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Tag Archives: Self-denial

But self when opposed

05 Sunday Oct 2014

Posted by memoirandremains in Ecclesiology, James

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anger, Ecclesiology, James, Party-spirit, Self, Self-denial, Strife, Tongue, William Kelly

Without doubt each saint is responsible in all humility as regards himself, to speak for the Lord for his glory and will, grace and truth, are plainly revealed. Alas, how much is said that has no higher sourced himself, however veiled it maybe! But self when opposed is apt to break out into strife and party-work, with all the deadly accompaniments and results. Nor are any souls more deceived than those who accredit themselves with the best motives, and fear not to assail with odious imputations those who approve them.

Exposition of the Epistle of James,
William Kelly 1913, p. 114

It Creates a New Existence

12 Tuesday Aug 2014

Posted by memoirandremains in Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Discipleship, Faith, Obedience, Self-Denial

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Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Discipleship, Faith, Following, Obedience, Self-denial

Following Christ means taking certain steps. The first step, which responds to the call, separates the followers from their previous existence. A call to discipleship thus immediately creates a new situation. Staying in the old situation and following Christ mutually exclude each other. At first, that was quite visibly the case. The tax collector had to leave his booth and Peter his nets to follow Jesus. According to our understanding, even back then things could have been quite different. Jesus could have given the tax collector new knowledge of God and left him in his old situation. If Jesus had not been God’s Son become human, then that would have been possible. But because Jesus is the Christ, it has to be made clear from the beginning that his word is not a doctrine. Instead, it creates existence anew. The point was to really walk with Jesus. It was made clear to those he called that they only had one possibility of believing in Jesus, that of leaving everything and going with the incarnate Son of God.

The first step puts the follower into the situation of being able to believe. If people do not follow, they remain behind, then they do not learn to believe. Those called must get out of their situations, in which they cannot believe, into a situation in which faith can begin. This step has no intrinsic worth of its own; it is justified only by the community with Jesus Christ that is attained. As long as Levi sits in the tax collector’s booth and Peter at his nets, they would do their work honestly and loyally, they would have old or new knowledge about God. But if they want to learn to believe in God, they have to follow the Son of God incarnate and walk with him.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Discipleship, Chapter 2

The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, Study Guide.7

10 Sunday Aug 2014

Posted by memoirandremains in Biblical Counseling, Discipleship, Jeremiah Burroughs, Philippians, Self-Denial

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Affliction, Augustin, Biblical Counseling, Confessions, Contentment, contentmetn, Discipleship, Heaven, Jeremiah Burroughs, Pray, Self-denial, Study Guide, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment

The previous post in this series may be found here

The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment.7

Christ’s School of Contentment (86-92)

Self-Denial

As you consider this first series of questions, ask yourself, (a) why is this a hard lesson; and (b) do you even consider this to be an actual demand upon you [would you actually do this].

1. What is the first lesson?

 

2. Why does Burroughs write that you must learn this “or you can never be a Christian”?

 

  1. How does a self-denying heart respond to the “stroke” of God?

 

4. What does yielding produce (page 87)?

Continue reading →

No school was ever …so select

22 Monday Apr 2013

Posted by memoirandremains in Discipleship, G. Campbell Morgan, Luke, Self-Denial

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cross, Discipleship, G. Campbell Morgan, Luke 14:26, Luke 14:27, Luke 14:33, Renounciation, Self-denial

Now, upon what personal conditions may I become a disciple? …

No school of man was ever so strictly guarded, so select, as this, yet none was ever so easy of access.

No bar of race,
or color, or caste,
or age stands across the entrance.

Humanity constitutes the essential claim.

And yet, because of the importance of the truths to be revealed,
and of the necessity for the application of every power of the being to the understanding and realization of these truths,

Jesus stands at the entrance,
forbidding any to enter,
save upon certain conditions.

Let us hear His threefold word.

I. “If any man cometh unto Me, and hateth not his own father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, He Cannot Be My Disciple” (Luke xiv. 26).

II. “Whosoever doth not bear his own cross, and come after Me, Cannot Be My Disciple” (Luke xiv. 27).

III. “Whosoever he be of you that renounceth not all that lie hath, he CanNot Be My Disciple” (Luke xiv. 33).

The new relationship must be superior, in the urgency of its claims to the claim of any earthly relationship; it must be considered and answered before any claims of the self-life. The Teacher demands that we shall take up the cross and so follow on, even though the progress be through pain.

George Campbell Morgan. Discipleship.

The Crook in the Lot (Revised).2

27 Wednesday Feb 2013

Posted by memoirandremains in Biblical Counseling, Discipleship, Obedience, Preaching, Thomas Boston

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2 Corinthians 13:5-9, 2 Kings 10:12, 2 Samuel 11:1-2, 2 Samuel 12:9–10, Affliction, Amos 1:3–5, Biblical Counseling, Crook, Discipleship, Ecclesiastes 2:11–12, Endurance, Faith, faith, Jeremiah 2:19, Jeremiah 3:12–13, Job 33:17, Laziness, Luke 15:17, Luke 4:13, Mark 10:17–22, Obedience, patience, Patience, Preaching, Proverbs 10:1–7, Proverbs 1:17–19, Psalm 119:67, Psalm 32:3–5, Self-denial, temptation, The Crook in the Lot, Thomas Boston, Thomas Brooks, Trial, tribulation

The first entry can be found here:

https://memoirandremains.wordpress.com/2013/02/26/the-crook-in-the-lot-revised-1/

Why Does God Make Crooks?

            First, to test our state to see whether we are in the faith or not?

5 Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test! 6 I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test. 7 But we pray to God that you may not do wrong—not that we may appear to have met the test, but that you may do what is right, though we may seem to have failed. 8 For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. 9 For we are glad when we are weak and you are strong. Your restoration is what we pray for. 2 Corinthians 13:5–9 (ESV)

An example of such a trial of faith may be seen in Job’s life. Satan denies that Job is what he seems. Job’s friends then accuse Job of hypocrisy. Or in the matter of the Israelites in the wilderness: God left in need and want to try their faith – at which they grumbled. But Joshua and Caleb persevered in trial.

The rich young ruler came to Jesus and sought the key to eternal life, at which point Jesus uncovered the hypocrisy of his life:

17 And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’ ” 20 And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” 21 And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 22 Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Mark 10:17–22 (ESV)

The young man would not submit to the crook of God at that point. He was his own master in the end. Would not agree to God’s determination but rather sought his desires.

            Second, to wean us from this world and seek the happiness of the age to come. 

            When Hamlet realizes that he must revenge his father’s death and thus bring his own life into jeopardy, Hamlet turns on his love Ophelia to send her away. He brings pain into her life to drive her to a better life.

            In the same way, God will lay crooks across our lot to drive us off from a sinful love of this world. Our hearts are so prone to make idols of comforts and seek an endless life in a land of death, that God will lay crooks upon that we may see the foolishness of our grasping.  Pain in this life can wake us to the reality of this age and force us to seek a true and lasting happiness.

            This is the great theme of the first six chapters of Ecclesiastes: there is nothing truly satisfying to be had here. Even when Solomon had gained the whole world he had realized he had nothing:

11 Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun. 12 So I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly. For what can the man do who comes after the king? Only what has already been done. Ecclesiastes 2:11–12 (ESV)

Thus, the pain of the crook contains its blessing.

The Prodigal Son, when he could drink deeply of the pleasures he could buy had no thoughts of home. Only when pain began to invade his life did he “come to himself” (Luke 15:17).

            We are built to seek rest and happiness, yet in foolishness and sloth we easily seek permanent rest in temporary things. God lays a crook across rest and the straight path of comfort we sought becomes twisted and painful. Like a thorn in our pillow, it pricks us to consciousness and we seek a better rest. Thus, God uses the crook to set us off on the errand of seeking him.

            The pain of the crook is one of the great mercies God shows those who are his.

            Third, the crook brings us to see our sin: the sting awakes us to conviction.  This is a great theme of the prophet:

12 Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, “ ‘Return, faithless Israel, declares the LORD. I will not look on you in anger, for I am merciful, declares the LORD; I will not be angry forever. 13 Only acknowledge your guilt, that you rebelled against the LORD your God and scattered your favors among foreigners under every green tree, and that you have not obeyed my voice, declares the LORD. Jeremiah 3:12–13 (ESV)

It is the realization of the Psalmist:

Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word. Psalm 119:67 (ESV)

Sin contains its own poison, and often as we continue in unrepentant sin we feel the sting and corruption of sin:

3 For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. 4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah 5 I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah Psalm 32:3–5 (ESV)

There is a point here which must be made clear: Sin is of such great evil that any suffering is better than any sin. Our Lord in love remained obedient to the Father’s will and suffered death – but the Lord would not in the least instance sin. This is not to say that sorrow, suffering, trial and tribulation are small things – rather the comparison magnifies the evil of sin. 

            Fourth, God may bring the crook as the punishment for sin.

            This is of two sorts. God may simply bring a judgment upon a sin. For example, David sinned in the matter of Uriah and Uriah’s wife. Although God forgave David’s sin – that is, David was not damned for his fault – correction came:

9 Why have you despised the word of the LORD, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 10 Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ 2 Samuel 12:9–10 (ESV)

God sent punishment upon nations:

3 Thus says the LORD: “For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they have threshed Gilead with threshing sledges of iron. 4 So I will send a fire upon the house of Hazael, and it shall devour the strongholds of Ben-hadad. 5 I will break the gate-bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitants from the Valley of Aven, and him who holds the scepter from Beth-eden; and the people of Syria shall go into exile to Kir,” says the LORD.Amos 1:3–5 (ESV)

            A second way in which sin brings punishment is that consequence is often inherent in sin:

17 For in vain is a net spread in the sight of any bird, 18 but these men lie in wait for their own blood; they set an ambush for their own lives. 19 Such are the ways of everyone who is greedy for unjust gain; it takes away the life of its possessors. Proverbs 1:17–19 (ESV)

This principle of sowing and reaping, sowing sin and reaping the consequneces of sin run throughout Proverbs:

1 The proverbs of Solomon. A wise son makes a glad father, but a foolish son is a sorrow to his mother. 2 Treasures gained by wickedness do not profit, but righteousness delivers from death. 3 The LORD does not let the righteous go hungry, but he thwarts the craving of the wicked. 4 A slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich. 5 He who gathers in summer is a prudent son, but he who sleeps in harvest is a son who brings shame. 6 Blessings are on the head of the righteous, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence. 7 The memory of the righteous is a blessing, but the name of the wicked will rot. Proverbs 10:1–7 (ESV)

As the Lord warns through the prophet Jeremiah:

Your evil will chastise you, and your apostasy will reprove you. Know and see that it is evil and bitter for you to forsake the LORD your God; the fear of me is not in you, declares the Lord GOD of hosts. Jeremiah 2:19 (ESV)

            Fifth, God lays crooks across our lot to bar us from sin.  It is the sorry fact that people have been ruined by wealth.  Access to money leaves us free to our own devices; while a tighter budget may keep us from indulging in some sin.  There are many people who can thank the crook in their lot for keeping them from sin. Sin always seeks opportunity. It was the devil who left Jesus until an opportune time (Luke 4:13). The Lord may act to keep a man from evil, “that he may turn aside from his deed” (Job 33:17). Such preventing grace is a great good to the Christian – though crossing flesh may be painful for the moment.

            Hazael could not kill until he was king (2 Kings 10:12). David did not lust after Uriah’s wife until he gained ease and was at rest as king (2 Samuel 11:1-2).  Ease and comfort make way for sin.  We make think our crook of labor all of trouble – but it may very well protect us from sin:

It was the speech of Mr Greenham, sometimes a famous and painful preacher of this nation, that when the devil tempted a poor soul, she came to him for advice how she might resist the temptation, and he gave her this answer: ‘Never be idle, but be always well employed, for in my own experience I have found it. When the devil came to tempt me, I told him that I was not at leisure to hearken to his temptations, and by this means I resisted all his assaults.’ Idleness is the hour of temptation, and an idle person is the devil’s tennis-ball, tossed by him at his pleasure.

‘He that labours,’ said the old hermit, ‘is tempted but by one devil, but he that is idle is assaulted by all.’

 

 

Thomas Brooks, The Complete Works of Thomas Brooks, Volume 2, ed. Alexander Balloch Grosart (Edinburgh; London; Dublin: James Nichol; James Nisbet and Co.; G. Herbert, 1866), 278.

            Sixth, a crook may expose the sin which lay hidden in our heart.  A temptation does not put sin into the heart; rather a temptation or trial merely draws sin out of the heart.  A temptation punctures the heart and lets the corruption within pour out. Thus, a crook may expose the sin we harbor:

1 “The whole commandment that I command you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that the LORD swore to give to your fathers. 2 And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. Deuteronomy 8:1–2 (ESV)

We do not know impatience, until our desire is delayed. We do not know our anger until our will is denied. 

            Consider Moses: the meekest man on earth (Numbers 12:3), also harbored a strike of pride and anger which was only exposed when the people again demanded water from him (Numbers 20:13; Psalm 106:32-33).

            Now such crossing is a positive good to the believer, for sin being exposed can be repented of. David complains, “Who can know his errors? Declare me innocent of hidden faults”(Psalm 19:12).  Often pride covers a mass of sin which cowers unexposed until a suitable season. Such a mass of sin poisons our heart, though we do not see it distinctly. Therefore, exposure of such sin does us much good – if only in the humility which it brings to us.

            Seventh, the crook in our lot gives us grounds to exercise the grace of God.  There are many graces which we cannot exercise until faced with trials. We cannot exercise our faith until we must wait upon the Lord. We cannot exercise patience, until we do not receive that for which we hope. We cannot bear with one another until live with those who fail.

            This was a thing true of our Lord:

For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. Hebrews 2:10 (ESV)

Now if this is true of our Lord, it must be true of us:

16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. Romans 8:16–17 (ESV)

The crook in our lot, the suffering we face does us good. Not for the suffering itself, but for the end it obtains:

3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Romans 5:3–5 (ESV)

In fact, such trials will not merely do us good for the present, but eternal good:

6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ., 1 Peter 1:6–7 (ESV)

How the love of God purifies the heart

13 Wednesday Feb 2013

Posted by memoirandremains in Church History, George Muller, John, Mortification, Submission

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Arthur Pierson, Church History, Faith, faith, Feeling, George Muller, John, love, Love, Love of God, Mortification, Mortification of Sin, Sanctification, saving faith, Self-denial, Submission

“Truly to grasp this fact is the beginning of a true and saving faith—what the Spirit calls ” laying hold.” He who believes and knows that God so loved him first, finds himself loving God in return, and faith works by love to purify the heart, transform the life, and overcome the world.

It was so with George Muller. He found in the word of God one great fact: the love of God in Christ. Upon that fact faith, not feeling, laid hold; and then the feeling came naturally without being waited for or sought after. The love of God in Christ constrained him to a love—infinitely unworthy, indeed, of that to which it responded, yet supplying a new impulse unknown before. What all his father’s injunctions, chastisements, entreaties, with all the urgent dictates of his own conscience, motives of expediency, and repeated resolves of amendment, utterly failed to effect, the love of God both impelled and enabled him to do—renounce a life of sinful self-indulgence. Thus early he learned that double truth, which he afterwards passionately loved to teach others, that in the blood of God’s atoning Lamb is the Fountain of both forgiveness and cleansing.”

Excerpt From: Arthur Tappan Pierson. “George Müller of Bristol.” James Nisbet. iBooks.

The Sacrifice of Love in Romans 12:1

10 Sunday Feb 2013

Posted by memoirandremains in Fellowship, Ministry, Romans

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Charles Gore, community, Ecclesiology, Fellowship, James Dunn, love, Love, Love fulfills the law, Ministry, one-another, Paul, Romans, Romans 12, Romans 13, Self-denial, Self-Examination

Romans 12 presents an interesting quandary for the modern, North American Christian. Verse one presents a command: “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”

That command receives further detail in the next verse: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

The diligent, serious Christians reads these verses and thinks, I must do something. Yet, as John Street (TMC, head of Biblical Counseling department), explained once, Probably every sermon you have ever heard on this passage is wrong. Not wrong in the sense that it is used to teach a dangerous heresy. Rather wrong in the sense that we miss an important aspect of the passage.

The default of far too many Christians is to read an individualism into the passage which Paul never intended. We read the command “present your bodies as a living sacrifice” and think I, personally and independently, must do something. But consider the matter carefully: Bodies is plural, but the sacrifice is singular. All of you are presenting one sacrifice.

Consider the movement of the passage: Paul commands a living sacrifice. He then explains that we must live differently from the terms of culture; rather, our mind must be transformed. We not think of ourselves more highly than we ought. Why? Because all the individual believers make up one body:

3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.4 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

Something rather interesting happens at this point: the next several verses do not contain a finite verb. A general rule of Greek grammar is that a sentence has a finite verb which is the main verb and other verbs which are either participles or infinitives. You could think of this as a main idea with the other verbs as related ideas hanging on the main idea. In fact, we have go to verse 14 and the word “bless” before we get a “normal” sentence.

It is typical to simply break this up into various sentences and infer a finite verb. For example, the translation handbook reads:

In Greek verses 6–8 form one sentence, and it is rather complex. It begins with a participle and there is no main verb in the entire sentence. Although a verb is not present in the Greek, the context makes it clear what verb is implicit: we are to use (RSV “let us use them”; NEB “must be exercised accordingly”).

However, as James Dunn (Word Commentary, Romans) explains, there is a different way to understand the structure which takes into account the actual grammar and the flow of Paul’s argument:

It is almost universally assumed that v 6 begins a new sentence (e.g., neb, Barrett, Michel, Käsemann), with the second halves of the subsequent phrases filled out with imperatival force—so particularly rsv: “Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them” (the last four words having been added to the text). This forces the sense too much in one direction (a “somewhat harsh ellipse,” as SH recognize). The sentence reads more naturally as a continuation of the body imagery of vv 4–5 with the meaning of ἀλλήλων μέλη spelled out in terms of different charisms. The point then of the following phrases is that they are a description of the Christian congregation functioning as “one body in Christ” ….

Considered in this way, the nature of the spiritual sacrifice comes into view. The sacrifice is not longer a “me and Jesus” sacrifice of radical individualism (whether the song means precisely that is a different question), but is a sacrificing of oneself in love: this is a passage which introduces an extended discussion on Christian community (see, e.g., 1 Peter 1:21-22, sanctification and being “born again” bring about a radical transformation of brotherly love; Paul’s argument concerning the law is that love fulfills the law, Romans 13:10).

Gore explains that transformation sought by Paul is more than isolated holiness; it is a holiness, a transformation, a sacrifice which brings about a radical transformation of human life together:

And when St. Paul, justifying himself here, as before and later on, by the special divine favour which has made him the apostle of the Gentiles, proceeds to develop his exhortation, it appears that with him, as with St. James, the form in which ‘divine service’ shows itself must be love of the brethren. To be called into the body of Christ—the society which is bound into one by His life and spirit—is to be called to social service, that is, to live a community life, and to cultivate the virtues which make true community life possible and healthy. Of these the first is humility, which in this connexion means the viewing oneself in all things as one truly is, as a part of a whole. Of the faith by which the whole body lives, a share, but only a share, belongs to each member—a certain measure of faith—and he must not strain beyond it. But he is diligently to make the best of his faculty, and do the work for which his special gift qualifies him, in due subordination to the welfare of the whole whether it be inspired preaching, or ordinary teaching, or the distribution of alms, or presidency, or some other form of helping others which is his special function. Besides humility there are other virtues which make the life of a community healthy and happy, and St. Paul enumerates them, as they occur to his mind, in no defined order or completeness. There must be sincerity in love, that is in considering and seeking the real interest of others; there must be the righteous severity which keeps the moral atmosphere free from taint; there must be tenderness of feeling, which makes the community a real family of brothers; and an absence of all self-assertion, or desire for personal prominence; and thorough industry; and spiritual zeal; and devotion to God’s service; and the cheerfulness which Christian hope inspires; and the ready endurance of affliction; and close application to prayer; and a love for giving whenever fellow Christians need; and an eagerness to entertain them when they are travelling—for ‘the community’ embraces, not one church only, but ‘all the churches.’

Nay in a wider sense the community extends itself to all mankind, even those who persecute them.

In short, the spiritual sacrifice is a sacrifice of myself in love of God which leads to love of neighbor.

Volume 2 of the commentary on St. Paul’s
Epistle to the Romans, A Practical Exposition

By Charles Gore, D.D.
Lord Bishop of Worcester
Chaplain to His Majesty the King

Translation and Notes Ecclesiastes 7:7-14

30 Wednesday Jan 2013

Posted by memoirandremains in 1 Peter, 1 Timothy, Biblical Counseling, Discipleship, Ecclesiastes, Hebrew, Obedience, Submission

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1 Peter, 1 Timothy, Affliction, anger, Biblical Counseling, bribery, corruption, Discipleship, Ecclesiastes, Ecclesiastes 7, Hebrew, Hebrew Translation, nostalgia, Obedience, Oppression, patience, Resignation, Self-denial, Submission, Thankfulness, vexation

Ecclesiastes 7:7–14 (BHS/WHM 4.2)

7כִּ֥י הָעֹ֖שֶׁק יְהוֹלֵ֣ל חָכָ֑ם וִֽיאַבֵּ֥ד אֶת־לֵ֖ב מַתָּנָֽה׃8ט֛וֹב אַחֲרִ֥ית דָּבָ֖ר מֵֽרֵאשִׁית֑וֹ ט֥וֹב אֶֽרֶךְ־ר֖וּחַ מִגְּבַהּ־רֽוּחַ׃9אַל־תְּבַהֵ֥ל בְּרֽוּחֲךָ֖ לִכְע֑וֹס כִּ֣י כַ֔עַס בְּחֵ֥יק כְּסִילִ֖ים יָנֽוּחַ׃10אַל־תֹּאמַר֙ מֶ֣ה הָיָ֔ה שֶׁ֤הַיָּמִים֙ הָרִ֣אשֹׁנִ֔ים הָי֥וּ טוֹבִ֖ים מֵאֵ֑לֶּה כִּ֛י לֹ֥א מֵחָכְמָ֖ה שָׁאַ֥לְתָּ עַל־זֶֽה׃11טוֹבָ֥ה חָכְמָ֖ה עִֽם־נַחֲלָ֑ה וְיֹתֵ֖ר לְרֹאֵ֥י הַשָּֽׁמֶשׁ׃12כִּ֛י בְּצֵ֥ל הַֽחָכְמָ֖ה בְּצֵ֣ל הַכָּ֑סֶף וְיִתְר֣וֹן דַּ֔עַת הַֽחָכְמָ֖ה תְּחַיֶּ֥ה בְעָלֶֽיהָ׃13רְאֵ֖ה אֶת־מַעֲשֵׂ֣ה הָאֱלֹהִ֑ים כִּ֣י מִ֤י יוּכַל֙ לְתַקֵּ֔ן אֵ֖ת אֲשֶׁ֥ר עִוְּתֽוֹ׃14בְּי֤וֹם טוֹבָה֙ הֱיֵ֣ה בְט֔וֹב וּבְי֥וֹם רָעָ֖ה רְאֵ֑ה גַּ֣ם אֶת־זֶ֤ה לְעֻמַּת־זֶה֙ עָשָׂ֣ה הָֽאֱלֹהִ֔ים עַל־דִּבְרַ֗ת שֶׁלֹּ֨א יִמְצָ֧א הָֽאָדָ֛ם אַחֲרָ֖יו מְאֽוּמָה׃

 

One great source of unhappiness in the world, a copious and perennial spring of bitter waters, is discontent,—dissatisfaction with the situation, as to time, place, and circumstances, in which Divine providence has placed us.

Ralph Wardlaw, Lectures on the Book of Ecclesiastes, Volume 1 (London; Glasgow: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown; Wardlaw and Cunninghame, 1821), 344.

This entire section seems to tie together by examining one’s response to the brokenness of the world in light of the sovereignty of God. In effect,   Qoheleth turns the argument from harm on its head. While the skeptic argues how can God permit evil? Qoheleth presumes harm because we are on this side of the Fall – which brought on death. We are always unhappy where God has placed us, because God has placed us on this side of the Fall.

The overarching move of the book is to force out of any false comfort, any belief that the creature can make us happy or that death can be avoided. Thus, having told us to solemnly acknowledge our status, Qoheleth next rules out any complaint or avoidance of the implications. We may and should enjoy kindness which God has provided to alleviate our sorrow; but, we must not think God can be avoided. We must humbly receive what he has given:

6 But godliness with contentment is great gain, 7 for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. 8 But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. 9 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. 1 Timothy 6:6–10 (ESV)

 

 

VERSE 7:

 

7כִּ֥י הָעֹ֖שֶׁק יְהוֹלֵ֣ל חָכָ֑ם וִֽיאַבֵּ֥ד אֶת־לֵ֖ב מַתָּנָֽה׃

For oppression/brutality/extortion makes foolish a wise man,

And it destroys his heart, a gift/bribe.

134. כִּי Surely (Eng. Vers.), or But (M. Stuart). הָעשֶׁק, see 5:7: Gesenius and Lee say it is here put by meton. for unjust gain, conf. Levit. 5:23; Ps. 62:11: the Eng. Vers. oppression may mean either that practised by the wise man, or of which he is the object, and sees others to suffer. יְהוֹלֵל makes foolish, or mad,a Poel Imperf. (§ 55, Rem. 1), conf. 1:17, LXX., περιφέρει. Desvœux and Holden render it, “gives lustre to,” and suppose allusion to be made to the beneficial effects of affliction when rightly borne, and that these are contrasted in the next clause with the injurious effect of prosperity, the gift of fortune: but rather the term refers here to the injurious effect of power on a wise man, who is tempted to its abuse;b see, e.g., the contrast between the character of Tiberius before, and after, his accession to power, Tacit. Annal. vi. 51. וִיאַבֵּד contrac. for וִיְאַבֵּד conf. ver. 3, Piel Imperf. “destroys,” i.e., corrupts (Gesen. Lex.), lit., causes to go astray, from אָבַד to be lost, to wander, 3:6; though mas. it has here a fem. subj., as is often the case when the verb precedes (§ 147, a). מַתָּנָה a gift, here a bribe, i.q., שֹׁחַד, Ex. 23:8. M. Stuart remarks that in Arabic Hakem (= חָכָם) means magistrate, and that not improbably it does so in this passage, for it is the corruption of a judge to which the gift (bribery) refers. Bribery was expressly forbidden by the Mosaic Law, Ex. 23:8; Deut. 16:19.c

J. Lloyd, An Analysis of the Book of Ecclesiastes: With Reference to the Hebrew Grammar of Gesenius, and With Notes Critical and Explanatory (London: Samuel Bagster and Sons, 1874), 89.

This is an interesting but confusing proverb – how does abusing a wiseman make him foolish? Fredricks writes:

I surmise that the wise is not the victim here but instead is the one guilty of extortion. Even the wise can sin (7:20) and stoop to intimidating another person physically, emotionally, legally or even ecclesiastically. This could include requesting or implying that a bribe be made by another to receive a favorable action, as well as offering a bribe oneself to derail someone else from justice. But the result is the shattered heart of the wise person whose conscience is still not calloused enough to remain unaffected by the abuse of any leverage.

Fredricks, Ecclesiastes, 169. The mere act of sin has a destructive effect upon the one who engages in it – this makes much more sense both theologically and psychologically. Similarly:

The reason is here assigned why the happiness of fools is so short. They work their own ruin. Sin deprives them of their understanding, and when that has vanished destruction cannot be far off. First the mens sana is lost, and then follows ruin. First the soul dies out, and afterwards the body is cast on the flaying ground. Parallel is Proverbs 15:27, “he that is greedy of gain destroyeth his own house, and he that hateth gifts shall live.” For oppression maketh the wise man mad. עשק, “oppression,” as exercised by the Persian tyrants (Psalm 62:10). Oppression befools, makes mad: every tyranny has a demoralizing influence on him who wields it; it deadens all higher intelligence, and takes away consequently the preservative against destruction. “The wise man” here is not one who is still such, but who ought to be, and might be, and has in part been such. “The wise man”—so might the Persian still be designated at the time of Cyrus. And a gift destroyeth the heart. Under oriental tyrannies everything was to be had for presents. According to the parallel, “befools, makes mad,” the heart is brought under consideration as the seat of the understanding: compare Jeremiah 4:9, “and it shall come to pass at that day that the heart of the king shall perish and the heart of the princes,” that is, they shall lose their prudence, their power of reflection.

 

E. W. Hengstenberg, Commentary on Ecclesiastes, trans. D. W. Simon (Philadelphia; New York; Boston: Smith, English, & Co.; Sheldon and Company; Gould and Lincoln, 1860), 164-65.

 

Favors and gifts blind the eyes of the wise; like a muzzle on the mouth they stop reproofs. Sirach 20:29 (NRSV)

 

Whoever is greedy for unjust gain troubles his own household, but he who hates bribes will live. Prov 15:27

 

A bribe is like a magic stone in the eyes of the one who gives it; wherever he turns he prospers. Prov 17:8

 

The wicked accepts a bribe in secret to pervert the ways of justice. Prov 17:23

 

A gift in secret averts anger, and a concealed bribe, strong wrath. Prov 21:14

 

15 He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly, who despises the gain of oppressions, who shakes his hands, lest they hold a bribe, who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed and shuts his eyes from looking on evil, 16 he will dwell on the heights; his place of defense will be the fortresses of rocks; his bread will be given him; his water will be sure. Isaiah 33:15–16 (ESV)

And you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the cause of those who are in the right. Exodus 23:8 (ESV)

 

But the evil falls back upon the oppressor himself. One selfish principle naturally begets another. The act of oppression is often traced to the gift tendered as the price of the oppression—destroying his heart—blotting out every principle of moral integrity, rendering him callous to suffering, and deaf to the claims of justice. (Prov. 17:23.) Good reason was there for the Mosaic veto, restraining the influence of gifts. (Exod. 23:8; Deut. 16:19.) There is indeed peril on both sides. Tyranny forces to irrational conduct; bribery to lack of feeling. The standard of the Bible is the only security. “He that ruleth over men must be just—ruling in the fear of God.” (2 Sam. 23:3.) When the Bible is reverenced as the Book of God—the sole rule of faith and practice, “a man’s wisdom will make his face to shine” (Chap. 8:1); and godliness will enrich the land with the precious fruit of “whatsoever things are honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good report.” (Philip. 4:8.)

Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Ecclesiastes (New York: Robert Carter & Brothers, 1860), 182.

IT is evident, that what is said, in the first of these verses, of the tendency of oppression to “make a wise man mad,” may be understood either of the suffering or of the exercise of oppression.—The former, it is needless to prove, serves to fret, and harass, and exasperate the spirit; so that there are not wanting instances, in which men, even eminent in reputation for wisdom, have, by its long continuance, by their being the constant victims of injustice, privation, insult, and violence, been worked up to a pitch of absolute phrenzy; have given way, after long and difficult restraint, to the burst of ungovernable indignation, and have acted the part of madness, rather than of considerate sobriety.—Moses, describing the unrighteous oppression which, amongst other curses, should befall the Israelites under the Divine visitation for their sins, concludes in these words:—“Thy sons and thy daughters (shall be) given unto another people, and thine eyes shall look and fail for them all the day long; and (there shall be) no might in thy hand. The fruit of thy land, and all thy labours, shall a nation which thou knowest not eat up; and thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed alway: so that thou shalt be mad for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see.”*

I am disposed, however, to understand the expression in the passage before us, as relating to the oppressor, rather than to the oppressed. The possession of power carries in it a strong temptation to its abuse; a temptation before which even men who had borne a previous character for wisdom, have not seldom fallen. And when a man, even a wise man, exalted to power, once gives way before the tempting inducements to its corrupt employment, the very exercise of oppression tends to infatuate and bewilder him. It blinds his judgment, it perverts his principles, it hardens his heart, it changes his character. A contention arises in his bosom between the love of power, with the profit of its abuse, on the one hand, and the remonstrances and upbraidings of conscience, on the other. The reluctance too, so mighty in human nature, to own an error, produces a passionate impatience of reproof and counsel, which is proportionally the more vehement, as he is inwardly sensible he is wrong. This state of mind drives him forward to measures of new violence; the very opposition of conscience, reacting, as an irritating stimulus, in the contrary direction, the anger at its torturing remonstrances producing a desperate effort to silence and to banish them; as when a man, to show his indignant scorn of rebuke, repeats his fault more offensively than before. One step leads on to another; till his conduct, losing all the characteristics of wisdom, becomes like that of a man bereft of reason, and swayed by the derangement of passion.

One of the reasons for preferring this interpretation of the former part of the verse, is its affording so clear a connection with the latter:—“and a gift destroyeth the heart.”—“A gift” is a bribe to oppression. The taking of gifts was prohibited by the law of Moses, on account of the same corrupting tendency that is here ascribed to them. The man, indeed, who consents to receive a gift, known to be bestowed with such an intention, is already corrupted. “Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which the Lord thy God giveth thee, throughout thy tribes: and they shall judge the people with just judgment. Thou shalt not wrest judgment: thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift: for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous. That which is altogether just shalt thou follow, that thou mayest live, and inherit the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.”*—“A gift destroyeth the heart.” It operates as a temptation. It undermines the principles of impartial equity, and deadens the feelings of humanity and mercy. It perverts the moral sentiments, and leads to the wo denounced on the man who “calls evil good, and good evil, who puts darkness for light, and light for darkness.”

 

Ralph Wardlaw, Lectures on the Book of Ecclesiastes, Volume 1 (London; Glasgow: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown; Wardlaw and Cunninghame, 1821), 335-38.

 

 

VERSE 8a:

ט֛וֹב אַחֲרִ֥ית דָּבָ֖ר מֵֽרֵאשִׁית֑וֹ

Better is the end of a thing, than its beginning[1]

The construction is a standard better than construction (tob +mem + noun).

Interestingly, the words “end” and “beginning” are both plural, which the word “thing” (dabar, word, thing, matter) & the personal pronoun “its” are singular. Seow writes that it is possible that the original reading was a plural “matters” (the m which would mark matters as plural was dropped by the proximity to m which begins the next word). However, he rejects that possibility on two grounds: (1) the pronominal suffix at the end of “beginning” is singular (its); and (2) the LXX also has a singular pronoun, autou. Since the possessive pronoun refers back to “thing/matter”, the noun must have been singular also.

Dabar, thing may mean “word”. The LXX has logos (word) at the translation.  Lloyd

135. This verse is connected with the foregoing, and recommends to wait patiently, and see how oppression turns out in the end, rather than haughtily to resent it. דָּבָר a business, or a thing (Eng. Vers.), i.e., the oppression just spoken of. This rendering suits the context better than the λόγων of the LXX., orationis, Vulg., which Le Clerc, Grotius, and Gousset explain of strife and contention. As a general truth the saying is applicable to every affliction which is sanctified to us; see Heb. 12:11; 1 Pet. 1:6, 7, and conf. Job 1. with Job 42:12.

 

J. Lloyd, An Analysis of the Book of Ecclesiastes: With Reference to the Hebrew Grammar of Gesenius, and With Notes Critical and Explanatory (London: Samuel Bagster and Sons, 1874), 90. Similarly, Stuart:

What he means is, that the end of this matter of oppressing will show at last the true state of the thing; and that it is better to wait—to exercise forbearance of mind, than haughtily to resent the injuries received. We might expect קֹצְררוּחַ, hastiness of spirit, in contrast with אֶרֶךְרוּחַ. But haughtiness is the passion which most and quickest of all resents oppression, being very sensitive to indignity. The caution is, not to move too hastily in such a matter, but to wait, and see how it will turn out in the sequel.

 

Moses Stuart, A Commentary on Ecclesiastes (New York: George P. Putnam, 1851), 211.

 

 

VERSE 8b:

ט֥וֹב אֶֽרֶךְ־ר֖וּחַ מִגְּבַהּ־רֽוּחַ׃

Better is (one) long in spirit than one high (proud) of spirit.

Long of spirit is an idiom which means patient. Compare Exodus 9:6, “shortness of spirit” means impatience. Longmen suggests, “Better long patience than soaring pride” (187).

Discussing the connection the two halves of the verse, Longmen writes, “R.N. Whybray has suggested a plausible connection between the two parts of the verse: ‘self-control is needed to carry though any project.’ I would go on tot add that on one can know the outcome of anything until it is completed, patience not pride is called for, the latter presuming to control the future or outcome. Crenshaw quoted the proverb in 2 Kings 20:11: ‘Let not the person putting on armor brag like the one taking it off.”” (188).

To wait calmly for the result of an action, not to be hasty in arraigning Providence, is the part of a patient man; while the proud, inflated, conceited man, who thinks all must be arranged according to his notions, is never resigned or content, but rebels against the ordained course of events. “In your patience ye shall win your souls,” said Christ (Luke 21:19);

Ecclesiastes, ed. H. D. M. Spence-Jones, The Pulpit Commentary (London; New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1909), 158.

1 The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the LORD. 2 All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the spirit. 3 Commit your work to the LORD, and your plans will be established. 4 The LORD has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble. Proverbs 16:1–4 (ESV)

6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:6–7 (ESV)

 

 

VERSE 9a:

אַל־תְּבַהֵ֥ל בְּרֽוּחֲךָ֖ לִכְע֑וֹס

Do not be quick/terrified in your spirit to be vexed

 

VERSE 9b:

כִּ֣י כַ֔עַס בְּחֵ֥יק כְּסִילִ֖ים יָנֽוּחַ׃

For  vexation in the fold of fools it rests/settles down.

On the subject of anger St. Gregory writes, “As often as we restrain the turbulent motions of the mind under the virtue of mildness, we are essaying to return to the likeness of our Creator. For when the peace of mind is lashed with anger, torn and rent, as it were, it is thrown into confusion, so that it is not in harmony with itself, and loses the force of the inward likeness. By anger wisdom is parted with, so that we are left wholly in ignorance what to do; as it is written, ‘Anger resteth in the bosom of a fool,’ in this way, that it withdraws the light of understanding, while by agitating it troubles the mind” (‘Moral.,’ v. 78).

Ecclesiastes, ed. H. D. M. Spence-Jones, The Pulpit Commentary (London; New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1909), 158.

As noted in the previous section’s notes, כַ֔עַס   denotes the response to foolishness or vexation. The fool responds too quickly, too easily:

8 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. 1 Peter 4:8 (ESV)

Fredricks:

These two (vs. 8-9) ‘better than’ phrase interpret each other and imply that if one patiently waits until the end of certain matters, withholding judgment, one’s patience will prove wiser than jumping to self-centered conclusions at the start. Thus the verse supports the earlier contention that there is a season for everything ….. (170).

Ver. 9. Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry. The anger or wrath is to be conceived as directed against God and the evil doers favoured by Him, that is, in this present case, against the heathen; compare Psalm 37:1, 2, 8. For anger resteth in the bosom of fools, who only look at the present and at once fall into error with regard to God and his providence if things go otherwise than in their view they ought to do. It is folly to fix the attention only on that which lies directly before our eyes, to speak wisdom in presence of the good fortune of the wicked: “as grass shall they be cut down, and as the green herb shall they wither,” and, “evil doers shall be rooted out, but they that wait on the Lord shall possess the land.” If we only do not make haste to be angry, the Lord will in his own good time remove all occasions to wrath out of the way. As the Berleburger Bible says: “blessed, on the contrary, is he who in all the events of life maintains a calm patience, equips himself with a spirit of humble submissiveness and magnanimous contentment, accommodates himself to good and evil times alike, and ever derives strength and quickening from the petition,—“thy will be done.”

E. W. Hengstenberg, Commentary on Ecclesiastes, trans. D. W. Simon (Philadelphia; New York; Boston: Smith, English, & Co.; Sheldon and Company; Gould and Lincoln, 1860), 166.

 

VERSE 10:

אַל־תֹּאמַר֙ מֶ֣ה הָיָ֔ה שֶׁ֤הַיָּמִים֙ הָרִ֣אשֹׁנִ֔ים הָי֥וּ טוֹבִ֖ים מֵאֵ֑לֶּה

 Do not say why were the days, the first ones, they were best (better than) these

כִּ֛י לֹ֥א מֵחָכְמָ֖ה שָׁאַ֥לְתָּ עַל־זֶֽה׃

For (it is) not from wisdom that you ask unto this.

שָׁאַלְתָּ has here a subjunctive signification, thou wouldst not ask, as is evident from the context, which alone must decide it, since the indicative form of the verb is used to express the different moods. The construction of שָׁאַל with עַל־ only occurs once more in later Hebrew (Nehem. 1:2), in the earlier stages of the language it is construed with לְ (Gen. 43:7). זֶה, these, refers to הַיָּמִיםהָרִאשֹׁנִים, as is evident from the preposition עַל, concerning, after. The paraphrastic rendering of the Vulgate, (STULTA ENIM EST HUJUSCEMODI INTERROGATION), which is followed by Luther (denn du fragst solches nicht weislich), Coverdale and the Bishops’ Bible (“for that were no wise question”), the Geneva Version and the Authorised Version (“for thou doest not enquire wisely of this thing or concerning this”), and most commentators, refers שָׁאַלְתָּעַל־זֶה to the question מֶההָיָח, and thereby confounds it with שָׁאַלְתָּ־זֶה.

Christian D. Ginsburg, Coheleth, Commonly Called the Book of Ecclesiastes: Translated from the Original Hebrew, With a Commentary, Historical and Critical (London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts, 1861), 375.

 

 

The same impatience leads a man to disparage the present in comparison with a past age.

Ecclesiastes, ed. H. D. M. Spence-Jones, The Pulpit Commentary (London; New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1909), 158.

 

מֵחָכְמָ֖ה

“With verbs of speaking and looking, min often means ‘out of’” (Seow, 239).

 

VERSE 11:

11טוֹבָ֥ה חָכְמָ֖ה עִֽם־נַחֲלָ֑ה וְיֹתֵ֖ר לְרֹאֵ֥י הַשָּֽׁמֶשׁ׃

Good is wisdom with an inheritance, and an advantage to those who see the sun.

The difficulty here is the word ‘im’ which may mean either “with” or “as” (Wisdom is as good as an inheritance).  The “im” is translated “as” in Ecclesiastes 2:16 (For of the wise as of the fool). Seow cites Job 9:26 & 1 Chronicles 25:8  as examples of ki/im parallel mean like/the same as.  The ESV/NASB95/KJV take the ‘im’ as “with”. The NIV/NRSV/NET take is as a comparative.

Verse 11a should be translated, “Wisdom, with an inheritance, is good.”165 Even the wise prefer prosperity to poverty. Those who possess both money and wisdom are under the protection of both.166 The superiority of wisdom, however, is that it guides one through difficult times and thus preserves life. Money, to the contrary, often vanishes in hard times.

Duane A. Garrett, vol. 14, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1993), 321.

 

 

VERSE 12:

12כִּ֛י בְּצֵ֥ל הַֽחָכְמָ֖ה בְּצֵ֣ל הַכָּ֑סֶף

For in a shade/shadow of wisdom, in a shade/shadow of silver

Gordis suggests reading the בּ  as  כִּ  “the protection of wisdom is like the protection of silver” (Gordis, 274); or as wisdom & wealth are a “double” protection (ibid).

literally, in the shade is wisdom, in the shade is money; Septuagint, Ὅτι ἐν σκιᾷ αὐτῆς ἡ σοφία ὡς σκιὰ ἀργυρίου, “For in its shadow wisdom is as the shadow of money.” Symmachus has, Σκέπει σοφία ὡς σκέπει τὸ ἀργύριον, “Wisdom shelters as money shelters.” The Vulgate explains the obscure text by paraphrasing, Sicut enim protegit sapientia, sic protegit pecunia. Shadow, in Oriental phrase, is equivalent to protection (see Numb. 14:9; Ps. 17:8; Lam. 4:20). Wisdom as well as money is a shield and defence to men. As it is said in one passage (Prov. 13:8) that riches are the ransom of a man’s life, so in another (Ch. 9:15) we are told how wisdom delivered a city from destruction. The literal translation given above implies that he who has wisdom and he who has money rest under a safe protection, are secure from material evil. In this respect they are alike, and have analogous claims to man’s regard. But the excellency—profit, or advantage—of knowledge is, that wisdom giveth life to them that have it. “Knowledge” (daath) and “wisdom” (chokmah) are practically here identical, the terms being varied for the sake of poetic parallelism.

Ecclesiastes, ed. H. D. M. Spence-Jones, The Pulpit Commentary (London; New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1909), 159.

Fredricks takes the beths as “beth essentia” and translate the line, “wisdom is a shadow – money is a shadow.” Similarly Lloyd:

The sentence is regarded as proverbial, and is expressed, like most proverbs, briefly. Others, as Hitzig and M. Stuart, consider בְּ before צֵל to be בְּ essentiœ, or pleonastic, and not translateable, which serves to introduce the predicate, see Gesen. Lex. (D) p. 99, and Gram. § 154, 3, 2nd par. γ, conf. ver. 14; thus Symm., σκέπει σοφία ὡς σκέπει τὸ ἀργύριον, so the Syr. and Luther; Vulg., “sicut enim protegit sapientia, sic protegit pecunia;” Eng. Vers., “For wisdom (is) a defence, (and) money (is) a defence.”

 

J. Lloyd, An Analysis of the Book of Ecclesiastes: With Reference to the Hebrew Grammar of Gesenius, and With Notes Critical and Explanatory (London: Samuel Bagster and Sons, 1874), 92. Ginsburg rejects that reading:

Symmachus (σκέπεἷ σοφία ὡς σκέπει τὸ ἀργύριον, wisdom protects just as money protects), and the Vulgate (SICUT ENIM PROTEGIT SAPIENTIA, SIC PROTEGIT PECUNIA), who are followed by Luther (benn die Weisheit befchirmet, fo befchirmet Geld auch), Coverdale and the Bishops’ Bible (“for wisdom defendeth as well as money”), and the Authorised Version (“for wisdom is a defence and money is a defence”), ignoring the בְּ, have made some modern commentators to to regard it here as the so-called בְּ essentiæ. But this, to say the least, is an unnecessary deviation from the natural signification of this preposition, and necessitates us to supply the בְּ comparison. The explanation of Rashi (כלמישישנובצלהחכמהישנובצלהכסףשהחכמהגורמתלעשרשיבא, whoso is under the protection of wisdom is under the protection of money, because it is wisdom that brings riches), and Ibn Ezra (אזיהיההחכםחוסהבצלהחכמהובצלהכסף, then—i.e., when he has riches with wisdom, according to Ibn Ezra’s view of the preceding verse—will the wise man be protected both by the shelter of wisdom and the shelter of money), are as far-fetched as they are at variance with the scope of the passage. וְיִתְרוֹןדַּעַת, and, moreover, an advantage of wisdom is, takes up וְיוֹתֵר of the preceding verse, and hence shews that the latter is a noun, and that דּעַת is the same as חָכְמָה, wisdom, of which וְיוֹתֵר, and there is an advantage, is the predicate. The Septuagint’s rendering of וְיִתְרוֹןדַּעַתהַחָכְמָהוְנוֹ״ by καὶ περίσσεια γνώσεως τὴς σοφίας, and the advantage of the knowledge of wisdom, &c, which is that of the Chaldee וּמוֹתַרמַנְדְּעָאחוּמְתָאדְאוֹרַיְיתָא, taking דַּעַת as the construct with חָכְמָה, is contrary to the accents, and, if admitted, would yield the same sense which we have given to the passage.

 

Christian D. Ginsburg, Coheleth, Commonly Called the Book of Ecclesiastes: Translated from the Original Hebrew, With a Commentary, Historical and Critical (London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts, 1861), 376-77.

וְיִתְר֣וֹן דַּ֔עַת הַֽחָכְמָ֖ה תְּחַיֶּ֥ה בְעָלֶֽיהָ׃

And a profit/advantage (is) knowledge; wisdom preserves the owner/master of it.

בְעָלֶֽיהָ

The noun is plural. Longmen writes, “Here, the plural is honorific” (181).

תְּחַיֶּ֥ה

Wisdom giveth life to them that have it; lit., “it animates him” (תְּחַיֶה). חִיָה is not “to keep in life” (HITZIG), but “to grant life,” i.e., to bestow a genuine happy life. Comp. Job 36:6; Ps. 16:11; 38:9; Prov. 3:18; especially the last passage, which may be quoted as most decisive for our meaning. HENGSTENBERG lays too much stress on תְּחַיֶה in claiming for it the sense of reanimating, of the resurrection of that which was spiritually dead (according to Hosea 6:2; Luke 15:32, etc.); and KNOBEL too little, when he declares: “wisdom affords a calm and contented spirit.”

 

John Peter Lange, Philip Schaff, Otto Zöckler et al., A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures: Ecclesiastes (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2008), 107.

Preserves the life of him who has it is in Hebrew “it gives life to the one who masters it.” The causative form of the Hebrew verb for “live” describes giving life to something, bringing it to life; it is a dynamic action whereby life is given, restored, or “preserved.” Thus TEV “keeps you safe” seems rather weak by comparison. The translation can be “gives life,” “makes alive,” or possibly (as FRCL) “prolongs the life.” The person who is revived or given life is expressed as him who has it, literally “its masters” or “those who master it.” The Hebrew term denotes mastery or lordship and has been used in this manner in 5:11, 13 (“owner”).

 

Graham S. Ogden and Lynell Zogbo, A Handbook on Ecclesiastes, UBS Handbook Series (New York: United Bible Societies, 1998), 239.

 

VERSE 13:

13רְאֵ֖ה אֶת־מַעֲשֵׂ֣ה הָאֱלֹהִ֑ים

Look unto the works of God

It is not the work of creation, but the work of Providence which we are commanded to consider. God is over all; we can not, by our wishes and strivings, alter the course of things which be ordains. The man who is under the influence of this doctrine of religion has a better protection against disappointment and misery, than if he had an inheritance alone, or had to contend with the ills of life, by the aid which can be derived from a cold and speculative philosophy.

 

James M. MacDonald, The Book of Ecclesiastes Explained (New York: M. W. Dodd, 1856), 347.

 

VERSE 13b:

כִּ֣י מִ֤י יוּכַל֙ לְתַקֵּ֔ן אֵ֖ת אֲשֶׁ֥ר עִוְּתֽוֹ

For who is able to make straight that which he bent.

13. If the depravity of the times be so great, and injuries and corruptions so prevalent, that neither wealth nor wisdom can prove a defence against them; we are here directed to another act of wisdom, to look above the creatures, and all second causes, to the righteous hand and irresistible providence of God in them all; and where wisdom cannot improve our condition, nor render the times, or our neighbours, or our own affairs, so perfect as we could wish them, let us endeavour to manifest contentment, silence, and a humble acquiescence in the good pleasure of the Lord. There are many things which no human wisdom can rectify. In a public famine or pestilence, no ability of man can purge the air, or open the windows of heaven to supply us. In a shipwreck no wisdom of man can rebuke the winds and seas, and command a calm. But in all such cases wisdom must teach us to submit to God, and to wait upon him.—“See,” i. e. diligently view and take notice in the course of the world of God’s overruling providence. The Scripture commonly uses words applicable to the external senses to express the inward actions of the soul, ch. 2:24. and 3:10.—“The work of God;” namely, his righteous government of the world: when thou art apt to complain of the times, and the oppressions of the wicked, then remember, that how crooked soever things may appear, God orders and appoints all events; and it is vain to suppose thou canst rectify every evil of which thou art tempted to complain: for the divine decrees are unalterable, like mountains of brass, which cannot be moved, Zech. 6:1; ch. 1:15; therefore in patience possess thy soul.—“For who can make that straight which he hath made crooked?” This shews the unalterableness of God’s order, in which by his providence be has placed all things. It may be understood, first, in reference to the course of nature. Be not angry nor fretful against the Almighty in unreasonableness of winds or weather, in losses by sea or land, in sickness, infirmities, or deformities, which he suffers to befal thee or thy relatives; nor murmur at the unsuccessfulness of any means, or weakness of any endeavours, thou mayest adopt to rectify these casualties. This was the sin of Israel in the wilderness, Exod. 17:2, 3; Numb. 11:4, 5, 6; 2 Kings 6:33; Jon. 4:8, 9. Secondly, as to civil policy and the management of human societies. If thou seest great concussions of states, depopulation of countries, translation of kingdoms, plucking down, and rooting up, the sword devouring as it pleaseth; neither wonder nor murmur, but seriously consider, that an overruling providence regulates all these changes, which calls for silence and contentment under his administrations, Job 9:5–13. and 12:14–24; Ps. 75:6, 7; Isai. 2:10–19; Dan. 2:11; Jer. 18:6, 10. and 47:6, 7; Ezek. 14:17. Thirdly, in relation to the sins and miscarriages of mankind. When thou seest men incorrigible in wickedness, and so perverse that no means will reclaim or reform them, consider the work of God’s most righteous judgment in hardening whom he will; and remember, that God is so holy, that he would not suffer sin to prevail, if he were not also equally wise and powerful to order it so as to secure his own glory: hence no wickedness shall proceed further than to execute his predeterminate counsel; and the remainder of it he will restrain, Rom. 9:18; 1 Sam. 2:25; Gen. 50:20; Exod. 7:3, 4; 2 Thes. 2:11, 12; Acts 4:28; Rom. 11:8; Ps. 76:10.

Edward Reynolds, A Commentary on the Book of Ecclesiastes, ed. Daniel Washbourn (London: Mathews and Leigh, 1811), 223-25.

Another reason for obeying the injunction given in verse 10. Complaining is vain; God has ordained it so, and, however crooked it may appear to us, no man can rectify it. רְאֵה, see, consider, bear in mind, remember. The expression moreover, which is often omitted in Hebrew, must be supplied in the translation, מַעֲשֶׂה, work, i.e., of providence, appointment, ordaining; so also לְתַקֵּן, to rectify, and עִוֵּת, to make crooked, are used in a spiritual sense. The interrogative, in which the last clause is expressed, is tantamount to an emphatic denial, i.e., no one can, &c. (vide supra, 1:3). For the pleonastic suffix in עִוְּתוֹ, see 2:12. The Septuagint’s rendering of כִּימִייוּכַללְתַקֵּןאֵתאֲשֶׁרעִוְּתוֹ by ὅτι τίς δυνήσεται τοῦ κοσμῆσαι ὅν ἄν ὁ φεὸς διαστρέψη αὐτόν; for who is able to make him straight, if God has distorted him? which is followed by the Vulgate, QUOD NEMO POSSIT CORRIGERE, QUEM ILLE DESPEXERIT, that no man can correct him whom He has despised, has evidently originated from the traditional explanation,

Christian D. Ginsburg, Coheleth, Commonly Called the Book of Ecclesiastes: Translated from the Original Hebrew, With a Commentary, Historical and Critical (London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts, 1861), 377.

VERSE 14a:

4בְּי֤וֹם טוֹבָה֙ הֱיֵ֣ה בְט֔וֹב וּבְי֥וֹם רָעָ֖ה רְאֵ֑ה

In the good day let it be in good, but in an evil day see/consider

VERSE 14b:

גַּ֣ם אֶת־זֶ֤ה לְעֻמַּת־זֶה֙ עָשָׂ֣ה הָֽאֱלֹהִ֔ים

Also this, corresponding to that God made

VERSE 14c:

עַל־דִּבְרַ֗ת שֶׁלֹּ֨א יִמְצָ֧א הָֽאָדָ֛ם אַחֲרָ֖יו מְאֽוּמָה

On/onto the word/matter this not to search/find the Adam after him from something/nothing. 

For לְעֻמַּת, in connection with, like, see 5:15, and for עַלדִּבְרַת giving the motive or occasion of the action, see 3:18.

Christian D. Ginsburg, Coheleth, Commonly Called the Book of Ecclesiastes: Translated from the Original Hebrew, With a Commentary, Historical and Critical (London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts, 1861), 378. Thus, the thing not to search out is the dbrth.

 

With the sentiment conf. 8:15; 9:7–9, and mark the reason given, Deut. 28:47, for the curses which should come upon Israel, “Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with joyfulness and with gladness of heart for the abundance of all things.” The next clause is rendered by the Arab. Vers. “look upon the day of adversity,” i.e., keep it in view, be prepared for it; malam diem prœcave, Vulg.; but this rendering does not preserve the evident sameness of construction between בְּיוֹםטוֹבָה and בְּיוֹםרָעָה, hence rightly the Eng. Vers., “in the day of adversity consider.” What we should consider is, that affliction comes from God, and therefore calls for submission (Micah 6:9), that it is sent for our good, to show us the vanity of the world, to bring us to repentance for sin, and to earnest preparation for a better life. “Let no man flatter himself that any thing external will make him wise or virtuous, without his taking pains to learn wisdom or virtue from it.” (Archbp. Whately’s Notes on Essay V. of Lord Bacon, p. 59.) Observe the paronomasia or alliteration between טוֹבָה and טוֹב; רָעָה and רְאֵה. לְעֻמַּת over against, Eng. Vers., or equally with, even as, Gesen. Lex., see עֻמַּת, 5:15. עָשָׂה hath ordered, or hath arranged. עַל־דִּבִרַתשֶ to the end that, Gesen. Lex., conf. 3:18. אַחֲרָיו after him; if the suff. is used as a reflex pron. (§ 124, 1, b), referring to הָאָדָם, as in 3:22, 6:12, the meaning is that God has so ordered the vicissitudes of good and evil that man may never find out what shall be after himself, i.e., be able to foresee with certainty the future; but if the suff. refers to Elohim, that man may not after God find out any thing, i.e., any thing wiser or more suitable than the arrangements of God’s Providence, nor be able to follow in God’s track, and trace His footsteps, God’s ways being inscrutable, conf. 8:17; Rom. 11:33.

J. Lloyd, An Analysis of the Book of Ecclesiastes: With Reference to the Hebrew Grammar of Gesenius, and With Notes Critical and Explanatory (London: Samuel Bagster and Sons, 1874), 93-94.

Doct. Whatsoever the estate of times be, it is our part to consider the work of God as so disposing the times, and in setting good and evil times one against another; and accordingly in good times to be in goodness, and in ill times to look at God’s hand as only able to amend therein. As who should say, Look not at the creature as the chief agent in the estate of the times, but consider his hand in all estates, and make use of them, as his hand leadeth unto, Job 1:21.

1 It is God’s work, first, To send. 1. Good times, 2 Chron. 2:11; 2. Evil times, Prov. 28:2. Secondly, To set good and evil times in a vicissitude or interchange, one contrary over against another, Jer. 18:7, 9. In good times, first, God maketh men’s, or at least some chief men’s, hearts and ways right before him, 1 Sam. 13:14; secondly, God giveth them a right course, and good success in their proceedings, Jer. 22:15, 16; 2 Chron. 17:3–5. In evil times, first, God giveth men up to the crookedness of their own hearts and ways, Ps. 125:5, and 81:11, 12; 2 Chron. 28:1; secondly, God sendeth them cross and crooked issues of their ways, 2 Chron. 28:1–6, 16–20; Jer. 22:17–19; Ps. 18:26.

2. God setteth these good and evil times interchangeably one against another. Saul’s times were, bad; the times of David and Solomon good. Reho—boam and Abijam bad; Asa and Jehoshaphat good.Joram and Joash bad; Uzziah and Jotham good. Ahaz bad; Hezekiah good. Manasseh and Amonbad; Josias good; his successors, to the captivity bad, after the captivity good.

Reason 1. From God’s people’s abuse of prosperity into self—confidence. Ps. 30:6, 7, and luxury, Deut. 32:15; hence followeth calamity and adversity.

Reason 2. From the humiliation and reformation of God’s people in adversity. Hosea 5:15, with 6:1, 2.

Reason 3. To the end we should find nothing after God. as in the text—to wit, first. No stability in the creature, but unsettled vicissitudes; secondly, No fault in God and his administrations. So the phrase and word is taken, John 14:30 Job 31:7.

John Cotton, A Brief Exposition With Practical Observations Upon the Whole Book of Ecclesiastes, Nichol’s Series of Commentaries (Edinburgh; London; Dublin: James Nichol; James Nisbet & Co.; G. Herbert, 1868), 67-68.

God has set prosperity and adversity over against each other in men’s history. Why? “To the end that man should find (find out) nothing after him.” The meanings somewhat obscure at the first glance. But the sentiment corresponds with 9:1, where it says, “No man knoweth either love or hatred (whether God loves or hates him) by all that is before them.” God’s outward dealings furnish no clue as to God’s love to us. They are various, that we may not know what is to be our future lot. “Man can find out nothing after him;” i. e., no satisfactory explanation after all his inquiries, if this life is man’s entire existence. And the next verse corroborates this view.

Loyal Young, A Commentary on the Book of Ecclesiastes (Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publication, 1865), 168.


[1] Ironically, it is the end of sin which reveals its nature:

1 My son, be attentive to my wisdom; incline your ear to my understanding, 2 that you may keep discretion, and your lips may guard knowledge. 3 For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil, 4 but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. 5 Her feet go down to death; her steps follow the path to Sheol; Proverbs 5:1–5 (ESV)

29 Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? 30 Those who tarry long over wine; those who go to try mixed wine. 31 Do not look at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly. 32 In the end it bites like a serpent and stings like an adder. Proverbs 23:29–32 (ESV)

Training of the Twelve: The First and Last

15 Tuesday Jan 2013

Posted by memoirandremains in A.B. Bruce, Discipleship, Matthew, Obedience

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A.B. Bruce, Discipleship, First and Last, Laborers in the Vineyard, Matthew, Matthew 19:30, Matthew 20:1-16, Obedience, parable, Paradox, reversal, reward, Self-denial, self-denial, Self-Sacrifice, Service, The Training of the Twelve

Immediately following the declaration of reward for those who follow him, Jesus makes the paradoxical promise:

But many who are first will be last, and the last first. Matthew 19:30 (ESV)

Jesus illustrates this proposition with the parable of the “Laborers in the Vineyard”. [1]In the parable, certain workers are hired in the morning for a set wage. As the day progresses, more men are hired without a wage specified (“whatever is right, I will pay you”). When it comes time to make payment, the foreman begins to make payment, starting with the last hired. They are a paid a denarius – the precise wage offered to the first hired workers. When the foreman gets to the first hired workers, they suspect that they will be paid more than the denarius to which they originally agreed. They are paid a denarius, as agreed, and respond with anger.[2]

The owner of the vineyard responds:

14 Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. 15 Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ 16 So the last will be first, and the first last.” Matthew 20:14–16 (ESV)

Bruce rejects the interpretation that parable means that all believers will receive the same from the Lord on the Last Day[3]. Bruce compares the other parables on work and wages and notes that they plainly state a difference in reward based upon the difference in work. Moreover, in the parable of the Laborers and the Vineyard, the owner makes a substantial differentiation in pay, in that the final workers are paid a far higher rate than those first hired.[4]

What then gives a key to Bruce’s understanding: First, context: the parable begins and ends with the paradox of the reversal of first and last. Second, the heart of the workers: The first hired received a specified wage and showed themselves to be discontent when they were not paid better than others. The last hired went without  the promise of a specific return.

From this, Bruce derives the discipleship lesson that service – right service – depends not upon the extravagance or “greatness” of the work performed, but rather the heart attitude, the soul motivation of the worker. The one great in work may be the one last in heart – and vice versa.  

Since Jesus gave this instruction to the twelve, we must realize that all believers could fall into this trap. Bruce lists three specific elements which can infest one’s Christian walk:

First to fear:

Those who make sacrifices for Christ’s sake are in danger of falling into a self-righteous mood of mind, when the spirit of self-denial manifests itself in rare occasional acts, rather than in the form of a habit.

Those who make sacrifice for Christ only on occasion are those who do not rightly treasure the service of Jesus. Self-denial crosses our the most immediate desires of our flesh.  When it comes only on occasion, we indicate that the glory of God is not our first thought. We will serve – but only sparingly. We will give – but only under compulsion. We will share – but not with unfeigned love.

Second to fear:

There is great danger of degeneracy in the spirit of those who make sacrifices for the kingdom of God, when any particular species of service has come to be much in demand, and therefore to be held in very high esteem.

When the work is held to be esteemed by people – even (or perhaps especially) by people in the church – then the worker will be tempted to do the work to seek the praise of people.  God will not reward “service” which seeks human applause.

Third to fear:

The first are in danger of becoming the last when self-denial is reduced to a System, and practiced ascetically, not for Christ’s sake, but for one’s own sake. That in respect of the amount of self-denial the austere ascetic is entitled to rank first, nobody will deny. But his right to rank first in intrinsic spiritual worth, and therefore in the divine kingdom, is more open to dispute. Even in respect to the fundamental matter of getting rid of self, he may be, not first, but last. The self-denial of the ascetic is in a subtle way intense self-assertion. True Christian self-sacrifice signifies hardship, loss undergone, not for its own sake, but for Christ’s sake, and for truth’s sake, at a time when truth cannot be maintained without sacrifice. But the self-sacrifice of the ascetic is not of this kind. It is all endured for his own sake, for his own spiritual benefit and credit.

Bruce thus last out the traps for service and self-denial: Sin and pride can creep into the smallest and most unlikely space:

Lying behind the parable is the thought that we serve in the kingdom of heaven not so much for the reward we receive as for our delight in the service itself. Do we serve willingly and gladly, simply because we love our Lord and Master?

Iain D. Campbell, Opening Up Matthew, Opening Up Commentary (Leominster: Day One Publications, 2008), 121.


[1]

While Jesus shifted to a different point in this parable, it was related to his point in his conversation with the rich young ruler and the disciples. Our entrance into heaven depends on God’s grace, not on our righteous works. In the same way, our reward in heaven will be based on God’s reckoning, not our human calculations. Rewards are indeed meritorious, but they are calculated from God’s perspective.

 

Stuart K. Weber, vol. 1, Matthew, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000), 317.

[2] Bruce compares this parable with the Prodigal Son, wherein the first hired workers match the elder brother; the last hired, the prodigal:

 

This parable has at times, rightly, been paired with that of the father and his two sons in Lk. 15:11–32. The point is not identical, but they share the challenge to recognise the goodness of the outcome of the action of the landowner/father. Solidarity plays a greater role in Lk. 15 than in Mt. 20, but in both cases one’s perspective towards what God is now doing is chiefly in focus; what he is doing is good and to be rejoiced in.

 

John Nolland, The Gospel of Matthew: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Carlisle: W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press, 2005), 813.

 

[3] Compare:

Luke 12:47–48 teaches that there are degrees of punishment in hell; Matt 20:1–16, that there are no degrees of reward in heaven. [9 highlights] Neither of these facts is commonly known or understood in Christian circles. To be sure, every individual will have a highly unique experience before God on Judgment Day (see esp. 1 Cor 3:10–15). But no text of Scripture supports the notion that these differences are perpetuated throughout eternity. [8 highlights] The very nature of grace and perfection preclude such a concept.36 The reason we object to equal treatment for all is precisely the objection of the workers in this parable—it doesn’t seem fair. But we are fools if we appeal to God for justice rather than grace, for in that case we’d all be damned. [9 highlights] Nor will it do to speak of salvation begun by grace but ever after preserved by works. True salvation will of necessity produce good works and submission to Christ’s lordship in every area of life, or else it never was salvation to begin with. But all who are truly saved are equally precious in God’s sight and equally rewarded with eternal happiness in the company of Christ and all the redeemed. Jesus has now finished his answer to Peter’s question of 19:27.

 

Craig Blomberg, vol. 22, Matthew, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1992), 304-05.

[4]

 D. Brown:—1. True Christianity is a life of active service rendered to Christ 2. God rewards us for this service, though not of merit, but of pure grace. 3. There is a reward common to all laborers, and special rewards for peculiar services. 4. Unreasonable and ungrateful conduct of the murmuring laborers, and the rebuke administered to them on the day of account. 5. Encouragement for those called at a late hour. 6. Strange revelations of the judgment day: some of the first will be last, some of the last first, and some of the greatest note in the church below, will be excluded altogether.

 

John Peter Lange and Philip Schaff, A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures: Matthew (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2008), 358.

Ecclesiastes 6 as a Discourse Peak: Solomon’s Wealth

17 Saturday Nov 2012

Posted by memoirandremains in 1 Kings, Biblical Counseling, Ecclesiastes, Ephesians, Philippians

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1 Kings, 2 Chronicles, Biblical Counseling, blessing, Discourse Analysis, Discourse Peak, Ecclesiastes, Ecclesiastes 2, Ecclesiastes 6, Ephesians, Fearing the Lord, Humility, joy, Philippians, Self-denial, Solomon, Wealth

 The sixth chapter of Ecclesiastes also ties together the strands concerning wealth and blessing which had been raised in various forms throughout the preceding chapters. It also brings the previous points together with heightened vividness.[1] There is even a slightly different rhetorical effect in that the passage does not ask questions but rather lays out some definite conclusions.[2]   Yet when reading the passages on wealth together, it is instructive to read them in tandem with the story of Solomon’s life. Even those who reject Solomonic authorship still admit that book uses Solomon’s life as a background for at least the first two chapters.

 

I contend that the parallel between Solomon’s history and the commentary of Ecclesiastes persists even beyond Ecclesiastes 2:11 (where many commentators believe the parallel falls off).

 

The Correspondence Between the History of Solomon and Ecclesiastes

 

First, we begin with a brief recount of Solomon’s wealth:

 

11 God answered Solomon, “Because this was in your heart, and you have not asked possessions, wealth, honor, or the life of those who hate you, and have not even asked long life, but have asked wisdom and knowledge for yourself that you may govern my people over whom I have made you king 12 wisdom and knowledge are granted to you. I will also give you riches, possessions, and honor, such as none of the kings had who were before you, and none after you shall have the like.”

 

2 Chronicles 1:11-12. This astounding wealth is described in Ecclesiastes 2:3-10: money, land, buildings, pleasures, human beings (it is a recapitulation of Eden, but it also makes a perverse parallel of the parody of Eden in Revelation 18):

 

3 I searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine-my heart still guiding me with wisdom-and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the children of man to do under heaven during the few days of their life.

4 I made great works. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself.

5 I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees.

6 I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees.

7 I bought male and female slaves, and had slaves who were born in my house. I had also great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem.

8 I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I got singers, both men and women, and many concubines, the delight of the children of man.

9 So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me.

10 And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil.

 

However, looking back on it, Qoheleth (at the very least speaking as Solomon) can offer only a triple condemnation and despair over his life:

 

Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.

 

Ecclesiastes 2:11. The extraordinary wealth and bounty ending in a bitter taste well parallels the life of Solomon. First Solomon did acquire an astounding hoard of humanity and wealth:

 

1  Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women 2 from the nations concerning which the LORD had said to the people of Israel, “You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love 3 He had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart 4 For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father.

 

1 Kings 11:1-4. Yet, for all his wealth and women, he lost the blessing of God:

 

9 And the LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice 10 and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods. But he did not keep what the LORD commanded.

 

1 Kings 11:1-4, 9-10. Thus the blessing became a curse in Solomon’s mouth. He had the stuff, he it seems he lost the ability to enjoy it. When reading the story of Solomon, it seems the trouble with the wealth only came at the very end, when God finally pronounced judgment upon Solomon.

 

Using Ecclesiastes to Understand Solomon

 

However, when we read Ecclesiastes as partial commentary on the history of Solomon (especially if one takes Solomon as the author, Qoheleth), one can conclude that the property did not bring contentment to Solomon.

 

This point becomes even tighter when we come to Ecclesiastes 5 & 6. The thoroughly negative valuation of Ecclesiastes 2:11 seems like the despair and disgust did not come until after he come to the end of his life. But Ecclesiastes 5 & 6 adds something more: it states that the “blessing” was really no blessing unless God provides an additional element: the blessing to enjoy the abundance.

 

Ecclesiastes 5 states the proverb that one cannot be satisfied with money:

 

10 He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity. 11 When goods increase, they increase who eat them, and what advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes? Ecclesiastes 5:10–11 (ESV)

 

When one considers both the absurdly large household of Solomon, you think Of course! The wealth of gold and goods, of slaves and wives (human property)could not possibly be enjoyed in any sort of intensive manner.  Solomon could see the harem of a 1,000 women, together with their servants and attendants, and think I must feed them all. In fact, Ecclesiastes 5:10-11 is precisely the sort of conclusion one would expect from a man in Solomon’s position.

 

Verse 12 casts an almost envious eye on the men who built the palaces and public buildings:

 

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. Ecclesiastes 5:12 (ESV)

 

One must note that Solomon is not describing abject poverty – the man does have labour and is not starving. Yet, he does put his finger on the important aspect: the little bit the labourer possesses has come with the blessing of God – and thus sleep.

 

Ecclesiastes 5:13-17 then sets out the fear which comes from possessing property:

 

13 There is a grievous evil that I have seen under the sun: riches were kept by their owner to his hurt, 14 and those riches were lost in a bad venture. And he is father of a son, but he has nothing in his hand. 15 As he came from his mother’s womb he shall go again, naked as he came, and shall take nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand. 16 This also is a grievous evil: just as he came, so shall he go, and what gain is there to him who toils for the wind? 17 Moreover, all his days he eats in darkness in much vexation and sickness and anger.

 

Earlier in the letter, Solomon had raised the opposite circumstance: What if I keep my property and then leave it to a fool:

 

18 I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me, 19 and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. 20 So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun, 21 because sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. Ecclesiastes 2:18–21 (ESV)

 

This, of course, draws another direct line between Qoheleth and Solomon: Qoheleth fears his wealth will be left to a fool. Solomon did leave it to the fool, Rehoboam – you managed to loss 10 of the 12 tribes in a single afternoon.[3]

 

This is contrasted with the one who has received a blessing from God:

 

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. 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. Ecclesiastes 5:18-20.

 

Yet, even at this point, one might think that Solomon did not sour on wealth and privilege until the very end of his life.

 

The Blessing Solomon Lacked

 

However, Ecclesiastes 6 puts a dagger in that theory:  Ecclesiastes 6:1-3 shows that the acquisition of tremendous property and extraordinary comforts provide not real comfort with the added blessing of God to transform the external into a true subjective blessing. However, it is best to read this as not just a speculation but an experience. To see the pain of Ecclesiastes 6:1-3, we must not abstract it from an actual life.

 

The relationship between Ecclesiastes 6:1-3 is not merely at a general leval. When look at the precise language used to describe Solomon’s wealth as recorded in 2 Chronicles 9:22-23 and compares it to the man recorded in Ecclesiastes 6:1-3, it seems that we may be looking at the same person:

 

22 Thus King Solomon excelled all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom. 23 And all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put into his mind.

 

2 Chronicles 9:22-23. Now consider the man of Ecclesiastes 6:1-3

 

1 There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it lies heavy on mankind 2 a man to whom God gives wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God does not give him power to enjoy them, but a stranger enjoys them. This is vanity; it is a grievous evil 3 If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with life’s good things, and he also has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he.

 

 Consider this closely: First, both Solomon and the man described in 6:1-3 have received profound material “blessing” from God. God says to Solomon, “I will also give you riches, possessions, and honor, such as none of the kings had who were before you, and none after you shall have the like.” 2 Chronicles 1:12. The lists almost match. Moreover, as just noted, it also matches the list of 2 Chronicles 9:22-23.

 

Second, note that God did not promise Solomon that he would have enjoyment from all his property. In fact, God’s covenant with Solomon contains the express condition of obedience: 2 Samuel 7:14.[4] When God blesses Solomon with the promise of material good, he makes the quality of life a matter of obedience:

 

And if you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days. 1 Kings 3:14 (ESV)

 

As in the NT, the matter of “eternal life” is not merely a matter of duration but of quality.[5]

How Then May We Receive That Blessing?

 

This of course begs for an answer to the question, How does one obtain the blessing of the Lord to enjoy the pleasant things of this life?

 

First, we must think rightly about wealth and its true benefit. For this we have help of Proverbs:

 

10 The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe.

 

11 A rich man’s wealth is his strong city, and like a high wall in his imagination.

 

12 Before destruction a man’s heart is haughty, but humility comes before honor.

 

Proverbs 18:10-12. The middle proverb of the triplet notes that wealth is an imaginary protection. Reliance upon one’s wealth is pride, which will only result in destruction. However, the one who trust in the Lord will be safe.

 

Second, we must thus avoid the sin of seeking protection from money; rather, we must place our hope solely in the strength of God:

 

5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

6 So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”

 

Hebrews 13:5-6. It is interesting to note that here love of money is contrasted with trusting in God:

 

24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. 25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Matthew 6:24–26 (ESV)

 

And lest we think such talk is a mere fairy tale, the Apostle Paul gives us a picture of such in action. To make the point more plainly, God graciously – for our sakes – has Paul write from prison:

 

10 I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. 11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.

12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. 13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

 

Philippians 4:10-13.

 

 

 


[1] The reference to a miscarriage is brutal and disturbing.

[2] William Varner in his excellent commentary James a New Perspective lays out the elements of a discourse peak on pages 20-28.

[3] Interestingly, the only wealth passage which does not seem to parallel Solomon is the man who has no other, the miserable, lonely miser (however, perhaps Solomon did at times feel himself to be lonely despite the ocean of human beings about him):

7 Again, I saw vanity under the sun: 8 one person who has no other, either son or brother, yet there is no end to all his toil, and his eyes are never satisfied with riches, so that he never asks, “For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure?” This also is vanity and an unhappy business. Ecclesiastes 4:7–8 (ESV)

 

[4]

“All” Solomon must do to secure these blessings is to follow David’s example of adherence to the Sinai covenant. If he keeps the “statutes and commands,” Solomon will honor his father and thereby have “a long life.” This reference to Exod 20:12 underscores the continuity of God’s covenant with Israel, with David, and with Solomon, the new generation. It also emphasizes the conditional nature of Solomon’s kingship, an idea that is repeated every time God addresses Solomon directly (cf. 6:11–13; 9:3–9; 11:11–13). Long notes that in these four addresses “the editor-author(s) forged a kind of unity of exhortation out of the material, which then can be turned on end to become a deadly serious, twice-repeated message of conditions violated, promise lost, glory tarnished (ch. 11).”11 God’s covenant with David is eternal, but Solomon can be replaced with another “son of David” if he disobeys the Lord.

 

Paul R. House, vol. 8, 1, 2 Kings, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1995), 111-12.

[5] While the text does not explicitly entail happiness, yet it does seem that a “long” and bitter life would be no blessing. This is consonant with the understanding of Deuteronomy 5:16 which corresponds obedience to covenant with long life – and thus a quality of life.

 

16. Prefer the Lord and His kingdom before all things, for the Divine Love and Wisdom have shown the soul that these are the fountains of life, that thus states of blessedness may be acquired in heaven, and that the soul may be led into the state of order and happiness which is designed for it by the Divine Love and Wisdom.

 

A. Payne, A Study of the Internal or Spiritual Sense of the Fifth Book of Moses Called Deuteronomy (London: James Speirs, 1881), 47.

 

Calvin commenting on Ephesians 6:3, which quotes the OT commandment likewise long life to happiness and not solely duration:

The promise is a long life; from which we are led to understand that the present life is not to be overlooked among the gifts of God. On this and other kindred subjects I must refer my reader to the Institutes of the Christian Religion; 63 satisfying myself at present with saying, in a few words, that the reward promised to the obedience of children is highly appropriate. Those who shew kindness to their parents from whom they derived life, are assured by God, that in this life it will be well with them.

And that thou mayest live long on the earth. Moses expressly mentions the land of Canaan,

  “that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.” (Exodus 20:12.)

Beyond this the Jews could not conceive of any life more happy or desirable. But as the same divine blessing is extended to the whole world, Paul has properly left out the mention of a place, the peculiar distinction of which lasted only till the coming of Christ.

John Calvin, Ephesians, electronic ed., Calvin’s Commentaries (Albany, OR: Ages Software, 1998), Eph 6:3.

 

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