Life’s a mystery, but God can sort it out. Ecclesiastes 3.1-8
Ecclesiastes 3 (1)
Pray Psalm 147.12-14.
Praise the LORD, O Jerusalem!
Praise your God, O Zion!
For He has strengthened the bars of your gates;
He has blessed your children within you.
He makes peace in your borders,
And fills you with the finest wheat.
Read Ecclesiastes 3.1-8.
Prepare.
1. What is Solomon’s point in these verses?
2. Why does he suddenly shift to poetry from the prose format he’s been using?
Meditate.
His brief biographical reflection completed, Solomon now plainly declares his theme: everything has its proper place, and, thus, only makes sense, when it is received and used within the framework of the divine economy (“under heaven”, v. 1).
It is significant that Solomon does not say that men can understand everything that happens to them (see on, v. 11), or all the events, processes, creatures, and situations of the vast cosmos. Solomon’s theme is a declaration of faith, which he believes all his experience adequately confirms. These paired concepts are meant to take in every aspect of the human experience, things good as well as bad, things beneficial as well as hurtful, things permanent and those of little lasting value. He is not intending to be exhaustive, merely suggestive; the introduction (v. 1) states his case categorically; the examples that follow merely illustrate his point.
Solomon implies that everything in life has its place and purpose within the divine economy, in the sovereign hand of a good and loving God. His theme implies his lesson: cut yourself off from God and your life will be impossible to live in a coherent and meaningful way. This is the way of folly, vanity, and despair.
These verses are set up as a series of parallelisms, which is a device of Hebrew poetry designed to emphasize a common idea. Verse 1 is a regular parallelism: One thing is stated, then the same thing is stated in a different way. Solomon’s point is that both life and death have their place in the divine economy. Verses 2-7 contain antithetical parallelisms within regular parallelisms. Solomon states something; then he states its opposite. Then he does it again: verse 2, bringing things into being, then having them pass away; verse 3, destruction and building, and so forth. The last verse (8) presents a change in the structure designed to indicate that the trope has reached its end. Here, instead of a regular parallelism, we find a chiastic parallelism, in which the middle, or B, parts (hate and war) are joined, and the A parts (love and peace) serve as bookends. The selection of seven for the number of examples also indicates that these are meant to stand for the whole of human experience, since seven is a number of completion in Scripture.
Solomon’s poem introducing this part of his testimony is meant to set the stage for all that follows: Life is complex and hard to understand, but “under the heavens”, we can trust that it all makes sense.
Reflect.
1. What do these verses suggest about the sovereignty of God? Is He sovereign? Can we always understand the workings of His sovereignty? What should we conclude from these verses?
2. How does poetry work to help us remember important truths, or to experience them in a different way?
3. Should we be glad about there being a time for every purpose under heaven? Explain.
Sow in good season, and gather together, and open your barns when it is the time to do so; and plant in season, and let the clusters be cut when they are ripe, and launch boldly in spring, and draw your ship on shore again at the beginning of winter, when the sea begins to rage. And let there be to you also a time for war and a time for peace; a time to marry, and a time to abstain from marrying; a time for friendship, and a time for discord, if this be needed; and in short a time for everything, if you will follow Solomon’s advice. And it is best to do so, for the advice is profitable. Gregory of Nazianzus (329-389), On Holy Baptism, Oration 40.14-15
Let everything in my life be for me a summons to praise and thanksgiving, because I know, Lord, that…
Pray Psalm 147.1-5.
There is a place for everything in the divine economy, and He works it all together for our good. Praise the Lord for His manifold wisdom and unfailing goodness.
Sing Psalm 147.1-5.
Psalm 147.1-5 (St. Ann: Our God, Our Help in Ages Past)
Praise God, for it is good to sing loud praises to the Lord!
With joy our songs of praise we bring to God and to His Word.
The Lord builds up His Church and He His people gathers in.
The broken hearts He tenderly repairs and heals their sin.
The stars He counts, He knows the name of every chosen soul;
His pow’r is great, and great His fame Who understands us whole.
T. M. Moore
Where does the book of Ecclesiastes fit in the overall flow of Scripture? Our series of studies, God’s Covenant, can show you, and help you discover the great beauty of the unity and diversity of Scripture, and how it all points to Christ. To order your copy of this important workbook, click here.
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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing adapted from The Ailbe Psalter. All quotations from Church Fathers from Ancient Christian Commentary Series, General Editor Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006). All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter (available by clicking here).
