Ecc Notes Week 8 (Ecc 6:10-7:14)
Notes
Verses
Ecclesiastes 6:10 (CSB)
Ecclesiastes 6:11 (CSB)
Ecclesiastes 6:12 (CSB)
Advantageous living
Ecclesiastes 7:1 (CSB)
Commentary
What is good?
The question in 6:12, “who knows what is good?” is a perfect preparation for the succession of sayings in 7:1–14, which are concerned with the “good.”
The most prominent catch word is טוב, “good”/“better,” which appears fifteen times in the chapter, eight times in vv 1–12. But there are also other significant repetitions: כעס, “vexation,” vv 3, 9; לב, “heart,” vv 2, 3, 4 twice, 7; בית אבל, “house of mourning,” vv 2, 4; כסיל, “fool,” vv 4–6; חכם, “wise,” vv 4, 5, 7, 10–12; רוּחַ, “spirit,” vv 8–9, with a rhymed ending in יָנוּחַ. There may be an inclusion with the appearance of יום, “day,” and טוב, “good,” in both vv 1 and 14. The most famous play on words is שׁמן/שׁם in v 1. Another instance is in v 6a: הסירים, “thorns,” הסיר, “pot,” and הכסיל, “fool.” All this suggests that we are not dealing with a haphazard collection but with a sophisticated style that has worked over several sayings and tied them together.
Acceptance of reality is a necessity. “For who knows what is good for a man in life”
The noun ʾādām looks back to the substance from which humanity came, the ʾādāmâ (“soil”), and so draws attention to human mortality.
. (2) Fine perfume speaks of wealth and luxury (Isa 3:20), but it may also allude to funeral preparations (cf. John 19:39
A precious ointment was a costly luxury in ancient Israel (see Est. 2:12; Ps. 45:8; Amos 6:6; Matt. 26:7).
Crackling of thorns
The crackling of thorns under a pot refers to the meaningless roar of a fire.
The complete verse may be translated:
• Like the sound of twigs burning under a pot, so is the laughter of fools. It makes noise, but it accomplishes nothing.
Or, linking up to verse 5,
• … because the laughter of fools is like the crackling of thorny twigs burning under a cooking pot. It is empty sound; it means nothing at all.
King Solomon compared the praise of fools to the burning thorns in a campfire: you hear a lot of noise, but you don’t get much lasting good. (Again, Solomon used a play on words.
Grieving
It’s been my experience in pastoral ministry that most explanations don’t solve personal problems or make people feel better.
knowledge in the mind does not guarantee healing for the heart. That comes only when we put faith in the promises of God.
If given the choice, most people would rather go to a birthday party than to a funeral; but Solomon advised against it.
balance
If given the choice, most people would rather go to a birthday party than to a funeral; but Solomon advised against it.
Naming
To the Jewish mind, giving a name to something is the same as fixing its character and stating what the thing really is
God
It is the pursuit of God, rather than the pursuit of either laughter or wealth, that in turn reintegrates laughter and wealth into the good life and makes them wholesome.
Anger
Note that “anger” in verse 9 is again kaʿas, as in verse 3. Anger directed at foolish behavior for the purposes of bringing the fool to his senses is a good thing. Anger as an indication of impatience and arrogance is itself a mark of the fool.
Ecc 7:13-14
Although certain ways of being and behaving are wiser than others and in general tend toward life rather than death, yet in the end we must remember that the universe is not a predictable machine but a personally governed and complex space. Wisdom is not magic. God is not an object to be manipulated, nor does God’s world belong to human beings. If God makes something crooked, it is beyond human power to make it straight (v. 13; cf. 1:15).
way? The answer is simple: to keep us from thinking we know it all and that we can manage our lives by ourselves. “Therefore, a man cannot discover anything about his future” (v. 14, NIV). Just about the time we think we have an explanation for things, God changes the situation and we have to throw out our formula.
death better than birth?
He was contrasting two significant days in human experience: the day a person receives his or her name and the day when that name shows up in the obituary column. The life lived between those two events will determine whether that name leaves behind a lovely fragrance or a foul stench. “His name really stinks!” is an uncouth statement, but it gets the point across.
“The memory of the just is blessed, but the name of the wicked shall rot” (Prov. 10:7, and see Prov. 22:1).
mary’s annointing
Mary of Bethany anointed the Lord Jesus with expensive perfume and its fragrance filled the house. Jesus told her that her name would be honored throughout the world, and it is. On the other hand, Judas sold the Lord Jesus into the hands of the enemy; and his name is generally despised (Mark 14:1–11).