after him.
Refer to 3:4; there is a time for joy and a time for consideration. He designed both in order that man cannot know (by reason or experience) what shall come after him.
Verse 13 suddenly breaks from the rhetoric of vv. 1–12 by opening with an imperative. This new mode of address signals the conclusion of the unit of thought and the invitation to reflect upon what precedes. Any thought the reader might have entertained about the absolute benefits of wisdom based upon vv. 12–13 are here subverted. No matter how beneficial wisdom is, it is impossible to undo what God has twisted.
The language of v. 14 parallels that language concluding the earlier collection of sayings in 3:1–15 in its assertion that mortals may not find anything out. Not only is it impossible to undo something God has set into the universe, it is impossible to have understanding of God’s universe. Ultimately, one’s only alternative is to reflect upon God’s mystery. One may enjoy what good comes his way, when it comes. But that good is only a relative good. One is never allowed to enjoy the good without also being fully aware of what is twisted.
13. Consider the work of God—consider that it is impossible to alter His dispensations. for who can make (that) straight? Man cannot amend what God wills to be “wanting” and “adverse” (ch. 1:15; Job 12:14). Since no one can, no one should wish to alter what God ordains. If men in adversity would “consider” it as “the work of God,” they would meekly, yea, thankfully, submit, in the spirit of Ps. 39:9; Lev. 10:3. 14. In the day of prosperity (lit., good) be joyful—lit., be in good. in the day of adversity consider. Resumed from v. 13. “Consider,” i. e., regard it as “the work of God;” for God also hath set the one over against the other—‘God has made (Hebrew for ‘set’) this (adversity) also as well as the other’ (prosperity). “Adversity” is one of the things which “God has made crooked,” and which man cannot “make straight.” He ought therefore to be “patient” (v. 8). ‘A bird caught in a snare, the more it struggles to get free, the more tightly it is bound. So, if one be held by God in the bonds of affliction, there is nothing safer for him than that he gives himself up wholly to the will of God, (Cartwright). to the end that man, &c. Holden explains ‘that man may not find anything (to blame) after God’ (i. e., after ‘considering God’s work,’ v. 13). The Vulgate and Syriac, ‘against Him’ (cf. v. 10; Rom. 3:4). Hengstenberg explains, God causes evil days to alternate with good ones, to the end that man should not find anything which will come after him—i. e., in order that he may not be able to fathom anything which lies beyond his present condition. So “after him,” chs. 3:22; 6:12. These passages favour this latter explanation. Unable to discover ought beyond his present state, man is stripped of pride, and is driven humbly to look up to God and ‘consider His work’ (v. 13, 14).
15. All things have I seen, &c.—I have seen strange things of all kinds. An objection entertained by Solomon “in the days of his vanity” (apostasy) (ch. 8:14; Job 21:7). there is a just (man) that perisheth. Temporal, not eternal death (John 10:28). See note, v. 16; “just” is probably a self-justiciary. wicked … prolongeth his life. See the antidote to the abuse of this statement in ch. 8:12. So Israel complained of her adversity notwithstanding her righteousness in Mal. 2:17; 3:13–15. 16. Be not righteous over much—forbidding a self-made righteousness of outward performances, in which man knows not his sinfulness, and which would wrest salvation from God, instead of receiving it as the gift of His grace. It is a fanatical, proud, unloving (Isa. 58:2, 3), Pharisaical righteousness, void of humble faith towards God; for the “fear of God” is in antithesis to it (v. 18; ch. 5:3, 7; Matt. 6:1–7). Even the godly (Job 32:1) need affliction to teach them to unlearn it. There cannot be over much of the righteousness which is by faith. But there is over much of the righteousness that consists in punctiliousness as to external ordinances, when these are substituted for “the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, faith, and the love of God” (Matt. 23:23; Luke 11:42); and when they blind a man to his utter guiltiness. neither make thyself over wise (Job 11:12; Rom. 12:3, 16)—presumptuously self-sufficient, as if acquainted with the whole of the Divine counsels. destroy thyself—expose thyself to the wrath of God by thy self-conceited wisdom; hence to an untimely death. The Pharisees in Christ’s days brought on themselves the destruction of their nation and the temple by their self-seeking righteousness and pretentious wisdom (cf. Matt. 23:16). “Destroy thyself” answers to “perisheth” (v. 15), “righteous over much,” to “a just man.” Therefore, in v. 15, it is a self justiciary, not a truly righteous man, that “perisheth in his righteousness.
Ver. 13. Consider the work of God, &c.] This is addressed to those who thought the former days better than the present, and were ready to quarrel with the providence of God, ver. 10 and are therefore advised to consider the work of God; not the work of creation, but of providence; which is the effect of divine sovereignty, and is conducted and directed according to the counsel of his will, and is always wisely done to answer the best ends and purposes: every thing is beautiful in its season; contemplate, adore, and admire the wisdom, power, and goodness of God, displayed therein; it is such as cannot be made better, nor otherwise than it is. For who can make that straight which he hath made crooked? or which seems to be so, irregular and disagreeable? No man can mend or make that better he finds fault with and complains of; nor can he alter the course of things, nor stay the hand, nor stop the providence of God: if it is his pleasure that public calamities should be in the world, or in such a part of it, as famine, pestilence, or the sword; or any affliction on families, and particular persons, or poverty and meanness in such and such individuals, there is no hindering it; whatever he has purposed and resolved, his providence effects, and there is no frustrating his designs; it signifies nothing for a creature to murmur and complain; it is best to submit to his will, for no alteration can be made but what he pleases. Some understand this of natural defects in human bodies, with which they are born, or which attend them, as blindness, lameness, &c.; so the Targum, “consider the work of God, and his strength, who made the blind, the crooked, and the lame, to be wonders in the world; for who can make straight one of them but the Lord of the world, who made him crooked?” Others, of spiritual defects in such who walk in crooked ways, and are hardened in them; who can correct them, and make them other ways, if God does not give them his grace to convert them, and soften their hard hearts? he hardens whom he will, and who hath resisted his will? Jarchi’s paraphrase is, “who can make straight after death what he has made crooked in life?” see the note on ch. 1:15. Alshech interprets it of the first man Adam.
Ver. 14. In the day of prosperity be joyful, &c.] Or, in a good day. When things go well in the commonwealth, in a man’s family, and with himself, health, peace, and plenty, are enjoyed, a man’s circumstances are thriving and flourishing; it becomes him to be thankful to God, freely and cheerfully to enjoy what is bestowed on him, and do good with it: or, be in goodr; in good heart, in good spirits, cheerful and lively; or, enjoy good, as the Vulgate Latin version; for what God gives to men is given them richly to enjoy, to make use of themselves, and be beneficial unto others; so the Targum, “in the day the Lord does well to thee be thou also in goodness, and do good to all the world;” see Gal. 6:10. Jarchi’s paraphrase is, “when it is in thine hand to do good, be among those that do good.” But in the day of adversity consider; or, in the day of evil; consider from whence affliction comes; not out of the dust, nor by chance, but from God, and by his wise appointment; and for what it comes, that sin is the cause of it, and what that is; and also for what ends it is sent, to bring to a sense of sin, and confession of it, and humiliation for it; to take it away, and make good men more partakers of holiness: or, look for the day of adversityt; even in the day of prosperity it should be expected; for there is no firmness and stability in any state; there are continual vicissitudes and changes. The Targum is, “that the evil day may not come upon thee, see and behold;” be careful and circumspect, and behave in a wise manner, that so it may be prevented. Jarchi’s note is, “when evil comes upon the wicked, be among those that see, and not among those that are seen;” and compares it with Isa. 66:24. It may be observed, that there is a set time for each of these, prosperity and adversity; and that the time is short, and therefore called a day; and the one is good, and the other is evil; which characters they have according to the outward appearance, and according to the judgment and esteem of men; otherwise, prosperity is oftentimes hurtful, and destroys fools, and adversity is useful to the souls of good men. God also hath set the one over-against the other; they are both by his appointment, and are set in their proper place, and come in their proper time; succeed each other, and answer to one another, as day and night, summer and winter, and work together for the good of men. To the end that man should find nothing after him; should not be able to know what will be hereafter; what his case and circumstances will be, whether prosperous or adverse; since things are so uncertain, and so subject to change, and nothing permanent; and therefore can find nothing to trust in and depend upon, nothing that he can be sure of: and things are so wisely managed and disposed, that a man can find no fault with them, nor just reason to complain of them; so the Vulgate Latin version, not find just complaints against him; and to the same purpose the Syriac version, that he may complain of him; the Targum is, “not find any evil in this world.”
Ver. 15. All things have I seen in the days of my vanity, &c.] Or, all these things. What goes before and follows after, the various changes men are subject unto, both good and bad; these he had made his observations upon, throughout the course of his life, which had been a vain one, as every man’s is, full of evil and trouble; see ch. 6:12 perhaps the wise man may have some respect to the times of his apostacy; and which might, among other things, be brought on by this; observing good men afflicted, and the wicked prosper, which has often been a stumbling to good men. There is a just man that perisheth in his righteousness; not eternally; no truly just man ever perished, who is made so by the righteousness of Christ imputed to him; for though the righteous man is said to be scarcely saved, yet he is certainly saved: it can be true only in this sense of one that is only outwardly righteous, that trusts to his own righteousness, in which he may perish; but this is to be understood temporally and corporeally; one that is really just may perish in his name, in his substance, as well as at death, and that on account of his righteousness; he may lose his good name and character, and his substance, for righteousness-sake; yea, his life also, as Abel, Naboth, and others; this is the case sometimes, as Aben Ezra observes, not always: or a just man, notwithstanding his righteousness, dies, and sometimes lives but a short time; which sense the antithesis seems to require. And there is a wicked man that prolougeth his life in his wickedness; is very wicked, and yet, notwithstanding his great wickedness, lives a long time in the world; see Job 21:7.
7:13–14 God’s Work Limits Humans
The conclusion of this unit returns to the issues with which it began. Consider (NRSV, NIV; imperative of see, ra’ah) calls the reader to investigate (2:1) or to experience/enjoy (9:9). The meaning investigate fits here (7:13, 14) and at the same time represents an appeal to reach the same conclusion the Teacher has reached [Special Terms: See, p. 254]. Verse 13, echoing 1:13, 15 and 3:14, calls the reader to recognize that God’s work cannot be countered. In particular, God has made crooked or distorted certain things that cannot be corrected (1:15; Job 8:3; 19:6; 34:12; cf. Eccl 12:9).
Further, the writer exhorts the reader to accept and enjoy the good that comes (7:14; cf. 3:12). But the exhortation also contains themes similar to the earlier theological deliberation (3:9–15) that follows the time poem (3:2–8). As there (3:11), the writer complains that humans may not find out (NRSV; cannot discover, T/NIV) what is going on in the world: they cannot find an adequate explanation (see further on this theme at 7:23–29 and 8:17). God, though the source of good, is also responsible for the bad.
In the introduction to this unit (6:10–12), Qohelet referred to God indirectly, but here in the conclusion he is direct. He reinforces earlier points made: that God’s efforts cannot be thwarted (6:10; 7:13) because humans are not able to do so (cf. 6:10; 7:13); that humans are prevented from knowing their destiny (6:12; 7:14); that human knowledge is limited (6:12; 7:14) and therefore also the advantage that humans seek (6:11); that what is good (ṭob) is elusive (6:12) and complicated by the fact that God is responsible for both good and evil (7:14) [God, p. 230].
In an entertaining way, the Akkadian Dialogue of Pessimism presents the paradox of wisdom: certain courses of action are recommended, and yet each has drawbacks so that their opposite is also commendable. The text ends by claiming, whether ironically or despairingly, that death is good (ANET 600–601). In contrast, the Teacher, also raising the question What is good? (6:12), does not despair or advocate death as the appropriate response to such realities (however, see 4:2; 6:3 for those in distress). Although humans are limited in their ability to discern the good, there is still some advantage to wisdom (7:12); and the Deity’s actions, however enigmatic, provide the opportunity to experience the good when it is available. Readers are urged to enjoy life as a gift from God, but also to take into account the bad aspects of the life that God has provided. People must take things as they come.