Lesson 15
Ecclesiastes
The Things That Don't
Work!
Last
week we looked at the first one, the problem of evil.
What
is the 2nd anomaly Solomon addresses? - men
and beasts both die!
I said to myself concerning the sons of men, (man ~d'a' - points to source of mankind’s
problem - the fall and its consequences) "God has surely
tested them in order for them to see that they are but beasts."
*** Testing by God always has a purpose - for a believer it is to refine their
character so that they might walk more closely in fellowship with God.
- This widespread lack of justice and righteousness is used
by God to point out the reality of the BD of depravity of man.
- God
proves again that environment is not the issue in ones spiritual condition.
3:19-20
For the fate of the sons of men and the fate of beasts is
the same. As one dies so dies the other; indeed, they all have the same breath
and there is no advantage for man over beast, for all is vanity.
:20 All go to the
same place. All came from the dust and all return to the dust.
- His conclusions drawn from his observations based on the
outward appearance:
- they have a common ending -
COMMON MORTALITY – death
- they have the same breathe
- their physical bodies both return to the ground and to dust
** One of the signs of moral degeneracy -
decay of a culture is the
blurring of the distinctions between man and animals.
- He presents here the view of the cynic and what he can
observe of man and beasts end.
I have seen that nothing is better than that man should
be happy in his activities, for that is his lot. (share – portion) For who will bring him (the one who doesn't believe in
life after death) to see what will occur after him?
- Since mankind is mortal, Solomon here is recommending that
we enjoy our work and by metonymy the fruits of our labor - all that we produce in that
work.
DOES HE SAY?
- Try to understand your circumstances, find an answer for
every event.
- Compare your lot with another person's and see how much
better yours is than his.
- Retaliate, resent, become bitter,
you didn't get a fair shake.
- Move to some lonely spot and grind out your twilight years
in resentful silence.
- Get into a fantasy world; build a dream - live in that
dream – work some where else but live there in that dream and you can make it.
I have seen that nothing is better than that man should
be happy in his activities,
(shamach = to have joy - enjoyment)
in his activities, for that is
his lot. (portion -
share in life)
What
he is saying is this: Reject self-pity;
Reject revenge tactics, Reject resentment, Reject resentment, Reject retaliation.
You
have a big
advantage - being positionally IN Christ - having the H/S indwell you - having
renewed the N&S of your conscience to His perspective. Then no matter what
life throws at you if you utilize the advantages you have, all the
disadvantages will melt into insignificance.
For
who will bring him
(unbeliever - the skeptic who doesn't believe in life after death - that there
is no difference between man and animals) to see what will occur after him?
Chapter Four
4:1-16 Relationships in disarray
- deals with four areas where man
has a real problem living and working together
- major contributing factors in all
four is the over valuing of material possessions.
4:1
Then I looked again at all the acts of oppression which were
being done under the sun. - (further reflections on injustice
3:16)
- 'asheq qv;[' (3 x’s)
- deals with the abuse of power and authority, the burdening,
trampling, and crushing of those lower in station.
Zech 7:10 cf Jer
7:6; Ezk 22:29; Hos 12:7;
Amos 4:1; Mic 2:1-3; Mal 3:5
And behold I saw the tears of the oppressed and that
they had no one to comfort them; and on the side of their oppressors
was power,
- choaq - x;AK strength, power and authority
but they had no
one to comfort them.
** B.L. Man living under the sun therefore with the human Vpt perspective of life and w/o God, to him life has
absolutely no meaning, no worth, no value.
OBSERVATIONS:
1. THE OPPRESSOR IS A
REPROACH TO GOD. Prov. 14:31
2. Power often leads
to arrogance which leads to oppression.
3. Man under the sun
w/o God has no comfort. 2 Cor 1:3-4 (God is
primary cause and fellow bel's are secondary means of
comfort.) also
Heb 10:25
4:2 So I congratulated
the dead who are already dead more than the living who are still living.
- lit. when he says I congratulate the dead he is saying that he
thought they were more fortunate - no longer were they suffering oppression
4:3 But better off
than both of them is the one who has never existed, who has never seen the
evil activity that is done under the sun.
** B.L. Man living under the sun therefore
with the human Vpt perspective of life and w/o God,
to him life has absolutely no meaning, no worth, no value.
OBSERVATIONS:
1. Notice that even
in his "under the sun" vpt he does not
express another escape from the oppression and suffering and that is suicide.
2. Life apart from
DVPT (under the sun) is designed to produce despair.
3. If we as bel's attempt to inspire hope in others apart from
directing them to God and His word, we're encouraging spiritual delinquency.
4. Any other course,
any other advice is putting them in the same cycle that Solomon was in. FSH from pursuing the details of life under the sun.