Ecclesiastes 3:16-22 and Bible reading week 1, day 3

Today's verses are Ecclesiastes 3:16-22, which read,

v.16, 17 - Furthermore, I have seen under the sun that in the place of justice there is wickedness and in the place of righteousness there is wickedness.  I said to myself, "God will judge both the righteous man and the wicked man," for a time for every matter and for every deed is there.

Solomon spoke last of the value of work that is given by God to us for our benefit but it is not the end all of our fulfillment.  Now Solomon moves onto another value that is given to us by God for our benefit and that is justice.  When we take away justice wickedness emerges, it takes its place.  This action is not overlooked by God because God is going to judge not only those who are acting wickedly but also those who are acting righteously.  God is God over all and "a time for" is a carryover from the poetic start of this chapter,"...for a time for every matter and for every deed is there."  There will be a time for judgment, good and bad, of justice and righteousness and wickedness.  God will judge.  God will separate the sheep from the goats.  Judgment is a part of God's plan and it has been seen most visibly by events like the flood and the plagues of Egypt.

v.18, 19 - I said to myself concerning the sons of men, "God has surely tested them in order for them to see that they are but beasts."  For the fate of the sons of men and the fate of beasts is the same.  As one dies so dies the other; indeed, they all have the same breath and there is no advantage for man over beast, for all is vanity.

We live and we die.  We are able to experience this in our lives by looking at the passing of loved ones and also of loved animals that we may have had as pets.  We may go through a similar grief and maybe even have a special place that beast is buried in our backyard.  We experience this life, this test, that shows us that we are not going to live forever in this earthly physical state.  We may do some prudent things in life to help our physical bodies function better but at some point, like the beasts that are around us, we will all die and be disposed of in some way.  Maybe Solomon is venting that we are no better than the animals.

v.20-22 - All go to the same place.  All came from the dust and all return to the dust.  Who knows that the breath of man ascends upward and the breath of the beast descends downward to the earth?  I have seen that nothing is better than that man should be happy in his activities, for that is his lot.  For who will bring him to see what will occur after him?

Solomon keeps questioning and hypothesizing.  Both the man and the beast end up in the ground.  He refers to dust as in Genesis 3:19 when God gives the curse to the man, Adam, after the fall and it reads,

"You will eat bread by the sweat of your brow until you return to the ground, since you were taken from it.  For you are dust, and you will return to dust."

But Solomon realizes that something is different about man or could be different about the end of man.  He mentions the breath of man ascending upward and the breath of the beast descending downward.  He doesn't know the answer to this question, if there is something different happening to the breath but for now he gives his advice to live happy.  He sounds like the beer commercial of ages ago to "grab all the gusto you can."   Actually, a lot of slogans used in our media are found in the pages of the Bible and unfortunately they are the ones that emphasize our selfishness and greed.

Solomon leaves us at the end of this chapter not knowing what is beyond but seeing the value of work and the eminent judgment over righteousness and wickedness.  It matters what we do even though we seem to end up in the ground just like the beasts but our happiness rises as the highest good.  Unless, as he eludes to in the last sentence, there is someone who can bring us to see what will occur after him.  Solomon is looking for an answer and I believe that many people today are in the same place as Solomon.

We will leave that thought hanging as Solomon does and pick up chapter 4 on Monday.  Let us pray.

"Lord, we have been given this wonderful place to live.  We have been given by You the common graces of work that is productive and beneficial to ourselves and others.  We have seen the importance of justice in a society.  We also see the limitations of our physical lives and the despair it brings if we don't believe in One who died and lived so that even though we die, we shall live too.  May the gospel account lift our spirits today when we see our physical mortality and the wickedness of this world and the lack of labor.  May we realize that happiness in our activities is not the highest good or the end goal.  Amen."

Pastor Adam