Pt.4 Living with Hope
GETTING THE MOST OUT OF LIFE
“Living with Hope”
Ecclesiastes 9:1-10
During the 2007-2008 NFL regular season, New England Patriots' quarterback Tom Brady set the record for most touchdown passes in a regular season, paving the way for his winning the MVP award. At the age of 30, he has already won three Super Bowls—an accomplishment that sets him apart as one of the best quarterbacks to ever play the game.
In 2005, Tom Brady was interviewed by 60 Minutes journalist Steve Kroft. Despite the fame and career accomplishments he had achieved already, Brady told Kroft that it felt like something was still lacking in his life:
Why do I have three Super Bowl rings and still think there's something greater out there for me? I mean, maybe a lot of people would say, 'Hey man, this is what [it's all about].' I reached my goal, my dream, my life. Me? I think, 'It's got to be more than this.' I mean this isn't—this can't be—all it's cracked up to be."
Kroft pressed Brady as to what the right answer was, and Brady added: What's the answer? I wish I knew… I love playing football, and I love being quarterback for this team. But at the same time, I think there are a lot of other parts about me that I'm trying to find.
ETERNAL HOPE – v.1-3
Death is not an accident, it’s an appointment (Heb. 9:27 And just as it is appointed for people to die once and after this , judgment-), a destiny that nobody but God can cancel or change.
The only way to be get the most out of this life is to be prepared to die.
Death is a fact of life, and Solomon examined many facets of life so that he might understand God’s pattern for satisfied living.
Woody Allen, “I’m not afraid to die; I just don’t want to be there when it happens.”
But he will be there when it happens, as must every human being, because there is no escaping death when your time has come.
Life and death are “in the hand of God” (v. 1), and only He knows our future, whether to expect love (blessing) or hate (curse).
Verse 2 tells us that “Everything is the same for everyone:”
“As it is for the good, so it is for the sinner.”
If so, why bother to live a godly life?” someone may ask.
“After all, whether we obey the Law or disobey, bring sacri-fices or neglect them, make or break promises, we will die just the same.”
Yes, we share a common destiny on earth—death and the grave—but we do not share a common destiny in eternity.
Christians have trusted Jesus Christ to save them from sin and death; so, as far as they are concerned, “the last enemy” has been defeated.
Unbelievers don’t have that confidence and are unprepared to die.
Many people try to cheat death.
Twenty-seven people are banking on the idea that modern science will someday find or engineer a fountain of youth. Those twenty-seven people, all deceased, are “patients” of the Alcor Life Extension Institute in Scottsdale, Arizona, where their bodies-or merely their head!-have been frozen in liquid nitrogen at minus 320 degrees Fahrenheit awaiting the day when medical science discovers a way to make death and aging a thing of the past.
Ten of the patients paid $120,000 to have their entire body frozen. Seventeen of the patients paid $50,000 to have only their head frozen, hoping that molecular technology will one day be able to grow a whole new body from their head or its cells.
It sounds like science fiction, but it’s called cryonics.
Stephen Bridge, president of Alcor, cautions, “We have to tell people that we don’t even really know if it will work yet.”
Nevertheless Thomas Donaldson, a fifty-year-old member of Alcor who hasn’t yet taken advantage of its services, brushed aside the naysayers and explained to a reporter why he’s willing to give cryonics a try: “For some strange reason, I like being alive…I don’t want to die.
Jesus is the only sure hope of eternal life.
LIVING HOPE – v.4-6
The Christian believer has “a living hope,” not a “dead” hope, because the Savior is alive and has conquered death.
1 Peter 1:3–5 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to His great mercy, He has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that is imperishable, uncorrupted, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who are being protected by God’s power through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
2 Tim. 1:10 - This has now been made evident through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who has abolished death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
A hope that can be destroyed by death is a false hope and must be abandoned.
As long as man is alive, there is hope; that is, he has something to look forward to.
In that sense, a living dog is better off than a dead lion.
Here the dog is spoken of, not as man’s best friend, but as one of the lowest, meanest forms of animal life.
The lion is the king of beasts, powerful and magnificent.
Comparing the lot of a live dog with that of a dead lion, Solomon affirmed that it is better to be alive and dishonored than to be honored and dead.
The living at least know that they will die,
The have consciousness and hope, things they can look forward to enjoying.
But the dead have no consciousness (they don’t know anything about what’s going on in the world) or hope of reward or enjoyment.
John Maxwell tells about a small town in Maine that was proposed for the site of a great hydro-electric plant. A dam would be built across the river and the town submerged. When the project was announced, the people were given many months to arrange their affairs and relocate.
During those months, a curious thing happened. All improvements ceased. No painting was done. No repairs were made on the buildings, roads, or sidewalks. Day by day the whole town got shabbier and shabbier. A long time before the waters came, the town looked uncared for and abandoned, even though the people had not yet moved away. One citizen explained: “Where there is no faith in the future, there is no power in the present.” That town was cursed with hopelessness because it had no future.
FULFILLING HOPE – v.7-10
Missionary Jim Elliot once said, “Wherever you are, be all there. Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God.”
Psalms 118:24 – “This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.”
Instead of allowing grief to consume one’s life, Solomon urges that whatever remains of the unexplained mystery in our lives must no prevent us from enjoying life.
- Enjoy Living
Life was difficult in the average Jewish home, but every family knew how to enjoy special occasions such as weddings and reunions.
That’s when they wore their white garments (a symbol of joy) and anointed themselves with expensive perfumes instead of the usual olive oil.
But Solomon advised the people to wear white garments always and to anoint themselves always with special perfume.
We must not express our thanksgiving and joy only when we are celebrating special events.
Phillippians 4:4“Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!”
Vance Havner wrote – Christian fellowship has almost become a lost art. I recall how, as a boy, I sat before the open fire on a Saturday night while father and the visiting minister talked long and late about the things of God. I remember John Brown, deacon in my first country charge, who used to visit my room and talk until midnight. There was time in those days, but who can take time off today to meditate at the Master’s feet, like Mary of old, or to share His fellowship with other Christians? Fellowship has come to mean a noisy after-session at church with coffee and cookies and a lot of idle chatter about everything on earth but spirit things. How many Christian homes know how to converse about Jesus Christ?
- Enjoy Your Family
Solomon knew nothing about “live-in couples” or “trial marriages.”
He saw a wife as a gift from God (Prov. 18:22; 19:14) and marriage as a loving commitment that lasts a lifetime.
It’s too bad Solomon didn’t live up to his own ideals.
No matter how difficult life may be, there is great joy in the home of the man and woman who love each other and are faithful to their marriage vows.
Going to Walt Disney World without children. Seeing the value in enjoying the time alone with Michelle.
- Enjoy Your Work
The Jewish people looked upon work, not as a curse, but as a stewardship from God.
“Do it with all your might” (NASB) suggests two things:
Do your very best, and do it while you still have strength.
9:1. This verse closely relates verses 2-10 to the preceding section, as indicated in the NIV translation, So I reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God’s hands.
The “all this” that Solomon “reflected on” is human ignorance of the significance of righteousness and wickedness in God’s sovereign disposition of adversity and prosperity (chaps. 7-8). Solomon “concluded” (lit., “my heart saw”) from his prior reflections “on all this” that people are not masters of their own fate; people and “what they do” are subject to God’s sovereign will (i.e., they “are in God’s hands”; cf. Prov. 21:1 for a similar use of this figure). Since one does not know God’s providence, neither does he know whether he will experience prosperity or adversity, or whether he will be the object of love or hate (for a similar use of these two nouns; cf. Mal. 1:2-3).
b. All people are subject to the same fate (9:2-3)
9:2-3. Solomon supported the statement that nobody knows what awaits him (v. 1) by stating that all people share the same fate or common destiny.
However, there is some ambiguity as to the nature of that fate because of a common failure to relate the beginning of verse 2 to the end of verse 1. The same fate or destiny relates to the “love or hate,” adversity or prosperity, referred to in verse 1. The Hebrew is literally, “whether it will be love or hate, no man knows”; both are before them (i.e., the righteous and the wise, 9:1). Both love and hate are experienced by everyone; there is one fate (or destiny) for the righteous and the wicked. This commonality of fate applies to the good and the bad, those who are ritually clean as well as those who are ritually unclean, those who offer sacrifices as well as those who do not. . . . those who are afraid to take God’s name in oaths (cf. Ex. 20:7, “misuse the name of the Lord”) as well as those who are not afraid to do so. The same destiny befalls all these. The bad part of all this (i.e., the evil in everything that happens under the sun), Solomon wrote, is that this common fate causes people to be rampant in sin (people’s hearts . . . are full of evil and . . . madness; cf. Ecc. 8:11). Solomon added that not only does everybody (including the righteous and the wise, 9:1) share this same inscrutable distribution of adversity and prosperity during life, but they also share the same ultimate fate after life; they all join the dead.
c. Life is preferable to death (9:4-6)
9:4-6. However, despite the fact that all people, both righteous and wicked, are subject to the same inscrutable distribution of adversity and prosperity and ultimately join one another in death, they should not despair of life. Life has advantages over death.
Comparing the lot of a live dog with that of a dead lion, Solomon affirmed that it is better to be alive and dishonored (cf. 1 Sam. 17:43; the dog was the most despised animal) than to be honored and dead (cf. Prov. 30:30; the lion was the most honored beast). The living at least have consciousness and hope, things they can look forward to enjoying. But the dead have no consciousness (they know nothing) or hope of reward or enjoyment. Moreover, their passions—their love, their hate, and their jealousy—are stilled.
As Ginsburg has noted, the concepts of consciousness and unconsciousness here are not in their barest forms as though these verses taught soul sleep.
Instead they should be understood in the context of enjoying life (Ecc. 9:7-9) and possessing the capacities for enjoyment; the living have those capabilities but the dead do not (The Song of Songs and Coheleth, pp. 414-5).
Thus the living have opportunities and capacities for fruitful labor but the dead do not (v. 10). The living have opportunities for reward from that labor, but the dead do not (v. 5; the word trans. “reward” refers to wages or earnings). The living have capacities for enjoyment (vv. 7-9), but the dead do not (v. 6). Solomon was not describing what the state of the dead is; he was stating what it is not. He did this to emphasize the lost opportunities of this present life, opportunities for serving God and enjoying His gifts. Solomon added that the dead never again . . . have a part in anything that happens under the sun (cf. comments on Ecc. 1:3). The word for “part” (ḥēleq, “lot, portion, allotment”) is the word he used elsewhere of life and its enjoyments (3:22; 5:18-19; 9:9).
Some commentators see a contradiction between 9:4-6 and 4:2-3 (“the dead . . . are happier than the living”). However, no real contradiction is here because Solomon was stating that a person who experiences the pressures of oppression (4:1) may feel that death is preferable. On the other hand in 9:4-6 (and in vv. 7-10) Solomon stressed that when a person is dead opportunities for enjoying life are gone. The two passages view life and death from different perspectives.
d. Enjoy life as God enables (9:7-9)
9:7-9. In view of the uncertainties of what the future may bring, whether adversity or prosperity (vv. 1-3), and in view of the certainty of death with the loss of all opportunity for enjoyment (vv. 4-6), Solomon again recommended enjoying life as God’s good gift (cf. 2:24-26; 3:12-13, 22; 5:18-19). Solomon here spelled out in greater detail than elsewhere some of the aspects of life which should be enjoyed: food (lit., “bread”) and wine which sustain life and make it merry (cf. Ps. 104:15), fine clothes and pleasant lotions (cf. 2 Sam. 12:20 where they are the opposites of mournful grief), enjoyment of life with one’s wife (cf. Prov. 18:22). In short, these include both the basic necessities of life and some luxuries God bestows as His gifts (cf. Ecc. 5:19). Solomon underlined the need to enjoy these gifts by emphasizing life’s brevity. He did this by almost repeating a phrase, all the days of this meaningless life and all your meaningless days. “Meaningless” here (heḇel) should be rendered “fleeting” (cf. comments on 3:19; 6:12; 7:15).
Affirming that this is one’s lot (ḥēleq; cf. 3:22; 5:18-19 and contrast 9:6 where the same word is trans. “part”) in life and labor under the sun (cf. comments on 1:3), Solomon encouraged his readers to enjoy life because it is God’s will for them to do so. He stated, “God has already approved your works” (nasb; preferred over niv‘s God favors what you do). By this he summarized what he had previously said about the enjoyment of life: (a) wealth and possessions, which stem from one’s “labor,” ultimately are gifts of God (5:18-19), (b) only God gives the ability to enjoy the fruits of one’s labor (cf. 2:24; 3:13; 5:18), and (c) the ability to enjoy those things depends on whether one pleases God (2:26). So the statement “God has already approved your works” means that possessing God’s gifts and the ability to enjoy them evidence God’s prior approval that one can do so; if God had not so approved the gifts, one could not enjoy them.
e. Labor diligently while you can (9:10)
9:10. Besides encouraging his readers to enjoy life as God enabled them, Solomon also encouraged them to work diligently. The idiom whatever your hand finds to do means “whatever you are able to do” (cf. 1 Sam. 10:7). Whatever a person is able to do, he should do it with all his might, that is, expend all his energies. The reason for this advice is that when death comes all opportunities for work and service will cease. In death a person will have no further energies or abilities to work; there will be neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom. (This does not suggest soul sleep; see comments on Ecc. 9:5.)
[1]
9:1 In chapter 9, the Preacher considered all this, taking in as wide and exhaustive a view as possible. He saw that good people and wise people and all that they do are in the hand of God. But whether what will happen to them is a sign of God’s love or hatred, no one knows. The entire future is unknown and unknowable, and anything can happen.
9:2 What makes it all so enigmatical is that the righteous and the wicked, the good and the evil, the clean and the unclean, the worshiper and the nonworshiper all end in the same place—the grave. As far as escaping death is concerned, the righteous person has no advantage over the wicked. Those who put themselves under oath are in the same predicament as those who shun an oath.
9:3 This is the great calamity of life—that death eventually claims all classes of men. People can live outrageous, insane lives, and after that—death. What is this but gross injustice if death is the end of existence?
9:4 As long as man is alive, there is hope; that is, he has something to look forward to. In that sense, a living dog is better off than a dead lion. Here the dog is spoken of, not as man’s best friend, but as one of the lowest, meanest forms of animal life. The lion is the king of beasts, powerful and magnificent.
9:5 The living at least know that they will die, but the dead don’t know anything about what’s going on in the world.
This verse is constantly used by false teachers to prove that the soul sleeps in death, that consciousness ceases when the last breath is taken. But it is senseless to build a doctrine of the hereafter on this verse, or on this book, for that matter. As has been repeatedly emphasized, Ecclesiastes represents man’s best conclusions as he searches for answers “under the sun.” It sets forth deductions based on observations and on logic but not on divine revelation. It is what a wise man might think if he did not have a Bible.
What would you think if you saw a person die and watched his body as it was lowered into the grave, knowing that it would eventually return to dust? You might think, That’s the end. My friend knows nothing now; he can’t enjoy any activities that are going on; he has forgotten and will soon be forgotten.
9:6 And so it is, thought Solomon. Once a person has died, there is no more love, hatred, envy or any other human emotion. Never again will he have a share in any of this world’s activities and experiences.
9:7 So once again the Preacher comes back to his basic conclusion—live your life, have a good time, enjoy your food, cheer your heart with wine. God has already approved what you do. It’s all right with Him.
9:8 Wear bright clothing, not mourning attire. And put perfume on your head rather than ashes. Some people think the world was made for fun and frolic, and so did Solomon.
9:9 The joys of the marriage relationship should also be exploited to the full as long as possible. It’s a vain, empty life anyway, so the best thing is to make the most of it. Enjoy every day because that’s all you are going to get out of your toil and trouble.
Verses 7–9 are strikingly similar to the following passage in the Gilgamesh Epic, an ancient Babylonian account of immortality and of the great deluge:
Since the gods created man
Death they ordained for man,
Life in their hands they hold,
Thou, O Gilgamesh, fill indeed thy belly.
Day and night be thou joyful,
Daily ordain gladness,
Day and night rage and be merry,
Let thy garments be bright,
Thy head purify, wash with water.
Desire thy children which thy hand possesses.
A wife enjoy in thy bosom.
The significance of this is not that one was copied from the other, but that man’s wisdom under the sun leads to the same conclusion. I was impressed with this fact when I read Denis Alexander’s summary of what humanism offers us today:
The humanist model does seem a very big pill to swallow. As a representative of a late twentieth-century generation of under-thirties, I am first asked to believe that I am the result of a purely random evolutionary process. The only prerequisites for this process are the presence of matter, time and chance. Because by some strange whim of fate, I and other men are the only physical structures which happen to have been bestowed with a consciousness of their own existence, I am supposed to think of both myself and others as being in some way more valuable than other physical structures such as rabbits, trees or stones, even though in a hundred years time the atoms of my decayed body may well be indistinguishable from theirs. Furthermore the mass of vibrating atoms in my head are supposed to have more ultimate meaning than those in the head of a rabbit.
At the same time I am told that death is the end of the line. In the time-scale of evolution my life is a vapour which soon vanishes. Whatever feelings of justice or injustice I may have in this life, all my strivings, all my greatest decisions, will be ultimately swallowed up in the on-going march of time. In a few million years’ time, a mere drop compared with the total history of the earth, the memory of the greatest literature, the greatest art, the greatest lives will be buried in the inexorable decay of the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Hitler and Martin Luther King, James Sewell and Francis of Assisi, Chairman Mao and Robert Kennedy, all will be obliterated in the unthinking void.
So, I am told, I must make the best of a bad job. Even though I have strong feelings of transcendence, a deep sense that I am more than just a blind whim of evolution, I must nevertheless forget such troubling questions, and concern myself with the real problems of trying to live responsibly in society. Even though my job involves studying man’s brain as a machine, like any other of nature’s machines, I must still believe that man has some special intrinsic worth which is greater than an animal’s worth, and while my emotions tell me that it may be true, I am not given any more objective reason for believing it.
9:10 The maxim in verse 10, one of the best known in the book, is often used by believers to encourage zeal and diligence in Christian service, and the advice is sound. But in its context, it really means to seize every possible pleasure and enjoyment while you can, because you won’t be able to work, invent, think, or know anything in the grave, where you are irreversibly heading.
The advice given in this verse is excellent, but the reason is utterly bad! And even the advice must be restricted to activities that are legitimate, helpful, and edifying in themselves.
[2]
This is not the first time the subject of death has come into Solomon’s discourse, nor will it be the last. (See 1:4; 2:14–17; 3:18–20; 4:8; 5:15–16; 6:6; 8:8; 12:1–7.) After all, the only way to be prepared to live is to be prepared to die. Death is a fact of life, and Solomon examined many facets of life so that he might understand God’s pattern for satisfied living.
In this chapter, Solomon drew two conclusions: death is unavoidable (1–10) and life is unpredictable (11–18). That being the case, the best thing we can do is trust God, live by faith, and enjoy whatever blessings God gives us.
1. Death is unavoidable (Ecc. 9:1–10)
“I’m not afraid to die;” quipped Woody Allen, “I just don’t want to be there when it happens.” But he will be there when it happens, as must every human being, because there is no escaping death when your time has come.
Death is not an accident, it’s an appointment (Heb. 9:27), a destiny that nobody but God can cancel or change.
Life and death are “in the hand of God” (v. 1), and only He knows our future, whether it will bring blessing (“love”) or sorrow (“hatred”).
Solomon was not suggesting that we are passive actors in a cosmic drama, following an unchangeable script handed to us by an uncaring director. Throughout this book, Solomon has emphasized our freedom of discernment and decision.
But only God knows what the future hold for us and what will happen tomorrow because of the decisions we make today.
“As it is with the good man, so with the sinner.” (v. 2, NIV). If so, why bother to live a godly life?” someone may ask. “After all, whether we obey the Law or disobey, bring sacri-fices or neglect them, make or break promises, we will die just the same.” Yes, we share a common destiny on earth—death and the grave—but we do not share a common destiny in eternity.
For that reason, everybody must honestly face “the last enemy” (1 Cor. 15:26) and decide how to deal with it. Christians have trusted Jesus Christ to save them from sin and death; so, as far as they are concerned, “the last enemy” has been defeated (Rom. 6:23; John 11:25–26; 1 Thess. 4:13–18; 1 Cor. 15:51–58). Unbelievers don’t have that confidence and are unprepared to die.
How people deal with the reality of death reveals itself in the way they deal with the realities of life. Solomon pointed out three possible responses that people make to the ever-present fear of death.
Escape (v. 3). The fact of death and the fear of death will either bring out the best in people or the worst in people; and too often it is the worst. When death comes to a family, it doesn’t create problems; it reveals them. Many ministers and funeral directors have witnessed the “X-ray” power of death and bereavement as it reveals the hearts of people. In facing the death of others, we are confronted with our own death, and many people just can’t handle it.
“The heart of the sons of men is full of evil,” and that evil is bound to come out. People will do almost anything but repent in order to escape the reality of death. They will get drunk, fight with their relatives, drive recklessly, spend large amounts of money on useless things, and plunge into one senseless pleasure after another, all to keep the Grim Reaper at arm’s length. But their costly endeavors only distract them from the battle; they don’t end the war, because “the last enemy” is still there.
Those of us who were privileged to have the late Joseph Bayly as our friend know what a positive attitude he had toward death. He and his wife had been through the valley many times and God used them to bring comfort and hope to other sorrowing pilgrims. His book The Last Thing We Talk About (David C. Cook Pub. Co.) is a beautiful testimony of how Jesus Christ can heal the brokenhearted. “Death is the great adventure,” said Joe, “beside which moon landings and space trips pale into insignificance.”
You don’t get that kind of confidence by trying to run away from the reality of death. You get it by facing “the last enemy” honestly, turning from sin and trusting Jesus Christ to save you. Have you done that?
Endurance (vv. 4–6). When confronted by the stern fact of death, not everybody dives into an escape hatch and shouts, “Let’s eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrrow we die!” Many people just grit their teeth, square their shoulders and endure. They hold on to that ancient motto, “Where there’s life, there’s hope!” (That’s a good paraphrase of v. 4.)
That motto goes as far back as the third century B.C. It’s part of a conversation between two farmers who are featured in a poem by the Greek poet Theokritos. “Console yourself, dear Battos,” says Korydon. “Things may be better tomorrow. While there’s life there’s hope. Only the dead have none.” Shades of Ecclesiastes!
Solomon would be the last person to discourage anybody from hoping for the best. Better to be a living dog (and dogs were despised in that day) than a dead lion. All that the Preacher asked was that we have some common sense along with our hope, lest too late we find ourselves grasping a false hope.
To begin with, let’s keep in mind that one day we shall die (v. 5). The Christian believer has “a living hope,” not a “dead” hope, because the Saviour is alive and has conquered death (1 Peter 1:3–5; 2 Tim. 1:10). A hope that can be destroyed by death is a false hope and must be abandoned.
What Solomon wrote about the dead can be “reversed” and applied to the living.
The dead do not know what is happening on earth, but the living know and can respond to it. The dead cannot add anything to their reward or their reputation, but the living can. The dead cannot relate to people on earth by loving, hating, or envying, but the living can. Solomon was emphasizing the importance of seizing opportunities while we live, rather than blindly hoping for something better in the future, because death will end our opportunities on this earth.
“The human body experiences a powerful gravitational pull in the direction of hope,” wrote journalist Norman Cousins, who himself survived a near-fatal illness and a massive heart attack. “That is why the patient’s hopes are the physician’s secret weapon. They are the hidden ingredients in any prescription.”
We endure because we hope, but “hope in hope” (like “faith in faith”) is too often only a kind of self-hypnosis that keeps us from facing life honestly. While a patient may be better off with an optimistic attitude, it is dangerous for him to follow a false hope that may keep him from preparing for death. That kind of hope is hopeless. When the end comes, the patient’s outlook may be cheerful, but the outcome will be tragic.
Life is not easy, but there is more to life than simply enduring. There is a third response to the fact of death, a response that can be made only by those who have trusted Jesus Christ as their Saviour.
Enjoyment (vv. 7–10). This has been one of Solomon’s recurring themes (2:24; 3:12–15, 22; 5:18–20; 8:15), and he will bring it up again (11:9–10). His admonition “Go thy way!” means:
“Don’t sit around and brood! Get up and live!” Yes, death is coming, but God gives us good gifts to enjoy so enjoy them!
Solomon didn’t urge us to join the “jet set” and start searching for exotic pleasures in far away places.
Instead, he listed some of the common experiences of home life: happy leisurely meals (v. 7), joyful family celebrations (v. 8), a faithful, loving marriage (v. 9), and hard work (v. 10).
What a contrast to modern society’s formula for happiness: fast food and a full schedule, the addictive pursuit of everything new, “live-in marriages,” and shortcuts guaranteed to help you avoid work but still get rich quick.
In recent years, many voices have united to call us back to the traditional values of life.
Some people are getting tired of the emptiness of living on substitutes.
They want something more substantial than the “right” labels on their clothes and the “right” names to drop at the “right” places. Like the younger brother in our Lord’s parable (Luke 15:11–24), they have discovered that everything that’s really important is back home at the Father’s house.
Enjoy your meals (v. 7). The average Jewish family began the day with an early snack and then had a light meal (“brunch”) sometime between 10:00 and noon. They didn’t eat together again until after sunset. When their work was done they gathered for the main meal of the day. It consisted largely of bread and wine, perhaps milk and cheese, with a few vegetables and fruit in season, and sometimes fish. Meat was expensive and was served only on special occasions. It was a simple meal that was designed to nourish both the body and the soul, for eating together (“breaking bread”) was a communal act of friendship and commitment.
King Solomon sat down to a daily feast (1 Kings 4:22–23), but there is evidence that he didn’t always enjoy it.
“Better a meal of vegetables where there is love than a fattened calf with hatred” (Prov. 15:17, NIV).
“Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting, with strife” (Prov. 17:1, NIV).
The most important thing on any menu is family love, for love turns an ordinary meal into a banquet.
When the children would rather eat at a friend’s house than bring their friends home to enjoy their mother’s cooking, it’s time to take inventory of what goes on around the table.
Enjoy every occasion (v. 8). Life was difficult in the average home, but every family knew how to enjoy special occasions such as weddings and reunions. That’s when they wore their white garments (a symbol of joy) and anointed themselves with expensive perfumes instead of the usual olive oil. These occasions were few, so everybody made the most of them.
But Solomon advised the people to wear white garments always and to anoint themselves always with special perfume. Of course, his congregation didn’t take his words literally, because they knew what he was saying: make every occasion a special occasion, even if it’s ordinary or routine. We must not express our thanksgiving and joy only when we are celebrating special events. “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!” (Phil. 4:4, NKJV).
Among other things, this may be what Jesus had in mind when He told His disciples to become like little children (Matt. 18:1–6). An unspoiled child delights in the simple activities of life, even the routine activities, while a pampered child must be entertained by a variety of expensive amusements. It’s not by searching for special things that we find joy, but by making the everyday things special.
Enjoy your marriage (v. 9). Solomon knew nothing about “live-in couples” or “trial marriages.” He saw a wife as a gift from God (Prov. 18:22; 19:14) and marriage as a loving commitment that lasts a lifetime. No matter how difficult life may be, there is great joy in the home of the man and woman who love each other and are faithful to their marriage vows.
It’s too bad Solomon didn’t live up to his own ideals. He forsook God’s pattern for marriage and then allowed his many wives to seduce him from the Lord (1 Kings 11:1–8). If he wrote Ecclesiastes later in life, as I believe he did, then verse 9 is his confession, “Now I know better!”
Enjoy your work (v. 10). The Jewish people looked upon work, not as a curse, but as a stewardship from God. Even their rabbis learned a trade (Paul was a tent maker) and reminded them, “He who does not teach a son to work, teaches him to steal.” Paul wrote, “If any would not work, neither should he eat” (2 Thes. 3:10).
“Do it with all your might” (NASB) suggests two things: Do your very best, and do it while you still have strength. The day may come when you will have to lay down your tools and make way for a younger and stronger worker. Colossians 3:17 applies this principle to the New Testament Christian.
The things that make up employment in this life will not be present in the grave (sheol, the realm of the dead), so make the most of your opportunities now. One day our works will be judged, and we want to receive a reward for His glory (1 Cor. 3:10ff; Col. 3:23–25).
If we fear God and walk by faith we will not try to escape or merely endure life. We will enjoy life and receive it happily as a gift from the Lord.
[3]
GETTING THE MOST OUT OF LIFE
“Living with Hope”
Ecclesiastes 9:1-10
ETERNAL HOPE – v.1-3
LIVING HOPE – v.4-6
FULFILLING HOPE – v.7-10
Enjoy Living
Enjoy Your Family
Enjoy Your Work
Freddie Mercury, former lead singer for Queen, died shortly after he wrote these words to his last song: “Does anybody know what we’re living for?” Tennis champion Boris Becker, who won three Wimbledon titles once said, “I had all the material possessions I needed: money, cars, women, everything…I had no inner peace because I was a puppet on a string, but I still don’t know who was manipulating the strings.” I’m told that a baseball player who made it the Hall of Fame said this: “I wish someone had told me that when you get to the top…there’s nothing there.” That’s exactly the conclusion that Solomon reached.
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[1]Walvoord, J. F., Zuck, R. B., & Dallas Theological Seminary. (1983-c1985). The Bible knowledge commentary : An exposition of the scriptures (1:998). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[2]MacDonald, W., & Farstad, A. (1997, c1995). Believer's Bible Commentary : Old and New Testaments (Ec 9:1). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
[3]Wiersbe, W. W. (1996, c1990). Be satisfied (Ec 9:1). Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books.