From: Ecclesiastes
and the Perpetual Paradoxes of Life Return to Home
By
Roland H. Worth, Jr. © 2012
[Page 83]
Chapter Five:
The Paradox of the Desired
Versus the Needed
(
In life there is a
never-ending tension between what we personally prefer and what is actually
most useful for us. It is the perpetual
conflict between what we “want” and what we—perhaps grudgingly--recognize as
truly “essential.” How we resolve that
tension shapes both our character as well as our treatment of others. Because of its importance, it is not
surprising that Solomon finds it desirable to devote attention to this area of
emotional and intellectual conflict that exists within all of us.
The
Flow of the Argument
A.
The
difficulty of knowing/admitting what is truly “good” for us, i.e., the genuine
best (
B.
Superiority
of a “good name” (7:1)
C.
Superiority
of “mourning” and “sorrow” over feasting (7:2-4)
D. Value of a legitimate rebuke/criticism (7:5-7)
E.
Emotional
self-control better than anger (7:8-10)
F.
Relative
value of wealth and wisdom (
G. God uses both prosperity and adversity for our good (
[Page 84]
A.
The Difficulty of Knowing/Admitting What Is
Truly “Good” for Us,
i.e., the Genuine Best (
This section of the
“wants” versus “needs” paradox begins with the twin questions of how we can
predict what is best for ourselves and, secondly the difficulty of knowing
whether the future will verify or reject the wisdom of the decisions we have
made, “For who knows what is good for man in life, all the days of his vain
life which he passes like a
shadow? Who can tell a man
what will happen after him under the sun?” (
And that which seems the best
decision may turn out to be the totally wrong one. For example, there have been many times and
places in history when it would have been good to be rich and remain in our
homeland rather than emigrate. But not
in
Even if we accurately can
make the best judgment, as the author points out, we have so little time to
even guess at the answers. He
describes life as that which “passes like a shadow.” A shadow immediately vanishes at the setting
sun or even on a stormy day; sometimes even at the passing of a large cloud. Other Old Testament texts (Job 8:9; Psalms
102:11) also utilize this imagery.
The New Testament (James
As an astute ruler, Qohelet would recognize unpredictability as the greatest
danger to his best laid plans. What he knows
(or, at least, is reasonably certain of) he can prepare for. The greatest peril lies in what is beyond his
knowledge—hidden facts, intentions, and motives. To illustrate from military affairs: A neighboring ruler builds up his military
force but he has potential enemies on several sides, including
[Page 85] As ruler he had a variety of overt or
covert factions revolving around his court.
Whose advice would best further his and his nation’s most important
interests?
As monarch he had to be preoccupied with
such matters. Yet what Solomon is
centrally interested in in the current text is not
national affairs, but his own personal welfare. So far as purely “personal” decisions—to the
extent that monarchs can have such—things got no better than when he was
functioning as chief-of-state. All were
based upon limited data and assumptions about his own attitudes and goals and
these could just as easily be as “bent” and dualistic as those of his own
advisers. Furthermore, “who can tell a
man what will happen after him under the sun?”
It is difficult enough to predict the short term consequences of
behavior much less long-term ones. If
you “win the battle but lose the war,” you have still lost.
These were questions
that similarly challenged his entire population. They would not involve such “earth
shattering” matters as those decisions made by a monarch, but they could be
equally decisive in shaping an individual’s personal future or that of the offspring. And the blunt fact was that the results could
be guessed at, estimated, but nothing more. Except in the rarest cases, absolute certainty
would be unknowable. (And when “known,” still
subject to change by events that haven’t even occurred yet!)
The New Testament
takes up both these themes: the
sometimes great difficulty in deciding what to do and also the fact that it is
impossible for us to accurately determine the outcome of all our
decisions. In regard to the first
problem, James urged his readers to solve it by seeking wisdom/insight from God
(1:5). Wisdom, here, is not knowledge
but the ability to adequately and accurately utilize knowledge and, when
knowledge is unavailable, to make the most constructive “guess” as to how to
proceed. In other
words, the gift of insight and clear thinking.
As to the second problem of our inability
to assure that our decisions will produce the goals we seek, James argues that
we should accept the fact that there are many things above and beyond our
control. Everything we do should be with
the recognition that it simply may not work out in the way that we design. We should be willing to leave the ultimate
outcome in God’s hands (
Qohelet
does not present such answers though we have no reason to believe he would have
been uncomfortable with them. Instead he
points out that though uncertainties are inevitable, that we should dwell on
those things that we can be certain of.
And to pursue the right priorities whether we are ultimately blessed
with fully obtaining what we seek.
B.
Superiority of a “Good Name” (7:1)
[Page 86]
In illustrating the
want/need contrast, the author first presents an implicit difference: What we want is joy and happiness and
the “toys of life.” What we need
is a well deserved reputation, something that ultimately comes from within
because it is based on our attitudes and expression of those attitudes toward
others. Proverbs 22:1 developed the idea
this way, “A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, loving favor
rather than silver and gold.”
One of the few things
that one can be sure of in this life, argues Qohelet,
is that an honorable reputation is better than the most expensive things we can
purchase in this life. He illustrates
this by referring to “precious ointment”—a term that covers both medical
preparations and cosmetics of any and all types.
Due to rarity, perceived value, distance transported,
and other factors, the cost of some things inevitably exceed others. Yet the most expensive thing we can buy is
still not as important as a good reputation.
Today we would make the comparison between a good name and, say, owning
a Cadillac or Mercedes.
As a king, a ruler
does not have to enjoy good reputation and popularity to maintain his
position. But most want it,
nonetheless. It makes them feel
good. On an emotional level it
reinforces their sense of propriety, honor, and value. For the rest of the human race, the same
psychological factors are at work.
Reputation and praise verify our self-image. And since most human beings have a deep fear
of looking foolish, this makes it cherished indeed!
The second half of the verse seems a little
odder, “the day of death [is better] than the day of one’s birth.” At birth one is all possibility and nothing
more:[1] A beautiful little bundle held in the arms of
an adoring mother. At that point we may
grow up to be President of the
In contrast, at the
time we die we have completed all our accomplishments. We now have something (hopefully!) to
be proud of. We have demonstrated our
potential. We have proved the validity
of our parents’ hopes, not to mention our own.
Even when adult life began (at eighteen or whatever age our local
society deems it), we had our hopes and dreams but they were nothing more as of
yet; with life coming to an end we can take satisfaction and pride at a job
well done.[2]
An element of
insecurity is inherent in all but the most arrogant rulers: I know what I want to do; can I actually do
it? Although a ruler will rarely be
longing for death, yet when that moment comes, if he can look back with a
contented mind and feel proud of what he has done he can end it all with a
sense of well being and accomplishment.
The same is true of
the rest of us, though on a more modest scale.
It was about forty years ago that I was first ordered to a hospital with
a potentially life-threatening diagnosis (suspected heart attack). As I sat there in the doctor’s office I
mentally reviewed the things I had wanted to achieve in life and there were
three major ones. Two of them I had
accomplished. Perhaps for that reason, I
felt strangely content for a man with a sword hanging over his head.
That time the
diagnosis turned out to be incorrect.
Since then I’ve had two major heart attacks and a “silent” one and I’ve
walked through the proverbial valley of the shadow of death more times than I
prefer. Yet now I have six major goals
in life; I’ve accomplished four and a half of them.
[Page 87] I’ve never relished these encounters with
death, yet it’s always been of comfort that I’ve been able to do as much as I
have. To apply in a more secularized
context what the apostle Paul wrote, “there is laid up for me the crown of
righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that
Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing” (2
Timothy 4:8). In the secular arena, it
is the crown of dreams accomplished; in the religious one, the crown of eternal
redemption made possible through the blood of Jesus.
Although the
scriptures do not invoke a “cult of death” in which passing away is the supreme
purpose of life, Qohelet and other texts are quite
explicit in recognizing that--however painful death may seem--it is not without
advantages. Job 3:17-19 speaks of how
one is no longer plagued by the wicked and how (verse 16) one has the same
state as one unborn. Also in purely
temporal terms, Isaiah 57:1-2 speaks of how death enables us to escape the
future evil that happens on the earth.
The New Testament
brings a more explicitly “spiritual” aspect to its remarks on the matter. To die means to be with
Christ (2 Corinthians 5:8; Philippians
C.
Superiority of “Mourning” and “Sorrow”
over Feasting
(7:2-4)
We embrace life; we
shun death. We glorify all the infinite
pleasures the former can bring and we obliterate thought of the day when it all
ends. Such things we want, the
author argues--and who would deny it?
Yet what we actually need is a deep recognition of the importance
of death.
After all, one of the
few certainties of life is, actually, death and only by fully acknowledging
this can one learn to live life to its fullest.
Hence the thrust of this section is to embrace the inevitability of death
not as something to be feared but as our unavoidable and absolutely certain
future.
Recognizing this, we can then grasp that
the “mourning” and “sorrow” that accompany the death of loved ones and
acquaintances can teach us more than all the feasting and partying of
life. In the mourning of death we
vividly recognize the importance of life itself;[3] at
other times we easily overlook it through the excesses of work, obligations, or
carousing.
The “anesthesia” that weakens or deadens
our appreciation of the joy of existence will vary according to temperament and
financial well-being, but it always [Page 88]
is present as a temptation. There
is always so much to begrudge as not being within our reach!
Consciously no one
believes that he or she will live forever.
The same end result occurs, though, when all the emphasis is on
the pleasure and joy of “now” and all thought of anything beyond that is
consciously blotted out. If one
has to be preoccupied with pleasure as versus death the latter is to be
preferred, he argues, because we can learn far more from it (7:4). Restraint, self-control, and the thought that
inevitably goes through our mind at another’s funeral: we remember that person as a good person or a
bad one. Which way will we be
remembered? That holds the
potential to vastly influence conduct and behavior! And change it for the better.
(7:1 can be integrated with this section if
we regard it as discussing the good reputation we have at death rather than
during life. Yet since the search for a
good reputation leads to attempting to live in a manner that shows deep
appreciation for the true importance of life, the two ideas are clearly
interlocked whether we are dealing with one or two distinct themes.)
For a monarch, the
very lavishness of the lifestyle easily obliterated such thoughts. The prosperity of the western world similarly
can do the same for us as well. It isn’t
that we should be obsessed with death, but that we should respect it and learn
from it. The Psalmist spoke of us being
motivated to gain wisdom due to the knowledge that we would die (Psalms
90:12): now is the time for
learning. If we don’t take advantage of
the opportunity within those narrow time boundaries of birth and death, the chance
will soon be gone.
Other Biblical
passages (especially in the New Testament) also touch upon what earthly sadness
can teach us—not to glorify it into something greater than it is, but to teach
us that from even the pains and injuries both insight and self-improvement can
be derived. Romans 5:3-4 speaks of how
it can help us develop patience in putting up with the difficulties of
life. Hebrews 12:10-11 emphasizes that
it helps us see the value in moral living (holiness). 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 broadens the horizon
and points to its value beyond the current life: if we endure sadness/suffering because of our
allegiance to Christ, He will reward us accordingly. Hence it provides us incentives both in
regard to the present world as well as preparing for the next one.
D.
Value of a Legitimate Rebuke/Criticism (7:5-7)
Continuing his theme
of what we need versus what we want, the ruler next turns to criticism. No one likes to hear criticism. Rulers especially get annoyed by
it. Even if they have not fallen into
the trap of equating “kingship” with “automatically being in the right” (one not
fully illogical extension of the “divine right of kings” theology), their
position of power inevitably tempts them into thinking that they ought
to be in the right. Those in the first
category view
[Page 89] challenge as a
defiance of their position; those in the second view it as a blow to their
pride.
Especially
when you, as Solomon, enjoy a vast degree of wisdom yourself. God promised Solomon wisdom, not a
monopoly of it, however. One can’t help
but wonder when he learned this lesson.
Was it by being forced by the power of someone else’s argument into a
decision he had not intended to adopt?
Or was it by being soothingly misled by one adviser when part of his
mind cried out for him to listen to a less eloquent but more perceptive
analyst?
There is a way to
avoid being put into this position if you are a king or are powerful—you
suppress and destroy any challenge to what you decide. Yet, “[s]urely
oppression destroys a wise man’s reason, and a bribe debases the heart”
(7:7). A generous gift may assure that a
critiquer decides to be silent. Or you may throw the critic into jail. Or assure he’s harassed by your tax collector
or law enforcement agents.
Flattering as such a
course is to an important person’s ego, therein lies
intellectual self-destruction as well--for “oppression destroys a wise man’s
reason.” If you no longer tolerate
critical thought, you ultimately discover you are no longer able to exercise it
yourself. Your ability to differentiate
between good and bad (both in relative and absolute terms) has been blotted out
because you have fudged them together so often and so successfully.
The poor person can
become similarly deluded, even though he lacks the methods of oppression
available to the government or the well-to-do.
Physical violence and verbal intimidation typically work equally well to
silence any who urge caution and prudence.
And then there is none to save you from that pit which is opening up
beneath your feet.
And even if a person
can summon up a bribe, it still “debases the heart” (7:7), both of the person
who gives it and the person who receives it (of the latter, Proverbs
E.
Emotional Self-control Better than Anger (7:8-10)
When things are said
that deeply upset us, we want to be angry. Qohelet turns to
that natural inclination next. Yet, he
argues, that self-control is what is [Page 90] actually needed rather than the unleashing
of our hostilities. Again,
the contrast between need and preference.
The desired goal can
not easily be obtained, because “its beginning” is so hard and prolonged yet
the ultimate “end of a thing” will be far better than that rocky beginning (7:8). Hence to be patient is better than to be
puffed up in attitude (7:8), because the latter is going to tempt to you to
abort those changes that will guarantee your success.
And that inner pride
can cause one to burst out in indignation at contrary advice or the initial
slowness of reaching the goal. In life
anger is inevitable, but the person who “hasten[s]” to it acts like the “fool”
and not the wise person he thinks he is (7:9).
If we become enraged
at the slowness of reaching our objective, it is easy to look back at what had
been happening and bemoan that those “former days [that were] better than
these” (
The one who allows the difficulties of the
moment to make one wish one had never begun a change, is the person who is
lacking in perceptivity. Change is
inherently painful. “No pain no gain,”
applies to far more than just physical exercise.
When Qohelet was pushing through an administrative or policy
modification, one can well imagine his frustration at how “nothing is getting
done,” at “how this will take forever!”
The temptation to throw in the towel, to return to the way things had
“always” been even if it was neither efficient or, perhaps, even
desirable. It was simply easier.
How did he learn the
folly of such a course? Certainly the Proverbist himself had warned of its danger and the need to
rein it in rather than permit it unfettered control (Proverbs
Did he yield to impatience on some occasion
and see the unpleasant result? Or did he
learn the lesson from the misadventure of some other ruler? We don’t know, but it does not seem unfair to
read most of Ecclesiastes as reflecting personally gained knowledge,
knowledge gained by making the mistakes oneself or by personally observing
them. Would the anguish be so deep
otherwise?
On the personal
(rather than “official” government or corporate) level we also fight the desire
to let things remain the same even when it works to our ultimate harm. How many times does the person bemoan how
difficult things are and how much easier the past was when he is trying to kick
drugs? Or alcohol? Or any other addiction? Things were so much simpler when we weren’t
trying!
Decades ago I worked
for the old Trailways when it was a national bus system. In our terminal, I was group tour manager and
one day a chronic drunk came in.
Mid-fifties I would think.
Clean. Nice looking. Just a bit drunk. Our [Page 91] terminal manager once told me, “I don’t
think I’ve seen him sober since the war ended,” twenty years before.
A young man, perhaps twenty, worked in our
luggage and freight loading operation. I
happened to be talking to the older man in my office one day and suggested he should
get professional help. The younger man
happened to wander in and listened a little and then turned to the older
fellow, “I’ve licked drugs. If I could
stop that, you can get off the alcohol.
I’ve got the telephone number for you to call.”
The older man hemmed
and hawed and hemmed and hawed and finally left to “think about it.” His future literally twisted from one
direction to another on the head of an intellectual needle during that long
conversation—would he be willing to risk the discomfort and pain of
change? That day he came as close as a
man can come to having us lift that phone and make that call without actually
agreeing to it. Many a person sells out
his future that way and because he does there will be no future—only the past
recycled time and time again until the body finally lies down and dies.
F.
Relative Value of Wealth and Wisdom (
Continuing his theme
of things we want, the author next turns to wealth and prosperity. What we need for it to be of maximum use to
us, though, is the wisdom to use it effectively and well. Without it, the value of the wealth actually
diminishes if not vanishes. Indeed it
has a superiority even to money, it provides a
kind of “life” that money can not (
The interlocking of wisdom and money comes in two forms. Temporally in regard to
retaining it. The simple
fact is that the old adage “the fool and his money are soon parted” is just as
applicable to the wealthy as to the poor.
The kind of conman will differ as will the dress, demeanor, and
even educational background. But without
a considerable ability to penetrate beneath superficial appearances, the doctor
can be robbed of his hundred thousand dollars just as easily as the cleaning
man of his ten dollars.
Every few years you will read in the
newspaper of some multi-million dollar racket that has taken big name stars and
professionals for extravagant amounts of money.
What they do, they do well; but they lacked the insight, the “wisdom”
into handling their money that they needed to hang on to it.
Wisdom and money are also interlocked in determining the best means
to utilize our affluence. There
are honest and dishonest ways of making money.
And there are ways that balance perilously on the borderline. Sometimes the line between right and wrong
becomes blurry. That, in itself, should warn us that we are too close to the line
already. It’s kind of like driving
down the road in a sandstorm: when you
can no longer see what’s in front of you, it’s time to pull over and stop.
[Page 92] Even in charity giving there is the need for
wisdom. More than a few charities who
contact you (especially by telephone) are actually independent companies who
take a majority of the money—sometimes far, far more than that—for their
“expenses.” You think you are
giving fifty dollars to a well intentioned charity when actually they get only
twenty dollars. Or
ten. Or even five. It is a sad commentary on human greed when
even helping the needy becomes the veneer for a profit making business and you
are not even given the slightest indication that you are primarily enriching
the business and not the charity.
Most people learn the
lesson of the need for the wise use of one’s financial resources by some
personal mistake they’ve made in giving or investing and then reading the truth
later in some newspaper. Probably
Solomon had heard the moaning of some rich counselor or two of his who had misinvested their money.
Perhaps even Solomon himself had.
But “once burned, twice shy” and, having recognized his problem, that
was the beginning of self-protection.
H. God Uses
Both Prosperity and Adversity
for Our Good (
Finally, we want
prosperity. Who in their right mind
would do otherwise? Yet adversity, the
king argues, may actually work more good for us that we wish to admit. The tension between desire
and need one final time.
He begins with a
generalization based upon God’s omnipotence, “Consider the work of God; for who
can make straight what He has made crooked?” (
From this Qohelet deduces that if God has sent your way a given set
of human conditions, then you must learn to live with it rather than engage in
a futile effort to alter what is beyond your power. If it be prosperity that comes your way, “be
joyful” but if it be “adversity” instead, remember that God has “appointed” the existence of that fate as
well (7:14). Since God “sends” both
the prosperity and the adversity it follows that both must have a potential
value to us.
He conspicuously does not say that
one must enjoy adversity or be joyful in it, just to recognize that God’s
governing hand lies behind it. Either He
will guide you out of it or give you the strength to survive it. Wallowing in bitterness does no good.
In effect he argues that we should “accept
life as it come and make the most of it without trying to fit everything into
the confines of retribution.”[7] It certainly isn’t retribution if we haven’t
done anything to deserve it!
[Page 93] Our text edges up to a concept developed in
the New Testament—that adversity can serve a positive value even when we are
guiltless. If God sends it to correct us
or to punish us he is merely treating us in a fashion parallel with an earthly
parent chastening us for our transgressions (Hebrews 12:4-10). It causes us to reconsider our lifestyle and
become “partakers of His holiness” (
The same learning can come from the natural
cycle of good and evil that comes our way by virtue of human
existence—conditions that exist for everyone in a given time and place. Things such as economic
well being/depression, general physical wellness/widespread contagious disease,
peace/war. Affecting everyone,
yet they can teach us our needed self-control, patience, and reliance on
the Almighty. If we
permit them to.
The author sees in the
fact that difficult times can come our way a reminder that all of us labor
under the burden of the inability to find out that which “will come after him”
(7:14). In the short term, that would
cover whether the prosperous will face adversity themselves or whether those
enduring hardship will triumph.
It is not that he is counseling giving in
to an unalterable fate for he implies there is no way to know what our future
“fate” will be. Instead his message
carries with it the idea of acceptance of that which we have no control
over. Jesus touched on this theme when
he spoke of how “sufficient for the day is its own trouble” (Matthew
It is hard for us to imagine Solomon enduring
hard times. Economically,
at least. Though even under his
reign, there that must have been at least some occasions when the exchequer was
far from overflowing. We know that he
sent out joint fleets to trade and make money.
The fact that they continued argues that most reaped a worthy
profit. But all
of them?
Furthermore, were there times when the
local taxes simply did not yield as much as desired and caused the temporary
postponement of his plans? Quite likely
if one thinks about it. Agriculture
never remains at a permanent level of high yield and good prices.
Certainly he would
have observed the fickle hand of prosperity and loss--both economic and in the
form of disease, family disaster, and other tragedies--among those he knew and
respected. Servants. Councilors. Important city and village
leaders. He surely had seen and,
at least occasionally, meditated upon those painful circumstances. And these were his conclusions.
We today are no more happy with his implicit message of “tranquil” endurance
than they were. But what other choice is
there except hatred or the gutting of our own emotional stability? Neither of which alters the situation for the
better. Indeed, sometimes they can alter
the situation dangerously for the worse.
[Page 94]
Footnotes