ECCLESIASTES:

A RESEARCH PAPER

by

David Zemmer

Submitted in partial fulfillment of requirementsfor BC519is: Counseling and the Book of Ecclesiastes

Group 13: 4 of 6 AssignmentsThe Master’s College

Santa Clarita, CaliforniaJune 19, 2009

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INTRODUCTION TO TRIALS IN ECCLESIASTES

This paper aims to examine what Ecclesiastes teaches in regards to trials and to show

how the book is especially suited to deal with the problems and trials of life in a way that gives

glory to God and grows the person in Christ.

Trials are a normal part of daily life described in the Bible. They are the result of God’s

judgment on Adam and all the earth for Adam’s sin (Gen 3:1-21). By the power of God’s word

life will continue to be filled with trials and by God’s grace blessings until the end of the ages

when there will be no tears nor suffering in the new heaven and the new earth (Rev 21:1-4).

Trials play an integral part in the unfolding story of God’s redemptive plan recorded in

the Scriptures from cover to cover. There are trials of blessings and difficulties (Dt 8), trials of

discipline (Ez 9:5-15; Ne 1:4-11), trials to display God’s glory (Jo 9:1-5; Phil 2:7-9), and trials

designed for growth in Christ (Rom 8:28-29; 1 Cor 10:12-14). Trials of roses and thorns,

blessings and hardships line the crooked path of man’s pilgrimage through life under the sun.

A word about Ecclesiastes is necessary to help the reader fully appreciate its contribution

to wisdom literature in the Bible. Wisdom literature differs from historical, narrative or didactic

portions of Scripture.

Where the bulk of the Old Testament calls us simply to obey and to believe, this part of it summons us to think hard as well as humbly; to keep our eyes open, to use our consciences and our common sense, and not to shirk the most disturbing questions.1

Ecclesiastes stands out as a particular genre or kind of wisdom literature in the Bible. It is

largely biographical in nature written by Solomon for the purpose of warning God’s people not

1 Derek Kidner, The Wisdom of Proverbs, Job and Ecclesiastes, (Downers Grove: Inter Varsity Press, 1985), p.11.

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to follow his life example of secular materialism and to persuade them to value God more than

the creation thus preparing them to live faithfully in the fear of God through the turbulent waters

of life.

ECCLESIASTES ADDRESSES TRIALS

Ecclesiastes teaches that trials of all types are God’s trials in the crucible of life (Pr 17:3)

designed to test the heart in order to reveal its true values. Trials do not happen in a vacuum, they

occur very much in God’s sovereign domain under His authority so that His promises to work

out good through evil for His glory ring true.2 God reigns over every situation of life including

the blessings and the hardships.

Trials are designed by God to test the heart with just enough blessing or hardship, heat or

rain to reveal the true values, thoughts and intents of the heart.3 Trials may bring forth anger,

bitterness and grief or they may produce joy, love, hope and peace. Prosperity or want may

reveal prideful self sufficiency and demonstrate God’s sovereignty. The crucible experience of

life under the sun may be quite pleasant (Pr 27:21) or very painful (Ecc 2:20), but when the heart

does not “fear God” in its response then the trial will produce hopelessness or “vanity of

vanities.”4

Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes after he carefully “pondered, searched out and arranged” the

“delightful words of truth” (Ecc 12:9-10). Much like the elaborate structural puzzle of a pyramid

built to hide the treasure of Pharaohs this wise man carefully crafted a structure that when

properly understood would yield treasure worth more than silver and gold. It is the treasure of a

2 Ecclesiastes 3:1-15; Romans 8:28, 29; I Corinthians 10:13, 31.3 Ecclesiastes 7:13-14; Jeremiah 17:5-10; Hebrews 4:12-16.4 Ecclesiastes 1:2-11; 12:13-13.

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purpose to live for that yields joy and satisfaction in life under the sun and hope for eternity. It is

the treasure worth hiding in the heart that yields good fruit in all seasons of life.

The structure chosen by Solomon appears to be a combination of poetical tools

commonly used by wise men of the day in word crafting. The opening and concluding passages

complement each other in a chiastic structure pointing toward the center of two more extensive

parallel structures with embedded shorter chiasms. In other words the thoughts arranged at the

end points complement each other and through sequential points converge on a central thought.

For example, “vanity of vanities” (1:2) corresponds with the answer to vanity, “fear God and

keep His commandments” for God will judge every act and thought (12:13-14).

The thoughts at the ends (like book ends) then correspondingly converge toward the

crucial central section of the book (6:10-7:14). The reader is shocked by the conclusions of the

first six chapters covering the breadth of life under the sun which is judged to be a worthless

“striving after wind.”5 Then he is persuaded in the last six chapters to “fear God and obey His

commandments” which means to trust God with everything including the situations that

seemingly do not make sense (vanity).

The central section itself seems to be a chiasm such that one end (6:10-11) correspond to

the other end (7:13-14). The statement “Whatever exists has already been named” reflects the

other, “Consider the work of God.” Man cannot “dispute with him who is stronger than he is”

mirrors the other “For who is able to straighten what He has bent?” It seems significant that,

“there are many words which increase futility [vanity]” (6:11) corresponds to, “God has made

both [prosperity and adversity] so that man will not discover anything that will be after him”

(6:14).

5 Ecc 6:9 is the last use of “striving after wind” in the book: 1:14; 2:11, 17, 26; 4:4, 6; 6:9.

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Man will simply never be able to find out or understand to his satisfaction why things

happen just the way they do, but it is clear that God “makes” both “adversity” and “prosperity.”

It is designed to be that way: “God has so worked that men should fear Him” (3:14). God is

sovereign over the affairs of men and creation so that the future is in His hands. Time is the

sovereign domain of God (3:1-11).

We need to consider carefully (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.”

In the day of prosperity [ב� �ב] ṭûḇ] be in goodness ,טּו ṭûḇ]. Goodness in this sense is ,טּו

the state of moral goodness with absolutely no evil (Ex 33:19);6 In other words, in the day of

blessing avoid prideful arrogance choosing rather be thankful to God in praise and thanksgiving

by giving God the glory (Dt 8:11-18; 1 The 5:14). Prosperity [ב� ṭûḇ] means good deed, fair ,טּו

thing, an action which is not evil, but a positive moral nature, implying a positive attitude or

favor toward the object of the good deed (Ps 35:12); or good things, objects or events which have

a good, positive quality or value (Ex 18:9); or bounty, prosperity, have an excessive

accumulation or collection of things (Dt 30:9); or satisfaction, joy, a feeling or attitude of

happiness (Ecc 5:18); or kindness, graciousness, a moral quality related to goodness, and

manifests itself in acts of undeserved benefits (Jer 52:32).7 In other words, prosperity means

simply “good times.”

In the day of adversity [ַר�ע, rǎ] consider [הָאַר, rā∙ʾā: approve, behold, discern]8 God

has made [ה ,ā∙śā] the one as well as the other. Adversity means disaster, trouble, distress ,ָעָׂש

6James Swanson, Dictionary of Biblical Languages With Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament), electronic ed. (Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997), DBLH 3206 ב� .טּו7James Swanson, Dictionary of Biblical Languages With Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament), electronic ed. (Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997), DBLH 3208 ה Mוָב Pֹט.

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misery, calamity, ruin, misfortune, a state of hardship in some circumstance (Ex 32:14); or

misery, suffering, a feeling or attitude of anxiety or distress (Ne 2:10; Ecc 8:6; Jnh 4:6).9 In other

words, adversity means simply “bad times.”

God made or arranged and ordered both “the day of adversity” and “the day of

prosperity” in the same sense that He made everything very good, “God saw all that He had

made, and behold, it was very good” (Gen 1:31).

The verb “made” [ה āśâ] has the basic connotation of “do” or “make.” It is used in˓ ,ָעָׂשnumerous crystallized expressions, always with the same basic idea.

When used of God, the word frequently emphasizes God’s acts in the sphere of history. These contexts stress one of the most basic concepts of OT theology, i.e. that God is not only transcendent, but he is also immanent in history, effecting his sovereign purpose. Moses could recall God’s great acts in Egypt, reminding the people of all that God “did” (Deut 29:1). That which God has done to the nations is a testimony to God’s intervention in history (Josh 23:3). Solomon, in his dedicatory prayer, could beseech God to “act” (I Kgs 8:39). The word ˓āśâ is often used of the signs and wonders performed by God in the course of history (Josh 24:17; Ps 98:1; Isa 25:1), demonstrating again the heavy emphasis in the OT on the immanence of God.

The word ˓āśâ is also used elsewhere in Scripture to describe aspects of the creative work of God: “All nations whom You have made” (Ps 86:9); “The sea is His, for it was He who made it, and His hands formed the dry land” (95:5); All the gods of the peoples are idols, but the Lord made the heavens” (96:5).10

For our purposes of understanding what Ecclesiastes teaches about trials in life under the

sun, it is especially interesting to note that the grammatical form of the verb “made” (āśâ) is the

“qal, suffixed (perfect), active” which is used eleven times and translated as done (5), got, made

(5). It describes work that is fixed, completed or ended.

8James Strong, The New Strong's Dictionary of Hebrew and Greek Words (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1997, c1996), H7200.9James Swanson, Dictionary of Biblical Languages With Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament), electronic ed. (Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997), DBLH 8288 III. ה Mָע Mָר.10R. Laird Harris, Robert Laird Harris, Gleason Leonard Archer and Bruce K. Waltke, Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, electronic ed. (Chicago: Moody Press, 1999, c1980), 701.

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Solomon uses this verb form (7 times) to describe all the works he had done (2:5, 6, 11)

which he declares “was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained

under the sun.” He considered these works to be representative of all types of endeavors under

the sun, “For what can the man do who comes after the king? Only what has already been done”

(2:12).

Solomon the word craftsman then uses the same verb form (4 times) in three key verses

to describe God’s work of providence in history, life under the sun.

(3:11) “He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.”

(3:14) “I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him.”

(7:14) “In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him.”

The verb form is used only two other times. It is used once to describe man created

without sin, “God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes” (7:29). And it is

used once to describe the hypocrisy of sinful man, “Then I saw the wicked buried. They used to

go in and out of the holy place and were praised in the city where they had done such things.

This also is vanity” (8:10).

The contrast is clear. Man’s works are “vanity” like “striving after wind” and

accomplishing nothing of value. God “has made everything beautiful in its time” and His work in

time is fixed, unmovable, done. Man is not able to “dispute with Him who is stronger” (7:10) and

his attempts to argue with God with “many words” only “increases futility.” God is good and He

is sovereign.

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Life under God (v 13) echoes (1:15). The basic twistedness in our experience of life is not ‘fate’ but is God-ordained. (v14) Both good times and bad times are purposeful. The one is to lead to joy; the other to a realization that life is ‘subject to vanity’ (Rom. 8:20). The fluctuating seasons of life keep us dependent on God. We are not in heaven yet.11

Solomon presents us in Ecclesiastes with another word

picture of the Three Tree counseling model similar to the

descriptions given in Psalm 1 and Jeremiah 17:5-10. Life

“under the sun” is the life situation represented by the large

circle. God is Sovereign, Good and Wise in His reign over

every situation of life, both “the day of prosperity” (the dew

drops) and “the day of adversity” (the burning heat). The

thorn tree represents the secular materialist person

“running after wind” in the vain thought that life under

the sun lasts forever. The fruitful tree represents the wise

person who “fears God” and “keeps His commandments” while fully enjoying every minute of

God given life under the Son. The cross and arrow represent the redemptive work of Christ and

the transforming power of the resurrection applied to the heart by the Holy Spirit through His

word which gives hope in every situation of life.

The person sees that God is Sovereign, Good and Wise in all the situations of life will:

See God in all of life “under the sun.” See the vanity of valuing creation more than the Creator. Trust God to work out good “in His time” through the apparently senseless “bad” times. Remember to humbly thank God in dependence on Him through all times of life.

11D. A. Carson, New Bible Commentary : 21st Century Edition, Rev. Ed. of: The New Bible Commentary. 3rd Ed. / Edited by D. Guthrie, J.A. Motyer. 1970., 4th ed. (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, Ill., USA: Inter-Varsity Press, 1994), Ec 7:13.

G W

S

A Model for Christian Growth Dr Robert Jones

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Warren Wiersbe sums up well our thinking on Ecclesiastes:

Live as those who will one day face judgment. When the fire of God tests your works, will they all burn up? (1 Cor. 3:9–17) You will want to interpret Solomon’s conclusions in the light of 1 Cor. 15, the great resurrection chapter of the Bible. If death really ends all, then life is not worth living, and everything truly is “vanity” and emptiness. But 1 Cor. 15 makes it clear that death is not the end. Because Christ arose from the dead, we shall also be raised. And the glory and reward we enjoy in eternity will depend on the lives we lived here on earth. Therefore, our labor is not “in vain in the Lord” (v. 58).

From the human point of view “under the sun,” it seems as if life is futile and empty; all is vanity. But when life is lived in the power of God for the glory of God, then life becomes meaningful. Though there are many mysteries in life we cannot explain, we can live so as to enjoy God’s blessings and glorify God’s name.12

12Warren W. Wiersbe, Wiersbe's Expository Outlines on the Old Testament (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1993), Ecc 12:8-14.

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RELEVANCE TO LIFE AND MINISTRY

Case #1

Silvano13 is a dear friend of mine in Brazil. I walked by his side for over two years after

he lost his dear wife of his youth in a one car accident for which he was responsible. The

tremendous “heat” of the experience brought to the surface thorns and terribly ugly fruit from

sinful roots in the heart fed by the lies he believed. He could not accept the God of the Bible who

kills and makes alive.

“The Lord kills and makes alive; He brings down to Sheol and raises up. “The Lord makes poor and rich; He brings low, He also exalts.” (1 Samuel 2:6-7)

Though he claimed to trust Christ as his Savior, he could not understand how God could be good

and yet allow bad things to happen to His people.

The roots of unbelief burrowed deep in Silvano’s heart making them especially difficult

and painful to confess and repentant. I suspect that there are traces of unbelief still clinging to

some crevices of the heart, but growth is evident and God has blessed him with a wife who loves

the Lord. The following is a translation of his brief testimony:

I am a simple guy, a dreamer, who discovered through suffering how fragile he is and dependent on God… that I am here merely passing through, that many things to which I clung to I would not be able to hang onto and that I did not need them to be joyful. I also discovered that the things most important to me were given to me free: things like family, health, friends, nature, air, flowers, water, rain, sun, moon, stars and life. Then why was I running after things less important and leaving the more precious one sin second place?

I let the urgent take the most important place. I discovered too late that what I most needed to be happy, I already had… Why do we always think that we can only be happy with what we do not have? This is a lie [deceit, trap, evil]. I discovered that only God is

13 Silvano Xavier is a merchant/salesman/owner living in Barreiras, Bahia, Brazil, 2009.

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our security and salvation, because one day I thought that money, friends, [human] wisdom and strength could help me in the difficult moments of life. But I felt entirely helpless, impotent, when I most needed yet could not do anything, for the one I so loved and love…

I did not deserve, and I don’t deserve anything that God has done for me. All that I passed through was for my growth, it was a learning experience… It made me move my focus from the things of this world to things that last forever… It made me see that the whole world cannot satisfy nor fill the heart vacuum that only God can fill… Today I can say, thank you Lord, for making me see things that without suffering I would never have seen. Thank you Lord for having made me a person more sensitive to others’ pain and more obedient to your voice… Blessed be the suffering in my life, for your glory, Lord… Amen.

Silvano is growing to see the biblical picture of God who reigns over the situations of life and is

Good and is Wise. He can trust Him.

Case #2

Bill and Nancy14 were working on translating the Scriptures for a remote tribal group in

the northern jungles of the Amazon Forest. Missionary Aviation Fellowship (MAF) served as

their link with the outside world. Their house was in a clearing uphill from a nearby stream. That

day the older son was working at his daily chore of fetching water from the stream and may not

have noticed his three year old sister following his path through the grass. The scream was loud

enough for natives in the village to hear. Soon the little girl was carried to the house where

investigation revealed the deadly fang marks of a Bushmaster snake. A frantic call went out by

short wave radio to MAF and a plane was dispatched. After an eternity of time radio contact was

established with the pilot but the weather had closed in and the plane could not descend. The

pilot kept his plane in a holding pattern circling as long as his fuel permitted. The sound of the

14 Bill and Nancy Moore were missionaries with New Tribes Mission in the jungles of Roraima, north of the Amazon River at the time this story happened in about 1968.

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motor could be heard while the child suffered below. She was buried in the yard not far from the

front porch in that distant jungle.

It has been roughly forty years since that day. In a recent interview I asked Bill what God

had taught him through that experience in life under the “Son.” Bill told me that God had taught

him the following:

Eternity is forever God’s time table is not our time table

By that he meant to say that God measure time differently than we do and that he has

learned to measure time in perspective of eternity. He is grateful for the three years he enjoyed

with his little girl, but they were not to be grasped. In light of eternity the difference in life span

is a small thing.

Then Bill reflected on the biblical story of Esther who risked her life in a crisis situation

and found God to be faithful to His word and to His people. We are each called upon to risk our

all in order that we might learn that God is faithful. He chooses to use you in His sovereign plan,

not yours. Our position is to be submissive to His purpose. There will never be any situation

beyond limits which God establishes and He is faithful (1 Cor 10:13). The ironic thing, Bill says,

is that “When we give our all to Him we find that He is everything.”

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BibliographyAdams, Jay E. Life Under the Son. Stanley, North Carolina: Timeless Texts, 1999.

Carson, D. A., ed. New Bible Commentary. 21st Century Edition, Rev. Ed. of: The New Bible Commentary, 3rd Ed. / Edited by D. Guthrie, J.A. Motyer. 1970., 4th ed. Vol. electronic ed. Leicester, England; Downers Grove, Ill., USA: Inter-Varsity Press, 1994.

Goldberg, Louis. Ecclesiastes. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Corporation, 1983.

H.C.Leupold, D.D. Exposition of Ecclesiastes. 7th . Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1978.

Harris, Laird R., Robert Laird Harris, Gleason Leonard Archer, and Bruce K. Waltke. Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament. Vol. electronic ed. Chicago: Moody Press, 1999, c1980.

III, Tremper Longman. The Book of Ecclesiastes. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdman's Publishing Company, 1998.

Kidner, Derek. A Time to Mourn & A Time to Dance. Edited by J.R.W.Stott. Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press, 1976.

—. The Wisdom of Proverbs, Job and Ecclesiastes. Downers Grove: Inter Varsity Press, 1985.

Moore, Bill and Nancy, interview by David Zemmer. Death of Toddler on Mission Field (June 16, 2009).

Provan, Iain. Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs. Vol. The NIV Application Commentary. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2001.

Strong, James. The New Strong's Dictionary of Hebrew and Greek Words. Vol. electronic ed. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1997, c1996.

Swanson, James, ed. Dictionary of Biblical Languages With Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament). Vol. electronic ed. Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc, 1997.

Wiersbe, Warren W. Wiersbe's Expository Outlines on the Old Testament. Vol. electronic ed. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1993.

Xavier, Silvano, interview by David Zemmer. Wife's Death Barreiras, Bahia, (June 9, 2009).

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