Ecc Notes Week 3
Thoughts
Meeting Notes
Text
Themes
Life is composed of joy and sorrow, building and destroying, and living and dying. Each comes at the proper time. This reminds us that we are creatures of time and not yet able to partake of the joys of eternity. No one can be happy who has not come to grips with the reality that life is full of changes and sorrows as well as continuity and joy. We must accept that we are mortal and governed by time.
Carpe Diem
Qohelet’s philosophy is also to some extent that all mortal beings should “seize the day.” It is indeed the appropriate response to the reality of the “times” that are beyond our control, but lie in the hands of God, that we should cease to worry overly much about how things are going to work out and concentrate on living joyfully in the moment that is currently given to us: “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” (3:12–13).
We are indeed to seize the day, but we are to remember its divinely created nature as we do so. The biblical carpe diem, then, is not a self-centered response to the uncertainties surrounding life after death, but a worshipful response to the God of creation, who is also the God of new creation and resurrection.
Whatever we do as Christians—even if it involves refraining from things—should be done out of joyful response to the God of extravagant blessing and grace, as we live now the abundant life that is also the life that stretches away into eternity (John 4:14; 5:24; 10:10).
We cannot truly understand or control “the times,” and so we are cast back on God, who holds our times in his hands and alone knows the span of our individual days. Yet the God on whom we are cast is good, and he is for us (Rom. 8:31). Our response to his grace and blessing should be to seize the time that we have and live it well and joyfully to his glory and praise.
Make the best use of your time
Ecc 3:11
that God has made everything beautiful in its time. The problem is that God has also placed eternity (that is, a sense that life continues beyond this present existence) into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.
Ecc 3:15c
The obscurity of v 15b (see note 15.a.) remains a problem, but the words seem to be complementary to v 15a: nothing escapes the dominion of God, who has everything within the divine purview. God will seek out “what is pursued,” i.e., the events of the past. There is a certain similarity of structure with v 14b. Both parts speak of divine action in the face of unchangeability (v 14) and repetition (v 15).
Verse 15c, although formally part of this paragraph, proleptically prepares the reader for the subject of the next section, oppression. It should, therefore, be regarded as part of the following paragraph for purposes of interpretation.
For translation we suggest “God requests that we pursue what is hidden.”
Recognizing that this translation is uncertain, a footnote will be required to indicate that the text is unclear.
The phrase here is literally “he will seek [bqš] what has been chased away” (cf. Isa. 17:13, of water chased before the wind like chaff). The imagery is perhaps drawn from shepherding, God seeking out the “lost” moments of past time in the manner of the human seeking lost animals (cf. bqš in 1 Sam. 9:3; 10:2, 14; Ezek. 34:6, 16). It is not explicit in Ecclesiastes 3:15 itself, but it is certainly implied by 3:1–15 as a whole passage and by what follows in 3:16–22 (see below) that this divine “seeking” is effective and that it is quite unlike the human seeking after time that is referred to in 3:9–11, which results in not “finding” anything (mṣʾ; cf. the play on these same verbs in 7:23–29). Echoing in the background are other cases of bqš / mṣʾ used in combination, particularly those in verses that speak of seeking and not finding (e.g., Isa. 41:12; Hos. 5:6). That God “seeks the past” in order to settle accounts is also clear from what follows in Ecclesiastes 3:16–22, although this too is not explicit in 3:15 of itself.
Solomon added a new thought here: “and God will call the past to account” (v. 15, NIV). Scholars have a difficult time agreeing on the translation of this phrase. It literally says “God seeks what hurries along.” Solomon seems to say that time goes by swiftly and gets away from us; but God keeps track of it and will, at the end of time, call into account what we have done with time (12:14). This ties in with verses 16–17 where Solomon witnessed the injustices of his day and wondered why divine judgment was delayed.
Quotes
The Puritan pastor Thomas Watson said, “Eternity to the godly is a day that has no sunset; eternity to the wicked is a night that has no sunrise.”
Appointing Times
The New Testament picks up the theme. At the appointed time Jesus came among humankind, announcing the kingdom of God and dying for our sins (e.g., Mark 1:15; Rom. 5:6; Gal. 4:4–5). He reminded all his hearers of the succession of times still to come—the appointed times in which the various aspects of God’s plans will be carried through: the death of Jesus (e.g., Matt. 9:15; 26:18; John 13:1), the witness or the apostasy of his disciples (e.g., Matt. 10:19; 24:10, 23–25; John 16:32), the second appearing of the Son of Man (e.g., Matt. 24:30), and divine judgment and salvation (e.g., Matt. 8:29; 13:30). That he possesses knowledge of the times, which marks him out from all his fellow human beings, is unsurprising when it is realized that the triune God is Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last (Rev. 1:8; 21:6; 22:13), and Jesus the very center of human time, as the apostles clearly understood (e.g., Acts 3:21; 1 Cor. 4:5; 2 Tim. 1:9; Titus 1:2).
Commentary
Weirsbe
The inference is plain: if we cooperate with God’s timing, life will not be meaningless. Everything will be “beautiful in His time” (v. 11), even the most difficult experiences of life. Most of these statements are easy to understand, so we will examine only those that may need special explanation.
If you wanted to hurt an enemy, you filled up his field with stones (2 Kings 3:19, 25). People also gathered stones for building walls and houses. Stones are neither good nor bad; it all depends on what you do with them. If your enemy fills your land with rocks, don’t throw them back. Build something out of them!
If you wanted to hurt an enemy, you filled up his field with stones (2 Kings 3:19, 25). People also gathered stones for building walls and houses. Stones are neither good nor bad; it all depends on what you do with them. If your enemy fills your land with rocks, don’t throw them back. Build something out of them!
Is it all worth it?
First, man’s life is a gift from God (v. 10).
Second, man’s life is linked to eternity.
Third, man’s life can be enjoyable now (vv. 12–14)