Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Ship your grain across the sea;
    after many days you may receive a return.
Invest in seven ventures, yes, in eight;
    you do not know what disaster may come upon the land.
If clouds are full of water,
    they pour rain on the earth.
Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north,
    in the place where it falls, there it will lie.
Whoever watches the wind will not plant;
    whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.
As you do not know the path of the wind,
    or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb,
so you cannot understand the work of God,
    the Maker of all things.
Sow your seed in the morning,
    and at evening let your hands not be idle,
for you do not know which will succeed,
    whether this or that,
    or whether both will do equally well.
Light is sweet,
    and it pleases the eyes to see the sun.
However many years anyone may live,
    let them enjoy them all.
But let them remember the days of darkness,
    for there will be many.
    Everything to come is meaningless.
You who are young, be happy while you are young,
    and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth.
Follow the ways of your heart
    and whatever your eyes see,
but know that for all these things
    God will bring you into judgment.
So then, banish anxiety from your heart
    and cast off the troubles of your body,
    for youth and vigor are meaningless.

• Ecclesiastes 11:1-10

Remember your Creator
    in the days of your youth,
before the days of trouble come
    and the years approach when you will say,
    “I find no pleasure in them”—
before the sun and the light
    and the moon and the stars grow dark,
    and the clouds return after the rain;
when the keepers of the house tremble,
    and the strong men stoop,
when the grinders cease because they are few,
    and those looking through the windows grow dim;
when the doors to the street are closed
    and the sound of grinding fades;
when people rise up at the sound of birds,
    but all their songs grow faint;
when people are afraid of heights
    and of dangers in the streets;
when the almond tree blossoms
    and the grasshopper drags itself along
    and desire no longer is stirred.
Then people go to their eternal home
    and mourners go about the streets.
Remember him—before the silver cord is severed,
    and the golden bowl is broken;
before the pitcher is shattered at the spring,
    and the wheel broken at the well,
and the dust returns to the ground it came from,
    and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
“Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher.
    “Everything is meaningless!”
Not only was the Teacher wise, but he also imparted knowledge to the people. He pondered and searched out and set in order many proverbs. The Teacher searched to find just the right words, and what he wrote was upright and true.
The words of the wise are like goads, their collected sayings like firmly embedded nails—given by one shepherd. Be warned, my son, of anything in addition to them.
Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body.
Now all has been heard;
    here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandments,
    for this is the duty of all mankind.
For God will bring every deed into judgment,
    including every hidden thing,
    whether it is good or evil.

• Ecclesiastes 12:1-14

Noted Biblical Scholars, Teachers, and Preachers Comments

Ecclesiastes 11:1-6 ‘Let it go’: “God gives our generation four commands in this passage, and each command is in strong contrast to advice we hear today. Instead of protecting, release yourself! This first piece of advice we find implied in Solomon’s opening comment: ‘Give generously’ or as the New American Standard Bible says, ‘Cast your bread on the surface of the waters.’ Today, we might say, ‘Don’t put the bread in the deep freeze-it’ll dry out. Don’t store it in the pantry or seal it in a baggie—it’ll mold. Don’t hoard it, thinking that it needs to be protected—release it!’ And we are told to release it ‘on the surface of the waters.’ That means we are to let go of it—push it away from ourselves. l am told that this is actually an ancient Arabic proverb that reads:
“Do good. Cast your bread into the water. You will be repaid someday.”

• Charles R. Swindoll, Living on the Ragged Edge

Ecclesiastes 11:1-2 ‘futility and uncertainty’: “The futility and uncertainty of life as depicted in the previous chapters could result in paralysis and inertia. Qoheleth will not tolerate this. He now calls for diligence and bold action.
“It is difficult to know whether philanthropy or business is in mind in v.1 (bread suggests either agricultural pursuits or a contribution to the hungry). Either way the emphasis is the same. People must be bold and invest their resources since the return they receive will depend on that investment (cf. Lk 16:1-9; Jn 12:23-26). V.2 calls for diversification of charitable or business efforts. It is simply unwise to put all our eggs into one basket.”

• Eugene E. Carpenter, Asbury Bible Commentary

Ecclesiastes 11:1 ‘cast your bread’: “Take a calculated and wise step forward in life, like a farmer who throws his seed on the wet or marshy ground and waits for it to grow (cf. Is. 32:20).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Ecclesiastes 11:3-6 ‘charitable giving’: “Reference to the generous clouds pouring rain upon the earth may serve here as an analogy of appropriate charitable giving. On the other hand, it may suggest a storm that topples the tree, an unexpected and inconvenient happening (v.3). In spite of such aggravations, people must not procrastinate. They must not cower before the unknown or inconvenient. The tasks of life must be done now and not be delayed for ideal conditions (vv.4-6).
Since the same Hebrew word can mean wind or spirit, it is not clear in v.5 whether the reference is to the path of the wind or the path of the spirit. The former would attach it to the preceding verse, while the latter would connect it with the formation of the fetus. Human ignorance concerning the wind (Jn 3:8) and the human fetus (Ps 139:13-16) serves to remind us of our inability to understand the work of God (v.5).”

• Eugene E. Carpenter, Asbury Bible Commentary

Ecclesiastes 11:5 ‘not a matter of what you know’: ” There are great mysteries we can never comprehend. God alone knows how the soul comes into the body or even how the body is fashioned. This must remain with him. We do not know how sinners are regenerated. We know not how the Spirit of God works on the human mind and transforms the sinner into a saint.  There are some who know too much already. I have not half the desire to know that l have to believe and to love. Oh, that we loved God more and trusted God more! We might then get to heaven if we knew even less than we do.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

Ecclesiastes 11:7-12:8 ‘Man Should Enjoy Life, But not Sin’: “Solomon crystallizes the book’s message. Death is imminent and with it comes retribution. Enjoyment and judgment, though strange partners, come together in this section because both clamor for man’s deepest commitment. Surprisingly, one does not win out over the other. In a world created for enjoyment but damaged by sin, judgment and enjoyment/pleasure are held in tension. With too much pleasure, judgment stands as a threatening force; with too much judgment, enjoyment suffers. In the final analysis, both are prominent themes of life that are resolved in our relationship to God, the primary issue of life and this book.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Ecclesiastes 11:7 ‘seeking the Light’: “Now remember that this is picturesque, symbolic Hebrew. It is inspired poetry, not meant to be taken literally. The reader is expected to feel the romance, the rhythmic beauty, and the color of the wise man’s counsel.
“Frequently through the Scriptures, references to light and sunshine are used to describe the warmth of God’s love. ‘The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall l fear?’ asked the psalmist. When we are enveloped in the warmth of our Father’s love, we fear no one. It gives us a sense of warm security to be under His wings, surrounded by His care. That’s the idea.”

• Charles R. Swindoll, Living on the Ragged Edge

Ecclesiastes 11:8-9 ‘youth vs. old age’: “In this passage the writer contrasts youth with its joy and advantages and old age with its trouble and disadvantages. Youth must be lived with a conscious recognition of the approach of death (11:8) and of judgment, whether eschatological or the continual vicissitudes of life (v.9). Qoheleth does not see such a mindset as destructive of joy. To the contrary, youth can be enjoyed only as reminders are given both of its beauty and transience.”

• Eugene E. Carpenter, Asbury Bible Commentary

Ecclesiastes 11:8 ‘Happiness’: “Happiness is to pervade all the years of our life. We don’t have to wait until we reach some magical age when we are allowed to crack open the door and slip silently into the realm of happiness. It’s there for us to enjoy throughout our days.”

• Charles R. Swindoll, Living on the Ragged Edge

Ecclesiastes 11:8 ‘life without Christ – nothing’: “Take Christ away and this is a truthful estimate oi human life. Put Christ into the question and Solomon does not hit the mark at all. If we have Christ with us, whether the days are light or dark, we walk in the light and our soul is happy and glad. But apart from Christ, the estimate of life given here is an exactly accurate one—a little brightness and long darkness, a flash and then midnight. God save us from living a merely natural life! May we get out of the lower life of the mere animal into the higher life of the regenerated soul!”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

Ecclesiastes 11:9 ‘Rejoice … judgment’: “The two terms seem to cancel each other out. How can this be explained? Enjoy life, but do not commit iniquity. The balance that is called for insures that enjoyment is not reckless, sinful abandonment. Pleasure is experienced in faith and obedience for, as Solomon has said repeatedly, one can only receive true satisfaction as a gift from God.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Ecclesiastes 11 ‘Challenge’: “Christian literature, to be accepted and approved by evangelical leaders of our times, must follow very closely the same train of thought, a kind of ‘party line’ from which it is scarcely safe to depart. A half-century of this in America has made us smug and content. We imitate each other with slavish devotion. Our most strenuous efforts are put forth to try to say the same thing that everyone around us is saying—and yet to find an excuse for saying it, some little safe variation on the approved theme or, if no more, at least a new illustration.”

• A. W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God

Ecclesiastes 12:1-6 ‘deterioration of our bodies’: “To begin with, Solomon writes of mental aging. He then addresses the process of deterioration that occurs in our bodies. By the time we reach the end of his list, we realize the value of his great counsel to remember our Creator. As the old adage goes, ‘An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.’ Let’s not wait until we are white-haired to respond!”

• Charles R. Swindoll, Living on the Ragged Edge

Ecclesiastes 12:1 ‘remember God in your youth’: “Further, it is critical for the Creator to be remembered during youth. This is not simply a mental exercise; it is a deliberate act of committing the self to the source of its origin—to God. Such a commitment must be made while life is still enjoyed and the faculties and capacity to know and serve God are at their fullest. The days of trouble—the decline and restraining years—will come (12:1).”

• Eugene E. Carpenter, Asbury Bible Commentary

Ecclesiastes 12:1a ‘sound advice’: “Now we get on solid ground. There is an irony in the advice, ‘Rejoice, young person, while you are young, and let your heart be glad in the days of your youth. And walk in the ways of your heart and in the desire of your eyes’ (11:9). But there is no irony here—there is solid, sound advice. May every young man take this advice and carry it out.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

Ecclesiastes 12:1b ‘older and weaker’: ” The commentary on these ‘days of adversity’ is found in verses 2-6. These arms and hands of ours shake by reason of weakness. These limbs, these legs of ours, begin to bend under the weight they have to support. The teeth are gone. The eyesight begins to fail. The old man sleeps very lightly; anything awakens him. He hides away from public business. The doors are shut in the streets. There is none of the courage of youth. Daring is gone—prudence, not to say cowardice—sits on the throne. The hair is white and gray, like the early peach or almond tree in the beginning of the year. A little trouble weighs the old man down. He has no energy now. The grasshopper is a burden. The circulation of the blood begins to fail, the heart grows weak. It will soon stop. The man’s career is nearly over.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

Ecclesiastes 12:2 ‘old age and its frailty’: “Beginning with 12:2 the frailty of old age is presented in a series of pictures. The diversity includes the aging of various parts of the body, the destructiveness of an approaching storm, and the ruin of a wealthy estate due to the failure of its guardians. All emphasize the same—the debilitation of the body because of old age.”

• Eugene E. Carpenter, Asbury Bible Commentary

Ecclesiastes 12:6 ‘silver cord is loosed’: “Perhaps this pictures a lamp hanging from a silver chain, which breaks with age, smashing the lamp. Some suggest this refers to the spinal cord. loosed … broken … shattered … broken. All of these actions portray death as tragic and irreversible. golden bowl. Possibly this refers to the brain. pitcher … fountain … wheel. Wells required a wheel with a rope attached in order to lower the pitcher for water. Perhaps this pictures the fountain of blood, the heart.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Ecclesiastes 12:7 ‘our spirit returns to God’: “You will never read about this in Time or Newsweek. You won’t read about it in tomorrow morning’s newspaper or see this presented on the television news tonight, but take it from God, it will happen.  You may live a bit longer, then you will die. After death, what? ‘The spirit will return to God who gave it.’ And if you are ready, you will see a smile like you’ve never seen in your earthly lite. It will be on the face of your Savior. You’ll hear Him say, ‘Come into My kingdom.’ And you’ll hear sounds you never heard on earth, all because you turned your life over to God in your youth. You ‘acted decisively on His behalf.’ It’s beautiful! Not even the aging process will cancel out His plan to make you into a new person, fitted for eternity.”

• Charles R. Swindoll, Living on the Ragged Edge

Ecclesiastes 12:7 ‘the soul returning to God’: ” This will happen to us all, either to return to dust or else return to God. Whether we die and return to dust, or live until the coming of Christ, our spirit shall return to God who gave it. May the return be a joyous one for each of us!”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

Ecclesiastes 12:7 ‘we return to dust’: “V.7 is a reversal of Ge 2:7. Humankind returns to dust, and the dust returns to the ground. Since God gave the spirit, he also has the power to reclaim it. Minimally the spirit refers to the breath of life, the animation of the body God provided (Ps 104:29). From a NT perspective, more will be read into this return of the spirit to God.”

• Eugene E. Carpenter, Asbury Bible Commentary

Ecclesiastes 12:9-10 ‘preachers must be wise?’: “Solomon’s opening remark should never be forgotten: the preacher, first and foremost, is to be a wise man. His primary task is to teach the people knowledge. In doing so he is to do certain things—’ponder,’ ‘search out,’ and ‘arrange.’ When he mentions ‘ponder,’ he uses the term that means he weighs the words carefully. He sifts through their implications. (The root term means ‘to sift’) He feels them. He compares them. He debates with himself over them. He wrestles and sweats over them.
“John R. W. Stott has referred to this as worrying over and wrestling with the biblical text as a dog would wrestle with a bone. Great word picture! Have you ever watched a dog with a bone? They’ll get every little bit of the gristle down in the knuckles of the bones. As dogs worry over a bone, so it is with a good preacher. He works on words. His craft is words. He searches diligently. He tries to find just the right terms. I am often haunted by the words of one of my mentors who warned his students against ‘the slimy ooze of indefiniteness.’ Generalities lack a solid punch. They put people to sleep. Good communicators find just the right words, which requires a careful search. And such research is often exhausting.”

• Charles R. Swindoll, Living on the Ragged Edge

Ecclesiastes 12:11 ‘the good shepherd’: “They prick us onward, as the goad does the bullock, when he is trying to stop instead of plowing in the furrow. The words of the wise are driven home, like nails, and clinched. There is one Shepherd who, by means of his servants’ words, leads his flock where he would have them go.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

Ecclesiastes 12:12 ‘books’: “Books written on any other subject than God’s revealed wisdom will only proliferate the uselessness of man’s thinking.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Ecclesiastes 12:12 ‘going home’: “One of these days I’m going to work up the courage to bring that as a commencement address, when I’m asked to speak to a graduating body of seniors. Sheer exhaustion is reflected on their faces. Faculties tell me that April and May are the hardest months of the year in which to teach. All the pizzazz is over. The excitement of a sports program has petered out. All of the delight of new life on campus has waned. The balloons and banners are no longer flying. Now it’s ‘depression city’ and students and faculty alike try their best just to make it to the end of the year. Solomon has a splendid description for such a scene: ‘excessive devotion to books.’ It’s not only true on a school campus, by the way, it’s equally true in life. Alvin Tofler in The Third Wave states:
“ ‘The computer-operated microprinters available today on our planet can turn out 20,000 lines of verbiage every minute-—which is 200 times faster than anyone on earth can read.‘ ”

• Charles R. Swindoll, Living on the Ragged Edge

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 ‘Fear God’: “Cf. 3:14; 5:7; 7:18; 8:12, 13. Solomon’s final word on the issues raised in this book, as well as life itself, focus on a person’s relationship to God. All of the concern for a life under the sun, with its pleasures and uncertainties, was behind Solomon. Such things seemed comparatively irrelevant to him as he faced the end of his life. But death, in spite of the focused attention he had given to it in Ecclesiastes, was not the greatest equalizer. ]udgment/retribution is the real equalizer as Solomon saw it, for God will bring our every act to judgment. Unbelievers will stand at the Great White Throne judgment (cf. Rev. 20:11-15) and believers before Christ at the Bema judgment (cf. 1 Cor. 3:10-15; 2 Cor. 5:9, 10).
“When all is said and done, the certainty and finality of divine retribution give life the meaning for which David’s oft—times foolish son had been searching. Whatever may be one’s portion in life, accountability to the God whose ways are often mysterious is both eternal and irrevocable.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Ecclesiastes 12:13 ‘obedience’: “True faith commits us to obedience. ‘We have received grace and apostleship,’ says Paul, ‘for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name’ (Romans 1:5). That dreamy, sentimental faith which ignores the judgments of God against us and listens to the affirmations of the soul is as deadly as cyanide. That faith which passively accepts all the pleasant texts of the Scriptures while it overlooks or rejects the stern warnings and commandments of those same Scriptures is not the faith of which Christ and His apostles spoke.
“Faith in faith is faith astray. To hope for heaven by means of such faith is to drive in the dark across a deep chasm on a bridge that doesn’t quite reach the other side.”

• A. W. Tozer, Of God and Men

Ecclesiastes 12:13 ‘the ragged rocks of reality’: “Here are some God-given, time-tested truths that define the way you should navigate your life. Observe them and enjoy secure passage. Ignore them and crash against the ragged rocks of reality … :
– Love God more than you fear hell.
– Make major decisions in a cemetery.
– When no one is watching, live as if someone is.
– Succeed at home first.
– Don’t spend tomorrow’s money today.
– Pray twice as much as you fret.
– God has forgiven you; you’d be wise to do the same.”

• Max Lucado, In the Eye of the Storm

Ecclesiastes 12:14 ‘judgment, every act to account’: “You may say, ‘I don’t believe that.’ To be just as candid with you, let me respond by answering, ‘I don’t care!’ In the final analysis, what’s more important—what you prefer to believe or what God actually says? This is what God says and He’s never once lied to mankind. If He says that He will bring every act to judgment (even though l don’t know how He will do it), I know He will. I don’t know His method and frankly, that doesn’t bother me. What ought to bother us is that He will do it! We’re so technically oriented that we want to know the process before we’ll believe the fact.
“Somehow in God’s own timing and in God’s own way, He will cause there to be a replay of our lives. In the final analysis, we’ll do business with Him. Count on it. It makes a lot of sense to me that the One who made us has every right to hold us accountable. And the idea of bringing ‘every act to judgment,’ even the things we might consider ‘hidden,’ doesn’t seem at all preposterous.”

• Charles R. Swindoll, Living on the Ragged Edge

Ecclesiastes 12:14 ‘judgment day’: “Depend on it that it will be so. At the last great day there will be a revealing of everything, whether it is good or whether it is evil. No need for the righteous to fear that revelation, for they will only magnify in that day the amazing grace of God that has put all their iniquities away—and then all men will know how great the grace of God was in passing by iniquity, transgression, and sin.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

 

My Thoughts

Ecclesiastes 11 starts with the phrase to cast one’s bread, but the NIV says to ship the grain.  Cast bread upon the waters makes little sense.  There are three scholarly quotes above, and they all say something different.  I like Rev. MacArthur’s approach that a farmer casts his seed and then sits back to watch his crop grow, constantly tending it.  Of course, casting the grain upon the water would produce few crops.  The Asbury Commentary touches on some confusion as to whether this should be business or philanthropy related.  Could it not be both? 

It seems a wise saying for the businessman.  The NIV usage of “Ship” gives me the idea of a ship captain taking his goods to an unknown land, at least a land that has never seen what he has in the hold.  He could make a great profit, but he must venture beyond the unknown to find it.

Rev. Swindoll basically boils it down to letting it go.  We cannot take it with us, and letting it go illustrates that our possessions do not possess us.

One phrase in this initial segment is interesting compared to the modern secular world.  We probably know more about what goes on in a mother’s womb more than ever before.  Yet, we have two sides at war.  One that is Pro-Life, recognizing the science that exists, that the unborn has a heartbeat early on, that the unborn can feel.  The other side of Pro-Choice ignores the science for the convenience of getting rid of a mistake.  Yet, the “choice” of not having sex is off the table for discussion, nor is adoption a consideration, and contraception seems off the table as well.  Those would be choices that do not result in killing.

Solomon then shifts to wise sayings regarding youth and old age.  We are to be happy in our youth, but we must not sin.  For most people these days that follow the secular concept of “happy,” they cannot think of happy things that do not involve sin.  But when I was in high school, we went to the Bible teacher’s house after the football games.  We usually lost the football game, but that was supposedly a “fun” thing to do.  Yet, going to the Bible teacher’s house to have an hour or two of hearing testimonies about Jesus and singing worship songs, at least those of the late 1960s, and praying…  That brought great happiness and there was no sin involved.

But look back, although looking back is non-productive, or so some people say.  When you had no job to go to and you could sit at home and watch cartoons all day with maybe only one or two chores to do…  Those were carefree times that most people would consider happy.

Even in retirement, you cannot recapture that carefree lifestyle, unless you are bedridden, and the carefree “activities” are in your dreams.  In fact, that is the flip of the coin for Solomon.  When you get old, there are things to do in retirement, but you can find no pleasure in them.  I would love to play golf all day every day, but I cannot afford to do so and the tendonitis in one arm fades only after the tendonitis in the other arm flares up.  And then there are those times when both arms are flared up, and the laundry needs to be done anyway.

I liked the verse about the bird songs and then our own singing fading away.  My wife recently got hearing aids.  She can now hear things that she had not heard in years, but with her breathing problems, she rarely can sing an entire hymn in church.  She sometimes stops completely.  Sometimes, she sings it an octave lower.  But now with her hearing aids in, she says that the turn signal on the car is too loud.  With most of the birds gone for the winter, I wonder what she will say when the robins return.

In the conclusions, there is the statement about books.  I love reading books.  I love writing short stories.  But anything that does not point toward God and glorify Him is wasting time.  Some of my posts may be considered time wasters, but I try to include a moral lesson even in those that are considered to be a humorous story.

And one of the important verses, the last wise saying that feeds into the conclusions, is that our spirit (or our soul) belongs to God.  It was God who gave it in the first place.

And having an eternal soul makes all the difference in all this meaningless life is that there will be a judgment.  Our soul will live on.  We will either live in communion with God in Glory or in tremendous pain and suffering in the Lake of Fire.  But we will all be judged.  And that makes everything that we say, think, and do meaningful.

Some Serendipitous Reflections

“Ecclesiastes 11:1-6 – Casting Bread: 1. How well do you manage your time? Money? Emotions?
“2. in what areas of life are your ‘investments’ too concentrated? Spread too thin?
“Ecclesiastes 11:7-12:8 – Seek God in your Youth: 1. How much do ‘eternal concerns’ affect your daily decisions? Which areas of your life are least influenced by your faith in God? Which are most?
“2. How free do you feel to ‘be happy’ and enjoy life?
“3. How can you ‘remember your Creator in the days of your youth’? How can you help children to do so?
“4. How has your faith in God affected your outlook on aging? On dying? On death? Which do you fear most? Do you yearn for one of these? Why?
“Ecclesiastes 12:9-14 – conclusions: 1. ln retrospect, how do you respond to the reflections in this book? What do you feel about its author?
“2. Which discussion had the most impact on your thinking?
“3. How do you think its author would want you to apply his work to your life? How do you think God would?”

• Lyman Coleman, et al, The NIV Serendipity Bible for Study Groups

There is three sets of questions for these two chapters as noted.

Substitute whatever group for any reference to a small group or ask who could come to your aid.

If you like these Thursday morning Bible studies, but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Thursday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.