Lecture

In this lecture, we will focus on Ecclesiastes 3:1-5 NRSV and discover that gratitude for the ordinary things in life will reshape our perception of life and help us to appreciate the good gifts of God as and when He gives them. And then endure with patience and hope and tenacity and resilience as and when, as is unavoidable, life also gets tough.

So in this second exploration that we are looking at in our book, Qoheleth, or the author of the book of Ecclesiastes, explores a regular feature of human experience. Namely, that the sequence and duration of desirable and undesirable time periods are beyond human control. Similar to the experiment in the previous lecture, this second one also helps us to understand the deeper issues that Ecclesiastes is exploring for us and with us that have to do with the essential aspects, the really truly important aspects of life, of human life. It presents a dilemma that operates on the level of a universal human experience to which all of us can relate, back then and into the present day.

Ecclesiastes explores with us 3:1, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up” (NRSV); and so it goes on. To summarize the content of these opening verses, the observation that favorable conditions for obtaining success, for finding gain in all of our toil and labor under the sun, also alternate with conditions that prevent it, and that their sequence and duration are beyond human control. That insight leads to a further insight and conclusion, that this state of affairs is designed and controlled by God. The divine design aims to foster humility before God, who, while interested in human affairs, who alone decides over whether or not humans can truly gain something that satisfies them and lasts, irrespective of however hard we try.

The overall function of all of this in the book is this, that He tries to persuade those among us who expect sure success from our assimilation to the cultural values of whatever society anywhere in the world we live in, when people tell us, This is how you need to live your life, this is what’s important, that all of these attempts to distract us from a life oriented towards God will ultimately end in frustration, and our hopes to find fulfillment will be thwarted and disappointed.

So what we have here then, and I’ve already read a few of the verses, is a short introductory thesis statement in verse one, and then we have this kind of, there’s a time for this, there’s a time for this, a time for this, a time for that. I want to call this a quasi-poetic, not a poem, but a quasi-poetic list, which is, if you like, itemizing the evidence in verses two to eight of this experiment, which then leads to a research question in verse nine. Let me read that research question, and you won’t be surprised to hear what I’m going to read to you in verse nine. “What gain have the workers from their toil?” It’s back to that first fundamental question. What is the purpose of life? And what follows then in verses ten to fifteen is an analysis that offers to answer that question. Similar, then, to our first study in our previous lecture, it is self-contained and has a programmatic function for everything that the book of Ecclesiastes is teaching us in this wonderful book.

So in verse one, then, we have this thesis statement. There is a set sequence for everything. Then in, secondly, verses two to eight, we have the findings from this insight, a quite stylized, quasi-poetic list of contrasting events and endeavors. In verse nine, we have our research question about gain and success. And then in verses ten to fifteen, we have the application.

Let me just emphasize again that verses one to eight, even as it’s just a list, are profoundly theological, but also oriented towards the universal human quest for happiness. These verses contribute to the overall message of the book of Ecclesiastes through the promotion of the fear of God and the keeping of God’s commandments by also commending the wise pursuit of happiness. This first part, in the form of a quasi-poetic meditation, with these staccato-esque sequences of opposite human pursuits and experiences, sets the stage for profound reflection.

In answer to these observations of the realities of life, we come back to our key question about the human purpose in verse nine. And then in our final section, which I’m going to read in a moment, we then have, from Ecclesiastes, the development of a sustained theological perspective on human life on the basis of the opening chapters of the Bible, Genesis 1–3 NRSV. And all of this then alludes to the limited possibilities for human flourishing after the fall. The divine verdict on humans after the fall, especially in 3:17–19, will continue and does continue to shape human realities, in Qoheleth’s own time, in our time, and until the end of the ages that we read about in Revelation, in the book of Revelation at the end of the New Testament, in chapters 21 and 22.

So in the light of these realities, Qoheleth now, in verses ten to fifteen, speaks to his own audience and to us modern readers, wherever we are in the world, at the most existential levels of our experience. He is encouraging us to lead our lives according to practical principles, to do good, verse 12 (I’ll read that in a moment) to enjoy life gratefully as a gift of God, namely, to seek happiness, to eat and drink and see good (verses twelve to thirteen), and then also to fear God. That is, to reverently live our lives in faithful obedience to God’s will for the good of all. Let me read this section to you as we come to the close of our lecture.

What gain have the workers from their toil? I have seen the business that God has given to everyone to be busy with. He has made everything suitable for its time; moreover, he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. I know that there is nothing better [for them] than to be happy and enjoy [themselves] as long as [they] live; moreover, it is God’s gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil. I know that whatever God does endures for ever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken away from it; God has done this, so that all should stand in awe before him. That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already is; and God seeks out what has gone by. (Ecclesiastes 3:9–15 NRSV)

It’s been like this, it’s going to be like that for the rest of eternity, and God is involved in our lives.