Ecclesiastes Chapter One, The Absence Of Merit

Ecclesiastes 1:15 What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be numbered.

The present verse has the preacher phrasing verse 14 differently. In the previous verse, the preacher states how he witnessed all things done under the sun, that is, the work God has given to mankind. Furthermore, he notes the utter futility of it all. It is tantamount to grasping after the wind, which is an excellent depiction of an impossible task.

The preacher first refers to human effort and works as “crooked.” He observes that what is naturally crooked cannot be made straight. It is reasonable to assume the preacher infers that this crooked thing began so, or he might have easily clarified by telling his readership that something formerly straight and made crooked cannot be mended. But that seems unlikely, since an object that was once straight, having been bent, could be restored to its former condition. The idea in this comment is that the crooked thing the preacher beholds has always been as such.

One may say this crookedness is a good descriptor for sin in Scripture. One definition of sin simply means falling shy of the mark, as if one were firing a bow and never hitting the bulls eye. This is neatly summarized by the apostle when we read, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Romans 3:23. The preacher later utilizes the same language when speaking of God Himself: “Consider the work of God, for who is able to straighten what he has bent?” Ecclesiastes 7:13, NASB.

We learn from Scripture that man is born dead in sins and trespasses, Ephesians 2:1. David writes, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me,” Psalm 51:5. What is, by nature, evil cannot be made to do good by sheer force of effort. Not good as God defines it. We are all by nature crooked, and when we shoot for the mark we fall short of it, because our nature is incapable of anything short of it. Humanly speaking, self improvement is refined sin because while it may put away grosser vices such as sexual immorality or drunkenness, it indulges pride and self-righteousness. Function may alter, but the form remains and it is at its core, crooked.

Of salvation, the Apostle John wrote that human effort or pedigree did not grant eternal life. Rather, it was God’s will to enact His rescue plan, His gospel to seek and save the lost, John 1:13. Jesus cautioned that no man may come to Christ unless the Father draws him, John 6:44. This implies that the impetus of salvation is entirely from God, instigated by God, and given to mankind. By His great love and grace we learn that those drawn include everyone on earth, John 12:32. It is within God’s power to remake that which is naturally crooked. It is not within human power, or as the preacher would remind his readership, any power under the sun. So human works, and by extension the people that commit them, are crooked. A tree, our Lord once explained to us, is known by the fruit it produces, Luke 6:44.

The preacher rephrases his first comment, using lack rather than crookedness. Just like something naturally crooked cannot be straightened, something lacking cannot be counted, or numbered. Something’s intrinsic value may be broken down on the simplest level by determining how much of it there is. Money, for instance, is more valuable as it multiplies. $100 is worth more than $10, simply because the numeric value is greater. In other instances the less of something there are, the greater the value. A piece of art that is one of a kind, for example, is worth a great deal; whereas a piece of art that is mass produced however beautiful the beholder finds it, is worth less. Worth may be linked directly to benefit. Something isn’t worth anything unless it benefits the owner in some way. Money is valuable because it is the tender through which our economy functions. Art is valuable in perhaps a more abstract way because it grants a certain prestige of ownership to its possessor, who has in their collection something no one else does.

There is no valuation for the absence of money, or the outright loss of said art. One cannot number what does not exist. This descriptor of human effort is graphically applied by the preacher in his assertion that mankind’s works are vanity. Asking to define the point of pointlessness is something of an oxymoron. Be definition, pointlessness has no point. It is absurd, without direction or purpose, driven by no clearly defined engine with no overarching narrative to create the parameters that define success or failure. The same may be said with counting that which is lacking. This ideology may be summed up by the prophet when he writes, “You have sown much, and bring in little; you eat, but do not have enough; you drink, but you are not filled with drink; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and he who earns wages, earns wages to put into a bag with holes,” Haggai 1:6. 

The final portion of that verse is the heart of what the preacher is getting at. We have deceived ourselves into believing that we’re working toward a final, objective, tangible and noteworthy end, but instead our wages, as it were, fall into a bag with holes. We accumulate nothing, earn nothing, prove nothing. As stated earlier, this book on surface glance may be seen as an exercise in Nihilism. But the preacher isn’t interested in pointing out the fallacies of the human condition and leaving us paralyzed with anxiety. That would be like a physician telling us that we have a potentially terminal illness and failing to follow through with any treatment options. Like the gospel of salvation, mankind must trudge through the bad news to make the good news of our salvation appear all the better, the preacher leads with a powerful blow to human ego and effort to tear down our self-righteous defenses. Then, and only then, is a remedy applied. We must be made painfully aware of the bad news of our affliction or situation before being told the good news has any impact. God willing, we will do so as the book progresses.