Chapter 5
Section title is Fear God
2 Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few. [Ecc 5:2 ESV]
We should know our place, our insignificance before an infinite and perpetual God. A God who can do works that endure forever, when our lives are but a breath.
2021 - At least these first 7 verses do seem to be about keeping quiet. I don't know how that fits in exactly with the previous chapter. It could be that the "fear God" part in the title is what it is really about. If you fear God - or the King - then the less you say the better. I don't understand this verse though:
[Ecc 5:6 ESV] Let not your mouth lead you into sin, and do not say before the messenger that it was a mistake. Why should God be angry at your voice and destroy the work of your hands? MSB ties it back to making vows before the throne - or the altar in Solomon's case. Don't make vows to God that your fleshly weaknesses will make you break at some point. Don't vow more than you can keep. And when the time comes, the verse above says don't be telling the priest that it really isn't that big a deal, and so anger God for your frivolous attitude and invoke His revenge.
So this makes sense, but I still don't see how it ties back to 4.
2021 - Beginning in vs 8, the section title is The Vanity of Wealth and Honor
There seems to be some difficulty in translating this verse. The TCR footnotes says "the meaning of the Hebrew verse is uncertain". There is surely some variation in the various translations. Here is vs 8, which introduces the more confusing 9, and then verse 9 in three versions:
[Ecc 5:8 ESV] If you see in a province the oppression of the poor and the violation of justice and righteousness, do not be amazed at the matter, for the high official is watched by a higher, and there are yet higher ones over them.
So this verse says that if you observe widespread oppression in a "state", don't make the mistake of thinking it either a horrible state of affairs, or a localized corruption. Such a situation goes all the way to the top, and this is what vs 9 tries to hammer down:
[Ecc 5:9 ESV] But this is gain for a land in every way: a king committed to cultivated fields.
It could be trying to say that if the King insists that the land be worked, then yes, he makes money, his officials make money, everyone but the peasants make money, but the peasants do eat even in such a situation. So oppression has its upside. Now normally I wouldn't expect the Bible to say that, but this is Solomon - the planets most depressed and hopeless man - adding cynicism to his list. Or,
[Ecc 5:9 KJV] Moreover the profit of the earth is for all: the king [himself] is served by the field.
Maybe it is not saying the peasants are doing well at all, but certainly everyone else is doing well. Even the King is profiting from the taxes on abundant harvests. Don't be surprised if you see corruption - in fact, expect it because in such a system all the officials get wealthy.
[Ecc 5:9 NASB95] After all, a king who cultivates the field is an advantage to the land.
Then this last one, perhaps means that if even the King profits off the labor of the poor, then even the King will look after them, at least in the same way he would a good team of oxen. Could it mean that? Feed them and keep them working, and they eat well and everyone else gets wealthy.
2023 - I can't figure this one out. It seems to me that socialism fits this scenario. Russia, China...They oppressed their people and the corruption did and still does run all the way to the top. Surely in these verses Solomon says this is a good thing...but where is the good? Is the key the fact that this is about a king and his kingdom instead of about an oppressive communist dictatorship? I don't see how that makes it any better. Perhaps it means that even in an oppressive and unjust system, any system is better than no system, and if the profit from the land accrues all the way up to the king himself, then it is in the best interest of ALL these oppressors to keep the fields cultivated and producing. To keep the people working. And there is just so much oppression that can be dished out before everyone's profits start to suffer. Cynical...but this actually starts to make a little sense. Solomon is not recommending such a system, but he is pointing out that even in this system, productivity is above the baseline, and that benefits all. And I suspect that in such a system, good people are better - the light of good people shines more brightly - than in ho hum eezy peezy systems. And...if all the oppressors are making good money, perhaps they will be less tyrannical than if there we a general lack. And...those who have nothing in life but eating, sleeping, and working, miss out on greed and envy and bitterness. They are not tempted into these "nothing but vapor" pursuits that only to depression and unhappiness. Hmm...do I have this right? It sure seems to have a socialist ring to it. But not for the reasons socialist supporters would tout! Remember 4:4.
Vs 10-12 seem to continue the point that the oppressed are the winners in a corrupt system. Those trying to get rich will be obsessed with it and never have a peaceful night's sleep for worrying. But those who toil, the bottom rung of the ladder, will be worn out from their work, and sleep like babies, no matter their material lot in life. And Solomon says these are the best off of that system.
2023 - This ties back to 3:22. Be happy with your work, that's as good as it gets. And in this kind of system, you work is all that you have anyway. You sleep well at night, envy of the neighbors is minimized...What an anti-American concept this is...from the wisest man in the world. As Christians, we ought to see this as an indictment of our consumer mentality. The founding fathers got a lot of things right...and they were especially right that only a godly people, bent toward self-sacrifice instead of self-enrichment, were capable of prolonging such a country. And we have left that behind. We don't seek to do good work anymore, look at all the shorts about doing less, turning down responsibility, checking out. Solomon says to work hard even if you're oppressed, because that work you're doing is your most valuable possession. Hard, thankless work is what makes your life bearable. I think that might be what he is saying.
Then Solomon turns to wealth. He says if we love money, that it will never satisfy us. There is this verse:
12 Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep. [Ecc 5:12 ESV]
We can't take wealth with us when we go. Though we work all our lives and sacrifice and give up other things for wealth, when we die...it stays behind.
Verse 18 repeats the running theme of the book so far:
18 Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot. [Ecc 5:18 ESV]
Look at that last phrase. Solomon calls the fact that we come into life with nothing, and we can take nothing out when we die an evil thing. But this is our lot. This is the bane of mortality, and the source of all unhappiness. But it is all there is. This life will never satisfy. The next will. BUT, if you don't focus on this, if you focus on the basics and put away envy, life is good.
2024 - It is not the result of the labor we do that brings true enjoyment to our lives. It is the labor itself. It is the act of working, not the ditch that results. That, and eating, and drinking.
2024 - Hmm...think of this in terms of Peterson's views on finding meaning in life. You do it by shouldering as much responsibility, as much of the load, as you can. And you labor to carry it, and your pleasure is not in the result of carrying it, but in effort of carrying it.
Here are the summary verses, here is hope and happiness:
19 Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil--this is the gift of God. 20 For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart. [Ecc 5:19-20 ESV]
This is a FB post also, but needs much condensing.
2021 - I'm about worn out...reading on through from 5:13-6:12. Very long verses in Ecclesiastes.
Except...two grievous evils observed in 13-17. One is hanging onto money to our own hurt. Accumulated wealth cannot just sit. The more there is the more we are compelled to make more with it instead of just spend it to do good. And sooner or later, we will invest poorly, lose it all, and make paupers of our children.
The second is that no matter what we do, we came into the world naked, with nothing, and we will certainly exit the same way.
Ahh...once again a little bit of respite from the depression, looking all the way back to 3:12, 13. Here is how he states it in 5:
[Ecc 5:18 ESV] Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot.
[Ecc 5:19 ESV] Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil--this is the gift of God.
[Ecc 5:20 ESV] For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart.
Seems a bit existential again. Lamp unto my feet before a light to my path. Focus on that illuminated by the lamp. If you are poor, do good work, and enjoy the labor of your hands. If you are rich, enjoy riches don't become a slave to them.