Ecclesiastes Chapter Six, The Burden Of Having

Ecclesiastes 6:7 All the labor of man is for his mouth, and yet his soul is not satisfied. [8] For what more has the wise man than the fool? What does the poor man have, who knows how to walk before the living? [9] Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of desire. This is also vanity and grasping for the wind.

The NASB renders the Hebrew word “soul” for “appetite” for clarity. The literal translation is soul, however, but both could be applicable here. The labor of man is to sate his appetite, whatever that appetite is. We work to achieve what we desire, but when we achieve it gratification is fleeting, and the soul, or one’s appetite, is stricken with fresh desire, or a new pursuit.

Sixteen years In Review

It occurred to me that on June 26th my blog turned 16 years old. Since I missed putting out a year in review right on the date, I figured that I would do so before June was finished. So without further ado, I present 16 years in review of What’s in a Name?

Ecclesiastes Chapter Six, Lacking Goodness

Ecclesiastes 6:3 If a man begets a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with goodness, or indeed he has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better than he–[4] for it comes in vanity and departs in darkness, and its name is covered with darkness. [5] Though it has not seen the sun or known anything, this has more rest than that man, [6] even if he lives a thousand years twice–but has not seen goodness. Do not all go to one place?

The preacher has already made an argument concerning the difference between having something and enjoying it. Or possessing verses having power to utilize it. This disparity between wealth’s accumulation and prosperity despite having it is something that is a thorn in the preacher’s side, seeing as how he revisits it numerous times.

Ecclesiastes Chapter Six, Possession Verses Power

Ecclesiastes 6:1 There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is common among men: [2] A man to whom God has given riches and wealth and honor, so that he lacks nothing for himself of all he desires; yet God does not give him power to eat of it, but a foreigner consumes it. This is vanity, and it is an evil affliction.

Reaching back to the conclusion of chapter 5, we recall that the preacher differentiates between the man God gives both wealth and the ability to enjoy it (Ecclesiastes 5:19, 20) with the present man who has wealth but not the power to utilize it. Rather, like the rich man who made a poor business venture in Ecclesiastes 5:13 and 14, this man amasses wealth so that another may eat of it.

Pantheism: The Worship Of Everything

Oxford defines the term “pantheism” as, “The belief that God is present in all things.” From some of its advocates, we receive these quotes.

Marcus Aurelius (121-180 AD) wrote, “I believe in the cosmos. All of us are linked to the cosmos. So nature is my god. To me, nature is sacred. Trees are my temples and forests are my cathedrals.”

Paul Harrison (born 1945) wrote, “When we say that the cosmos is divine, we mean it with just as much conviction and emotion as believers say that their god is God.” He further wrote, “Pantheism revels in the beauty of nature and the night sky, and is full of wonder at their mystery and power.”

Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677 AD) wrote, “Whatever is, is in God, and without God nothing can be, or be conceived. God is the indwelling, and not the transient cause of all things.”

Interestingly, Richard Dawkins (born 1941) wrote, “Pantheism is sexed up atheism.”

What then, can be said of Pantheism? It is the belief that God is in all things, or that all things are a part of God. The cosmos is a divine thing; nature itself is a divine thing. Carl Sagan was once quoted as writing, “If we must worship a power greater than ourselves, does it not make sense to revere the Sun and stars?” So then, an admission to reverencing the universe as something divine, tantamount to worshiping the personal God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, is a tacit confession of Pantheism.