DAY 265

SITTING ON A PORCH “RUMINATING”

Ecclesiastes 7, 8 & 9 and 2 Corinthians 13

If you have been following Ecclesiastes closely, then you may feel like at times it contradicts itself. In chapter 1:16-17 we read that the preacher sought wisdom, but the seeking of it was folly. Today we read that wisdom isn’t so bad after all.

So just how are you to “read” and even more so “hear” the Book of Ecclesiastes? Is this just an example of why the Bible is not to be read? Let me give you an image. Picture two or three old timers sitting on a front porch in their chairs; maybe there is a dog or two at their feet, and they are “talking.” Have you ever been witness to one of those conversations? I have. They go “round-and-round.” One says something, and that gets the other to “thinking.” Sometimes they keep the same line of thought, sometimes they go off in another direction, and sometimes they seem to contradict one another. There is the back and forth, this meandering around that you experience. It can be quite maddening. If you have sat there long enough you know that for all the wandering there is usually a point. These old timers have spent enough time with each other that they know they actually agree. And in fact their musings are rather nuanced.

Consider just a piece of chapter 7: 16 Be not overly righteous, and do not make yourself too wise. Why should you destroy yourself? 17 Be not overly wicked, neither be a fool. Why should you die before your time? 18 It is good that you should take hold of this, and from that withhold not your hand, for the one who fears God shall come out from both of them. 19 Wisdom gives strength to the wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city. 20 Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins. 

Be not “overly righteous” really? Is that like aiming for a grade of A- or B+ in righteousness? No, it means don’t be too full of how righteous you are…think of how the Pharisees and the religious of Jesus’ day considered themselves righteous…so much so that they would not associate with “sinners.” The point is don’t think you are too perfect…is not that what the preacher says in verse 20? (Romans 3:23 is not the first place in the Bible the imperfection of humans is spoken of.)

There is also some wonderful practical advice: 21Do not take to heart all the things that people say, lest you hear your servant cursing you. 22Your heart knows that many times you yourself have cursed others. Do you worry about what others say…Ecclesiastes says don’t…and yet this bit of wisdom is buried in an entire section on the value of wisdom…my point? You are sitting on the front porch and the conversation zigs and zags. It winds around and you wonder if it is going anywhere.

It is! Consider: 23 All this I have tested by wisdom. I said, "I will be wise," but it was far from me…For it is God (who) made man upright (7:29) and Consider the work of God: who can make straight what he has made crooked? (7:13). [You may recall in 1:15 there was a statement that what was made crooked cannot be made straight. The point, humans cannot, but God can “straighten.]

The teaching in the Book of Ecclesiastes is not that wisdom or righteousness or other good things are bad…quite the opposite. The Book is trying to make a point…what is “it?” Well the “it” is not so much a thing, as “it” is a way of thinking. The “it” is chasing after the something, and the preacher has gone through his litany of things he chased after—some inherently good (such as wisdom) and some inherently dangerous (such as wealth and pleasure). His conclusion is that it is folly to think that as humans we can successfully “chase after and catch” something all by ourselves. That sort of vanity will lead to the thing you are trying to catch—catching you. God has greatly gifted humankind, but Ecclesiastes is a warning to us to make sure we do not spend ourselves chasing after something…rather we should “chase after”—seek—God.

In our day an age we have a fancy word for the point of view that holds that humankind can figure it all out…and not only that…but that we all by ourselves can make the world better, perfect even…that word is Humanism. Humanism is the belief that we are endowed with all we need to make the world a better place…in other words we do not need God. This view is rampant and it relegates religion to superstition. I would suggest that a few old men sitting on a porch in their chairs might have another point of view…Ecclesiastes certainly does.