The Fear of the Lord

We’re continuing our look at the wisdom literature and how each book helps us to understand “The Fear of the Lord.”

Proverbs told us that it is the beginning of wisdom, and practically speaking is a whole-hearted devotion and reliance on God.
Job gave it some more nuance though. We don’t fear God if we’re simply trying to manipulate him into blessing us with our good behavior.

Ecclesiastes confronts the pointlessness of life. It looks at traditional wisdom found in Proverbs, gives it an honest shot, and ultimately ends up disappointed.

Ecclesiastes 1:2 ESV

² Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.

Rather than seeing a world and a life that makes sense, the preacher sees vanity

Using a word to describe mist, things without substance
He sees life as it should be, it’s right there in front of him in Proverbs
But it’s not anything he can actually hold onto – it’s there, but never attainable
As a result he is frustrated because life makes no sense.

And this makes a lot of people uncomfortable. Every time I teach Ecclesiastes there is this urge in some people to defend, to rationalize it, to make it happier than it is, to jump in with silver linings and soften it’s message.

To do so distorts the book. In Ecclesiastes we have the meditations of a man who struggles with the idea of how the world should be according to scripture, vs how the world is actually experienced.

So we’re going to let the Preacher have his say and give full vent to his frustrations.

What makes life so empty for the Preacher in Ecclesiastes?

Not Knowing the Times | 3:1-11

Ecclesiastes 3:1–8 ESV

¹ For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: ² a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; ³ a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; ⁴ a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; ⁵ a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; ⁶ a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; ⁷ a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; ⁸ a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.

This is one of those poems, when read in isolation, can be rather inspiring. There are various times and seasons of life that come and go. So as we find ourselves in times of laughing we can appreciate it a little bit more – knowing that weeping might come around the corner soon.

It also gives us hope that times of conflict and distress are only around for a time. These disasters don’t last forever, and even better – it absolves you of any blame. You’re not suffering because you’re a bad person or messed up, your failures aren’t ultimately yours because there’s a time and a season for everything. It’s inevitable that these things would happen to even the best people.

But what time is it right now?

So much of our success depends on the timing of an issue.

Proverbs 15:23 ESV

²³ To make an apt answer is a joy to a man, and a word in season, how good it is!

You can say the right thing at the wrong time

Proposing at a wedding
Announcing a pregnancy at a funeral

That’s great news – but the timing is wrong.

And what frustrates the preacher is he can’t find the right time.

Ecclesiastes 3:9–11 NET2

⁹ What benefit can a worker gain from his toil? ¹⁰ I have observed the burden that God has given to people to keep them occupied. ¹¹ God has made everything fit beautifully in its appropriate time, but he has also placed ignorance in the human heart so that people cannot discover what God has ordained, from the beginning to the end of their lives.

Wouldn’t it be great to know the perfect timing?

When to ask your crush out
When to invest in the market
When to leave home so you can avoid all of the traffic?

But we don’t. And so you can drive safely, following all of the rules, doing everything right – only to find yourself in front of a drunk driver running a red light.

Ecclesiastes 9:11–12 ESV

¹¹ Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all. ¹² For man does not know his time. Like fish that are taken in an evil net, and like birds that are caught in a snare, so the children of man are snared at an evil time, when it suddenly falls upon them.

You can control your actions – strive to be the fastest, strongest, or smartest person. But you can’t control time and chance. And that can destroy all of your hard work.

The random nature of life leads to a second complaint…

Injustice | 9:1-3, 11-12

Ecclesiastes 9:1–3 ESV

¹ But all this I laid to heart, examining it all, how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God. Whether it is love or hate, man does not know; both are before him. ² It is the same for all, since the same event happens to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean, to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice. As the good one is, so is the sinner, and he who swears is as he who shuns an oath. ³ This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that the same event happens to all. Also, the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead.

As much as movies and shows love to show the good guy winning and all the bad guys getting their just desserts – it’s not always true to life. Some of the most despicable people in history died peacefully in their sleep, surrounded by their families.

Think about the story of Cain and Abel for example. Abel is the one who does everything right. His sacrifice is accepted by God and he’s commended for it. Meanwhile, Cain offers a sub par sacrifice. Get’s mad when God doesn’t accept it. Refuses to rule over his own sin, and ends up murdering Abel out of jealousy.

Cain’s punishment? He’s exiled from the land, but God gives him a mark of divine protection. He marries a wife, has kids, and is remembered even down to the seventh generation.

Abel gets the eternal dirt nap. And what makes his story double fascinating to me is that his name in Hebrew is spelt exactly the same as our Preachers favorite word – vanity.

We’ve all seen that good things happen to some of the worst people in our lives and then wonder why some of the worst things happen to the best? Why did Caitlin Pierce have to be the one who who died on the operating table instead of some mass-murderer?

The random nature of life, which leads to so much injustice, leaves the Preacher with the impression that we have no reasonable way to know if God loves or hates us. Worshiping or cursing him has no real effect on his disposition towards you. Your morality has no ultimate bearing on how much you enjoy life.

But let’s assume you’re one of the lucky ones. The timing in your life does work out. You do find good things happening in your life. You are one of the blessed people who get to wake up happy most days.

You can avoid the first two frustration but nobody can avoid the third complain of Ecclesiastes.

Death | 3:19-21

Ecclesiastes 3:19 ESV

¹⁹ For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity.

Ecclesiastes 3:20–21 ESV

²⁰ All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return. ²¹ Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down into the earth?

Death is the ultimate end of all the living. It doesn’t matter how long life is – it always comes to an end one way or another. And just like the dog, we fade into the dust from which we were taken, only to have all of the good things in life taken away from us and passed on to the next generation.

And so just as the Preacher began, so he ends.

Ecclesiastes 12:8 ESV

⁸ Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; all is vanity.

Living Wisely In the Face of Death

Now some people wonder – if that’s all life is, then what’s the point?

There is a philosophical idea called Absurdism. It was largely pioneered by a Frenchman named Albert Camus. You might have had to read his book The Stranger in high school.

He wrote another book called The Myth of Sisyphus in which he compares the value of our life to that of the Greek figure Sisyphus who is cursed to roll a boulder up a hill every day only to have it roll back down at the end.

There is no point to life
It would be absurd to find meaning in life

So Camus wonders – should I just kill myself?

Here’s what the Preacher has to say about it.

Ecclesiastes 9:4–6 ESV

⁴ But he who is joined with all the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion. ⁵ For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. ⁶ Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished, and forever they have no more share in all that is done under the sun.

Despite the certainty of death – life is still better than being dead.

As inevitable as death is, and as frustrating as life is – it’s all you have. Once you die – you have nothing. Better a living dog than a dead lion because the dog at the very least has hope that things will get better.

Ecclesiastes is not just a complaint – it’s wisdom. It’s instructions on how to live life well, and the Preacher wants to teach us how to live well in the face of certain death.

Contrary to the popular saying, ignorance isn’t bliss. Most people are pretty bummed out on learning just vain, empty, absurd, and pointless their lives are. But it is only in recognition of this vanity that the Preacher can recommend the best course of life.

Ecclesiastes 9:7–10 ESV

⁷ Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do. ⁸ Let your garments be always white. Let not oil be lacking on your head. ⁹ Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that he has given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun. ¹⁰ Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.

There are five times when we’re told to do just this – eat, drink, and be merry. The Preacher says that the best way to live in the midst of a vain life that faces certain death is to live it to the fullest.

Enjoy luxury and drink your wine
Let your garments be white – descriptions of festal clothing
Anoint yourself in oil
Take pleasure in the companionship of your spouse

Whatever portion you have in life – live it up. Do it with might, because where you’re going there’s nothing more. So whether life gives you one dollar or a million – spend every last penny.

Etty Hillesum

In a strange twist of irony, it is only in the light of certain death that life becomes all the more beautiful. It is only on recognising life’s vanity that one can live it to the fullest.

This is Etty Hillesum, a Jewish woman who was born and raised in the Netherlands. She was murdered at the age of 29 in Auschwitz – vanity of vanities.

Up to that point, she kept a journal of the increasing anti-Jewish measures being imposed by the Germans, and the growing uncertainty she faced as more and more Jews were deported. She never denied the tragedies that she faced, but wrote about them.

Before Auschwitz she spent two months in Westerbork concentration camp and wrote:

“The sky is full of birds, the purple lupins stand up so regally and peacefully, two little old women have sat down for a chat, the sun is shining on my face – and right before our eyes, mass murder… The whole thing is simply beyond comprehension.”

As she continues to write, her fear is growing – death is becoming more and more certain. Yet, over time, fear changes her into someone who recognizes and accepts death. It’s is this acceptance of death that then liberates her from the fear of death. And in the end she finds that it has all led to a more beautiful life.

“Those two months behind barbed wire have been the two richest and most intense months of my life, in which my highest values were so deeply confirmed. I have learnt to love Westerbork”

This, then, helps explain some of those more puzzling passages in Ecclesiastes.

Ecclesiastes 7:2 ESV

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 the living will lay it to heart.

Ecclesiastes 7:3–4 ESV

³ Sorrow is better than laughter, for by sadness of face the heart is made glad. ⁴ The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.

The only ones who can live life to the fullest are the ones who see the end of it.

So how does one live life in the face of death?

Ecclesiastes 3:13

¹³ The all of man is that he should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man.

That’s a really wooden translation of verse 13, to highlight some wordplay in another verse we’ll look at.

But the Preacher says this is it. This is all you are. So enjoy it.

The End of the Matter

Some people are going to be really inspired by that kind of message and be able to find beauty even in a vain existence. But I still can’t help but shake the feeling that we’re putting a band-aid on a gunshot wound.

The preacher doesn’t have the last word in Ecclesiastes.

Ecclesiastes 12:9–11 ESV

⁹ Besides being wise, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging many proverbs with great care. ¹⁰ The Preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth. ¹¹ The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one Shepherd.

No longer are we hearing the words of the Preacher. The Preacher isn’t saying “This is what I wrote.” These closing remarks are the words of someone else commenting on the Preacher and telling us what we’re to do with such a lesson.

The first thing to note is that the Preacher is said to be wise. We can’t simply dismiss him as a cynical lunatic who doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He’s put in effort and long thought into what’s been written down.

Second, and perhaps most disturbing for people, he wrote words of truth. Life really is unfair for all of the reasons we’ve discussed. And like goads and nails – they hurt. but they are also guiding us to wise living. And there’s truth to his solution as well. I hope we can all enjoy life a little bit more after considering its vanity.

We’re also warned about going beyond his teaching

Ecclesiastes 12:12 ESV

¹² My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

We’re not going to do any better in solving the riddle of a vain life than the preacher did.

The All of Man

But just because the Preacher is wise and wrote the truth, doesn’t mean he has the last word in everything. After telling us that we need to take what we’re reading here seriously, this final commentator says this:

Here’s the real end of it all

Ecclesiastes 12:13–14 (ESV)

¹³ The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the all of man. ¹⁴ For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.

Verse 13 here echoes what we read in in Ecclesiastes 3:13. “The all of man is to eat, drink, and be merry.” It’s the same Hebrew phrasing and everything. This is a deliberate call-back and critique of the Preachers wisdom in the face of death.

The preacher said that the all of man – our totality and highest aspiration – is lunch.

The final commentator says the all of man is to Fear God and keep his commandments.

And here we are back at the beginning of wisdom. It almost sounds like an anti-climax. But, just as Job doesn’t reject the fear of the Lord, but helps us have a better understanding of what it means, Ecclesiastes helps us do the same.

Plenty of us know about Gordon Ramsay, the celebrity chef known for his shouting and cursing in the kitchen and his shows like Hell’s Kitchen. He’s know as one of the greatest chef’s in the world. I’m more fascinated by his teacher – Marco Pierre White. Marco was the first British man to have Michelin Three-Star restaurant, and the world’s youngest.

He grew up in poverty, learning how to cook simple dishes from his mother, then started working in the kitchen where he became a world-famous chef. But after 16 years of that he gave the Michelin Stars back. He stopped making the high-class and pretentious stuff and now has YouTube videos where he cooks the simplest things with the simplest ingredients – just like his momma taught him.

I like to think that both Job and Ecclesiastes takes us on a similar journey. We start off in Proverbs with the very beginning of wisdom – Fear the Lord! And then these two books make us confront some hard truths. But after enough time with both Job and the Preacher, and appreciating our time with them, we find ourselves coming back to the basics. Fear God and keep his commandments. That is everything.

Conclusion

Despite the troubles of an apparently vain life, where the highest aspiration of man is to eat and drink, our duty is as it always has been – To not trust in our own understanding and what we see under the sun, but to trust in someone who sees much more than we do.

To trust that the answer is beyond what the Preacher has written.

In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul reminds us of the hope of the resurrection. The hope that there is something after death.

1 Corinthians 15:56–58 ESV

⁵⁶ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. ⁵⁷ But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁵⁸ Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

If you want more to life than lunch, the only answer, the one that the Preacher couldn’t see, the one that the commentator hoped for – is only Jesus Christ.