Wisdom in a Crappy World

Cover of Knowing God

I listened to J. I. Packer‘s Knowing God tonight as I ran. The following excerpt reinforced the teaching on Ecclesiastes I’ve experienced these past few months, and how poignant His wisdom is for today.

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Packer, J. I. Knowing God. Inter Varsity Press, 1973. Pages 95-96

Chapter 10: God’s Wisdom and Ours

Section IV: Ecclesiastes (Boldface Print Is Mine)

…But once you conclude that there really is no rhyme or reason in things, what profit—value, gain, point, purpose—can you find henceforth in any sort of constructive endeavor? (1:3; 2:11, 22; 3:9; 5:16). If life is senseless, then it is valueless; and in that case, what use is it working to create things, to build a business, to make money, even to seek wisdom—for none of this can do you any obvious good (2:15 f., 22 f.: 5:11); it will only make you an object of envy (4:4); you can’t take any of it with you (2: 18ff.; 4:8; 5:15 f.); and what you leave behind will probably be mismanaged after you have gone (2:19). What point is there, then, in sweating and toiling at anything? Must not all man’s work be judged ‘vanity (emptiness, frustration) and a striving after wind’ (1:14 RV)? —activity that we cannot justify as being either significant in itself or worthwhile to us? It is to this pessimistic conclusion, says the preacher, that optimistic expectations of finding the divine purpose of everything will ultimately lead you (cf. 1:17f.). And of course he is right. For the world we live in is in fact the sort of place that he has described. The God who rules it hides Himself. Rarely does this world look as if a beneficent Providence were running it. Rarely does it appear that there is a rational power behind it all. Often what is worthless survives, while what is valuable perishes. Be realistic, says the preacher; face these facts; see life as it is. You will have no true wisdom till you do.

Signal Box at Bangor Railway Station, Wales. Image via Wikipedia

Many of us need this admonition. For not only are we caught up with the ‘York-signal-box’ conception, or misconception, of what wisdom is; we feel that, for the honour of God (and also, though we do not say this, for the sake of our own reputation as spiritual Christians), it is necessary for us to claim that we are, so to speak, already in the signal-box, here and now enjoying inside information as to the why and wherefore of God’s doings. This comforting pretense becomes part of us: we feel sure that God has enabled us to understand all His ways with us and our circle thus the reason for anything that may happen to us in the future. And then something very painful and quite inexplicable comes along, and our cheerful illusion of being in God’s secret councils is shattered. Our pride is wounded; we feel that God has slighted us; and unless at this pint we repent, and humble ourselves very thoroughly for our former presumption, and our whole subsequent spiritual life may be blighted.

…. But what, in that case, is wisdom? … Leave to God its [life's] issues; let Him measure its ultimate worth; your part is to use all the good sense and enterprise at your command in exploiting the opportunities that lie before you (11:1-6)…We can trust Him and rejoice in Him, even when we cannot discern His path…Such, then, is the wisdom with which God makes us wise.

Ecclesiastes 4: We’re All Envious

Image of a woman suffering from excessive envy via Wikipedia

Eccl. 4:4     And I saw that all labor and all achievement 

spring from man’s envy of his neighbor. 

This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. 

Is envy really the motivation behind why we work, study, and try to lead comfortable lives?

Envy is all about comparisons. Envy is: “a feeling of discontented or resentful longing aroused by someone else’s possessions, qualities, or luck.” Envy is a drive toward superiority. Anytime we feel driven or resentful of others who have more, we have fallen into a fundamentally ugly mode of living.

Solomon calls envy “meaningless” or in Hebrew, HEBEL, like chasing a breeze, a mist over the water, or unprofitable. His word to anyone who is reading is to prompt these personal questions,

• Am I really driven by ENVY?
• Does envy make me want a lifestyle beside the pool ?
• Do I want people to say I’m “pretty” or  a “study”?
• Do I want a Wii or an iPhone because somebody told me it was a good thing to have? Advertisers cuddle up to us to get us to become envious, that is, to want things we don’t have.

To the wise Teacher, envy is a fundamental force in the system of life, just like oppression (verses 1-3). 

He has a third negative trait in the next verse.

Eccl. 4:5     The fool folds his hands

and ruins himself. 

A fool “folds his hands” (NIV) or “eats his own flesh” (KJV). Now, who wants to be the fool? The fool is someone who acts stupidly, whose roof is caving in because he thought shingles were unnecessary, and thinks that unsafe behavior is OK because he will never get caught. The fool, Solomon says, “EATS HIS OWN FLESH.” YUCK!!! A self-necrotizing, cannibalizing monster. So, ask yourself: “

• Am I a lazy fool?
• Do I consume more than I should?
• Do I think irrationally?
• Do I think I can get away with bad behavior, laziness, or disregard for the rules for success in this life?”

All wisdom literature begs a personal reaction. The wise person reacts to The Teacher’s words with repulsion. “Of course, I don’t want to be a fool, envious, or oppressed!” The wise person wants freedom from these negative forces in life.

Eccl. 4:6     Better one handful with tranquillity

than two handfuls with toil

and chasing after the wind. 

After three negative fundamentals, now, in verse 6, Solomon tells us a huge tip. This is the wisdom to free us from Oppression, ENVY, and THE FOOL. Spend time in Quiet, life without noise, and from the pressured living of our modern world.

Take a couple of deep breaths, and hide for a few minutes in a place without distraction or impulse.

I read Steven Baldwin’s autobiography, Unusual Suspect, about five years ago. His wife’s pursuit of tranquility in the middle of his chaotic acting career impressed me. One habit she had was to lie beside their bed in prayer each morning or in the middle of the night. This habit of falling prostrate before God in submission impressed Baldwin. He took note, realized the spillover of tranquility into the rest of her life, and began a life of faith in the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ.

Solomon, too, knew that tranquility is a positive fundamental to counteract our “chasing after the wind.”

Related articles

• Ecclesiastes 3: Is God in Control or Is FATE? (journeymantom.wordpress.com)
• Ecclesiastes 4: We’re All Oppressed (journeymantom.wordpress.com)

Ecclesiastes 4: We’re All Oppressed

Eccl. 4:1    Again I looked and saw all the oppression that was taking place under the sun:

I saw the tears of the oppressed—

and they have no comforter;

power was on the side of their oppressors—

and they have no comforter.

 

Eccl. 4:2    And I declared that the dead,

who had already died,

are happier than the living,

who are still alive.

Eccl. 4:3    But better than both

is he who has not yet been,

who has not seen the evil

that is done under the sun.

Oppression (Photo credit: Toban Black)

Are we oppressed? The oppressed feel powerless. The oppressed feel threatened. The oppressed feel disadvantaged and overwhelmed by impossible odds against their life. Think carefully!

Solomon portrays the bleak state of the oppressed.

1. They have no comforter.
2. They have a death wish.

They are like runners near the middle of the race who want to quit because they are so tired and have so far to go. They feel like no one cares. They feel isolated and beyond hope.  They spiral down an abandoned tunnel.

Growing up in extreme poverty in Limerick, Ireland in the 1940’s, Frank McCourt describes an entire block of houses using the same outhouse, constant sewage flooding his house, and battles with rats and lice. His father drank his paychecks away. Catholic charity brought food to his house or he stole bread and milk. He had no one to comfort him. The family was oppressed and gave into it. Three brothers died. However, McCourt, at 18, escaped!

Why does The Teacher bring up such depressing conditions? Because if you feel oppressed, you can stop it. You can change. The circumstances don’t have to stay that way. He’s going to teach us how to climb out, keep going, and quit our suffering victim mentality. McCourt became a successful teacher and author. Our conditions don’t have to define us even if we say:

1. “I wish I were dead.”
2. “I wish I never was born.”

The most powerful and wise person in the world knew that overwhelming feeling! He wished he had never been born! He felt powerless. He felt like giving up. Wealth, fame, and political power do NOT prevent feelings of oppression.

Well, these situations don’t exist. You aren’t dead. You were born. Our potential still exists. We can keep going, and find a reason to live.

Ultimately, oppression causes us to ask, “What is my purpose? Do I feel free to be me?” Ultimately, true freedom and purpose is found in connection to the Father. Thus, The Teacher’s admonition several times in Ecclesiastes to, “Fear God!”

Even Jesus felt oppressed and overwhelmed in his ministry. The the thought of his suffering overwhelmed him. The crowds overwhelmed him so he escaped to the desert. The ignorance of his disciples overwhelmed him. The vile, evil perpetrators of the powerful elite oppressed him. Yet, we never hear him wishing he were dead or never born. Jesus had life-giving resources.

Instead,

1. He submitted to the filling of the Holy Spirit in the Jordan River.
2. He cut off from human contact to maximize connection to His Father. (Went to lonely places often)
3. He obeyed all the commands.
4. He helped others.
5. He studied the scriptures.

To those who do not believe these practices fight the system or rescue the oppressed these look like weak tactics to confine or create religious enslavement. To those of us who have faith in God through Christ, these practices gain purpose and freedom, shedding oppression like water off a duck’s back. We live to tell others about purpose and freedom! We know The Teacher is right: Fear God!

Luke 4:17 The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

Luke 4:18    “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and

recovery of sight for the blind,

to release the oppressed,

19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Is Ecclesiastes Authored by Solomon? Is the Bible Reliable Here?

The author of Ecclesiastes does identify himself as Solomon, but I’ll explain why it’s more complicated than that. This may sound controversial, but the evidence speaks to a 600 year difference between Solomon and the writing.

What’s at stake here? Is the inspiration of scripture threatened? Can I trust Ecclesiastes to transmit truth? Will it echo the voice of God as I read it? Will I question every word thus losing my faith?

I don’t think so. My understanding of scripture demands a historical view. We need to know the the historical context! For example, we read Shakespeare with all his thee’s, thy’s, and thou’s and immediately place him in the 16th century. We read Charles Dickens and immediately place him in the 19th century. We read a novel with lurid romance, violence, and the f-bomb throughout and peg it as late 20th or early 21st century.

Culture and history surround every book of the Bible. Every bit of scripture rises out of a period of history pegged by style, word choice, and cultural cues. Ecclesiastes fits into a historical style prevalent in the 4th and 3rd centuries BC. That style didn’t exist in Solomon’s day! How does Solomon get credit, then? Did somebody make up the writing and put his name to it? How did it become part of the trusted scriptures and when?

These are valid questions.

Here’s my answer. Solomon didn’t have to compile the writings into the form we now see to make the high-grade of scripture as inspired.

• Others preserved his writings.
• Others took notes while he lectured in court or at the temple.
• His closest colleagues would remember their private discussions about life’s intricacies.
• He often debated with the wise men and women of his day (some think Ecclesiastes is a woman because Koheleth, the word used by the writer to identify himself is in the feminine form).
• His wisdom carried on in oral tradition and in written form.

The topics covered in Ecclesiastes are like typical conversations of a wise teacher among his colleagues. This particular musing, so poignant and profound, went down in history as legendary. Solomon probably spoke these words often to a variety of groups. The story of it repeated itself through the next six or seven hundred years in one form or another.

Finally, after the Rabbi’s emerged as israel’s teachers in the “intertestamental” time of Israel’s exile, between the fall of Jerusalem, and the rebuilding of the temple by Herod in the years right before Christ, these Rabbi’s felt the urge, the divine nudge, to publish the musings of Solomon for those Israelite refugees. These homeless, impoverished Jewish exiles needed to hear the wisdom of Solomon. His words encouraged them to “keep their faith in God” above all other endeavors including the materialism and hedonism of the moment, thus falling prey eventually to Solomon’s teaching about Hebel (meaningless, temporary, transient).

The Rabbis write with words and forms these exiles would understand! Thus, God speaks through the words to bring the struggling to new faith in and relationship with the living God, aka, INSPIRED!