Ecclesiastes 7A

• Time for our review of Ecclesiastes:

  • This book is Wisdom literature, written by Solomon, a man God gave wisdom and discernment greater than any man.

  • The book of Ecclesiastes establishes Solomon’s theory of the meaning of life.

    • The thesis is the meaning of life can’t be found in the creation, therefore it is vanity to try and seek for it there.

    • Solomon began providing proof through the repeating cycles in nature that display a meaninglessness in understanding an advantage in life.

  • Solomon continued to establish this by his personal experiences concluding that wisdom and wealth and seeking an earthly legacy are meaningless in understanding an advantage in life.

    • There is a God-appointed time for every event under heaven. Man’s purpose in life is to seek God’s sovereign will lived out.

  • God has allowed wicked men to oppress others. Do not be surprised when you witness this truth.

  • Approach God in reverence seeking only to know His will in every situation. Be satisfied in what God provides. In that is true contentment.

• Chapter 6 highlight. Solomon understood all things come from the hand of God because God is sovereign over His creation. Man was not created to change the mind of God, and his efforts are futile when he tries. Man is created to understand all things are from God and to be content in every situation God has ordained all the days of his life.

Eccl. 7:1 A good name is better than a good ointment, And the day of one’s death is better than the day of one’s birth
Eccl. 7:2 It is better to go to a house of mourning Than to go to a house of feasting, Because that is the end of every man, And the living takes it to heart.
Eccl. 7:3 Sorrow is better than laughter, For when a face is sad a heart may be happy.
Eccl. 7:4 The mind of the wise is in the house of mourning, While the mind of fools is in the house of pleasure.
Eccl. 7:5 It is better to listen to the rebuke of a wise man Than for one to listen to the song of fools.
Eccl. 7:6 For as the crackling of thorn bushes under a pot, So is the laughter of the fool; And this too is futility.

• v.1 How does Solomon continue to demonstrate the reality of how man is to respond when he is aware of God’s sovereignty? (A good name is better than a good ointment)

  • What is meant by ‘a good name’?

    • A name represented by a good reputation.

  • How is a reputation established? (Over a long period of time)

    • We might say a man or a business has a good reputation—what one is known for.

  • What is meant by ‘a good ointment’?

    • Other places in scriptures this word is used?

Dan. 10:3 I did not eat any tasty food, nor did meat or wine enter my mouth, nor did I use any ointment at all until the entire three weeks were completed.

John 11:2 It was the Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.

• This would best be described as a perfumed oil. It soothes the skin and covers adverse odors. It was a luxury item. It is used topically and its affects were temporary.

  • A man’s reputation, or his good name, is based on who he is. It is what a man will be remembered as. That is considered far more valuable than an expensive yet surface and temporary scent.

• v.1 How does this verse end? (And the day of one’s death is better than the day of one’s birth)

  • How does the day of one’s death parallel with the previous part of the verse? (A good name)

  • When ultimately is a man’s good name established? (After he is gone)

    • When the story is completed, then the judgement can be made, whether he had a good reputation or not. Many men stumble before the end and that can affect their reputation.

    • A man who has a good reputation is better off at the end of his journey where he can’t ruin this reputation than a man at his birth who has his whole life ahead of him to create a bad reputation.

  • Do you see why it is important to see the correlation between the beginning of the verse and the end of the verse as well as to follow the context of the writer?

• v.2 What two extremes does Solomon compare next? (It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting)

  • What is a house of mourning? (The house of mourning is where living people go to lament or grieve when someone has died.)

    • We now often say we are having a celebration of life for that person.

  • What is a house of feasting? (A house of feasting is a place to celebrate an event.)

• v.2 Why is the house of mourning better? (Because that is the end of every man, and the living takes it to heart.)

  • What happens at a house of mourning when it is the end of a man? (That man is remembered by those who are left behind, his reputation is what he is remembered by.)

    • Those who are left behind are referred to as what? (the living)

    • What do those left behind do? (take it to heart)

    • What is the ‘it’ referring to? (the end)

  • The end of a person’s life can have a profound effect on those who are left behind. It can impress on us to want to be like that person in our lives or it can warn us to not be like that person in our lives. Either way we take it to heart.

• v.3 When one takes these things to heart, what can be true? (Sorrow is better than laughter, for when a face is sad a heart may be happy.)

  • When someone dies why are those left behind sorrowful? (We want them back)

  • When someone dies and there is only laughter why would this be true? (Those left behind will be better off)

    • We find the true definition to this sorrow in the second half of the verse which says what? (For when a face is sad a heart may be happy)

    • When the person who is gone was a person with a good reputation, spirituality speaking, one who is a believer, we are still sad in our temporal circumstances but in eternal measurement we can be happy in our hearts.

  • There is no other time I can think of where a sad face appears when the heart is happy. That is not a common experience. This also stays with the context of the preceding verses.

• v.4 How does this theme continue? (The mind of the wise is in the house of mourning, while the mind of fools is in the house of pleasure.)

  • A wise man will embrace death where? (in the house of the mourning)

  • What will a fool embrace? (in the house of pleasure)

    • The fool will escape to a place of pleasure instead of embracing the mourning. The fool tries to run away from the death in every way.

• v.5 What will the wise man in the house of mourning find? (It is better to listen to the rebuke of a wise man.)

  • Those who speak of death will embrace the good things and the bad things demonstrated in the life of the one who has died.

  • A wise man will find the rebuke of wise counsel in the house of mourning.  In contrast to wise men finding counsel from wise men, the fool sought after the house of pleasure and found what? (Than for one to listen to the song of fools.)

  • A wise man will seek counsel in the tough times while the fool continues to drown out counsel and only run away to escape with pleasures or even with soothing songs to feel better temporarily. The sting of the reminder that death awaits us all should be sobering and cause men to reflect on their short lives.

Psa. 90:10  As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years,
Or if due to strength, eighty years,
Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow;
For soon it is gone and we fly away.
Psa. 90:11  Who understands the power of Your anger
And Your fury, according to the fear that is due You?
Psa. 90:12  So teach us to number our days,
That we may present to You a heart of wisdom.

• Eccl. 7:6 What picture does Solomon give us to make his point? (For as the crackling of thorn bushes under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool; and this too is futility.)

  • What is the picture of the crackling of thorn bushes? (The crackling of the bushes being on fire)

    • Why do you put fire under a pot? (To heat the contents)

    • What type of wood actually heats a pot? (Chunks of real wood)

  • The thorn bushes are only crackling to look like a fire but do not produce the actual heat to cook anything.

  • In the same way of only looking like something real what does Solomon conclude with? (So is the laughter of the fool.)

    • The laughter of the fool is a disguise of what is real.

    • The laughter makes it look like the fool is happy but he is not.

    • This disguise for the fool is what? (Futility)

Eccl. 7:7 For oppression makes a wise man mad, And a bribe corrupts the heart.
Eccl. 7:8 The end of a matter is better than its beginning; Patience of spirit is better than haughtiness of spirit.
Eccl. 7:9 Do not be eager in your heart to be angry, For anger resides in the bosom of fools.
Eccl. 7:10 Do not say, “Why is it that the former days were better than these?” For it is not from wisdom that you ask about this.
Eccl. 7:11 Wisdom along with an inheritance is good And an advantage to those who see the sun.
Eccl. 7:12 For wisdom is protection just as money is protection, But the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the lives of its possessors.

• v.7 What does Solomon say next in regards to men’s hearts being tested? (For oppression makes a wise man mad)

  • What can cause a wise man to turn away from his madness at oppression? (And a bribe corrupts the heart.)

    • A wise man can fall into this trap of looking the other way and ignoring the oppression.

• v.8 How is the difference finally proven out? (The end of a matter is better than its beginning)

  • What end of the matter is presented first? (Patience of spirit is better)

  • The matter of what? (Dealing with oppression)

    • Patience in dealing with this matter of oppression is better than what? (haughtiness of spirit.)

  • What is haughtiness? (unsympathetically proud or egotistically arrogant)

  • Who is to be shown the patience of spirit? (The oppressor)

    • The patience is to be given to the oppressor, not the oppressed.

• v.9 What does Solomon warn against? (Do not be eager in your heart to be angry)

  • What is this anger a display of? (For anger resides in the bosom of fools.)

• As a recap, man is to be mad when he sees oppression and he is not to be bought out with bribery. He is to be patient with the oppression/oppressor and not haughty, he is also to not allow his anger to overtake him in dealing with the oppression/oppressor.

• v.10 What else does Solomon warn again? (Do not say, “Why is it that the former days were better than these?”)

  • What is meant by ‘the former days’? (Days of the past)

  • What is meant by ‘these’? (The current days)

    • Solomon says man should not look back on the past as being better than what God is providing in the present — wishing for the good ole days.

  • What is lacking when men do this? (For it is not from wisdom that you ask about this.)

    • A man of wisdom does not keep focused on the past. He embraces what God puts before him today.

• v.11 What is good? (Wisdom along with an inheritance is good)

  • What specific wisdom was just defined by Solomon? (Staying focused on the present life)

  • What is an inheritance? (Dictionary.dotcom defines it as a quality, characteristic, or other immaterial possession, received from progenitors or predecessors as if by succession)

    • So, that which a man has now, passed on to him from those who went before him, is an inheritance. This is not limited to financial possessions.

  • For a man to stay focused on what he has in his present circumstances and remember what he has been afforded from the past has what? (And an advantage to those who see the sun.)

  • Those who see the sun are who? (The living)

    • There is wisdom for the living in keeping this focus on daily life.

• v.12 What does Solomon say about this type of wisdom? (For wisdom is protection just as money is protection)

  • First, how is money a protection to the man that has it? (He can use money to buy what he might need now. It keeps him from being in want now for physical needs.)

    • Solomon says wisdom provides for the man in the same manner to the man who has it now and sees it providing his life focus in the present.

  • Solomon says what about looking for an advantage in life? (But the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the lives of its possessors.)

    • For the life of the man who understands this wisdom is preserved.

  • What does preserved mean? (make lasting)

Eccl. 7:13 Consider the work of God, For who is able to straighten what He has bent?
Eccl. 7:14 In the day of prosperity be happy, But in the day of adversity consider — God has made the one as well as the other So that man will not discover anything that will be after him.

• v.13 Where does Solomon lead us next? (Consider the work of God)

  • In this quest for wisdom and knowledge Solomon says we are to look at the work of God for our answers.

  • What does Solomon ask us to consider first? (For who is able to straighten what He has bent?)

  • Who is the ‘He’ who has bent? (God)

    • God has designed something to go a certain way described as bent.

  • What is Solomon’s rhetorical question? (For who is able to straighten what He has bent?)

    • If someone does not like the way God designed or bent something and wants it to be another way, described as straightened, Solomon asks, ‘Who is able to do this?’

    • The answer is, there is no one who can change this design of God.

• v.14 Since no one can change what God has planned, how are we to respond? (In the day of prosperity be happy)

  • What else are we to do? (But in the day of adversity consider — God has made the one as well as the other.)

  • What is a day of adversity? (When things don’t seem to be going well or we are oppressed)

    • In good times and in bad, what are we to remember about God? (God has made the one as well as the other.)

    • Solomon clearly says God made the day of prosperity and the day of adversity. They both come from God.

Amos 3:6  If a trumpet is blown in a city will not the people tremble?
If a calamity occurs in a city has not the LORD done it?
Amos 3:7  Surely the Lord GOD does nothing
Unless He reveals His secret counsel
To His servants the prophets.

• God reveals to prophets in advance of a calamity to demonstrate to the people that the calamity is from Him.

Is. 45:5  “I am the LORD, and there is no other;
Besides Me there is no God.
I will gird you, though you have not known Me;
Is. 45:6  That men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun
That there is no one besides Me.
I am the LORD, and there is no other,
Is. 45:7  The One forming light and creating darkness,
Causing well-being and creating calamity;
I am the LORD who does all these.

• The LORD says He creates darkness and creates calamity. He does all! He is not a bystander. He says He creates all.

• Eccl. 7:14 Why does God bring both prosperity and adversity? (So that man will not discover anything that will be after him.)

  • God does not give away what His plans are for the future of a man by doing both of these things in all mens’ lives. It is God’s intention to confuse men by doing the unexpected.

  • When there is suffering in our present life, we do not know what that means in regards to our future.

Rom. 8:18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

• God uses all things for His purposes.

Rom. 8:28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

• Man can’t know his destiny after this life by what God did for him in the temporal life. It is not like only good things happen to men in this life who God has planned to bring to salvation after this life or only brings bad things to men in this life who He is going to bring to salvation. The reverse is true as well.

• The conclusion then is we can’t tell what God’s plan is for the future, and therefore, we must embrace all God brings us through knowing that He has an unchanging plan.