Perhaps you’ve heard that there is a season for everything, and a time for every matter under heaven (Eccl 3:1-8). Perhaps this idea has inspired you to try new things, to make a change, or to find contentment in your situation. Maybe the idea even comes along with fond memories of the 60s—or at least affection for some of its iconic music. But what did the Preacher of Ecclesiastes wish to provoke with this glorious poem? And how ought we to read it in light of the book’s argument?
Context matters. When we learn to read the Bible properly—and not merely as a collection of quotable quotes or inspiring poems—we’ll find that some of our most familiar sayings are more provocative than we at first believed.
The Quest
I refer you to another post where I explore the meaning of “vanity” in Ecclesiastes. To summarize:
- The Preacher undertakes a quest to discover what we can possibly get out of life (Eccl 1:3).
- The answer is that all we can get out of life is vanity (Eccl 1:2).
- He then illustrates what exactly he means by “vanity” with a series of images and propositions (Eccl 1:4-18). By vanity he refers to the unsatisfying, endless repetition of old things that nobody will remember; nothing you do will last, and at the end you die. And you can’t fix it.
- In short, all we have to gain from life is a puzzling frustration. We simply cannot figure out what God is up to in our daily lives.
This context drives the argument of the book. We should expect the Preacher to show us why life is so frustrating.
The Educational Paradigm
But the end of the book also provides relevant context to help us understand the poem of chapter 3. In chapter 12, we’re told not only about the Preacher’s conclusion, but also about his instructional methods. How has he gone about making his case?
Besides being wise, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging many proverbs with great care. The Preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth. The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one Shepherd. (Eccl 12:9-11)
So the Preacher took great care in both studying his material and arranging it. He sought words of delight, not words of doom and gloom. And he wrote words of truth. But observe how he seeks to employ that truth: as goads and as nails.
As goads, his words are meant to poke us. To stimulate us to action. To provoke us, bother us, and disturb us.
As nails, his words are meant to stabilize us. To affix us to God’s reality. To ground us, establish us, and root us in something solid.
So how does this affect the way we ought to read chapter 3? With this poem, the Preacher seeks to draw us in and delight us. He does that so he can nail truth into our minds and disturb and shock us into action. He doesn’t want to lull us into a sense of placid sentimentality. He seeks to inject us with 1.21 gigawatts of electrifying truth so we might be shaken up and moved toward greater delight.
The context of the book’s beginning and the context of the book’s ending should both shape our reading of the text. But there is another context we ought to consider as well.
The Theological Ecosystem
The Preacher does not write his book in a historical or theological vacuum. He names himself “Son of David” (Eccl 1:1), which puts him squarely in the context of God’s covenant with the King of Israel. In this context, he’s constantly alluding back to what God has done for his people, and he hangs on to the hope of what God will yet do for his people.
For example, as the Preacher describes his first particular test—that of seeking gain from pleasure—he cannot do this without evoking images from Genesis (Eccl 2:1-8). Building things, planting things (Eccl 2:4). Gardens, parks, and fruit trees (Eccl 2:5). Pools of water to irrigate the trees (Eccl 2:6). Even silver, gold, and sexual delight (Eccl 2:8). These things hearken back to Eden and the state of affairs before the fall of humanity into sin. The Preacher is trying to reinvent Eden that he might somehow rediscover paradise on earth.
Later, the book will speak regularly of the king, the house of God, wisdom and righteousness, the land and the holy place. The argument all throughout is neither abstract nor broadly philosophical. It is closely connected to the covenantal context of Israel in relationship with her God.
So in chapter 3, we’re not presuming too much to expect more of the same.
The Text
Arriving finally at the text of chapter 3, and keeping all this context in mind, what do we see?
We see (Eccl 3:1) a time for every matter under heaven. These concepts of timing and “under heaven” (i.e. on earth) are reminiscent of God’s work in creation in Genesis 1.
Then we see a glorious poem of 14 lines (Eccl 3:2-8). Each line has a pair of opposites or contrasts. Born/die, plant/pluck, kill/heal, break/build, etc.
But looking even more closely, we ought to see that the 14 lines come in 7 pairs of 2 lines. Born/die fit together with plant/pluck (saying the same thing with respect to the animal world and the plant world). Kill/heal fits with break/build, relating the natural world to the manufactured world. It’s not hard to see how weep/laugh and mourn/dance fit together. And so on, all the way to the final couplet of love/hate and war/peace.
So what we’ve really got is 7 couplets describing contrasting pairs of related activities in various spheres of earthly existence. The beauty of the poetry and its structure shows us that the Preacher has in mind all of earthly existence. He’s covered every base in a sevenfold manner, echoing the seven days of creation. Here is all of created existence in both its glory and its agony.
But what is his point? Why is he giving us a poetically comprehensive picture of all of created existence? What does he mean that “there is a season” or “there is a time” for every one of these activities?
Following the poem comes his commentary (Eccl 3:9-15). He makes an observation (to poke us) before delivering two pieces of knowledge (to nail us to reality).
- Eccl 3:9-11: An observation (“I have seen”): God has made everything beautiful in its time, and eternity in our hearts, so that we cannot find what God has done. Don’t let the poem lull you into sentimentality. Let it provoke you to realize that you have no idea whether love or hate, killing or healing, building or breaking lie in store for you today, tomorrow, or the next day.
- Eccl 3:12-13: Fact #1 (“I perceived”): Nothing is better than to be joyful and do good.
- Eccl 3:14-15: Fact #2 (“I perceived”): God has done it this way so people would fear him.
Conclusion
So when you read the poem, or hear the song, be careful not to deceive yourself. Don’t treat it like a food coma after Thanksgiving dinner, with contented lethargy and sentimental complacency taking over. Instead, treat it like a wild bull or a bucking bronco. You don’t know which way it will kick at you next, so you’d better remain fully alert. Not only love, peace, and embracing are part of this life, but also war, hatred, and rejection.
And if you are willing to allow the nails of truth to drive into you, meditate on the outrageous fact that God made the world to work this way. He did it with every intention. So that you might fear him.
The buckingest bronco of all is not this world in which you live, but the God you claim to worship. Therefore, let us find our greatest joy in him and do the good he commands of us.
Context matters.
The idea for this post came out of a few conversations with David Helm, Chairman of the Charles Simeon Trust. The best and most provocative ideas here came from him; any errors in developing them are my own.
For more examples of why context matters, click here.
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