Ecclesiastes Chapter Nine, What The Dead Know

Ecclesiastes 9:4 But for him who is joined to all the living there is hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion. [5] For the living know that they will die; but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. 

Verse 4 continues the preacher’s descent into morbidity regarding the estate of man under the sun. The concept of being joined to the living is simply a euphemism meaning that one is still alive. We are part of the global community of countries and ethnicities that comprise planet earth. As long as we live we may have hope. But if we pause without brushing past this initial statement, we must ask the question: hope in what? What does the man under the sun hope for, when the sky is leaden and the spirit is dismissed as fantasy?

One clue in what man may hope for is expressed in the latter part of the verse. The preacher explains that a living dog is better than a dead lion. Recall the use of the word, “better,” throughout Ecclesiastes. Generally speaking, the term contrasts something bad with something worse. In this instance a living dog and a dead lion. A lion in Scripture is often depicted as a powerful creature. In fact our Lord is referred to as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, Revelation 5:5. Even the Devil is likened to a roaring lion in his ferocity and intention to devour any prey he can fall upon, 1 Peter 5:8. Perhaps the best representation of this is from Solomon himself, when he writes, “The wrath of a king is like the roaring of a lion; whoever provokes him to anger sins against his own life,” Proverbs 20:2.

To understand the usage of the word dog in Scripture, we can journey back to Deuteronomy. God says to the Israelites, “You shall not bring the wages of a harlot or the price of a dog to the house of the Lord your God for any vowed offering, for both of these are an abomination to the Lord your God,” Deuteronomy 23:18. Both persons mentioned are explained more clearly in verse 17: a ritual harlot and perverted person. The “perverted person” of verse 17 is, “qadesh,” a male religious prostitute that practices sodomy. The act of male with male intercourse is likened to dogs mating, a practice God finds abominable for perverting the natural order regarding men, women, sex, and marriage. Goliath the champion of the Philistines was wroth with David when the shepherd came against him with a sling and stones, yelling, “Am I a dog?” cursing him by his gods, 1 Samuel 17:43. Finally, the Psalmist writes of the Christ, “Deliver Me from the sword, and My precious life from the power of the dog,” Psalm 22:20. Dogs were seen as unclean in Jewish culture, used at least once to fulfill an oracle of God,  see 1 Kings 14:11, and sometimes used to describe the wicked, Isaiah 56:10, 11.

Preferable for the state of man was being alive, even as a dog, then being dead, even as a lion. A lion was a symbol of power and authority. The dog was largely viewed with contempt. But better to be seen as an object of scorn and be alive than to be revered as someone mighty, but be dead. The preacher presses this contrast further by saying the living are aware that death is coming. They know they will die. Let that momentous, truncated bit of truth settle in our thoughts for a moment. I know I will die. Unless Christ the Lord intervenes and I am raptured prior, death is inevitable. This knowledge is compared to the dead, who, according to the preacher, know nothing. Neither is there any more reward for them under the sun because death prohibits it. Verse 6 clarifies this point when the preacher adds, “Nevermore will they have a share in anything done under the sun.” The focus is on earthly life, its brief length and its untimely cessation. The dead know nothing of earthly things any longer, because their lot in life has ended.

The argument has been made (quite spuriously) from certain cults that this passage demonstrates that when a person dies conscious existence ceases. But read the passage–and the whole of the book–one more time. Is this what the preacher is referring to? He clarifies that he is addressing life under the sun in verse 6. The dead have nothing more to contribute to the living; they know nothing. This makes communing with the dead (who are in reality masquerading demons) dubious and dangerous. The dead have nothing more to give to the living and have shuffled off this mortal coil, as it were. To suggest, much less demand that this passage is proof that conscious existence after death is a false doctrine is to admit to grossly misunderstanding Scripture, and twisting other, clear passages that refer to conscious existence after death into metaphor or parable to suit one’s agenda. Paul made the state of the believer that is dead crystal clear when he wrote, “We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord,” 2 Corinthians 5:8. When the apostle was facing an imminent end, he wrote to the Philippian church, “For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better,” Philippians 1:23. To teach soul sleep or annihilation of the spirit from this passage disregards its intended purpose, which is to caution the living that being alive is better, because we may hope to continue living a little longer. God willing, I will return to the doctrine of Soul Sleep in my next Molehills segment and approach it more comprehensively.

Apart from lacking a reward any longer, the preacher mentions that the memory of the dead is forgotten. Like the wicked man of Ecclesiastes 8:10, it is apparently the fate of all mankind to ultimately be forgotten. Even the greatest historical figures in politics or the military are forgotten. We know OF them, but we do not personally know them. And eventually even the greatest human achievements and the people who made them, will be swallowed up by time’s passage. Man’s greatest desire, to achieve the bond of a lasting legacy, proves to be farcical. It is a great fear for man under the sun to consider his life and realize that all that he is, all of his wins and losses, all of his thoughts, perspectives and ideas, will die with him when he goes. They do not perpetuate his life, and those who knew him personally to recount him will shortly follow. The book of Judges is rife with the reality of knowing someone, verses knowing about them. While Joshua lived, for instance, Israel obeyed God, Judges 2:7, 8. When he perished, along with every man who knew him and upheld his beliefs, the people quickly forsook God’s way and sinned, Judges 2:10, 11. 

In this respect Joshua was forgotten, as well as the God Joshua commanded Israel to serve. Under the sun we will all be forgotten in turn and in our time; but the name of the Lord is forever. My friend and Bible teacher Jim Gruba would say what he hopes his own teaching inspires for the listener is, “Good sermon. Who was the teacher again?” His wish is for the name of the Lord to prosper; it is irrelevant if ours is remembered. The legacy we want to sow is that of God’s kingdom and the gospel of Christ as it transforms souls. In light of this, being forgotten by our peers and the generation to come doesn’t seem as important.