Ecclesiastes 3

Ecclesiastes 3:1-22

THE WOULD-BE MANEcc_3:1 to Ecclesiastes 4:16.IN these chapters Solomon discusses the would-be religious man. Just as in the case of “The Would-be Wise Man,” and “The Would-be Happy Man,” he presents both the false philosophies current among men and the philosophies that are true. The one thing that he makes clear is the fact that true religion is more than action, on the one side, or negation on the other. Christ Himself, the perfect model in true religion, did not escape the criticisms of men who believed that religion consisted of “deeds” and “don’ts”.“It came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples.“And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto His disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?“Then came to Him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but Thy disciples fast not”? (Matthew 9:10-11; Matthew 9:14).And Jesus, having overheard what they were saying about Him, said,“John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil.“The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners” (Matthew 11:18-19).In other words, Jesus did not escape criticism. Flawless as His religion was, it did not suit the men and women who made fast and hard rules for others; and then watched to see who would toe the line.Solomon had observed sufficiently to know that true religion does not consist in exactitudes; but, rather, in the spirit that animates loyalty, gives rise to love, and eventuates in service. He even goes so far as to defend certain things that are supposed to be indefensible, indicating The Justification of Worldliness, The Vindication of Religion, and The Adjudication of Values.THE OF Circumstances should often determine conduct.“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;“A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;“A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;“A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;“A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;“A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;“A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8).This all sounds like strange speech. It sounds as if Solomon favored destruction, murder, dancing, war, and other questionable, or evidently wicked acts. But such an interpretation would pervert his intention. What he says is clearly true if intelligently interpreted. There is “a time to every purpose under the heaven”. There is “a time to be born”; that is when the period of gestation is complete.

There is “a time to die”; that is when life itself has been lived and the strength of the body and the heart has been exhausted. There is “a time to plant”; that is in the springtime.

And there is “a time to pluck up”, or gather; that is in the autumn. Yes, there is even “a time to kill, and a time to heal”. When the pig in the pen or ox in the stall are fully fatted, that is the “time to kill” for animals. When a man has proven himself an intentional murderer, and thereby has demonstrated that the continuation of his existence renders society unsafe, the State has a perfect right to kill.But when the good citizen is sick, that is the “time to heal”.There is “a time to break down”; that is when the hedge fence has become a nuisance and ought to be removed, or the house has become old and leaky, and is no longer worthy of patches even; then destroy them and leave the landscape to nature’s beautification, or employ the place for a new building.There is “a time to weep”, and that is when the heart is filled with sorrow. There is “a time to laugh”; that is when mirth is appropriate.There is “a time to mourn”; that is when bereavement has smitten the house. There is “a time to dance”; that is when every heart is lithe with joy.It had better be said in passing that the dancing with which Solomon was familiar was not the unjustifiable debauch that belongs to the present day.There is “a time to cast away stones”; that is when we are clearing up the field for the plow.

There is “a time to gather stones together”; that is when you want to construct a house of the same.In other words, circumstances may justly control conduct!We believe absolutely with Solomon that it is better not to look “upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright”; in other words, when it is a temptation! But we also agree with Paul, that, for the sick, “a little wine for thy stomach’s sake” is justifiable.When we hear that certain people have done so and so, one should learn the circumstances before passing criticism.

To illustrate how a thing that is not only proper in itself, but eminently desirable, may become absurd, you have only to recall the story of the barber who had found the Lord, and became instantly an enthusiastic soul-winner, and let no man get by without a personal appeal for surrender. One day a stranger appeared in the shop, was comfortably seated in the barber’s chair, and when his face was lathered, the barber, with razor in hand, leaned over him and asked, “Are you prepared to die?” The story goes that they found the man in the next county still running. The thing that Solomon is trying to emphasize is appropriateness. “To every thing there is a season”.Through every experience there runs a possible profitable exercise.“What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?“I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it” (Ecclesiastes 3:9-10).People have an idea that they should be kept from travail, preserved against sorrow, insured against hardship. They argue that if God were good He would exempt man from all of these things. The logic is faulty. The argument itself finds no defense in human experience.“Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.“We have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us * * after their own pleasure; but He for our profit * *.“Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby” (Hebrews 12:6; Hebrews 12:9-11).Mark the words “exercised thereby”.

Moses could never have been the man he was without the danger to his infancy in the bulrushes, the travail of spirit he endured at the sight of his suffering kin, and the hardships of the desert life.Daniel would never have developed as he did had he not been placed on pulse and water, opposed by his envious enemies, flung by his master to the lions.Joseph would never have been as fit a Premier, had he not passed to his prominence by the path of opposition, the experiences of the pit, and even the dankness of the prison dungeon.Paul could hardly have been the Apostle of the centuries without the opposition, hardship, flogging, and imprisonment, through which he walked to his immortal diploma.It is not essentially different today. John Bunyan might never have seen the illumined path to the Celestial City had he not been in Bedford jail and denied all physical vision.

Huber might never have attained the honors connected with his name as a scientist had he not been smitten with blindness, and Alexander Stevens was made an invalid first and an orator afterward. Strange as it seems, Beethoven conceived his glorious symphonies while suffering deafness, and Phillips Brooks became the torrential orator because he had to talk fast to defeat his own stuttering. Hardships, suffering, travail of spirit may not be absolutely essential to human success, but, that they are “exercises” by which God has profited man a thousand times, none can dispute. That, we believe to be the meaning of this text, “I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it. He hath made every thing beautiful in his time”. The field that is being torn by the plow, if it were sentient, would complain that its very face was being battered to pieces; and when the harrow was put over the same, its complaint might be deeper still, namely, that a thousand scratches were being put upon the same face, and that without occasion.

But the plow-man knows the share and harrow are essential for the beauty and fruitfulness of the coming summer.There is human comfort in the sense of Divine control.“I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before Him” (Ecclesiastes 3:14).Therein is unspeakable comfort. No man who doubts the Divine control can be a happy man.

Robert Browning, believer that he was, could, under the most adverse circumstances, declare“God’s in His Heaven,”and believe that“All’s right with the world.”But Schopenhauer, failing to see God in anything, refusing to admit His intervention at any point, regarded life a regrettable tragedy, declared it to be a misfortune, and death itself to be preferable to human existence. “If thou but suffer God to guide thee, And hope in Him through all thy ways,He’ll give thee strength whate’er betide thee, And bear thee through the evil days.Who trusts in God’s unchanging love,Builds on the Bock that can not move.“What can these anxious cares avail thee, The never-ceasing moans and sighs?What can it help if thou bewail thee, O’er each dark moment as it dies?Our cross and trials do but press The heavier for our bitterness.“Only be still and wait His leisure In cheerful hope, with heart content To take whate’er thy Father’s pleasure And all-discerning love hath sent;No doubt our inmost wants are known To Him who chose us for His own.“Sing, pray, and keep His ways unswerving, So do thine own part faithfully,And trust His Word, though undeserving, Thou yet shalt find it true for thee;God never yet forsook at need The soul that trusted Him indeed.”But to our text again. We look and discoverTHE OF God is a discerner of right and wrong.“Moreover I saw under the sun the place of judgment, that wickedness was there; and the place of righteousness, that iniquity was there.“I said in mine heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked: for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work” (Ecclesiastes 3:16-17).In this statement of Scripture is food for thought —a fact in which men must uniformly believe. They may boast themselves to be the apostles of skepticism; they may talk lightly, and even learnedly, of “immutable laws,” and of man as the climax of Nature’s endeavor; but there is something within man, doubtless his immortal self, that senses God and recognizes in Him the final Judge as between right and wrong and, consequently, the Arbiter of eternal destinies.That is how it happens that the most profane man of the day, when in danger, will cease his profanity and voice prayer. That is how it happens that the boastful atheist, when death draws nigh, pales in his presence and evidently fears that judgment may stand just back of life’s last enemy. That is why it took place that the murderer, when the nails of crucifixion were driven into his hands and feet, turned his dying eyes to the Man of Nazareth and begged to be remembered in grace when that Godlike One should come into His Kingdom.There are plenty of people who imagine they can get on without God, when the heart is stout, when the health is perfect, when the business is prosperous, when the domestic order is peaceful, and when their good name is in no danger. But when have you known a man that could face serious illness in an unshaken skepticism, or certain death, knowing no concern for sin?Charles Wesley but expressed what even the worst of men are like to feel as they approach the final judgment: “Depths of mercy! can there beMercy still reserved for me?Can my God His wrath forbear,And the chief of sinners spare?“I have long withstood His grace; Long provoked Him to His face;Would not hear His gracious calls;Grieved Him by a thousand falls.“Jesus, answer from above;Is not all Thy nature love?Wilt Thou not the wrong forget?Lo, I fall before Thy feet.“Now incline me to repent;Let me now my fall lament;Deeply my revolt deplore;Weep, believe, and sin no more.”The sense of God makes manifest the sins of man.“I said in mine heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked: for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.“I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.“For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity”.It was when Isaiah saw God “high and lifted up” that he saw himself a sinful man, “a man of unclean lips”, dwelling among a people of the same. It was when Peter realized the Divine presence in the person of Jesus that he fell on his face and cried, “Depart from me; for I am a sinful man”. It was when Paul, on the way to Damascus, beheld the Lord of holiness, that he bit the dust, and blinded by his own tears, extended his hand to those who would lead him out of total darkness into the light of redemption; and it was that former estate to which he referred when he affirmed that he was the chief of sinners.The “beastliness” of humanity of which Solomon here writes, becomes evident when men see themselves in the light of God’s face. And it is then, and only then, that grace has her opportunity.John Newton had followed his feet in forbidden paths and yielded his heart to any and every seduction of evil, but when at last he sensed God, and was saved, he wrote: “Amazing grace! how sweet the sound, That saved a wretch like me!I once was lost, but now am found; Was blind, but now I see.“ ’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, And grace my fears relieved;How precious did that grace appear, The hour I first believed!“Through many dangers, toils, and snares, I have already come;’Tis grace that brought me safe thus far, And grace will lead me Home.”THE OF VALUESSolomon in the fourth chapter gives serious concern to the oppressions that are done under the sun, to the tears of the oppressed, and is led to four conclusions, which he impresses one after another by the one word “better”.He affirms that non-existence is better than sordid life. For when he considers oppression, beholds the tears of the oppressed, and recognizes the fact that they are without comforters, he praises the dead more than the living; but declares, “Better is he than both they, which hath not yet been”.To some this would seem a declaration that it were better never to have been born than to have lived. But such is not the declaration of Scripture. It is better not to have been born than to have been born to oppression, tears and lack of comforters; and still better yet not to have been born to oppress one’s fellows. But neither “oppression” nor the “oppressor” are essentials of life. It can be lived in freedom, and also in integrity, and yet, so lived it is as much beyond and better than being dead as a living tree is better than a dead one; and “a living dog is better than a dead lion.”James Thompson, the poet, must certainly have looked at life from the low standpoint of mortality, and have seen much of what Solomon here depicts, or else he could never have voiced himself in the despair of this verse: “Weary of erring in this desert life, Weary of hoping hopes forever vain,Weary of struggling in all sterile strife, Weary of thought that makes nothing plain,I calm my eyes and calm my panting breath,And pray to Thee, oh, ever quiet Death, To come and soothe away my bitter pain.”One of three words accounts for such a philosophy of life—sin, skepticism or stupidity.The stupid see little in life! Only this week I have read a letter. The writer was ignorant as indicated alike by his faulty spelling, his false reasoning, and his fanatical conclusions. To him society was all wrong; civilization was a mistake, and Christianity was a pretense. The prison-house was his enforced habitat. There are thousands of men behind bars who are more stupid than wicked, and the mighty majority of them see nothing in life; that accounts for the fact that they hold it so cheaply, that they put it in peril so constantly, and that they prefer the thrill of robbery to the slower method of making money by honest labor.

The majority of these men doubt God, deny the authority of Scripture, and deride the professions of Christianity as mere pretenses. They believe that one had better never been born.

Such is the conclusion of stupidity!Skepticism lifts its subjects to little higher level. Professor Clifford believed that “the great companion was dead.” Harriet Martineau insisted that “everlasting winter had set in.” Herbert Spencer doubted if any deeds were worthy of the endeavor. George Burman Foster admitted that he was seeking to save his soul from freezing as he strove vainly to cling to the sunnier side of doubt. Mills feared that the universe had gotten away from God, while Hume, Paine and Voltaire, and our own Bob Ingersoll looked upon life as an insoluble enigma, and existence as a regrettable event.But, the depths and dregs of despair are left to men who live consciously and constantly in sin. Such is the power of sin to produce despair that no conceivable human talent will lift its subject above the experience of the same. Think of Bobby Burns as an illustration of what I am saying.

It is affirmed that “his genius was so overmastering that the news of Burns’ arrival at the village not only drew farmers from their fields, but the midnight wakened travelers left their beds to listen delightedly until the morning.” “Among scholars, statesmen and philosophers, he blazed,” one said, “like a torch amidst the tapers, showing himself to be wiser than the scholars, wittier than the humorous and kinglier than the courtliest.” No less an authority than Walter Scott declares that the most precious memory of life was a look into Burns’ eyes, “dark and tender, the most glorious eyes he had ever seen.” But Newell Dwight Hillis declares that the last time that Robert Burns’ eyes glowed, they blazed with anger against a creditor who had come to drag the dying man from his bed to the prison cell. Possessed by sorrow as with an evil spirit, his dark hair streaked with gray before its time, worn by worries and wasted with fever, embittered by trouble against which he had bravely struggled, but struggled in vain, like Saul, Burns fell upon an untimely death.

In spite of our love of Burns, in spite of the beauty of his poetry, in spite of the brilliance of his intellect, we are compelled to confess with grief that it was sins and excesses that sent this favorite child of the intellectual world to the land of despair.Byron, handsome of feature beyond description, intelligent of face above his fellows, courtly in manners as few men ever become, and talented to the point of a positive immortality, drank and caroused until his friend Shelley declared that a sudden and violent death would be the greatest blessing that could overtake him.Doubtless each of these men would have joined with Solomon in the speech, “It were better never to have been born,” and yet the world would not accept their judgment, when in spite of their sins and despair, they gave to life contributions of such high order as to disprove their own pessimistic philosophy, and such also as to illustrate the fact that stupidity, skepticism and sinfulness, while they each and everyone tend to despair, may not, even when combined, produce that sordid thing which is worse than death or non-existence.Again, Solomon declares contentment better than sordid success.“Better is an handful with quietness, than both the hands full with travail and vexation of spirit” (Ecclesiastes 4:6).A week ago I reminded you of the Scotch minister, who on a Christmas Day sought to do some service for his Saviour and Lord, and remembering the poor old lady at the foot of the hill, carried her a basket of provisions. Arriving at the door, he saw her sitting down to the morning meal. It consisted of a crust of bread, and a cup of water, but with bowed head and grateful spirit, she was giving thanks to God for what she had. Who will question that that meal was better than all the wines of the king’s table, if the latter be taken in travail and vexation of spirit?My friend and former classmate, Dr. J. T.

M. Johnson, writing of A.

D. Brown, the great shoe merchant of St. Louis, quotes Carnegie as having said, “Those who have the misfortune to be rich men’s sons are heavier weighted in the race. A basketful of bonds is the heaviest basket a young man ever had to carry.” Cyrus Fields he quotes as having said, “I am dying. My fortune is gone. My money is dishonored.

I was so unkind to Edward, when I thought I was being kind to him. If I only had been fortunate enough to compel my boys to earn their living, they would have known the meaning of money.” Truly, “better is a little with righteousness than great revenues without right”.Solomon’s third claim is that married life is better than single lonesomeness.“Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour.“For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but Woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10).These are days when marriage is a mooted question; days when many advise against it; days in which there is a proposed substitute for the permanent relation, in the form of a temporary trial called “companionate marriage.” But God was not mistaken when in the garden of Eden He looked on Adam and said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him”.There are exceptions to all rules, but the rule of life is that the world’s monarchs, in practically every vocation and calling, have been not only men bound by the legal tie of marriage but men inspired to the highest and holiest endeavors by the women they had chosen as wives, and in whose continued sympathy and certain affection they had found their inspiration.The evil times upon which we have fallen speak contemptuously of the marriage relation, and the youth of this generation are honestly debating whether the same is desirable or not.

Solomon seeks in this text to answer that question and with the wisdom which characterizes him in all else, he answers it correctly, “Two are better than one”. In spite of all the exceptions to the rule, the rule itself remains. In spite of all the stupidity of selection, in spite of all the inharmonies of fellowship, in spite of all the difficulties of adjustment, in spite of all the disagreements and divorces that characterize and even curse the relationship, the truth of the text stands, “Two are better than one”. And this reasoning is sound, “For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up”.How true are the words of the author of “The Quest for Happiness,” “Many a wife has, in her very zeal and passionate love for her husband, smoothed his pathway, soothed his tire after his day’s toil, given encouragement and praise, where jealous competitors gave only blows and condemnation; has prophesied her husband’s ultimate victory, where the outside world foretold failure; and has at last made herself an offering upon the altar of her husband’s wealth or office or honors. Thenceforth, invalided, her very sweetness and patience in the sick-room have made her very spirit seem like a shrub that, crushed, exhales the richer perfume. After all, this woman had her choice.

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man or a woman lay down the life for the beloved one. And the happiness that she feels within is a thousand-fold more intense than that of the woman who lives for herself only, and who lives in perfect health.”Finally, Solomon declares poverty-stricken childhood is better than aged, kingly folly.“Better is a poor and a wise child than an old and foolish king, who mil no more be admonished” (Ecclesiastes 4:13).This sentence needs no argument!

It amounts to a moral axiom, The poor, intelligent child holds in his very self every potentiality of eminent success, sacred influence and even that of seraphic eternity; while an old and foolish king who will no more be admonished holds within himself nothing but folly and wickedness, the certainty of death, and the prospect of hell.And yet, what inspired prescription, what Divinely elected path can the child take to insure him for time and eternity against the sins of youth, the sorrows of manhood, and the curses of old age? Solomon himself can answer this question before we have finished the Book. Turn with me to the 12th chapter and read his counsel, “Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them”.The whole appeal for child-conversion is in the combination of these two texts, and in the logical relation the first sustains to the second. Life is a series of conflicts. The child faces them all. Victory within will not be a matter of temporal advantage in birth, a matter of physical prowess or even mental acumen.

Thousands of babies have been born and brought up as was the prodigal son, in luxury’s lap only to waste the father’s substance in riotous living, and have been reduced to the level of pigs. Thousands of babies have been born with a physique Samsonian in character, but to be caught by the Delilahs of lust and delivered into the power of the Philistines, to be blinded, enslaved and sent to final suicide.

Thousands have been born with intellects somewhat akin to that of Burns and Byron, and yet suffer with them a kindred defeat. Natural strength is no insurance of success.James Whitcomb Brougher while pastor of the Auditorium Temple, Los Angeles, California, baptized Bob Fitzsimmons. He tells about it in the following way:“Bob Fitzsimmons, the noted prize fighter, came to my office in Los Angeles and asked to see me. I sent my secretary to inquire whether or not he wanted to talk. He replied that he did. I welcomed him. I then asked what I could do for him especially. He said, ‘Doctor Brougher, can you tell me how I can become as strong on the inside as I am on the outside?’ I asked him to explain how he became a prize fighter.

He repeated the story of his life, describing his self-denials, hardships and peculiar experiences that were necessary to become the champion bruiser of the world. After he had finished, I said, ‘Bob, you are a giant physically, but mentally, you are just an ordinary chap, and spiritually you are a little child. I could lick you spiritually.’ I put the emphasis on the last word and did not take too much territory.“He admitted his weakness and asked me how he could overcome it. I asked him if he was willing to pay the same price for spiritual development that he had paid for physical. He replied that he was. I explained to him just what was necessary to be done in order to be a Christian.I saw the giant get on his knees, ask God to forgive the sins of the past, pledge his allegiance to Jesus Christ, and arise with the determination to follow his Lord and Master in baptism.

I baptized him the next Sunday morning before 3,000 people, and he began the greatest fight he had ever undertaken—a contest with the world, the flesh, and the devil. He fought it out for two years and then God took him Home.

Just before his death, he said, ‘It has been a hard fight; but by the help of Jesus Christ, I have won.’ ”