Wisdom and Work against the Odds (Part 2)
Ecclesiastes 10:16 - 11:6

Although this study links 10:16-20 and 11:1-6 together, they are not that tightly connected. The first passage consists of The Preacher's return to the subject of corrupt rulers and how they affect their subjects. The second represents a conclusion of sorts. The Preacher finally, and unbegrudgingly, concedes that diligence and careful planning may provide a barrier against the worst effects of the curse … for a time.

  1. Irresponsible Rulers Increase Futility (10:16,17)
    1. An Unkingly King Is a Curse on the Land
      1. Woe to you, O land, when your king is a child (16a)
        1. Note that the woe is pronounced not on the king but on the land
        2. The Preacher is following his own advice from v. 20 not to curse the king
      2. When your king is a child
        1. This is not a matter of age; the distinction is ethical
          1. The word is applied to Rehoboam, Solomon's son, at age 42
          2. 2 Chronicles 13:7 - Some worthless scoundrels gathered around him and opposed Rehoboam son of Solomon when he was young and indecisive and not strong enough to resist them.
          3. Remember also Ecc. 4:13 - Better a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer knows how to take warning.
          4. Another translation might be, "Woe to you, O land, when your king is immature."
          5. As a totally random and non politically-charged example of this ethical distinction, consider the following contemporary example: "Americans don't expect an apostle in the White House. But they do expect an adult." - Newsweek, 2/2/98 p.29
        2. In Isaiah 3:4 God curses Judah with the following words: "I will make boys their officials; mere children will govern them."
        3. A child(ish) king is one who does not know how to act responsibly for the good of the kingdom but seeks only his own pleasure
      3. The contrast is with the king who is a "son of nobles" (17a)
        1. Again this is an ethical distinction
        2. Remember, The Preacher has seen "servants" on horses while "princes" walk on the ground like servants (10:7).
        3. Such a noble king will look out for the interests of the land rather than his own merriment.
      4. Woe to you, O land, when … your princes feast in the morning (16b)
        1. The immature king gathers around him a bunch of frat boys who waste the best part of the day in drunken revelry.
        2. Isaiah expresses the same thought and expounds upon the grave consequences:

          Woe to those who rise early in the morning
          to run after their drinks,
          who stay up late at night
          till they are inflamed with wine.
          12They have harps and lyres at their banquets,
          tambourines and flutes and wine,
          but they have no regard for the deeds of the LORD,
          no respect for the work of his hands.
          13Therefore my people will go into exile
          for lack of understanding;
          their men of rank will die of hunger
          and their masses will be parched with thirst.

          Isaiah 5:11-13

        3. The teaching of Proverbs 31:4,5 provides a similar warning:

          4It is not for kings, O Lemuel,
          it is not for kings to drink wine,
          or for rulers to desire strong drink;
          5or else they will drink and forget what has been decreed,
          and will pervert the rights of all the afflicted.
        4. So even eating, drinking, and being merry - which The Preacher commends - become acts of oppression, done by those who can at the expense of those who can't. This too is futility.
      5. They ought rather to feast at the proper time, for strength and not for drunkenness (17b)
    2. His Lack of Diligence Brings the Whole Kingdom Down (18,19)The land is pictured as a house neglected by its owner (18)
      1. The roofs of the time were flat and sealed with lime.
      2. When it rained, the water simply sat on top of the roof
      3. If the rafters were not buttressed, they would begin to sag under that weight (NKJV users, see marginal note in your Bible)
      4. And the water would seek out the leaks and drip through.
      5. This is what an irresponsible king does
      6. He could have prevented trouble for his kingdom but he was too lazy
    3. Note, though, that this is preparing us for the relative optimism of 11:1-6
      1. The Preacher is no longer saying that the rafters sink despite a man's best attempts to shore them up
      2. Rather, he assumes that a simple application of diligence would have fixed the problem.
      3. This is futility when someone else must apply that diligence on your behalf; e.g. a king.
      4. But some of the edge is taken off futility in matters for which you are directly responsible.
      5. Through diligence the rafters do not sag and through activity of hands the house does not leak.
      6. Instead the king spends all his money on food and drink
        1. They make feasts for laughter and wine to make their hearts glad.
        2. And money is the answer to everything (or to both)
          1. This is not as deep or sweeping a statement as might appear
          2. The "everything" in question has been defined - food and drink
          3. Money provides for both the food and the drink
        3. And where do they get his money?
          1. From the taxpayer, of course
          2. The king and his court, far from being public servants, are living large on the proceeds of the public purse.
      7. All of this is presented as an example of the helplessness of men to make their lives better.
      8. How can you live well when your king takes your money and rules like a clown?
    4. Yet Nothing Will Be Gained by Cursing Such a King (20)
      1. Don't curse the king, even in your thought.
      2. The birds might tattle on you.
        1. Specifically, they may represent the king's informers, toadies, and spies who can't wait to rat you out.
        2. Generally, they represent the unforeseen, unpredictable, uncontrollable elements of life.
      3. It's too dangerous; he might find out and then your life - which you can't make any better - might become worse.
      4. Again, there's a sly optimism here. Wisdom - which lets its words be few (5:2) - can avoid this pitfall which a fool - who multiplies words (10:14) - steps into.
      5. It may not be possible to eat, drink, and be merry; but at least it's possible to survive.
  2. Diligence Just Might Pay Off (11:1-6)
    1. Cast Your Bread upon the Waters (1,2)
      1. "Send your bread over the waters for you will find it after many days" (11:1)
        1. Another translation is "and you may find it after many days."
          1. The Preacher is not expressing certainty but possibility
          2. Either translation/interpretation is possible, though, and the choice will depend to a large extent on how one interprets the rest of the verse.
        2. Many take this to mean sowing seed on the waters, i.e. without any expectation of reward.
          1. Like lending to the poor as lending to the Lord (Prv 19:17, etc.)
          2. Luke 14:13,14 - But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. 14And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous
          3. In this case, 11:6 is a promise: "you will find it after many days."
          4. This was the standard interpretation both in Jewish circles, in the ancient church, and in the ancient world in general
            1. A Jewish commentary interprets the verse this way: "Give your nourishing bread to the poor who go in ships upon the surface of the water, for after a period of many days you will find its reward in the world to come."
            2. "The Instructions of Onkhsheshonqy" contain this proverb: "Do a good deed and throw it in the water; when it dries you will find it."
            3. And an Arabic proverb advises: "Do good, throw your bread on the waters, and one day you will be rewarded."
          5. This is strong evidence.
          6. And the interpretation is possible in light of the Judgment Day focus of the last two chapters.
          7. But one searches in vain for a focus on charitable contributions in the immediate context or anywhere in Ecclesiastes
          8. And the certainty "you will find" just seems out of place in this book where nothing is certain but death.
          9. So the other interpretation becomes preferable.
        3. Refers to merchant ships.
          1. Bread = livelihood.
            1. Prv 31:14 - She is like the ships of the merchant, she brings her food (bread) from far away.
            2. That is, the excellent wife of this passage brings her bread over the waters.
          2. So Ecc 11:6 is saying - Send out your livelihood (money, things to trade) over waters in hopes that your venture will be profitable
          3. The Preacher is comparing all life to sea trade; it's a risky business but you might succeed.
          4. This sense accords more with verses 2-6 which tell us that careful planning may bring success.
        4. This is a (relatively) optimistic note. The Preacher does not say, as Lyndon Johnson said, "Cast your bread on the waters and the ducks will eat it." We have made progress.
      2. Be prudent as you remember that many things are beyond your control.
        1. Divide your portion to seven or even to eight (11:3)
          1. I.e. as many ways as you can
          2. You don't know which ship (or whatever) might meet disaster
        2. This is the equivalent of our saying, "Don't put all your eggs in one basket."
        3. Many things are beyond your control and you must account for that.
        4. Again, note that we're making progress.
        5. He doesn't say that you can't succeed so don't bother trying.
        6. He says you don't know where disaster might strike; but it doesn't strike everywhere at once. Diversify your holdings and you might outfox the curse a little bit.
    2. Don't Be Paralyzed by what You Don't Know (3-5)
      1. Some things, like the wind and the rain, are beyond human control
        1. If your Bible says "if" in verse 3, substitute "when"
        2. When the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves
          1. A farming society like Israel's naturally took a great interest in when the rain would fall.
          2. The Preacher offers this helpful hint: When the clouds get full, that's when they drop the rain. - Thanks, buddy. You're a big help.
          3. You can't make the clouds full of rain
          4. And you can't cause them to empty themselves on the earth
          5. These things are beyond your control.
          6. You may need rain and it doesn't come.
          7. You may not need it and it does.
        3. Wherever the wind blows a tree down, that's where it lies
          1. The subject here is not really the tree but the wind.
          2. The wind blows to the north and the south, going around in circles ceaselessly (1:6)
          3. Whichever way it knocks a tree down, that's where the tree lies.
          4. That is, the event is uncontrollable and its effects unreversible.
          5. Farmers not only needed to know about the rain but the wind
            1. The wind blew the clouds in or out
            2. And they didn't have tractors to plow the seed under the soil, so they sowed their seed by tossing it about.
            3. So the wind could blow freshly sown seed of the ground
          6. We note a short chiasm in verses 3 and 4 when we interpret the verses this way: clouds, wind, wind, clouds. This confirms our interpretation.
      2. He who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap
        1. No one can predict the wind, and if your spend your time trying, you'll never sow your seed.
        2. In the same way, if you keep waiting for a cloudless day on which to reap, your crop will rot in the field.
        3. Unseasonable weather happens and there's nothing you can do about it.
        4. If you spend your time trying to outguess providence, you'll miss whatever window of opportunity there is.
      3. The way of the wind and rain are secret, unknowable works of God (5)
        1. Two possible translations:
          1. As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother's womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things. (NIV, NASB, NKJV, Septuagint, Latin Vulgate)
          2. Just as you do not know how the breath comes to the bones in the mother's womb, so you do not know the work of God, who makes everything. (NRSV, RSV)
        2. The Hebrew is very difficult whichever translation you adopt.
        3. The following thoughts commend the first translation
          1. This is the ancient interpretation (Septuagint, the ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament interprets the verse this way)
          2. It uses the word ruach (wind, breath, spirit) the same way as in the previous verse
        4. In this case, The Preacher is saying we don't know two things - the way of the wind or how the bones grow in the womb. And in the same way we can't predict what God will do next.
        5. The following thoughts commend the second
          1. This seems a slightly more likely translation of the Hebrew
          2. The second comparison "how the bones grow in the womb" isn't left on its own as the odd man out in this passage.
        6. In this case, The Preacher is saying we don't know one thing - how the breath enters the bones in the womb. And in the same way we can't predict what God will do next.
        7. Jesus refers to this verse in John 3:8, but his interpretation could support either of our translations
          1. The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. [Remember, the words for "wind" and "Spirit" are identical in New Testament Greek, just as in Old Testament Hebrew.]
          2. The mystery of the new birth is like the mystery of the old. You don't know the way of the wind (or breath) and you don't know how the Spirit gives new life.
        8. In any event, the moral is clear: Who can discern the works of God or predict his providence?
          1. 3:11 - He has made everything suitable for its time; moreover he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.
          2. 8:17 - then I saw all the work of God, that no one can find out what is happening under the sun. However much they may toil in seeking, they will not find it out; even though those who are wise claim to know, they cannot find it out.
          3. 9:12 - For no one can anticipate the time of disaster. Like fish taken in a cruel net, and like birds caught in a snare, so men are snared at a time of calamity, when it suddenly falls upon them.
        9. Yet remember, the encouragement is not to despair but to work.
      4. So how can we increase our chance of success?
    3. Redouble Your Efforts and You May Prosper (6)
      1. Sow your seed in the morning and the evening and you might prosper.
      2. Don't give up because futility can strike anywhere, any time.
      3. You just have to get a little cagey.
      4. Notice, again, the relative optimism of this statement
        1. The Preacher doesn't even suggest the possibility that neither sowing will succeed (although that is surely possible)
        2. Rather he says you don't know which will prosper; he's almost assuming one or the other will.
        3. And, in a moment of sheer giddiness (for him anyway), he notes the amazing possibility that both sowings will bear fruit - not just a blessing but a double blessing.
        4. And that's as much excitement as we can take for now. We gotta go lie down.

Go on to Week 13a (11:7 - 12:8)

Go back to Week 11 (9:13 - 10:15)

Contents