Ecclesiastes Chapter Three Commentary

Contents

I. Introduction

Our purpose is to render a commentary on Ecclesiastes chapter three.

Who wrote the Book of Ecclesiastes, and when? The verses Ecc 1:1 and Ecc1:12-13 bode very strongly for Solomon as the author, but Ecc 2:9 (the tension lies with the plural “all who preceded me in Jerusalem”), and the language of the text, maybe attributable to a time after Solomon, suggest possibly someone else wrote it. Nelson’s believes that the objections of language as to Solomon’s authorship: “…are not strong enough to undermine Solomon’s authorship…” Sticking with the strong literal testimony of Ecc 1:1, 12-13, over against the apparently weaker, less clear “all who preceded me in Jerusalem” tension introduced by Ecc 2:9, and going by Nelson’s assessment of the text, we opt for Solomon as being the author. Thus the book was probably written sometime during his reign (971-931 BC), (Nelson’s, 376, Balchin 107).

We will follow this format:

Verse of Scripture utilizing the YLT text followed by an NASB mouseover of that verse. Key words in the YLT text will be footnoted with a link to a word study based on the Hebrew text, and/or a general discussion relative to the given word. We are not biblical Greek or Hebrew scholars, please consider our grammatical constructions with a critical eye.
Commentary We shall be commenting on this passage keeping before us at all times the crucial fact that every jot and every tittle comprising these verses came forth under the inspiration of the blessed Holy Spirit. We pray that He, by His grace, helps us along the way.

II. Ecclesiastes Chapter three Commentary Verses

3:1-In Due Time, Only to Regress

YLT TEXT: To everything [1] — a season [2], and a time [3] to every delight [4] under the heavens [5] (Ecc 3:1).

COMMENTARY-”The finest workers in stone are not copper or steel tools, but the gentle touches of air and water working at their leisure with a liberal allowance of time.” (Henry David Thoreau)

“Things,” all things: “…To everything…” are in a state of flux since the Fall. This is the natural order of things in our world: “…under the heavens…”, a world fallen. Things do not transition to their terminus: “…to every delight under the heavens…” instantly in this world, it takes some time for things to get there, a season if you will; due time. And this transition always involves work, expenditure of God-given energy (those workers in stone of which Mr. Thoreau spoke for example), itself a purposeful dynamic. Moreover, no sooner than things reach some given terminus, straightaway they transition away from it. Things can maintain a given terminus only transiently: “…To everything a season and a time to every delight under the heavens…”, and then they must needs transition away from it. In this way all things are constrained by the Creator since the Fall, appointed to follow what is ultimately a degenerate course in space and time (Gen 3:17-19); here is a verifiable reality. Therefore it would be very strange indeed if Solomon did not speak of “seasons” here, for that is all there can ever be for any thing in this world, fallen (the Word of God is impeccably accurate). Understood this way, we do not believe that this verse and the verses below resonate with the ideal of fatalism. That would be very uncharacteristic of the Word of God [6]. It is likely that the verse is simply, very matter-of-factually, relating the natural order of things in this fallen world. It is with this understanding that we approach the balance of the verses.

3:2-Beginnings and Endings

YLT TEXT: A time to bring forth [7], And a time to die [8]. A time to plant [9], And a time to eradicate [10] the planted. (Ecc 3:2).

COMMENTARY-Humankind is a creature, brought forth by God (Gen 1:27, 2:7), notwithstanding appointed once to die (Gen 3:19, Hbr 9:27). That is the way of things for humankind, indeed for every living thing, in this fallen world (humankind, the beasts, the plants, organisms small and large); all bring forth, and all that which is brought forth passes away after a season. It is thus appointed by Jehovah God: “…A time to bring forth, And a time to die…”

In the remainder of our verse God graces humankind, and places the terminal action particular to His hands, into the hands of humankind, whom He has endowed with the reason necessary to make terminal decisions (here is His image in us that He so graces us with-Gen 1:27). It has been placed into the hands of humankind to plant, in our respective domains, employing our God-given reason (assessment, metrics, timing, valuation etc.); it is our God-given privilege to thus plant: “…A time to plant…” To plant things: businesses, careers, gardens, relationships, and the like, and, it is our God-given privilege to “pluck up” the same as we reason it to be best and fitting: “…And a time to eradicate the planted…” Still, that which we plant is subject to the degenerate tendencies endemic to the things of this fallen world, which is the overarching constraint that quickens our reasoning in these mundane things (O but to reason one desperately needs God here: ‘…That which thou hast placed into my hands I must needs that thou instruct me of it, that thy will be done, thy honor served; thus only all turneth out well great God…’).

3:3-None Righteous Save Noah

YLT TEXT: A time to slay [11], And a time to heal [12], A time to break down [13], And a time to build up [14]. (Ecc 3:3).

COMMENTARY-When God brought the great flood upon the earth He deemed that the time was rife to slay all life on His good earth save Noah and his family and select animal creatures (Gen 6:5ff). And why? The degenerate mechanisms of Sin that entered the human bloodline at the Fall had corrupted humankind to the extent that holy and omniscient Jehovah God acted “to save the times.” That is, He thus acted to begin a Messianic lineage through which God Himself could enter time and space, incarnate, so as to make atonement for Sin; to make all things new between Himself and humankind, thus healing the latter of his greatest disease, even a terminal one that brings misery and sorrow presently, and ultimately separation from God; that brings eternal Death, the very disease, Sin, that brought (brings) His judgment (cf. Luk 19:27): “…A time to slay, And a time to heal…” And so it was that by and by a Savior arrived with healing in His wings (Mal 4:2, Mat 13:15, Act 10:38, et al.).

Yet this verse finds application right here in our day, in any a one’s day across the ages, for when a soldier steps onto the battlefield they must needs slay. It is the sad reality of war. The same may be said of a righteous judge and their executioner administering a capital sentence, or a righteous individual protecting their family from grave harm. It is incumbent on some at times to slay. This too is a consequence of Sin. The Word of God here only confirms this sad reality. And yet at other times it is incumbent on one to bring healing (we think of Christian ministries, the medical profession, domestic and international emergency relief organizations, and the like), standing ready at any time to bring healing, in stark opposition to slaying of course. The contrasts made here are striking.

Returning to the theme of the great flood, though our God brought devastation by way of the flood—thus He “tore down”—people and places, plans and (presumed) progress, He nevertheless by and by established new people and places, plans and progress. After all, He spared Noah and his family and select creatures of all kinds, thus showing us that from the beginning He had in mind to rebuild that which He “tore down.” “…A time to break down, And a time to build up…” thus did our God build up that which He tore down to the end that humankind populated the face of the earth in an extraordinary manner by any reckoning from today’s vantage point. Why just look about and marvel at what humankind has been blessed to accomplish, rising up out of the devastation by His grace: “…A time to break down, and a time to build up…”

In its own way humankind breaks things down only to rebuild them—oftentimes better than before—relationships, projects, ideals, and so on, only to improve the original; it is the way of progress for us in our imperfect existence (But God acted to rebuild humankind’s greatest disassembly—fellowship with God “A Letter of Invitation”).

3:4-The Heart Has Its Reasons

YLT TEXT: A time to weep [15], And a time to laugh [16]. A time to mourn [17], And a time to skip [18]. (Ecc 3:4).

COMMENTARY-Weeping and mourning; laughing and skipping. The bitter former set is consequential to the Fall. Oftentimes it is death that brings weeping and mourning. Jesus wept (Luk 19:41, Jhn 11:33-35). Why did Jesus weep? Death is why. Imagine He Creator beholding the death of His beloved, ages on end; all the grieving and mourning; whom He never intended to die (physically, spiritually), but intended to live, even forever, in the joy of His fellowship (here the enemy strikes at our God and hits Him where it hurts, if we may put it so in a humanly expressive sort of way; we think this is literally true—notice Gen 3:8 and the lost fellowship; also “Revelation Chapter Thirteen Commentary,” esp. “Perched for a Kill”—Sin is the vehicle). Jesus wept because Death, the Sentence of a holy God, grieved Him deeply in His Being. We believe He mourned over it, and the bitterness and sorrow of it overwhelmed Him so much in His humanity that He cried tears over it (yes, He loved Lazarus specifically, no doubt, but Jesus’ insight necessarily transcends specificity, encompassing it). He does love us so; His heart of love for us motivates His tears. Of course He resolved to do something about it both for His good earth and for as many as are desirous of Life (Gen 3:15, Isa 55:12-13, Jhn 3:16, 11:23-27, “A Letter of Invitation”, “Children of the Resurrection”,“Holy Week”, “Jesus Our Jubilee”, “Psalm Sixteen Commentary”). Notwithstanding, so it is presently on a grand scale day by day: Death ever lurks around the corner, and when it strikes there must needs come a time for weeping and mourning. Thus Jesus wept in His humanity, and certainly so do we when this enemy strikes ( notice though 1Cr 15:26; praised and thanked be our great God).

Or betimes we may encounter disappointments that leave us sad and maybe weeping, especially physical loss or disabilities perhaps that can hit us hard. Again all this negative is connected to the Fall; we are imperfect creatures in an imperfect world fraught with danger and uncertainty and degenerate tendencies; certainly there are going to be times of weeping and times of mourning.

Ah but to laugh and skip (let us be positive now; praised be God for times of laughing and skipping). The journey Home is a long one, and our God has in the face of His Sentence appointed seasons of laughing and skipping in His unfailing love and merciful kindness ever usward (Psa 30:5), lest we break (Isa 57:16). His fellowship in the midst of that long journey is cause for laughing and skipping. That fellowship is singularly our greatest joy whilst we continue homeward bound, He making glad the heart in good times and in not so good times. Praised be His blessed Name, even Friend.

Let us hold on to our seasons of laughing and skipping, with gratitude (Psa 30:11-12), and much treasure them; but let us always cling even tighter to the Joy of the Lord, for that, for His Friends, is a Constant (Psa 30:7, Mat 5:4, Jhn 16:22, Hbr 13:5), yea, in the midst of an imperfect world fraught with danger and uncertainty and degenerate tendencies. And again—ahhhhhh, but to laugh and skip; how good it is indeed; praised and thanked be Jehovah our God for times of laughing and skipping.

3:5-Centripetal Times, Centrifugal Times

YLT TEXT: A time to cast [19] away stones, And a time to heap [20] up stones. A time to embrace [21], And a time to be far from embracing. (Ecc 3:5).

COMMENTARY-Jehovah God is gathering to Himself a people, His Namesakes, since the first advent of Jesus Christ—Jew and Gentile alike (Mat 25:34, “Isaiah Chapter Fifty-four Commentary”, cf. “Covenant People”). So it is today in the Church Age. These are centripetal times: “…a time to heap up stones…”, “…A time to embrace…”, but there is coming a day, when our Lord returns, when the Church Age consummates, when the these centripetal times will flip-flop one-hundred-and eighty degrees and become centrifugal times (Mat 25:41, “Psalm One Commentary”): “…A time to cast away stones…”, and again: “…a time to be far from embracing…” Let us by God’s grace make the most of these centripetal times that are gracing us today and hustle over to the foot of the Cross and accept our God’s salvific Grace found in Messiah Jesus; let us accept it with gratitude and humility and a penitent, pliable heart (“A Letter of Invitation”).

In this fallen world for the Christian it is necessary to cast off and be far from embracing certain things, like immorality, false witness, gossip, pride, slander, stealing, and so on, or maybe relationships must needs be cast off, kept far from embracing (what fellowship does righteousness have with lawlessness, or what fellowship does light have with darkness?-2Cr 6:14): “…A time to cast away stones…”, “a time to be far from embracing…”, while other things, like prayer, Christian fellowship, stewardship, church service and the like must needs be heaped up and embraced in their season: “…a time to heap up stones…”, “…a time for embracing…”

3:6-What Seek Ye?

YLT TEXT: A time to seek [22], And a time to destroy [23]. A time to keep [24], And a time to cast [19] away. (Ecc 3:6).

COMMENTARY-Jesus came seeking, owing to the Fall, else humankind would be undone (we mean else humankind would be forever out of fellowship with Jehovah God—undone). He did not come to destroy (both literally and in the sense of giving up [per note 23] on the lost; Mat 5:17, Luk 9:56, 19:10): “…A time to seek…” Thus He did to the end that He might keep that which He so passionately sought (the Piel nuance; similarly the Piel with respect to His persistence [not “giving up”]): “…A time to keep…” These go together here, seeking and keeping; Jesus sought, and when He found, He purposed to keep that which He found (Hbr 7:25).

It is wise to reciprocate and seek God ( 2Ch 15:4, Psa 27:8, 119:15-16, Ezr 7:10), whilst still the heart beats; for this reciprocation there is not always a time, only whilst the heart yet beats. And it is wise to let oneself be found by God (Deu 32:10, 1Ch 28:9, Luk 19:10). How so? It is through Jesus Christ, by loving Him (Jhn 14:23, “Be Holy” [loving Him completely; this sanctification begins by believing in Him]).

God has put it into our hearts to be busy about things (Ezr 7:27, Ecc 2:24, 3:13). Thus we seek, more mundanely sometimes, this and that. But here sometimes it is good not to keep, and rather cast away (Matt 16:26, Phl 3:7-8): “…a time to destroy…a time to cast away…”

3:7-Scissors or Needles, Thus Are Words at an Opportune Time

YLT TEXT: A time to rend [25], And a time to sew [26]. A time to be silent [27], And a time to speak [28]. (Ecc 3:7).

COMMENTARY-O the power of the tongue (“James Chapter Three Commentary”). Simply by what is said, or not said, relationships may be rent, or mended, between people, between peoples. The verse bespeaks of judicious timing in the use of words, as vehicles, to either rend or mend relationships: “…A time to rend and a time to sew, a time to be silent and a time to speak…”

Satan tempts via words, oftentimes per force of the timely twisting of God’s words (Gen 3:1-5); he tempts so that he might rend; rend relationships; relationships between Jehovah God and humankind. True to His nature, God mends via words, via His always timely Word.

Jesus was silent before His shearers. And how that rent them; until by the divine timing they heard His truth concerning Himself (Mat 26:63-64, “Ti Estin Alhqeia?”), to the end that He might be rent by them (Mat 26:24, 53-54, et al., “The Caesarea Philippi Shift: Passion Predictions”). And with Jesus thus rent His shearers, as it were, mended.

3:8-And There Was War in Heaven

YLT TEXT: A time to love [29], And a time to hate [30]. A time of war, And a time of peace. (Ecc 3:8).

COMMENTARY-There are things God loves, and things God hates, in or out of season if you will (Tab. 1). He loves humankind (Jhn 3:16). He loves righteousness, mercy, justice, loyalty | faith. He loathes Sin; notwithstanding, He loves the sinner (imagine that-Luk 19:10, Jhn 3:16, Rom 5:8): “…A time to love, and a time to hate…” God hates rebellion against Himself—thus did Satan rebel, to the end that there was war in heaven (Rev 12:7-9). Yea, thus do volitional creatures rebel, to the end that there is war between them and God. But Jehovah God is the very God of Peace (Jdg 6:24, Isa 9:6, Act 10:36, Gal 5:22-23, Phl 4:6-7, Hbr 13:20, Jas 3:17, et al.), to the end that there might ever be peace between God and the rebel (Rom 5:1, Eph 2:13-17, Col 1:20, et al.[this excludes Satan—his rebellion is irredeemable-Rev 20:10; this holds as well for Satan’s cronies-Rev 20:15]): “…A time of war, And a time of peace…” Let us by God’s grace hasten to be at peace with Him (“A Letter of Invitation”).

In this fallen world there is ever war (Mat 24:6). Imagine, the God of Peace, even Jehovah God, allows war—how can this jibe? It is for the same reason that a holy God allows the Sin He of necessity judges. War is ultimately the consequence of Sin. We all hate war, because it hurts us, but oftentimes we do not hate Sin, which hurts us more, more thoroughly, more eternally (thus Jesus wept). The God of Peace allows war so that humankind, fallen, might hate Sin, the progenitor of painful things like war (or worse). And to hate Sin is to hate what God hates foremost; thus we walk in the Fear of the Lord—and here is His goal, through the Prince of Peace, even Jesus Christ, who models, is the Model, quintessential, of the Fear of the Lord.

Though humankind has made noble efforts to change the reality of war, that ever looms: between nations, peoples, groups, and individuals, only God can bring thoroughgoing, everlasting Peace—notice though that His Peace Plan, Jesus, is largely rejected. Thus going forward there must needs be times of war and times of peace down here in this fallen world where we live: “…A time of war, And a time of peace…”

Going forward we live in an era of unprecedented catastrophic potential through war. May God grant us comfort in the face of war. May we cherish His Peace with much gratitude. Bear with us great Jehovah God, thou longsuffering and gracious.

3:9-15-God Made Us for Himself, Thus Our Hearts Are Restless until They Find Their Rest in Him

(paraphrasing a truth related by Augustine)

YLT TEXT: What advantage [31] hath the doer in that which he is labouring [32] at? I have seen the travail [33] that God hath given to the sons of man to be humbled by it. The whole He hath made beautiful [34] in its season; also, that knowledge He hath put in their heart without which man findeth [35] not out the work that God hath done from the beginning even unto the end. I have known that there is no good for them except to rejoice and to do good during their life, yea, even every man who eateth and hath drunk and seen good by all his labour, it is a gift [36] of God. I have known that all that God doth is to the age [37], to it nothing is to be added, and from it nothing is to be withdrawn; and God hath wrought that they do fear [38] before Him. What is that which hath been? already it is, and that which is to be hath already been, and God requireth [39] that which is pursued [40] (Ecc 3:9-15).

COMMENTARY-To seek the face of God so to speak, this pursuit, in all its various forms in the give and take of daily living, gives meaning to life. And to find Him, now there is Life, in its fullest—no place for vain living here (“A Letter of Invitation”). Has not Augustine put it so intimately apropos:

“Thou hast made us for thyself, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in thee.”

By comparison, everything under the heavens is of no real profit, thus are we largely discontent in the pursuit thereof and that leaves us restless: “…What advantage hath the doer in that which he is labouring at?…” Yea, by comparison everything under the heavens is of no real profit, for attaining thereof leaves us restless—how many doctorate degrees give one rest?, how much money?, how much prestige?, how much else? Is there not always another press under the heavens that leaves us restless lest we satisfy it? And what are we to say of the transience of it all, including ourselves? The Ecclesiastes preacher has in the verses above and elsewhere found it all to be emptiness (no doubt Solomon tasted exceedingly of life’s “pleasures” if you will, in many different forms and ways; still, he found himself wanting). Rest. Heart rest, that is the issue with which the Ecclesiastes preacher wrestles. So let us hear the Preacher: “…Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light…” (Mat 11:28-30). Come unto me our blessed Lord says (“seek my face”). Here is profit (thus necessarily is deity). It is to our contentment to thus labor, for He gives us the rest we seek. Let us come unto the Preacher, who rests us; the One who makes known to us the path of life, in whose presence is fullness of joy, and in whose right hand are pleasures forever (Psa 16:11).

This great One whom we seek is found on the other side of the travail which He places in the way of humankind (the other side because one must go through it leaning on Him); and His own get there, and find Him there, humbled by their submission to His will for their lives by His grace in the face of travail: “…I have seen the travail that God hath given to the sons of man to be humbled by it…” Let us let Him have His way with us here. Thus did the One whom we seek Himself tread upon the path of humility, being in all things made like unto His brethren (imagine that). But notice the grace of the master Craftsman whilst shaping, whittling, smoothing, humbling, bringing about the image of Christ—He has made everything beautiful in its own time, even in travail this beauty may be found. How so? We have about us a beautiful home earth on which we live, and the cosmos He has opened up to us for exploration and our enjoyment; to wonder at, and gasp for breath at its breath-taking beauty. And what of the loved ones, beautiful to us indeed, with which He surrounds us as if embracing: “…The whole he hath made beautiful in its season…” Thus does the master Craftsman make everything beautiful in its season—it for us, and us for Him. It is to His exceeding glory. Praised be thy Name great savior God.

Our Father God, eternal (“The Alpha and the Omega”), has “placed eternity” into our hearts, notwithstanding, without the capacity to grasp specifically the works of God from beginning to end (we have the capacity to perceive infiniteness, a real abstraction to us, but cannot rigorously define it): “…also, that knowledge He hath put in their heart without which man findeth not out the work that God hath done from the beginning even unto the end…” And why; why does God place eternity into our hearts? And why does He not allow us to attain to it concretely, but only in a limited way abstractly in our time? He created us an eternal being for intimate fellowship with Himself is why He necessarily “placed eternity” into our hearts. Small wonder that here again our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Father God Jehovah, eternal, for in Him our eternal longings are satiated completely, over against ‘everything under the heavens,’ which is finite, and thus ultimately a frustration to our eternal cognition and appreciation and “hunger.” We were created eternal beings, and long for infiniteness. Death particularly check mates us here, and so we enjoy the gracious gifts of God that enrich our time, even to its end, serving Him, doing good: “… I have known that there is no good for them except to rejoice and to do good during their life, yea, even every man who eateth and hath drunk and seen good by all his labour, it is a gift of God…” But in our finitude we are frustrated; are restless; longing to transcend finitude unto the infiniteness for which we were created [41]. And again, in our finitude we are frustrated, and everything (but God, eternal) leaves us so. In this way He helps us to seek Him. Surely we would not otherwise in our fallen nature ever seek Him. It is in a manner of speaking a sad report that God must needs thus withhold blessing humankind. It is to our good to find Him; an exceeding Blessing to find Him (“A Letter of Invitation”); it is, to His own, satisfaction and rest. Not so, however, to the profane; the Godless. These endeavor to “fill up” their God-placed eternity with everything under the heavens (for this is all that is real to them; their reality is physical; we speak of materialists). Thus they defy God; they fear Him not. Please notice what God says: “…all that God doth is to the age, to it nothing is to be added, and from it nothing is to be withdrawn…” God’s Reality (“Ti Estin Alhqeia”) stands to and through the End (the consummation of the ages ‘under the heavens’), unalterable, and thus humankind must either seek and by His grace find God, eternal, or continue restless and frustrated in their time without God, and sore miserable in their eternity going forward still without Him, for humankind has not been endowed with the capacity to grasp specifically the works of God from beginning to end (to attain to infiniteness), as said above. This inalterability of God’s Reality from without (from the domain of the mundane) should quicken in humankind, hungry for infiniteness, the consciousness of our utter need for God, eternal, to satisfy our longings here, and serve to inspire awe and reverence of Him (we speak here of eternal things after all): “…and God hath wrought that they do fear before Him…” This was said in a different context above.

In the domain of the mundane systems are constrained to at best repeat; there is nothing new under the heavens (nothing can be added to or taken away from what God has already done, this includes the workings of mental abstraction). Discoveries may be made, but that which is discovered is not new to God’s handiwork around us. What appears to be new is but a different manifestation of that which was before it. It is not new in the strict sense. “Newness” in the strict sense would require input from outside the domain of the mundane (from outside the created order, thus from the finger of God): “…What is that which hath been? Already it is, and that which is to be hath already been, and God requireth that which is pursued…” The Ecclesiastes preacher means that things repeat down here in this fallen world. It follows that newness must needs come only with the new heavens and the new earth (Isa 65:17, 66:22, 2Pe 3:13, Rev 21:1) [42].

16-22-How Shall You Die, Like a Child of the Resurrection, or Like a Beast of the Indignation?

YLT TEXT: And again, I have seen under the sun the place of judgment [43] — there is the wicked[ness] [44]; and the place of righteousness [45] — there is the wicked. I said in my heart, ‘The righteous and the wicked doth God judge, for a time is to every matter and for every work there.’ I said in my heart concerning the matter of the sons of man that God might cleanse [46] them, so as to see that they themselves are beasts [47]. For an event [47a] is to the sons of man, and an event is to the beasts, even one event is to them; as the death of this, so is the death of that; and one spirit [48] is to all, and the advantage [31] of man above the beast is nothing, for the whole is vanity [49]. The whole are going unto one place, the whole have been from the dust, and the whole are turning back unto the dust. Who knoweth the spirit of the sons of man that is going up on high, and the spirit of the beast that is going down below to the earth? And I have seen that there is nothing better than that man rejoice in his works, for it is his portion; for who doth bring him in to look on that which is after him? (Ecc 3:16-22).

COMMENTARY-Wickedness is everywhere in this fallen world (thus it is fallen), even where it ought not be—in the justice system(s) (Isa 10:1), where one would expect to find righteousness: “…I have seen under the sun the place of judgment — there is the wicked[ness]; and the place of righteousness — there is the wicked[ness]…” We should not be surprised to find wickedness anywhere that fallen humankind exercises its dominion. But what are we to say of the Ecclesiastes preacher’s particular vexation—wickedness in our courts of law? The implication is that neither the righteous nor the wicked receive their just due. It must needs be again that something new must enter from without the domain of the mundane to remediate what we know is even still today a hard reality concerning human efforts to exercise Justice: noble though they are, and certainly necessary, they are imperfect and thus to some degree unjust wherever one finds them exercised around the world. And so thus says transcendent, Just Jehovah God here: “…The righteous and the wicked doth God judge, for a time is to every matter and for every work there…” (Psa 37:12-13, 2Cr 5:10-concerning the redeemed, Rev 20:11-13-concerning the unredeemed). Here is something new. Thou redeemed righteous take heart; thou unredeemed wicked tremble, repent and fear God [38]; turn to Him through His Messiah Jesus (“A Letter of Invitation”).

‘…Why surely I am no beast…’ Notice the Word of God:

“…I said in my heart concerning the matter of the sons of man that God might cleanse [prove to] them, so as to see that they themselves are beasts. For an event [death] is to the sons of man, and an event is to the beasts, even one event is to them, as the death of this, so the death of that; and one spirit [breath, breathing air] is to all, and the advantage of man above the beast is nothing, for the whole is vanity [but a vapor that fast disappears]. The whole are going unto one place, the whole have been from the dust, and the whole are turning back unto dust [Sin, the Fall/judgment of Sin here Gen 3:19]…”

And again: ‘…Why surely I am no beast…’ So why should one presume one is not a beast? Does a beast have the Spirit of God in them? No—God says nowhere in His Word that He has placed or places His Spirit in them (cf. Gen 2:7, 20 [humankind names that which is positionally beneath him, thus by default without the Spirit of God; cf. Gen 1:28], Eze 36:27, 2Cr 6:18, 3:18, Jhn 1:12-13, et al.). Does every human have the Spirit of God in them? Again, no. Created in the image of God yes, but separated from God at the Fall. Sin, introduced at the Fall, separated humankind from holy God. But the redemption of humankind made it possible for fellowship to be restored between God and humankind (discussed further here “A Letter of Invitation”). And owing to the power and efficacy of the Cross, humankind before and after Calvary may have imparted to them the Holy Spirit of God (partake of the divine nature). And that blessed indwelling is the salient distinguishing feature between humankind and the beasts. ‘…Why surely I am no beast…’ Indeed, if the Spirit of God resides in you friend; otherwise, not so [50]. Your life is but a vapor (vanity) that fast disappears, and when it does, you will perish just like the beasts, and worse, for your Godlessness will be judged (Jhn 3:16-19): “…For an event is to the sons of man, and an event is to the beasts, even one event is to them, as the death of this, so the death of that…” And again: “…and the advantage of man above the beast is nothing, for the whole is vanity. The whole are going unto one place, the whole have been from the dust, and the whole are turning back unto the dust…” As is physical death to the one, so it is to the other; there is no advantage of the one over the other in that respect. He speaks physically here. And again: “…Who knoweth the spirit of the sons of man that is going up on high, and the spirit of the beast that is going down below to the earth?…” He pivots now and speaks spiritually—in this God knows; knows His own (2Ti 2:19). And so precisely thus it ends, a time to die; thus it ends, a Terminus constant but for the Judgment (Rev 20:11-13), the only one so, when a human being dies like a beast, unredeemed; Godless. Such a one may as well eat, drink, and be aplenty merry today, while the day lasts for them: “… And I have seen that there is nothing better than that man rejoice in his works, for it is his portion; for who doth bring him in to look on that which is after him?…” But not so for the children of the resurrection, redeemed; partakers of the divine nature; no Terminus constant here to be sure, but ever new eternity in the presence of God, eternal, lays before (“Children of the Resurrection”, “Psalm Sixteen Commentary”). Let us fear Jehovah God.