Ecclesiastes Chapter Nine, One Event For All

Ecclesiastes 9:2 All things come alike to all: One event happens to the righteous and the wicked; to the good, the clean, and the unclean; to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice. As is the good, so is the sinner; he who takes an oath as he who fears an oath. [3] This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: one thing happens to all. Truly the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil; madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead.

As was explained in rather painful detail in the previous chapter, so now does the preacher launch into another lament about the frailty of human life and its inevitable end. Verse 2 begins with a sweeping universal incrimination: one event happens to all. Focusing on the single word, “all,” one can deduce that the preacher is inferring a universal theme, from which no member of Adam’s race is exempt.

Ecclesiastes Chapter Nine, What Awaits

Ecclesiastes 9:1 For I considered all this in my heart, so that I could declare it all: that the righteous and the wise and their works are in the hand of God. People know neither love nor hatred by anything they see before them.

Chapter nine continues the thoughts the preacher is forming regarding the work of God and the labor of man from the previous chapter. In the concluding verses, he asserts that he applied his heart to understand, only to ascertain that God’s work is beyond man’s comprehension. Though even the greatest men search to understand, it will always remain beyond him. This culminates with the declaration of verse 1, stating that the preacher considered all of this in his heart.

Peripherals, A Brief Look At Exorcism

Today I would like to begin a new series I am calling Peripherals. To explain, as opposed to my Molehills series, Peripherals will deal with issues within Christendom that are not necessarily doctrinal items, but an observational commentary on something that has become entrenched in the church or even popular culture. For the first entry I would like to have a brief examination regarding the history of exorcism. Mind you, this is hardly exhaustive, but rather a glimpse into the concept of exorcism.

Ecclesiastes Chapter Eight, Seeking The Impossible

 Ecclesiastes 8:16 When I applied my heart to know wisdom and to see the business that is done on earth, even though one sees no sleep day or night, [17] then I saw all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. For though a man labors to discover it, yet he will not find it; moreover, though a wise man attempts to know it, he will not be able to find it.

Paradoxically, when the preacher attests that he applied his heart to know wisdom, he learned that man cannot learn what is done under the sun. In short, he realized that, through wisdom, he cannot know certain things. The sum of what is done under the sun is God’s providence: he says as much when he refers to it as “the work of God.”

Ecclesiastes Chapter Eight, Nothing Is Better

Ecclesiastes 8:15 So I commended enjoyment, because a man has nothing better under the sun than to eat, drink, and be merry; for this will remain with him in his labor all the days of his life which God gives him under the sun.

The familiar phrase “under the sun” is used twice in this verse, just as “vanity” is employed twice in the last for added emphasis on the preacher’s current point of view. The preacher wants to emphasize the fact that he is viewing the reward or purpose of life from an entirely earthly perspective. His conclusion? To indulge in enjoyment.