Good and evil, we know them both. But as believers in the
God of the Scriptures we accept something else also as true. All that is,
including both good and evil, must be traced finally to God. "See the work
of the One, Elohim ....In a day of good be resting in the good, and in a
day of evil, be vigilant; Indeed the One, Elohim, has made this one along
with that one ..." (Ecc.7:13,14).
THE VIEWPOINT OF ECCLESIASTES
The book of Ecclesiastes has sometimes been dismissed as
a philosophical dissertation that gives a mostly human viewpoint of life,
and might even, in certain passages, undermine the divine requirements of
moral behavior and devoutness. As a whole, the book does just about the
opposite. It relates all human experience, both upright and sinful, both
happy and miserable, to the operations of God. It refuses to leave God out
of the picture no matter how dark and confused and unpleasant the picture
may be.
Now in the "fourth book" (Ecc.7:13-9:15) the Assembler
brings up the truth that we all will have good times and bad times in our
lives, and the best way to deal with this in the current situation is to
rest in the good and keep vigilant in the bad. There are many things in
our lives that are intrinsically good and need to be enjoyed as long as
they can be (cf Ecc.9:7-10). Yet these are uncertain, and mischance
and a season of evil are certain to come eventually (9:11,12). That indeed
is, by itself, a very human sort of philosophy. But the writer does not
treat this by itself. He has brought up such matters because they are
included in "the work of the One, Elohim" (7:13).
The attention given to Elohim in all these considerations
of the human experience of good and evil is extremely important. It takes
these accounts of human activities, and of human experiences that are
apparently allotted unevenly, and places them ultimately in the hands of
God. It does not deny the human part in doing deeds of good and evil, but
going beyond that it recognizes that God maintains His divine
responsibility in it all; He is over all these experiences and is
operating all.
LEARNING BY EXPERIENCE
AND KNOWING BY FAITH
One of the reasons why there is such confusion about the
book of Ecclesiastes is that we have often failed to distinguish what the
Assembler has perceived by way of his investigations and what he
has come to know by faith. These often seem contradictory. In his
investigations, Ecclesiastes has found, "There is the righteous man who
perishes in his righteousness, and there is the wicked man who is
prolonged in his evil" (7:15). By his own experience he has observed,
"There are righteous men for whom retribution is according to the work of
the wicked, and there are wicked ones for whom retribution is according to
the work of the righteous" (8:14). Nevertheless, Ecclesiastes knows
"that good shall come to those who stand in fear before the One, Elohim.
Yet good shall not come to the wicked one, nor shall he prolong his days
which are like a shadow" (8:12,13). This conviction of eventual settling
of accounts is based not on what Ecclesiastes has found by observation but
what he has found by his recognition of God in his heart.
What Ecclesiastes has observed with his senses is
honestly recorded. But what he knows in his heart is that there is a God
Who is responsible and Who will do the right thing, no matter how much
experience may contradict. Present facts observed do not contradict the
fact of God and the fact of His righteousness.
ACQUAINTANCE WITH VANITY
This descendant of David, had the time and means to
investigate many kinds of human experiences. We might well wonder why, if
he were such a wise person, he did not avoid some of the very stupid
experiences he sought out. But we must admit that no matter how foolish
they were, these experiences were truly characteristic of human behavior.
Fleshly indulgences do produce many problems and corrupt
our characters. But it is also true that the wicked sometimes seem to live
more comfortably than the righteous.
Of course, no one is truly righteous in the full sense of
the term. "There is no righteous man in the earth who does good
[absolutely] and never sins" (7:20). It is all very relative. But things
are not balanced out perfectly in this life. In our experiences at
present, those who are more selfish and grasping may indeed have longer
lives and less misery than those who are more God fearing and caring
toward others. The only certain equality is death. "Just as to all, there
is one destiny for the righteous one and for the wicked one, for the good
one and for the bad one, for the clean one and for the unclean one, for
the one who sacrifices and for him who makes no sacrifice, so it is for
the good person as for the sinner ....One destiny is for all; moreover the
heart of the sons of humanity is full of evil, and ravings are in their
heart throughout their lives, yet after it, they are joined to the dead"
(Ecc.9:2,3).
The facts are set before us. And most of us would agree
that these are facts of life. But Ecclesiastes does not leave the facts
alone in their harsh pessimism. He has insisted that Elohim has
made our days what they are. And this is what makes this book so unique,
and indeed important to the whole of Scripture as the Word of God.
God would not have us ignore the reality of evil or
pretend that it is otherwise than it is. But faith in God and His
righteousness puts this reality into the right perspective.
Much of our misunderstanding related to this book is that
we think of the term "vanity," so frequently used throughout, as a sort of
everlasting uselessness, a kind of annihilation of the experience. This is
wrong. Our life and experience are vain in that they do not last; they are
transitory. But this is not absolute. In fact, in the light of the truth
that God has made both the good and evil experiences, they must have a
purpose toward a goal. When the factor of deity is brought into the
equation, the pessimism turns to a reliance on God to bring about a
righteous culmination.
THE SEEING OF THE HEART
But this is, to the Assembler, a matter that he cannot
find out by present experience. He knows from the fact of God and the fact
of human sin and suffering that there must be a setting right. But as far
as the work of Elohim is concerned, he learned "that a man is not able to
find out the work that is done under the sun, forasmuch as a man may toil
in seeking it out but shall not find it; and even if a wise man says he
knows, he is not able to find it out" (8:17).
The wise Assembler says he knows that God will judge, and
that He will judge justly. But he has not found it out in all his
searchings. Experience says otherwise, but a recognition of God in the
heart brings us to the conclusion that God is operating and will judge
rightly and will deal triumphantly with present vanity. "For I laid all
this on my heart, and my heart saw all this: That the righteous and the
wise and their services are in the hand of the One, Elohim" (Ecc.9:1). All
will die, and "the dead know nothing whatsoever ...and there is no further
portion for them for the eon" (Ecc.9:3-6). But there is that which the
Assembler has not observed by experience, and which rests on God, and goes
beyond the eon.
The experiences of Ecclesiastes would all lead toward
pessimism and despair. His honest account of what he perceived with his
senses would strengthen a conclusion of meaninglessness. But he does not
reach that conclusion. This is because of his faith, of the seeing of his
heart. Because of this he knows that all human experience is finally in
the hand of God. This is the solid foundation of the Assembler's knowledge
of a righteous outcome to things, despite his accumulation of indisputable
evidence in the present life against such an assurance.
Because of the evidence of God's presence within Israel,
His personal dealings with them and their enemies and His personal word to
them, the Assembler's faith in God was based more on sight and experience,
more like that of Thomas (cf John 20:24-30), than it is for us
today. But we may also say that we have a greater revelation of God's
purpose for good than Ecclesiastes had because we have become acquainted
with Christ. What is important for us from this book is its testimony that
reliance on God as Deity over all things, both good and evil, is a great
blessing.
We cannot prove from our experiences that there is a
pattern of order and meaning and value in life. But we believe there is
and have good reason for believing so. We believe that God will reward
good acts and condemn wicked acts. And we will go much further now that we
are believing that God sent His Son into the world to save sinners. The
revelation of God in and through our Lord Jesus Christ trains us to praise
God as our Saviour and as the Saviour of all mankind. This is the
testimony of God's evangel to us, and this is what we believe.
Dean H. Hough
