Readings: Ecclesiastes 11:9-12:14; 1 Corinthians 15:32-34, 50-58.
Coverage: Ecclesiastes 10-12
If you want to understand something, you’ve got to look up the answers at the back of the book. It is too important to leave it a mystery. It is not what Solomon’s thesis in mitigation said: eat, drink and be merry. The fact that Solomon ended up with that conclusion in his under the sun experiment showed the necessity of ‘up periscope’, and taking the heavenly perspective. After all the ink spilt in Ecclesiastes, here is what the frame narrator, the voice over guy, boils down what Solomon’s lesson for us is, chapter 12 verses 13 and 14.
“Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.” (NIV)
A careful reading of the Book of Ecclesiastes would have revealed this anyway. Throughout the Book of Ecclesiastes, we have been told a number of times about the final judgement. Even though most of the time, we’re given an “under the sun” perspective, frequently Solomon pops up the periscope and reminds us of the heavenly, eternal perspective. Solomon himself has spoilt the ending of the book. He has punctuated his sermon with the fact that we will face God’s future judgment. He has said that God will call the past to account (3:15). He will bring everyone into judgement (11:9), both the righteous and the wicked (3:17).
And in the present time, Solomon says that now God is testing people with their frustrating lives (3:18). God in heaven made us upright (7:29; cf. 11:5; 12:1; 5:2) and set eternity in our hearts (3:11). We sense that we are eternal, even though we die like the animals. This same God remains sovereignly engaged in his world. He is not the God of deism, a clockmaker who sets his clock going and then stands back: rather, under the sun God gives good things to one person and withholds them from another (9:1): a righteous person dies before time, and a wicked person lives long and prospers. God does all this. Everything God does now in our world is so that we might fear him, which is the wise way to live (3:14; 5:7; 7:18; 8:12-13; 12:13).
All this has run throughout Ecclesiastes, before we get to the end. All this means that the “under the sun” perspective was neither the only nor the most important one. It is a true perspective, but there is a more important one, a heavenly perspective. And it means that the conclusion of the frame narrator, the anonymous voice over guy, is not foreign to Solomon’s teaching. It arises from it.
It is the same conclusion that Job comes to in Chapter 28: Job never finds out why he suffers, though he and we know it is not because he has sinned, despite what his misguided friends asserts. And he says, too, that what remains is to fear God and keep his commands, even though we can’t know the future nor understand God’s ultimate plan, unless he reveals it.
Just to remind you, we learned in chapters 1-3 that Qohelet at the end of his life gathers a congregation to himself. He does this to give a sermon, or a lecture. He wants to tell those he has gathered about his life’s work, an experiment he has conducted. It is clear that Qohelet can only be Solomon, the third king of united Israel. That is why I have used Solomon instead of Qohelet, Ecclesiastes, or the Teacher or Preacher. But they are all interchangeable in my view.
At some point in his life, Solomon decided to conduct this experiment. As the wisest, cleverest, and richest man, he decided to forget about God’s commands, ignore God’s revealed word, and give himself to experimenting in what is worth pursuing under the stand. This experiment was an exercise in disobedience: Solomon transgressed the law of the king line by line. He treated God’s prohibitions as a to-do list.
As you’ve heard from the very start of our sermon series, the word “habel”—which is translated “meaningless” in the NIV and “vanity” in the ESV and “futility” in the CSB—is most literally and accurately translated “vapour”. Everything under the sun is vapour, ephemeral, smoke, temporary, passing, mist, it blows away and doesn’t remain. The NIVs “meaningless” is a paraphrase. It works sometimes, but not always, and less and less as we go through Ecclesiastes. And the superlative, habēl habaliym, is not “utterly meaningless” but “vapour of vapours”, the wispiest of vapour trails, and a striving after the wind. It’s like trying to catch and keep the wind. It slips through your fingers.
Just like you cannot hold onto wind, so you cannot hold onto our labour and its fruits under the sun. Ecclesiastes 3:20, “All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return”. And consequently, Ecclesiastes 2:17, Solomon says, “So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me.” Solomon’s experiment has led to everything he has worked for being vapour, wind, and dust.
So then in chapters 4 to 6, Solomon engages in a heroic attempt to salvage meaning and satisfaction from his toil. And the best that he can come up with, under the sun, is that maybe, just maybe, God will let you eat, drink, and find some satisfaction in your work. You probably won’t be able to, because you are oppressed, or die early, or poor, or the wicked will prosper, or God will destroy the work of your hands, whether you deserve it or not. And even if you get to enjoy the fruit of your labour, its painful to get it, you can’t keep it, a foolish son might waste it, and you still want more of it: you are never satisfied, and you keep envying your neighbour. But maybe, if you hit the goldilocks spot, the happy mean, if you have neither poverty nor riches, if you’re blessed, you can work just enough for you to eat and drink, to have a wife, and get to enjoy them. But this is not open to Solomon, who is bound to his choices and wealth, nor to the vast majority of the oppressed who in their exhaustion cry themselves to sleep.
Then in chapters 7 to 9 Solomon reaffirms that despite all this, wisdom is still worth pursuing. Wisdom under the sun has limits, but it is the best thing we’ve got. Chapters 7 to 9 lay down that though wisdom can’t guarantee a fulfilling life under the sun, it is the best thing we’ve got. Wisdom under the sun provides some protection in a dangerous and unpredictable world.
However, there are a number of things wisdom cannot provide: no one can discover anything about their own future under the sun. You don’t know when you are going to die. You might be righteous and wise and still die in an accident tomorrow. Righteousness and wisdom doesn’t guarantee your prosperity under the sun (7:14). It is wise to obey the king: that way you are more likely to survive, but there are no guarantees. Ultimate wisdom under the sun is beyond any human.
Solomon continues to give observational wisdom in chapters 10 and 11. Solomon says how to work so as to give yourself the best chance of success. These aren’t guarantees, because God is sovereign over this, and he can and does do what he likes, and no one can tell him what to do. They say, ‘Do you want to make God laugh—tell him your plans’. However, there are some wise habits that result in a better life, more times than not. Take time out to sharpen your axe (10:10). Work diligently, plant your fields, and then work at night-time as well as the day (11:4, 6). Don’t be lazy: the only reason you don’t fix your roof is because you are lazy (10:18). Diversify your investments and spread your risk, have a balanced investment portfolio (11:1-2). Speak kindly and use gracious words (10:12-14). All of these wise habits will work to make life better for you. And Solomon points them out in these chapters.
And yet, despite this wise advice, we know that wisdom under the sun cannot provide guarantees. It can’t do certain things in this life: Being righteous does not guarantee success in this life, though God will save his righteous saints and they will receive eternal comfort with God. Being wicked can lead to riches and prosperity in this life, but that will only prove temporary, because of the judgement and the eternity planted in the heart of humanity being fulfilled in God’s new world. Under the sun, the only certainties are death and, when you have a king, taxes.
In the final section of his sermon, Solomon specifically addresses the youth who are listening to him. From 11:7 to 12:8, he speaks to young people. Here is Solomon’s youth group talk. He is talking to fully grown, young, fit, strong people, in the flower of their youth. Here is a word to the strapping young lads and nubile young women, who have potential, strength, and virile. He speaks to the young, bright eyed and bushy tailed ones, looking to the future with hope and optimism. Their bodies are magnificent. All their bits are working. They don’t creak and groan and click when they move. They aren’t withered, old and grey, faded and jaded, saggy and baggy, crinkly, dried out husks of humanity.
And this is Solomon’s counsel. Chapter 11 verses 9 and 10:
You who are young, be happy while you are young, and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth. Follow the ways of your heart and whatever your eyes see, but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment. 10 So then, banish anxiety from your heart and cast off the troubles of your body, for youth and vigor are meaningless. (NIV)
Chapter 11 verse 9 is like a Coke ad. All these young, fit, happy people, on a beach, or out in on the sea with a big Coke bottle that spurts them out the top. What’s the message? Vita bella…Life is good, the world is yours, look at how fit and strong you are. And this sugar filled black American fizzy drink is all part of that.
Is there truth in this? Of course. You’re young and strong. You have all your faculties. You have the vigour and attractiveness of youth. Pretty young women and buff blokes fill the screen. The sights are good, and the sounds are good, the smells are good. This is your reality, at the present time. But there is a reminder at the end of verse 9 of two realities under which you live out your youth:
Enjoy your youth circumspectly, sensibly, for two reasons. First, “God will bring you into judgement”. Solomon has kept beating this drum. Youthfulness is no excuse for sin, and God will hold you to account. So thank God for your strength and abilities, but fear the one who gave them to you, and who can, and almost certainly will, take them away. That’s the first point. And the second, is, again, “youth and vigour are vapour”. They are not meaningless, because you will be judged for how you use your youth. But your youth is a very short time, and before you know it, the best case scenario is that you will have adult responsibilities, and your body will require you to slow down.
Twice in chapter 12, Solomon bids young people to remember their creator (12:1,6). Young people still have to deal with God. Don’t be so distracted by your potential, and abilities, and fitness, that you forget about God.
And do it before your youth flies away. You might die young, in the flower of youth. That happens. But if you don’t, and Jesus doesn’t come back soon, you will have to endure aging.
I work in aged care. I am used to looking at ACAT and other assessments, and reading about falls risks, cognitive decline, Dementia Australia reports, short term memory loss, toileting charts and assessments, and rooms full of continence aids—that is, nappies for grown ups—looking up wound charts, and support plans for feeding, and hygiene, and supervision with showers. I need to find space in our chapels and cafes for four wheel walkers, wheel chairs, and tub chairs. People talk to me about needing to go to the toilet or their catheters.
Maybe you don’t know what lies ahead. Why would you? We don’t want to talk about incontinence, and constipation and delirium, and urinary tract infections, and dementia, and alzheimer’s, and parkinson’s disease, and short term memory loss.
Shakespeare called old age, that last scene of our lives, a ‘second childishness’ followed by ‘mere oblivion’. It is without [sans] teeth, [without] sans eyes, [without] sans taste, [without] sans everything." — Jaques, As You Like It (Act II, Scene VII, lines 139-166
Solomon here, is doing for youth a bit like what a guide does for novice hikers or bushwalkers. He goes ahead of his group and surveys the terrain. And then he comes back and tells his people what they should expect.
We’d much prefer not to hear it, not to see it, and for it not to happen. But we cannot change that. We have to live in the real world. Again, chapter 12 verses 1 and 2:
Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come, and the years draw near when you will say, ‘I have no pleasure in them’,2 or before the sun, and the light, and the moon, and the stars, be darkened, and the clouds return after the rain. (NIV)
Solomon calls the days of old age, ‘evil days’, because of the physical ravages that we must endure. Aging is slow death. It is a reminder to us that the wages of our sin is death (Romans 6:23). And so on the personal level, Solomon sees old age as a personal catastrophe. It is the end of the world, from an individuals point of view. It’s seeing dark gloomy clouds overhead after you’ve been kept indoors by wet weather for two weeks.
Old age is not good, and Solomon tells us why. He speaks of the aging body as a nobleman’s house with all of the servants working in the house describing parts of the body. And the great old house is succumbing to the effects of old age.
Verse 3: "In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble" (NIV)
Have you seen old people with the shakes[3]. I’ve sat with a man who during his working life obviously had a steady hand, because he did the finest wood finishing, but in his old age he could not keep his teacup still. Or an old-matron-like Aunt who used to make her own monte carlo buiscuits. For many years she had a regular column in the paper and wrote books on handy household hints. But she said to me once, ‘Love me, love my shakes’. And we’re not just talking Parkinson’s Disease, although that comes with age to some people. There is a tremor, called ‘the essential tremor’ that affect 1 in 5 people over 65. It begins in young adulthood and becomes more obvious as people age.
Verse 3 again: "and the strong men shall bow themselves" (NIV)
We’ve all seen elderly people who are hunched over. Their posture was once as good as yours. They were strong and fit and did amazing things, just as you did. Now they have osteoporosis. 1 in 2 women and 1 in 3 men over 60 years will have an osteoporotic fracture in their spine. And half of these will have another. And this leads to the stooping or hunched back that you see. As a result, generally people loose about 1 cm every 10 years after age 40[4]. We all end up getting shorter.
Verse 3 again: "and the grinders cease because they are few" (NIV)
We all start off with 32 adult teeth. But how many teeth do you finish with? Australians generally speaking are keeping more of their teeth as they get older. During the 1970s, more than 80% of Australians aged 75 years or over did not have any teeth. By the middle of the first decade of this century, it improved so that one third of Australian didn’t have any teeth. Those over 75 years old have an average of around 18 teeth. That’s pretty good, and a little more than than half of what you’ve started with. In any case, as you get older, you are going to have less teeth, not more. How does that sound to you?
Verse 3 again: "and those who look out of the windows grow darkened" (NIV)
After you turn 40, the chances of you losing your vision or going blind increases by 300% with each passing decade. If macular degeneration doesn’t get you, cataract, diabetes or glaucoma might.
Verse 4: "and the door shall be shut in the street; when the sound of the grinding is low" (NIV)
This seems to be talking about hearing loss. Malfunction of teeth and the ears combine to mean you can’t chew, and you can’t hear yourself chewing. Over half of Australians aged between 60 and 70 have hearing loss. This increases to more than 70% of those over the age of 70 and 80% of those over 80. You too will need hearing aids, if you live that long.
"and one shall rise up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of music shall be brought low" (NIV)
And sleep lessens as you grow old. You still need the same amount of sleep. You just get less of it, and it’s not as good sleep. Older people (50-85 years old) sleep only about 6 hours per day. And they spend less of that time in REM sleep. They wake up more frequently during night. That’s why they take more naps during the day.
Verse 5:"Indeed, they shall become afraid of heights, and the terrors on the road" (NIV)
If you can’t hear, can’t see, can’t eat, if you haven’t slept well If your bones are weakened by osteoporosis so you are afraid of a fall, and you can’t straighten up, and you need to go to the toilet, who wants to go out? Can you blame them?
"and the almond tree shall blossom" (NIV)
The almond tree has white blossoms, like the white hair of the elderly. (If you still have any hair, that is).
"and the grasshopper shall drag itself along" (NIV)
Like a grasshopper that has lost it’s spring, most elderly people get around as best they can. A stick, a walker, a walking stick. How else are you going to get yourself to all those doctors appointments.
"and the caper-berry [that stimulates desire as an aphrodisiac] shall fail" (NIV)
The caper-berry was the ancient ‘Viagra’ or ‘Horny Goat Weed’. It was meant to stimulate sexual desire. But a time is coming when it won’t work any more. Yes, even our male sex drive, seemingly untamable and relentless during our youth, inconvenient and embarrassing, even that will be stilled. Perhaps this is the final humiliation of our short lives. A time is coming when there will be no response, no arousal, no more standing at attention, nothing.
And then, there is death. The final impotence. Starting the last part of verse 5:
Because man goes to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets, 6 or before the silver cord is severed, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern, 7 and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. (NIV)
Ministers do weddings in summer and funerals in winter. Because old people die in winter. Earth to earth, Ashes to ashes, Dust to dust.
Friends, aging is slow death. It is the constant reminder that “the wages of sin is death.” (Rom 6:23). And when we are young, we need to learn to treat our elders properly, with the empathy and respect they deserve.
There is more to says about being older: you can’t put old heads on young shoulders. Gray hair bespeaks of wisdom and experience, which can be passed on to the next generation. God doesn’t abandon us in our old age: he wants us to trust him as things fail around us. As Solomon says, old age is a test that we might fear him. Our hope is in receiving a new resurrection body in Jesus’ kingdom, where there is no mourning, death, crying, or pain.
If you are younger, perhaps Solomon’s wisdom about aging might soften your heart toward your elders—your parents and grandparents. Having an understanding of their situation might change your attitude towards them, and give you empathy.
Even more importantly, whether we are young or old, these truths must shape how you plan to deal with God. Are you ready to die and meet Him? You are never too young to remember your creator. You are never too old to turn to God and ask for mercy and forgiveness. That is why Jesus came, died, rose again, and now rules on high.
Let’s pray.