We’ve come to our last sermon on Ecclesiastes but one. This is the penultimate sermon. Now, all has been covered, more or less, except for the conclusion given by the frame narrator.
In my previous sermon, I spoilt the ending. I like to spoil endings. If you want to understanding something, you’ve got to look up the answers at the back of the book. It is too important to leave it a mystery, even for one week. After all the ink spilt in Ecclesiastes, here is what it boils down to, 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)
But 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 Qohelet pops up the periscope and reminds us of the heavenly, eternal perspective. Qohelet 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, Qohelet thinks that now what God is doing is testing people with their frustrating lives (3:18). God created us, he made us upright (7:29; cf. 11:5; 12:1). God is in heaven (5:2) and has set eternity in the human heart” (3:11). We sense that we are eternal, even though we die like the animals. Moreover, God is sovereignly engaged in this world. He is not the God of deism, a clockmaker who sets his clock going and then stands back: rather, in this world God gives good things to one person and withholds them from another (9:1): a righteous person dies before time, and a wicked person prolongs in his life: 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 is 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 is not foreign to Qohelet’s teaching. It arises from it. It may even be Qohelet’s own conclusion, given to us by the narrator. But even if it isn’t, Qohelet has said as much throughout his sermon.
We might group the Book of Ecclesiastes thus far as three sections: chapters 1-3, is the introduction and initial statement of Qohelet’s thesis; chapters 4-6 involves refinement and modification of his thesis; and chapters 6-9 reaffirm that despite everything, wisdom is worth pursuing.
Just to remind you, we learn 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. So I will use Qohelet, Ecclesiastes, the Teacher, and Solomon, interchangeably.
At some point in his life, Solomon decided to conduct this experiment. As the wisest, cleverest, and richest man, he decided to investigate what is worth pursuing under the stand. We need to understand that this experiment was an exercise in disobedience: in pursuing what he did, he disobeyed God’s clear instructions. Around 500 years before Solomon, God had given the law of the king, in Deuteronomy 17:14-20. In it, God said, that if Israel gets a king, that…
“[the King] must not acquire many chorses for himself or cause the people dto return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since the Lord has said to you, e‘You shall never return that way again.’ 17 And he fshall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, gnor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold. (Deut 17:16-17 NIV)
Pretty clear, isn’t it. No Egyptian horses, not too much gold, silver. Not too many wives. How did Solomon go with that? What did Solomon do? 1 Kings 10-11 tells us:
14 The weight of the gold that Solomon received yearly was 666 talents [that is, 23 metric tonnes],[e] 15 not including the revenues from merchants and traders and from all the Arabian kings and the governors of the territories. 21 All King Solomon’s goblets were gold, and all the household articles in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. Nothing was made of silver, because silver was considered of little value in Solomon’s days. 22 The king had a fleet of trading ships at sea along with the ships of Hiram. Once every three years it returned, carrying gold, silver and ivory, and apes and baboons. (NIV)
23 King Solomon was greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the earth. 24 The whole world sought audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom God had put in his heart. 25 Year after year, everyone who came brought a gift—articles of silver and gold, robes, weapons and spices, and horses and mules. (NIV)
26 Solomon accumulated chariots and horses; he had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses, which he kept in the chariot cities and also with him in Jerusalem. 27 The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar as plentiful as sycamore-fig trees in the foothills. 28 Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and from Kue[j]—the royal merchants purchased them from Kue at the current price. 29 They imported a chariot from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty. (NIV)
11:1 King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. 2 They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. 3 He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. 4 As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been. (NIV)
At some point, Solomon decided he would treat God’s prohibitions as a to-do list. He threw himself into everything offered under the sun: great works, buildings, gardens, pools. He became insanely and obscenely rich. All of this was not enough. He says, “3 I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was good for people to do under the heavens during the few days of their lives.” In other words, Solomon, the richest and smartest person on earth, experimented with and studied first hand doing stupidity and folly. He did his PhD in being a moron and disobeying God’s word. He did it so you don’t have to.
In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Albus Dumbledore says of himself, “I make mistakes like the next man. In fact, being - forgive me - rather cleverer than most men, my mistakes tend to be correspondingly huger.” Solomon was so smart and so wealthy, and he could humanly speaking get away with so much, that his sins and stupidity ruined his own life, those he drew into his orbit, his citizens. His stupidity split his kingdom and sowed the seeds of the Babylonian exile.
In Ecclesiastes 2:8, he refers to his acquisition of his harem—the delights of a man’s heart. It is what the sinful kings of the nations always did (cf. Genesis 6), and it is what men with power who have no fear of God continue to do. Think of Solomon filling a posh private girls finishing school with 700 princesses, wives of royal birth from all over the world, and 300 concubines—basically, lesser wives and sexual partners with few property rights. Ignoring God’s word and God’s design for marriage, Solomon created his own reality TV show, a mixture of Royal Married At First Sight with the Hunger Games. Solomon is the Golden Bachelor, and none of the unfortunate girls sadly can get evicted—they must live their lives as prisoners in that hell-house of envy and jealousy and rivalry, wedded to the aging king Solomon as he uses them for his experiment. No wonder Solomon says he couldn’t find a woman in one thousand who met his ideal—that was his own stupid fault!
Besides his harem, he threw himself into building projects: palaces, gardens, pools. He gathered servants and slaves and flocks and herds and fleets of trading ships. And his verdict on everything he achieved under the sun was “habel” and the superlative, “habēl habaliym”.
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 ephemeral, smoke, temporary, passing, 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.
And the reason everything under the sun is temporary is death. We all die. To quote both the 70s rock band Kansas and the important 80s teen movie, “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure”, we are “Dust in the wind. All we are is dust in the wind”. Or as Bill and Ted expounded it to Socrates, ‘Dust’, ‘Wind’, ‘Dude’.
When I was a boy, I used to go over every Friday to my Maltese grandmas house after school. She religiously watched ‘The Young and the Restless’ and then ‘The Days of our Lives’. And as I used to hear every Friday afternoon, “Like sands in the hourglass, so are the days of our lives”, cue violin music. That’s our lives: passing short, like the steam coming out of your kettle. You can’t keep it and it doesn’t stay.
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 might not be able to, because you might be oppressed, or die early, or be poor, or the wicked will prosper, or God will destroy the work of your hands. 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, if you’re lucky, you can work just enough for you to eat and drink, to have a wife, and get to enjoy them.
And so we come to chapters 7 to 9. This section reaffirms that despite all this, wisdom is still worth pursuing. Wisdom under the sun has limits, but it is the best thing to do. Chapters 7 to 8 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. So Ecclesiastes 8:17:
“No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all their efforts to search it out, no one can discover its meaning. Even if the wise claim they know, they cannot really comprehend it.” (NIV)
God's ways this side of glory, "under the sun", are beyond human finding out. Job, a righteous and wise man who came before Solomon, had already been given this hard-won insight in the midst of his suffering. All Solomon had to do was read Job chapter 28: ultimate "wisdom" and "understanding" are "hidden from the eyes of all living" (Job 28:20-21). Even if you dig the deepest shaft to mine wisdom, you cannot find it: it is nowhere on earth Job would never know why he suffered as he did: all he could do was to fear God, keep his commands, and trust God’s goodness (Job 28:28). That is the only derivative and secondary "wisdom" open to humans under the sun: fear God and keep his commanments.
As the poet and hymn writer William Cowper wrote in his final hymn:
God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform
He plants His footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm
Deep in unsearchable mines
Of never-failing skill
He treasures up His bright designs
And works His sovereign will
Under the sun, you cannot know what awaits you in life.
I see two buses as I drive to and from work, both from Anglican schools. One says “Empowering girls. Amazing Futures”. And living in the fear of God will result in an amazing future in the new heaven and earth. But under the sun, maybe the future for these empowered girls will be sickness, and difficulty, and sadness. Another one says, “Growing Good Men”. And that also is a good aim. But what happens when these young men’s lives are cut short in their prime. It happens. Or what about when men don’t turn out good. That happens, too. We see it on the news.
So we come to Chapter 9. In this chapter, Solomon continues to assert that wisdom is worth pursuing. It is certainly better than folly, in which Solomon has become an expert through persistent study, practice, and personal experience. In chapters 9 and 10, Solomon gives various examples of wise living, particularly in relation to the king. In this world, you need to obey the king. If you obey government, life is more likely to go well for you. At least then you will remove one source of suffering: that you’ve made an enemy of the absolute monarch.
Solomon should know: at the beginning of his reign, he conducted a number of square-ups that David asked him to do. David had not eliminated some enemies and rivals: so Solomon did it for him (1 Kings 1-3). Solomon had his brother Adonijah killed because he was a rival. And Solomon made it his policy to quickly punish wrongdoers, lest others copy their example. So he counsels, “Don’t pick a fight with the king, because you are not going to win”. And in the New Testament, Jesus, Paul and Peter all pick this teaching up: obey the government, honour the king, give to Caesar what is caesars, pay your taxes, obey authority. Otherwise you will feel pain.
Solomon likewise gives observational wisdom how to work so as to give yourself the best chance of success. These aren’t guarantees, because God is sovereign over this, and no one can tell him what to do. However, there are some wise habits. 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 yet, despite this wise advice, wisdom under the sun cannot provide guarantees. It can’t do certain things in this life:
In this life (vv 1, 3, 11-12; cf. 8:17; 10:14; 11:5-6)
Firstly, in this life, wisdom cannot tell you whether you will succeed and prosper. How your life will turn out is a mystery. It might be amazing. It might be, sadly, very different. Chapter 9 verses 1-2.
So I reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God’s hands, but no one knows whether love or hate awaits them. 2 All share a common destiny—the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not. (NIV)
You cannot know whether you will die tragically, painfully, and young. You don’t know whether you will die or be maimed in war, or an industrial accident. You cannot know whether your wife or husband will end up hating you and you will end up divorced. You cannot know whether your business will succeed or you will go bankrupt. 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. The only certainties are death and, when you have a king, taxes.
Are you going to die in your bed, old and full of years, loved and honoured and with your great grandchildren around you? Or will tragedy and disaster overtake you, and you become sick, and alone, and die in tragic circumstances? There are no guarantees either way. Faith in Christ doesn’t guarantee an easy life. While wisdom is better than folly, it doesn’t guarantee a prosperous and comfortable life. Chapter 9 verses 11-12 bear this out. Here is Solomon’s observation:
11 I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favour to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.12 Moreover, no one knows when their hour will come: As fish are caught in a cruel net, or birds are taken in a snare, so people are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them. (NIV)
Old Testament wisdom literature usually bases its wise observations of the world on the predictability of the created order (e.g., Ecclesiastes 1:1-11). This predictability is a consequence of the orderly God being its creator. However, "under the sun" life also includes the phenomena of "chance" . Sometimes Forrest Gumps go through life, accidentally succeeding. And sometimes geniuses end up paupers.
And while no one minds receiving a windfall, or a lottery win, or receiving an inheritance, no one wants to be a fish caught in a cruel net or a bird taken in a snare. But it still happens in our world. Maybe your house will be destroyed in a bushfire. Maybe you will die of cancer and not see your grandchildren. Maybe you will never marry but end up single. Maybe your marriage will be disappointing and miserable. Maybe you will bury your children. Or maybe your children will disappoint you. Misfortune might befall you and your life goes bad. Even Queen Elizabeth had her annus horribilus, her horrible year. Your life might turn into a ruin and disaster. You don’t know what lies ahead. From our perspective, under the sun, it is a matter of “chance”[1] (v 11): it comes upon us and we don’t know why. From God’s perspective, there is no chance: God is omniscient and omnipotent, and nothing is chance from his perspective. But undoubtedly, we look at it as misfortune, and grieve over it.
[“Chance” in the NIV renders the Hebrew masculine noun פֶגַע. It only occurs elsewhere in 1 Kings 5:4 where it is modified, meaning ‘there is no evil/bad occurrence’(וְאֵ֖ין פֶּ֥גַע רָֽע׃), i.e., misfortune. It is related to verb פָגַע (paga), used 46 times, meaning, to meet, encounter, happen upon, fall upon, strike, reach, touch, entreat, intercede.]
At this life’s end (vv 3-4)
And then comes death, that certainty in our world, unless Jesus returns first. As in Adam all die. Through one trespass, death came to all men, because all sinned. So verses 3 to 4:
3 This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all. The hearts of people, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead. 4 Anyone who is among the living has hope—even a live dog is better off than a dead lion! (NIV)
Humans are sinful, wicked, and evil, and then we die. But hey, at least we are alive at the moment! It’s better to be you than Steve Jobs or Kerry Packer. Despite all their riches and power, they are dead. You aren’t, yet. Now they have to face judgement from the God that they denied and didn’t believe in. And there’s nothing they can do about the stuff that they lived for. You are richer than them, because you are alive.
The next life (vv 5-6)…
Solomon says that the dead know nothing (v 5). That is an “under the sun” evaluation. But a heavenly evaluation would be different. The New Testament suggests that there is a conscious existence after death, either with Jesus, which is better by far, or apart from God. Jesus’ parable of the rich man suffering in hades, the realm of the dead, and the poor man Lazarus who begged at his door, suggests that the wicked person’s torment begins in Hades, the place of the dead, after they die (Luke 16:19-31). And as so far as this world is concerned, the dead are dismissed. Their contribution is over. Steve Jobs now can’t do anything about the problems with your latest Iphone or Mac. Kerry Packer cannot get the cricket back on channel 9. They play no part in life under the sun now that they are dead.
In fact, under the sun, the dead are forgotten. In the main, we don’t even know the names of our great grandparents. Nor do we really care. Their loves, hates, and jealousies have since vanished. But that is not true with God. God remembers the miscarried fetuses and aborted babies and still born children. Whatever is assumed is redeemed. Those billions of little human babies will rise to have the life they were denied, as will every human who has ever lived, and nothing they’ve thought, said or done will be forgotten.
The mitigation (vv 7-10; cf. 9:16, 18; 11:1-6)
Again, Solomon suggests a mitigation, the same as we have seen thus far: basically, “eat, drink, be merry, for tomorrow we die”. Verses 7 to 10:
7 Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God has already approved what you do. 8 Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil. 9 Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun—all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labour under the sun. 10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom. (NIV)
Carpe Diem! Seize the day. Enjoy your wife (or husband, if you have one). Eat. Drink. Chin up. Wash your face. Wear deodorant, perfume, and aftershave. Enjoy family times and holidays. Enjoy mealtimes and eating food and drink. Because these are God’s gifts for now. God has approved of your work, verse 7, to the extent that you get to enjoy the benefits of your toil, and God has given you what you have for your enjoyment. That is more than what other people get.
… Yes but Jesus (Ecclesiastes 3:11; 8:12-13; 11:9; 12:13-14)
These observations from Solomon are true. Jesus says of his own ministry, in John 9:4: “As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.” Jesus sought to work diligently to do the works of God before his time came to go to the cross. So it is true that even with the heavenly perspective we can seize the day. We can always give ourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because our labour in the Lord is not in vain. Whatever we put our hand to, we can do it with all our hearts, knowing that it is the Lord Christ we are serving.
As we read chapter 9 verses 9-10, we see the problem with the translation ‘meaningless’. Our life and days are not meaningless—for God will judge them. Every act and relationship and motive is invested with eternal meaning because of the judgement. We will receive a reward for what we do in and for Christ. We will be judged for our evil, and will experience loss in Christ for our works that don’t survive his test of fire. The point is that our lives and days here and now are vaporous. They disappear quickly.
And as believers we can use the things of this world such as food, and wine, and laughter, and marriage. Paul tells the pagans in Lystra and Derbe that God has shown kindness by giving rain from heaven and crops in their seasons, providing plenty of food and filling our hearts with joy (Acts 14:17). God richly provides us with these things and more besides for our enjoyment (1 Timothy 6:17). Everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving (1 Timothy 4:4)
But we need to realise that they are only temporary and that our time is short. This is what Paul tells us, in 1 Corinthians 7:29-31:
29 What I mean, brothers and sisters, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they do not; 30 those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; 31 those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away. (NIV)
Yes, use and enjoy the things of this world, if you have the opportunity. But do so in the fear of God, not as Solomon did. Use the things of this world licitly, legally, in a godly way, the way that God has designed and prescribed. Enjoy food but don’t be a glutton or selfish. Enjoy wine but don’t get drunk. Marry, but the way that God says to marry, and be faithful in marriage. But remember, those who marry will face many troubles in life, and will not be fully devoted to the Lord, so Paul counsels singleness as better. All these things—food, drink, marriage—are for this world, and are temporary.
Moreover, there is not just this world: there is the coming kingdom, God’s renewed future world. That will be material and bodily, but without sin, death, pain, mourning, and decay. Judgement Day occurs after the resurrection of the body from the dead. The final judgement which Ecclesiastes teaches requires the resurrection of the body. The Old Testament promised that there would be a bodily resurrection of the dead for all humans, both the wicked and the righteous (e.g., Psalm 16:10; Job 19:25-26; Isaiah 25:6-8; Daniel 12:2). This came true and was fulfilled in Christ's resurrection on the first Easter day. Jesus’ resurrection is a foretaste of the future general resurrection. The resurrection and God’s new world under his Christ is the ultimate solution to Solomon's perplexity and problem.
The opportunities of youth (11:9-12:1)
In the penultimate section of his sermon, Qohelet specifically addresses the youth who are listening to him. From 11:7 to 12:8, he wisely speaks to young people. Here is Solomon’s youth group talk. He is talking to those who are fully grown, and young, fit, and strong, 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? 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:
But 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. 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 physio assessments, and reading about falls risks, cognitive decline, seeing toileting charts, and continence aids, looking up wound charts, and support planes for feeding, and hygiene, and supervision with showers, and providing parking services for four wheel walkers, wheel chairs, and tub chairs. But maybe you aren’t. Maybe you don’t know what lies ahead. Why would you? We don’t like talking about incontinence, and constipation, and delirium, and Urinary Tract Infections, and dementia.
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.
The trials of old age (12:1-8)
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.
We have almost reached the end of Ecclesiastes. Only the conclusion remains for next time: Stuart will return from his Long Service Leave, God willing, to teach on that. But as I said previously, I like to spoil endings. If you want to understand something, you have to look up the answers in the back of the book. Here it is:
“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.” (12:13–14 NIV)
That’s the ending. But a careful reading of Ecclesiastes shows that he has already taught this conclusion repeatedly. Though he often speaks from an “under-the-sun” viewpoint, he frequently has popped up the periscope to see the heavenly perspective. He has taught along the way that God will call the past to account (3:15) and judge every person (11:9), both the righteous and wicked (3:17).
And in the present, God tests humanity through life’s frustrations (3:18). God created us upright (7:29) and set eternity in our hearts (3:11). We sense that we are, or should be, everlasting, but we still die like animals.
Nevertheless, God is still personally and sovereignly involved in our world. He gives to one person and withholds from another (9:1). All this is designed to teach us to fear God (3:14; 5:7; 7:18; 8:12–13; 12:13).
I might summarise Ecclesiastes thus far into three parts:
1. Chs. 1–3 — Solomon explains his experiment and gives his initial thesis.
2. Chs. 4–6 — Solomon refines that thesis in the light of evidence to the contrary.
3. Chs. 7–9 — Affirmation that wisdom, though limited, is still worth pursuing.
You will recall that Qohelet, who can only be Solomon, conducted an experiment. He had the wealth, power, peace, and opportunity to do it. This experiment was not morally neutral. It was an exercise in disobedience. Around 500 years before Solomon, God had given the law of the king, in Deuteronomy 17:16-17. In it, God said, that if Israel gets a king, that:
“[the King] must not acquire many horses for himself or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since the Lord has said to you, ‘You shall never return that way again.’ 17 And he fshall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold. (Deut 17:16-17 NIV)
Pretty clear, isn’t it. No Egyptian horses, not too much gold, silver. Not too many wives. How did Solomon go with that? What did Solomon do? 1 Kings 10-11 tells us that Solomon treated God’s “do nots” as a to-do-list. 1 Kings 10–11 records that Solomon received 23 tonnes of gold a year, besides other gifts, he had 1400 chariots and 12,000 horses that his servants imported from Egypt. He made silver as common as the stones of Jerusalem’s streets; and he collected his own harem of 700 wives, princesses from other nations from whom God told them not to take wives, as well as 300 concubines, essentially sex-slaves. As God warned, Solomon’s wives turned his hearts to seek other gods.
Solomon, the richest and smartest person on earth, experimented first-hand with doing disobedient stupidity. He did his PhD in being a moron and disobeying God’s word. We are reading the sorry results of his experiment so that we don’t repeat them.
Solomon’s verdict on everything he achieved under the sun was “habel” and the superlative, “habēl habaliym”. It was “Vapour” and “vapour of vapours.” Not “meaningless”—but vapour: ephemeral, temporary, fleeting, slipping through your fingers, like steam from a kettle, ephemeral, passing, it blows away and doesn’t remain.
And the reason everything under the sun is temporary is death. We all die. To quote both the 70s rock band Kansas and the important 80s teen movie, “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure”, we are “Dust in the wind. All we are is dust in the wind”. Or as Bill and Ted summarized it and delivered it to Socrates, ‘Dust’, ‘Wind’, ‘Dude’.
When I was a boy, I used to go over every Friday afternoon to my Maltese grandmas house after school. She religiously watched ‘The Young and the Restless’ and then ‘The Days of our Lives’. And as I used to hear every Friday afternoon, “Like sands in the hourglass, so are the days of our lives”: cue violin music. That’s our lives: passing short, like the steam coming out of your kettle. You can’t keep it and it doesn’t stay.
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.
In Ecclesiastes chapters 4–6, Solomon tries to rescue something meaningful from his toil. And the best that he can come up with, under the sun, is that maybe, God will let you eat, drink, and find some satisfaction in your work. You might not be able to, because you might be oppressed, or die early, or be poor, or the wicked will prosper, or God will destroy the work of your hands. 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 zone, if you’re lucky, you can work just enough for you to eat and drink, to have a wife, and get to enjoy them.
And so we come to chapters 7 to 9. This section 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. Wisdom provides some protection in a dangerous and unpredictable world, but it can’t guarantee a prosperous and successful life. So Ecclesiastes 8:17:
“No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all their efforts to search it out, no one can discover its meaning. Even if the wise claim they know, they cannot really comprehend it.” (NIV)
In This Life (9:1–2, 11–12)
So we come to chapter 9, and our common experience under the sun. Solomon continues to assert that wisdom is worth pursuing in this life and is better than folly. In chapters 9 and 10, Solomon gives various examples of wise living, particularly in relation to the king. You need to obey the king, because then life is more likely to go well for you. At least then you would then have removed one source of suffering: that you’ve made an enemy of the absolute monarch.
Solomon likewise gives observational wisdom how to work so as to give yourself the best chance of success. These aren’t guarantees. However, there are some wise habits. Take time out to sharpen your axe, rather than work with a blunt one (10:10). Work diligently and use all the time you have, so that you plant your fields in the morning, and then work at night-time as well as the day (11:4, 6). That’s because you don’t know what will succeed. He says, “Don’t be lazy and let your rafters sag: the only reason you don’t fix your roof is because you are lazy” (10:18). And he gives investment advice: diversify your investments and spread your risk, have a balanced portfolio (11:1-2). He also says that to get on in life, you need to speak kindly and use gracious words (10:12-14). All of these wise habits will make life go better for you.
But the bottom line is that the future is unpredictable. How your life will turn out is a mystery. Chapter 9 verse 1.
So I reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God’s hands, but no one knows whether love or hate awaits them. (NIV)
Wisdom and righteousness don’t guarantee successful and comfortable life. The swift don’t always win the race, nor the strong the battle. Time and chance happen to all (9:11). Sometimes a Forrest Gump goes through life accidentally succeeding and stumbling into fortune. Sometimes a Steven Bradbury gets the gold medal, because he keeps his feet when faster racers fall. And sometimes brilliant geniuses end up paupers. Sometimes the cream doesn’t float to the top, but sours, and is thrown away.
And while no one minds receiving a windfall, no one wants to be a fish caught in a cruel net or a bird taken in a snare. But it still happens in our world. You and I don’t know what lies ahead. From our perspective, under the sun, it is a matter of “chance” (v 11): it comes upon us and we don’t know why. From God’s perspective, there is no chance: God is omniscient and omnipotent, and nothing is chance from his perspective. But we don’t know what God knows, and can’t do what God does.
At Life’s End (9:3–4)
And then comes death, that certainty in our world, unless Jesus returns first. Through Adam’s trespass, death came to all men, because all sinned. So verses 3 to 4:
The hearts of people, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead. 4 Anyone who is among the living has hope—even a live dog is better off than a dead lion! (NIV)
Humans are sinful, wicked, and evil, and then we die. But hey, at least we here are alive at the moment! It’s better to be you than Steve Jobs or Kerry Packer. Despite all their riches and power, they are dead. You aren’t, yet. Now they have to face judgement from the God that they denied and didn’t believe in. And there’s nothing they can do about the stuff that they lived for. You are richer than them, because you are alive.
In the Next Life (9:5–6)
Solomon says that the dead know nothing (v 5). That is an “under the sun” evaluation. But a heavenly evaluation would be different. The New Testament suggests that there is a conscious existence after death, either with Jesus, which is better by far, or apart from God. Jesus’ parable of the rich man suffering in hades, the realm of the dead suggests that the wicked person’s torment begins after death (Luke 16:19-31). But so far as this world is concerned, their contribution is over. Steve Jobs now can’t do anything about the problems with your latest Iphone or Mac. Kerry Packer cannot get the cricket back on channel 9. They play no part in life under the sun now that they are dead.
But, as Jesus says, all are alive to God. God remembers the miscarried fetuses and aborted babies and still born children. Whatever is assumed is redeemed. Those billions of little human babies will rise to have the life they were denied, as will every human who has ever lived, and nothing they’ve thought, said or done will be forgotten.
The Mitigation (9:7–10)
Again, Solomon suggests a mitigation to salvage the benefits of toil, the same as we have seen thus far: basically, “eat, drink, be merry, for tomorrow we die”.
Verse 7, "Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart" (NIV)
Verse 9, "Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun" (NIV)
Carpe Diem. Enjoy God’s gifts if you can.
Yes and Jesus (Ecclesiastes 3:11; 8:12-13; 11:9; 12:13-14)
These observations from Solomon remain true for us in Christ. We can seize the day. We can always give ourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because our labour in the Lord is not in vain. Whatever we put our hand to, we can do it with all our hearts, knowing that it is the Lord Christ we are serving.
In verse 9, we see again the problem with the translation ‘meaningless’. Our life and days are not meaningless—for God will judge them. Every act and relationship and motive is invested with eternal meaning because of the resurrection to final judgement. The point is that our lives and days here and now are vapour. They disappear quickly.
As believers we can use the things of this world such as food, and wine, and laughter, and marriage. God richly provides us with these things and more besides for our enjoyment (1 Timothy 6:17). But we need to realise that they are only temporary and that our time is short.
Moreover, there is not just this world: there is the coming kingdom, God’s renewed future world. That will be material and bodily, but without sin, death, pain, and decay. A foretaste of Judgement Day and the new world was brought into the present, in Christ's resurrection on the first Easter day. The resurrection and God’s new world is God’s ultimate solution to Solomon's perplexity and problem.
The opportunities of youth (11:9-12:1)
So before he finishes his talk, Qohelet addresses the youth group. Here is a word to the strapping young lads and nubile young women, who have potential, strength, and virility. He speaks to the young, bright eyed and bushy tailed ones, looking to the future with hope and optimism. Here is his message:
“Be happy while you are young… follow the ways of your heart… but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.” (11:9 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? Life is good, the world is yours, look at how fit and strong you are.
And Solomon says, fine, but remember two truths: first, God will judge you; and second, “youth and vigour are vapour”. They are not meaningless, because you will be judged for how you use your youth. But your youth is only a very short time, and before you know it, it’s gone. Sure, you might die young, but more likely, you will grow old—and aging is no joke. Twice Solomon says, “Remember your Creator” (12:1, 6) before youth slips away and the decrepitude of age sets in.
The Trials of Old Age (12:1–8)
Solomon calls the days of old age, ‘evil days’, because of the physical ravages we must endure. Aging is slow death. Old age as a personal catastrophe, and he describes that disaster using an extended metaphor in verses 3 to 5.
Verse 3, “In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble” (NIV)
This is talking about the shaking hands of old age. One in five people over 65 has “essential tremor”, not to mention Parkinson’s Disease.
Verse 3, “The strong men bow themselves” (NIV)
After 40, we lose about 1 cm in height every decade. Among other things, osteoporotic fractures affect 1 in 2 women over 60, and 1 in 3 men.
Verse 3 again, “The grinders cease because they are few” (NIV)
We lose our teeth. Those over 75 average around 18 teeth; much improved from the 1970s, but still fewer than we began with.
Verse 3, “Those who look through the windows grow dim” (NIV)
We go blind. After 40, risk of blindness increases 300% every decade. Macular degeneration, cataracts, glaucoma, diabetes are all common threats.
Verse 4, “The doors to the street are shut… the sound of grinding fades” (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.
“They rise up at the sound of a bird” (NIV)
As you get older, you still need the same amount of sleep, but you get less of it, and it’s not as good sleep. Older people, those between 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’re incontinent, who wants to go out? Can you blame them?
Verse 5 again, "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 its spring, most elderly people get around as best they can: a walking stick, a 4 wheel walker, a wheelchair and a tub chair. How else are you going to get yourself to all those doctors’ appointments.
“And desire is no longer stirred” (NIV), or more literally, “and the caper-berry shall fail”
The caper-berry was the ancient ‘Viagra’, an aphrodisiac meant to stimulate sexual desire. But a time is coming when it won’t work anymore. Even the male sex drive will be stilled, perhaps the most deeply felt humiliation of all.
And then, there is death. Ministers do weddings in summer, funerals in winter, because frequently older people die in when it is cold.
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.