IN YOUR FACE ECCLESIASTES 8 A Scriptorium Study from The Fellowship of Ailbe T. M. Moore The Fellowship of Ailbe 1
In Your Face: Ecclesiastes 8 Copyright 2015 T. M. Moore The Fellowship of Ailbe www.ailbe.org Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. 2
We can feel Solomon s impatience growing. Ecclesiastes 8: Introduction He s been haranguing, testifying, and pleading with his son for seven chapters now, and Rehoboam keeps staring out the windows, sighing mightily, and, I don t know, looking at his watch. It s clear to his father, that his soon-to-be-king-son is just not listening. So he turns from telling it slant to getting right in Rehoboam s face. You think you re gonna live forever? You think everything s going to be just the way you think it should be? And when it isn t, where will you turn, if folly and good times are your default approach to life? Ecclesiastes 8 begins the home stretch of Solomon s counsel to Rehoboam. Here is much for us to consider when it comes to our own lives under the heavens and our witness to an under the sun world. We are happy to provide Scriptorium studies in PDF format at no charge. We hope you will find them helpful and encouraging as you press on in your journey toward spiritual maturity with the Lord. Life has a purpose, but only God can show us what that purpose is. Rehoboam should look to Him while he s young and on the rise, or he ll become old and discouraged like his old man before he knows it. Please visit our website, www.ailbe.org, to discover the many other resources available to serve your needs. The Fellowship of Ailbe is a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. Visit our website also to subscribe to our thrice-weekly devotional newsletter, Crosfigell, or our daily Voices Together devotional and prayer guide. If you find these studies, or any of our other resources, helpful, we hope you will consider making a contribution to help support our work. You can do so by using the donate button at the website or by sending your gift to The Fellowship of Ailbe, 19 Tyler Dr., Essex Junction, VT 05452. We hope you find this study of Ecclesiastes a challenging and stretching experience of journeying more deeply into the Word of God. Thank you for joining us. T. M. Moore, Principal tmmoore@ailbe.org 3
1 Who is Like the Wise? Ecclesiastes 8.1 1Who is like a wise man? And who knows the interpretation of a thing? A man s wisdom makes his face shine, And the sternness of his face is changed. The Story: Ecclesiastes 8 is Solomon s in your face chapter, beginning with verse 1. This verse sounds almost like a cry of frustration: Are you listening, son? When are you going to wise up? Solomon s cry neatly summarizes his argument to this point. Wisdom is the thing; get wisdom. Only the wise man the man who lives under the heavens can sort out the confusion, dilemmas, and challenges of life. Money won t help you when problems of state are staring you in the face. Fun times will be of no avail when the enemy is at the gates. The wise man s face shines with confidence, hope, and peace, while the fool s face shows etched on it the ravages of anxiety, uncertainty, and a misspent youth. The plea to Rehoboam is to take the long view, think about more than himself, strive to be wise rather than a fool. The Structure: This little poetic intrusion follows a powerful pattern of Hebrew parallelism: say something; say it again and extend it; say it one more time and punctuate it with a bit of irony. Just when it looks like the passage is mounting to soar, it crashes into the stiff, stern face of the fool. This is aha writing at its best. It s not hard to imagine Rehoboam becoming a little irritated with his father s urgency, but that doesn t matter. Solomon wanted to make his point boldly and clearly. He needed to get in his son s face at least once during these exchanges. In our day many pastors and evangelists are reluctant to confront the lost or to urge them with passion to forsake their folly and come to Christ, the very Wisdom of God. But people who are trapped in the Lie of unbelief sometimes need a little more of a challenge. Just because we confront people boldly and clearly doesn t mean we don t do it in love. Is there anyone in your life like Rehoboam? Have you thought about a loving confrontation? 4
2 The King is Supreme Ecclesiastes 8.2-4 2I say, Keep the king s commandment for the sake of your oath to God. 3Do not be hasty to go from his presence. Do not take your stand for an evil thing, for he does whatever pleases him. 4Where the word of the king is, there is power, And who may say to him, What are you doing? The Story: Solomon returns to a more objective perspective. He is, after all, the king. His subjects all owe allegiance to him, because of God s oath (Hebrew whether God s oath to the king about his rule, or the people s oath to God of obedience is not clear). But because he is also Rehoboam s father, it might be easy for his son to lose sight of who is talking with him. Solomon amassed an impressive record as King of Israel (1 Kgs. 10); he was no one to be trifled with. The king is to be revered, honored, and obeyed; they who contrive to go against his will can expect to know trouble. Did Rehoboam see his recalcitrance and flippancy as a form of rebellion? If not, he should have. Is there a hint in this verse that Solomon might anoint someone other than Rehoboam to succeed him? A veiled threat? It sounds at least like a suggestion. The message is clear: If you re planning to flout the king s will and take advantage of his largesse, things might not work out like you hope. The Structure: Of course, in the larger, under the heavens, perspective, Solomon s words are even more true and menacing. Rebellious men need to know that their persistence in sinful ways is an affront to almighty God, the eternal King. Men might think they can ignore His will, reject His bidding, and pursue their own sinful ways with impunity. But the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress his Truth under lives of wickedness (Rom. 1.18ff.). Sometimes our witness needs to include the warning that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Heb. 10.31). Our generation is no more willing to heed such a warning than Rehoboam was. But does this mean we must not give it? Why or why not? 5
3 Who Knows it All? Not You! Ecclesiastes 8.5-7 5He who keeps his command will experience nothing harmful; And a wise man s heart discerns both time and judgment. 6Because for every matter there is a time and judgment, Though the misery of man increases greatly. 7For he does not know what will happen: So who can tell him when it will occur? The Story: Like many young people, Rehoboam perhaps believed that everything he was hoping and dreaming and anticipating, as he waited to inherit his father s throne and wealth, would work out just as he imagined. But he couldn t know the future any more than any other man, and he needed to face that fact. All kinds of things can go wrong. But the one who keeps the command of the king and, by intimation, of the heavenly King can expect that all will be well with him, even though trial and adversity may be his lot in this life (Rom. 8.28). The reminder of Solomon s argument from chapter 3 a time and place for everything is meant to renew the point of that passage: God is in charge; God works out the details, not men. A man s lot is to trust in God and walk in His commands. What He commands must be our guiding light in life, for only then can we be certain that we will not succumb to evil. The Structure: The double entendre running through these verses implied by the reference to chapter 3 is as palpable as heavy dew. Solomon is assaulting Rehoboam s flippancy, arrogance, and finitude, albeit indirectly, in an effort to knock a little sense into his head. Solomon is bringing his son down, reminding him of his humanness, and, hence, of his susceptibility to all the uncertainties men might face. In a secular age such as ours, we must not be reluctant to confront the lost with their folly, finitude, and fallibility. Jesus upbraided the religious leaders of His day, and there s no reason why we should not resort to that approach at the proper time and in a just way in our own witness. What evidence might you present to some Rehoboam in your life that he doesn t know everything he thinks he does? 6
4 Ultimate Threat Ecclesiastes 8.8, 9 8No one has power over the spirit to retain the spirit, And no one has power in the day of death. There is no release from that war, And wickedness will not deliver those who are given to it. 9All this I have seen, and applied my heart to every work that is done under the sun: There is a time in which one man rules over another to his own hurt. The Story: Death: It lingers in the minds of mortal men and haunts their every waking moment (Heb. 2.15). No man can know or determine when his spirit will leave him and he will die. Just as uncertain are the events that can hasten death war and various evils. If you trust in evil to give you happiness in this life, you will be dismayed to learn that evil will not save you from itself. Solomon says that he understood this even as he was wandering around in the shadows and swamps of his under the sun existence. And Rehoboam knew it, too; it simply wasn t convenient for him to keep it in mind. Like a good dad, however, Solomon was impelled to remind his son of the ultimate issues of life, and to warn him yet again that his foolish lifestyle would not avail him in the face of man s ultimate threat. The Structure: Our contemporary generation prefers to avoid the thought of death. We euphemize it passing away or crossing over. We do our best to postpone it by staying in shape, eating right, and masking or cutting away the indicators of advancing age. Preaching today avoids much talk of death and what comes after. We understand that the modern world scorns those who preach hellfire and brimstone. We prefer to focus on the bright, happy, hopeful side of the Good News. But the Good News is only truly good against the bad news that it is appointed for men once to die, and then the judgment (Heb. 9.27). But then comes the Good News again: Christ has borne our judgment, so that we need not fear dying and may live every day to Him. Are we doing our contemporaries a favor if we pedal away from what they fear the most, because we fear to be scorned by bringing it up? 7
5 The Death of the Wicked Ecclesiastes 8.10-13 10Then I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of holiness, and they were forgotten in the city where they had so done. This also is vanity. 11 Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. 12 Though a sinner does evil a hundred times, and his days are prolonged, yet I surely know that it will be well with those who fear God, who fear before Him. 13 But it will not be well with the wicked; nor will he prolong his days, which are as a shadow, because he does not fear before God. The Story: Wicked people die, but Solomon seems to muse not soon enough. Everyone knows they re wicked; they do their evil right out in public, even managing a veneer of piety while they prosecute their wicked deeds (v. 10). Yet their lives continue, without justice being accomplished. This only encourages others to follow in their ways. And thus wickedness proliferates among men (v. 11). However (v. 13), this will not always be so. Judgment against the wicked will come soon enough; but those who fear the Lord need not fear death. God will make sure that all is well with them. Think about the day of your death, my son, Solomon seems to say. You may be getting away with a lot of foolishness now in your rebellion against God, but it won t last. Augustine wrote that there is no such thing as a bad death for those who have lived a good life. The truly good life is life under the heavens in the fear of God. The Structure: Solomon is keeping the pressure on his son. Fearing God or not is a life and death matter. One of the reasons so many unbelievers in our day are not troubled by the thought of going to hell is that the Church has failed to impress on them the eternal consequences of resisting the grace of God. People don t want to hear about hell, the contemporary preacher complains. Well, of course not! But that doesn t mean we should reduce our preaching to telling stories, focusing on the feel-good, and promising God s love without responsibility. Perhaps if more believers actually feared the Lord this might make their witness to the lost world more urgent and complete. How would you explain to someone considering the Christian faith what it means to fear the Lord? 8
6 An Upside-down World Ecclesiastes 8.14, 15 14There is a vanity which occurs on earth, that there are just men to whom it happens according to the work of the wicked; again, there are wicked men to whom it happens according to the work of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity. 15 So I commended enjoyment, because a man has nothing better under the sun than to eat, drink, and be merry; for this will remain with him in his labor all the days of his life which God gives him under the sun. The Story: Things are not the way they re supposed to be; we live in an upside-down world. The world and men were created upright, just the way God planned (Eccl. 7.29). But foolish men, through their many schemes, have stood things on their head, and now nothing is certain, nothing happens the way you might expect, and everything is up for grabs. Bad things happen to good people, and wicked people prosper (cf. Ps. 73). So before Rehoboam gets too secure in his inheritance and all the foolishness he s planning to pursue he should remember: things don t always work out like you d expect. The best course is that of joyful contentment before God even for those who refuse to acknowledge Him ( under the sun, v. 15). Take what each day gives with gratitude, contentment, and joy, and don t consider yourself immune to the uncertainties and whims of life. Another way of thinking about v. 15 is to see it as Solomon s decision concerning his own life, once he began to realize that all around him things weren t the way they ought to be. Why not throw caution to the wind and just live it up while he could? As he has been explaining, however, that way is vanity and grasping after the wind. The Structure: Such counsel sounds good, but it is difficult for men to heed apart from the fear of God. God alone provides contentment, peace, joy, fulfillment, and complete happiness, regardless of how upside-down our world can become at times (Jn. 16.33). The Christian s peace, hope, and joy are a witness, during these days of restoration, of the age of glory and bliss which is to come. But unbelieving man can hardly attain this kind of contentment. Always striving, grasping, covering his bases, and looking out for Number 1, his days are spent in discontent, anxiety, and even fear. Still, many, like Rehoboam, will hear the witness of the Church and simply walk away unchanged. This is not a statement on the effectiveness of our witness assuming our witness has been complete and urgent but a confirmation of what Scripture teaches about the blinding and hardening effects of sin. How do unbelievers explain the fact that things don t work out as they should in the world? Does their explanation make as much sense as that of the Bible the problem of sin? 9
7 Beyond Man s Reach Ecclesiastes 8.16, 17 16When I applied my heart to know wisdom and to see the business that is done on earth, even though one sees no sleep day or night, 17 then I saw all the work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. For though a man labors to discover it, yet he will not find it; though a wise man attempts to know it, he will not be able to find it. The Story: The history of philosophy is the record of the best thoughts of mainly unbelieving thinkers being rejected by the generation that succeeds them, which has its own views rejected by those who follow after. Under the sun people can t figure out the scheme of things with any kind of lasting satisfaction. God will not allow them to because they have turned away from Him. Solomon is warning Rehoboam that, if he persists on his tack of sailing against the Wind of God, he will only end up frustrated, defeated, and dead. This is how God responds to those who insist they do not need His advice or instruction. God s ways are mysterious, and they do not make sense to unbelieving men. But under the heavens we can know that God is wise, good, sovereign, loving, and just. He does all things well everything in its place (Eccl. 3). Our calling is not to be able to know everything, or to figure everything out, but to trust in Him and let His Wind blow us where He will. The Structure: We are witnessing in our day the supplanting of one philosophical era modernism by another postmodernism (and even postmodernism is now considered by many to be blasé). This is an age of uncertainty and confusion because old beliefs are being rejected while the new ones have not yet worked out the answers and never will. Postmodernism will be rejected in its turn. Meanwhile, the Church continues preaching and teaching the faith once for all delivered to the saints. Believers rest in God and His truth and know peace, joy, contentment, industry, fruitfulness, and blessedness. We do not pretend to know all the answers, but we know Him Who does. Trusting in Him and resting in His Word we live above the philosophical debates of the day not unmindful of them, nor uninvolved, simply unaffected in any way that threatens our peace and wellbeing, or that distracts us from living for our King and His Kingdom. Where do your unbelieving friends look to find the answers that perplex them? Why not ask? Do these sources and authorities bring them peace? 10
For reflection or discussion 1. In our witness for Christ, what s the difference between telling it slant and telling it in your face? When is it appropriate to use each of these approaches? How can we make sure that, at all times, we re speaking the truth in love? 2. Solomon tried to warn his son that life doesn t always cooperate with our plans or desires. Why are people who live under the heavens better equipped to deal with life s surprises and disappointments than those who live under the sun? 3. We do not let Jesus be Lord and King of our lives. He is Lord and King King of kings and Lord of lords now and forever. Does knowing this make a difference in the way we share the Good News? 4. Solomon wants to make sure his son looks at the bad news side of living under the sun What are the implications of this for the way we share the Gospel? How would you explain the bad news so that you don t lose sight of the Good News? 5. Meditate on Hebrews 2.15. Is the writer correct here? Do people really fear death? Why? How does the Gospel address the matter of fearing death? 6. Because we can t know everything in this life not even in our own spheres of life it s a good idea to know and trust Him Who does. How does knowing the Lord help you to remain at peace and to know joy in the midst of life s uncertainties, trials, and disappointments? Prayer: 11
The Fellowship of Ailbe The Fellowship of Ailbe is a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. Our goal is to promote revival, renewal, and awakening, following the teaching of Scripture and the example and heritage of our forebears in the faith. The Fellowship of Ailbe offers many opportunities for training, prayer, personal growth, and ministry. Visit our website at www.ailbe.org to learn more. We hope you found this study helpful. If so, please consider making a gift to The Fellowship, so that we can continue to make these and many other resources available to others. You can contribute to our ministry by using the donate button at the website, or by sending your gift to The Fellowship of Ailbe, 19 Tyler Dr., Essex Junction, VT 05452. Thank you. 12