November 29th 2021 – Ecclesiastes 8:1-17
"8 Who is like the wise?
And who knows the interpretation of a thing?
A man's wisdom makes his face shine,
and the hardness of his face is changed.
2 I say: Keep the king's command, because of God's oath to him. 3 Be not hasty to go from his presence. Do not take your stand in an evil cause, for he does whatever he pleases. 4 For the word of the king is supreme, and who may say to him, “What are you doing?” 5 Whoever keeps a command will know no evil thing, and the wise heart will know the proper time and the just way. 6 For there is a time and a way for everything, although man's troublelies heavy on him. 7 For he does not know what is to be, for who can tell him how it will be? 8 No man has power to retain the spirit, or power over the day of death. There is no discharge from war, nor will wickedness deliver those who are given to it. 9 All this I observed while applying my heart to all that is done under the sun, when man had power over man to his hurt.
10 Then I saw the wicked buried. They used to go in and out of the holy place and were praised in the city where they had done such things. This also is vanity. 11 Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil. 12 Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs his life, yet I know that it will be well with those who fear God, because they fear before him. 13 But it will not be well with the wicked, neither will he prolong his days like a shadow, because he does not fear before God.
14 There is a vanity that takes place on earth, that there are righteous people to whom it happens according to the deeds of the wicked, and there are wicked people to whom it happens according to the deeds of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity. 15 And I commend joy, for man has no good thing under the sun but to eat and drink and be joyful, for this will go with him in his toil through the days of his life that God has given him under the sun.
16 When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done on earth, how neither day nor night do one's eyes see sleep, 17 then I saw all the work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. However much man may toil in seeking, he will not find it out. Even though a wise man claims to know, he cannot find it out."
Ecclesiastes 8:1-17
What was said in yesterday's Note has considerable implications for the spirit of unrest and disorder in our society today. The thesis that is propounded in these verses is: Even if any order of society is authoritarian and even evil (9b), nevertheless loyalty to law and order is preferable to insurrection and anarchy. This, as one scholar says, is a profound challenge to those who identify or confuse change with progress. For all change is not necessarily progress, as we well know, and may yet know, to our cost. In a very perceptive comment on the historical antecedents of this debate a noted theologian says: 'The Reformers gave government and the principle of order an absolute preference over rebellion and political chaos', but adds, 'This tended to ally the Christian Church too uncritically with the centres of power in political life, and tempted it to forget that government is frequently the primary source of injustice and oppression. And Calvin's later answer to this was to remember that it was as important to place the ruler under the judgment of God as to regard him as an instrument of God for checking individual sin'. We may well ask why such an emphasis on submission is made in these verses, but the answer must be because of the reality of what is 'above the sun'. All injustice is bearable, and can be borne, as we have already pointed out in an earlier Note, because it will only last 'till He come'. This is Paul's emphasis in Romans 13, as he sums up his argument in the words 'The night is far spent, the day is at hand'. Thus the real and ultimate cause of the anarchy of our day is the loss of the 'other dimension'. The loss of the religious view of life has led directly and inevitably to what we see in our society today.
November 28th 2021 – Ecclesiastes 8:1-17
“8 Who is like the wise? And who knows the interpretation of a thing?A man’s wisdom makes his face shine, and the hardness of his face is changed. 2 I say: Keep the king’s command, because of God’s oath to him. 3 Be not hasty…
November 27th 2021 – Ecclesiastes 7:15-29
“15 In my vain life I have seen everything. There is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his evildoing. 16 Be not overly righteous, and do not make yourself…
November 26th 2021 – Ecclesiastes 7:15-29
“15 In my vain life I have seen everything. There is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his evildoing. 16 Be not overly righteous, and do not make yourself…
November 25th 2021 – Ecclesiastes 7:1-14
“7 A good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death than the day of birth.2 It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting,for this is the end of all mankind, and…
November 24th 2021 – Ecclesiastes 7:1-14
“7 A good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death than the day of birth.2 It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting,for this is the end of all mankind, and…
November 23rd 2021 – Ecclesiastes 7:1-14
“7 A good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death than the day of birth.2 It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting,for this is the end of all mankind, and…
November 22nd 2021 – Ecclesiastes 6:1-12
“6 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 honour, so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God does…
November 21st 2021 – Ecclesiastes 6:1-12
“6 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 honour, so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God does…
November 20th 2021 – Ecclesiastes 6:1-12
“6 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 honour, so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God does…