#940 Ecclesiastes 3 To Everything

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

2 a time to be born, and a time to die;

a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;

3 a time to kill, and a time to heal;

a time to break down, and a time to build up;

4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

5 a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;

a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

6 a time to seek, and a time to lose;

a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

7 a time to tear, and a time to sew;

a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

8 a time to love, and a time to hate;

a time for war, and a time for peace.

The God-Given Task

9 What gain has the worker from his toil? 10 I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. 12 I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; 13 also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God's gift to man.

14 I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him. 15 That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already has been; and God seeks what has been driven away.

From Dust to Dust

16 Moreover, I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, even there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness, even there was wickedness. 17 I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time for every matter and for every work. 18 I said in my heart with regard to the children of man that God is testing them that they may see that they themselves are but beasts. 19 For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity. 20 All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return. 21 Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down into the earth? 22 So I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his work, for that is his lot. Who can bring him to see what will be after him? Ecclesiastes 3 ESV

Ecclesiastes 3

1-8 Truly poetic, and it has inspired others in song, but like a chorus stuck in my head, it become just sounds unless I stop to dissect the words. Everything inside of time and space is on this clock, even the Universe has a beginning and an end, decreed from eternity, a place we cannot here observe.

“The repetition of ‘a time…, and a time…’ begins to be oppressive. Whatever may be our skill and initiative, our real masters seem to be these inexorable seasons: not only those of the calendar, but that tide of events which moves us now to one kind of action which seems fitting, now to another which puts all into reverse.” (Kidner)

A time to be born and a time to die - My birth and end of life are all but the same glance from eternity, yet I did not call the one nor do I know for certain when then other will come, but I know it is in God's hands. When I was young I pondered controlling my departure, picking the time, and I chased things that would hasten it, but came to see this also as vain. Birth is so often tied to joy as death is to sorrow.

A time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted - Sewing seed and reaping harvest. These are in accordance with earths orbit around the sun, the rainy season, cold and summer, spring and fall. The rural life is tuned to this.

A time to kill and a time to heal - There are some things in this life that require the highest form of capital punishment. Men and women scream for justice after the murder of a loved one, justice is met, and healing commences. As swift as justice may come, healing can take all the rest of a man's days. 

…5 And surely I will require the life of any man or beast by whose hand your lifeblood is shed. I will demand an accounting from anyone who takes the life of his fellow man: 6 Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man his blood will be shed; for in His own image God has made mankind. 7 But as for you, be fruitful and multiply; spread out across the earth and multiply upon it.”… Genesis 9: 5-7

…3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but bad. Do you want to be unafraid of the one in authority? Then do what is right, and you will have his approval. 4 For he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not carry the sword in vain. He is God’s servant, an agent of retribution to the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore it is necessary to submit to authority, not only to avoid punishment, but also as a matter of conscience.… Romans 13: 3-5

A time to weep, and a time to laugh - Some things are ill conceived outside their time. We are instructed to weep with those who weep and rejoice with those that rejoice. Compassion requires empathy, though we may prefer distraction, take care lest we increase sorrows with laughter and dancing at inappropriate times. 

A time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together - Ancient customs included sewing stones and salt in an enemies fields, making it difficult to cultivate. Gathering stones may be a reference to boundary fences, building altars, houses, walls. David gathered stones and then cast them from his sling. When the woman was caught in adultery, Jesus stood between those who would gather up stones and the woman, as her advocate. They judged as hypocrites do, not concerned with the wrong, but for their own motives. We should not judge others for what we are guilty of, no, first remove the mote from our own eyes, then we may see clearly to help our brother or sister with theirs.

…6 They said this to test Him, in order to have a basis for accusing Him. But Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with His finger. 7 When they continued to question Him, He straightened up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to cast a stone at her.” 8 And again He bent down and wrote on the ground.… John 8: 6-8

This list also shows us the need to take full advantage of the time God gives us (Ephesians 5:16, Colossians 4:15). “Many a man loseth his soul, as Saul did his kingdom, by not discerning his time. Esau came too late; so did the foolish virgins. If the gale of grace be over-past, the gate shut, the drawbridge taken up, there is no possibility of entrance.” (Trapp)

9-12 He has put eternity into man's heart - Whether the atheist, Christian, Jew, etc.., all have defined a way to deal with this unction, inclination. Deny, embrace, or ignore; it is all an opinion, and it flows outwardly into the way a man will conduct himself.

“God made man in his own image; and nothing more surely attests to the greatness of our origin that those faculties of the soul which are capable of yearning for, conceiving, and enjoying the Infinite, the Immortal, and the Divine…. Every appetite in nature and grace has its appropriate satisfaction.” (Meyer)

ii. The well-known missionary and author Don Richardson used the phrase eternity in their hearts to describe the phenomenon of redemptive analogies in most all aboriginal cultures. Almost every culture has traditions, customs, or ways of thinking that reflect basic Biblical truth, and these can be used by missionaries to explain the gospel.

“The Preacher’s vast researches have found nothing in the finite earthly realm which can satisfy the human heart intellectually or practically… This is the nearest he comes to Augustine’s maxim: ‘You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they can find peace in you.’” (Eaton)

…14 When a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait, until my relief comes. 15 You will call, and I will answer You; You will desire the work of Your hands. 16 For then You would count my steps, but would not keep track of my sin.… Job 14: 14-16

14-15 Nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it - God is effectual in His decree, calling, and redemption. Creation is His, Salvation belongs to Him. No matter the level of our comprehension, one thing understood, supplies much freedom from want and despair, God is Sovereign over all. His word is complete.

1 Hear now, O Israel, the statutes and ordinances I am teaching you to follow, so that you may live and may enter and take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you. 2 You must not add to or subtract from what I command you, so that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God I am giving you. 3 Your eyes have seen what the LORD did at Baal-peor, for the LORD your God destroyed from among you all who followed Baal of Peor.… Deuteronomy 4: 1-3

16-22 Judges can be crooked, the outwardly pious can be notorious sociopaths. If there is no eternity, if this is but an accumulation of trillions times trillions of happy accidents that turn on this light of life, then what difference is there between my end and the dogs? And, what then is my boast of more intellect, of tools, buildings and projects? It is all not to be remembered by me, for I will no longer exist, and my legacy, will at some point, be distorted, forgotten. He lives on in their thoughts and memories, you say, as all those fade away. 

This is a significant problem under the sun. If man does not have to reckon with eternity; if this life is all there is, then many of the wicked and evil people win and many good and righteous people lose. The idea of karma does not consistently work – at least not in this life. D. Guzik

“The distinction between man and beast in annulled by death; the former’s boasted superiority, his power of conceiving and planning, his greatness, skill, strength, cunning, all come under the category of vanity, as they cannot ward off the inevitable blow.” (Deane)