The Proverbs of Futility
Ecclesiastes 6:10-8:1

  1. Prologue to Part II (6:10-12)
    1. The Preacher begins a new section here
      1. This is numerically the halfway point
        1. 111 verses from 1:1 - 6:9
        2. 111 verses from 6:10 - 12:8
        3. (12:9-14 constitute an epilogue and are not written in the voice of The Preacher.)
        4. 111 = 37 x 3 and 37 is the numerical value of "futility" (hebel) in Hebrew
        5. So, if you recall, the number of verses in the book is 6 (the number of man) x 37 (the number of futility)
      2. The Preacher has finished the bulk of his experimentation and observation
        1. He'll do a little more, especially in chapter 9, none in 10,11,12
        2. Increasingly, his thoughts turn toward dictating a response to our futile situation
        3. He spends his time, then, setting down proverbs and issuing commands
        4. In other words, the first half described the situation. In the second half he begins in earnest to answer the question, "In the light of this distressing assessment, how should we then live?"
      3. Yet in writing a prologue for Section II, The Preacher is simply summing up the insights of Section I so we'll know where we stand.
      4. So these three verses look backwards as much as they do forwards.
    2. There is nothing new to decrease futility (6:10,11)
      1. Whatever is has been named already (10)
        1. Remember God naming everything in Genesis 1 on Days 1 through 3
        2. And he does not name the creations of Days 4 through 6, but rather brings them to the man in Genesis 2 to see what he will call them
        3. This naming implies power, the ability to bring something into existence or to control what has been brought into existence.
        4. So this is a summation of two of The Preacher's major points
          1. There is nothing new under the sun (1:10)
          2. God is sovereign over everything, so what is there left for us to control for our own profit? (3:1-14)
      2. For it is known that he is man
        1. A fascinatingly ambiguous sentence
        2. This is the only time in Ecclesiastes that the word for man (adam) occurs without any modifier or extra Hebrew baggage that would make it the generic word for man.
        3. In other words, The Preacher may deliberately be invoking the idea of the one for whom this name, man, was a proper name - Adam.
        4. So the translation goes "Whatever is has been named already. It is known that he is Adam."
        5. Adam has been named already, The Preacher says. And the name means "of the ground."
        6. Therefore, dust you are and to dust you shall return (Genesis 3:18)
      3. How can you fight against that kind of naming?
        1. Man, named after Adam, cannot contend with God and get the upper hand.
        2. This is God's rebuke to Job at the end of that book. Job 40:1-5 - Moreover the LORD answered Job, and said: 2"Shall the one who contends with the Almighty correct Him? He who rebukes God, let him answer it." 3Then Job answered the LORD and said: 4"Behold, I am vile; What shall I answer You? I lay my hand over my mouth. 5Once I have spoken, but I will not answer; Yes, twice, but I will proceed no further."
        3. Job himself understood this before he was goaded into arguing with God. Job 9:32-35 - For He is not a man, as I am, That I may answer Him, And that we should go to court together. 33Nor is there any mediator between us, Who may lay his hand on us both. 34Let Him take His rod away from me, And do not let dread of Him terrify me. 35Then I would speak and not fear Him, But it is not so with me.
        4. Note the solution that Job proposes to this dilemma and how abundantly it is realized in Christ.
      4. So instead, everything man does increases futility and man is no better (11)
        1. It's not that futility becomes objectively worse
        2. But when a man fights against it - and everything he does fights against it and this too is futility - he is chasing after the wind, increasing his experience of the futility of life under the sun.
    3. So who knows what is good for man? (6:12)
      1. Clearly not the man, who can only increase futility
      2. And if God knows, it is not apparent from anything under the sun that he pursues man's good.
      3. This of course is an issue that dominates the book
        1. 2:24
        2. 3:12,22
        3. 5:18
        4. 8:15
        5. 9:7-9
        6. 11:9,10
      4. The "Who knows?" expresses despair that such knowledge can ever really be obtained
      5. The deck is stacked against him
        1. His life is vain
        2. He passes it like a shadow
        3. And he does not know the future or what will happen after death
      6. With this summary, The Preacher is ready to set forth some proverbs concerning this life of vanity.
  2. Death is better than life (7:1,2)
    1. Just as a good name is better than good ointment (1a)
      1. The ointment here may refer to the perfumes with which the bodies of the dead were anointed.
      2. Thus The Preacher may be alluding to the idea that it is better to die with a good name than to be anointed with costly burial perfumes.
      3. This makes the statement fittingly ironic since the usefulness of a good name only appears at one's death.
      4. And that sets up the following statement "And the day of death than the day of one's birth."
        1. At birth, who knows what you will become or what reputation you will have
        2. At death, if you have preserved a good name, then that is satisfactory
        3. This is reminiscent of the apocryphal Wisdom of Ben Sirach 11:28 "Call no one happy before death; by how he ends a person is known."
      5. But surely The Preacher is making a broader statement that death is preferable to life. He is not saying that dying with a good name is the only reason for his statement.
    2. The Preacher appears to contradict himself. He has said the opposite before and will say so again.
      1. 2:24
      2. 3:12,22
      3. 5:18-20
      4. 9:4-9
    3. But he has also said the death is better than life before
      1. 2:17
      2. 4:2,3
    4. There is a way in which each is true. The Preacher finds himself with the following terrible dilemma:
      1. If life under the sun is all there is; then death is better than such meaningless futility.
      2. But if life under the sun is all there is; it's still better than nothing, which is what death is.
      3. The paradox will be resolved, beginning at 11:8,9.
    5. The end of chapter 6 has prepared us for these comments.
    6. We ought not to distract ourselves from the thought of our death.
  3. Therefore sorrow is better than laughter (3-5)
    1. NASB translates 3b as "For when a face is sad a heart may be happy." This is possible (cf. Proverbs 14:13. But I prefer a more direct translation: "For in sadness of face the heart is happy."
      1. Check out the other uses of the phrase that NASB translates "may be happy":
        1. Judges 18:20 - So the priest's heart was glad; and he took the ephod, the household idols, and the carved image, and took his place among the people.
        2. Judges 19:6,9 - Please be content to stay all night, and let your heart be merry.... lodge here, that your heart may be merry.
        3. Ruth 3:7 - And after Boaz had eaten and drunk, and his heart was cheerful, he went to lie down....
        4. 1 Kings 21:7 - Arise, eat food, and let your heart be cheerful
        5. The phrase does not carry any ambiguity. It is a simple statement of fact. The Preacher is ironically suggesting that this pleasure is pursued not through eating and drinking and merriment but through sadness.
      2. Eating, drinking, and being merry don't turn out to be so good after all.
        1. The Rich Fool let his wealth distract him from thinking of his death (Luke 12:13-21). He was not prepared for the Judgment.
        2. The whole theme of Ecclesiastes is to remind us that there will be a judgment, despite all appearances (11:8,9; 12:13,14)
        3. We may have worldly goods, but we must beware of their distraction (1 Timothy 6:6-19, esp. v. 17).
    2. The wise think of death, the foolish of pleasure in life
      1. Let the wise man rebuke you and remind you.
      2. Song and laughter may sound pleasant
        1. But they are the activity of fools
        2. They have no permanence
          1. They burn like thorns in a pot
          2. cf. Ps 58, esp. v. 9.
        3. Compare James 4:8-10.
        4. Because of our redemption, such activities are possible (Ps 126). We may laugh without it being the laughter of fools.
  4. Wisdom and "righteousness" have limited usefulness (7-19)
    1. The wise man may be turned from his wisdom (7)
    2. It doesn't tell us everything we need to know (8-10)
    3. It does make for easier living at times (11,12)
    4. But God is sovereign, and man isn't as great as he thinks, so don't count on it (13-18)
      1. There seems to be no justice under the sun (15)
      2. We should not be "too righteous" or "too wise." (16)
        1. 2:15
        2. 7:20,23
      3. But don't let that drive you to wickedness and an early death (17,18)
    5. Wisdom is, nonetheless, a great advantage to its possessors.
  5. But no one really has righteousness or wisdom (20-29)
    1. There is not a righteous man on earth (20-22)
      1. No one is fit to judge
      2. And yet a righteous judge is exactly what we need.
    2. Solomon himself says wisdom is far from him (23,24)
      1. He seeks to know wisdom and finds by experience the bitterness of the foreign woman (26)
      2. So, by deduction, he is not pleasing to God.
      3. Yet only he in all his court is wise and righteous, even in a limited sense (cf. 1 Kings 11:3).
    3. No one, not even Solomon is righteous as Adam was (29)
    4. No one really has wisdom to understand the mind of God (8:1).

Go on to Week 9 (8:2-17)

Go back to Week 7 (5:10 - 6:9)

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