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In 1947, Simon Wiesenthal formed a volunteer organization to help find and prosecute Nazi war criminals. During the next forty years, Wiesenthal's organization helped track down more than one thousand war criminals, including Fritz Stangl, the former commandant of the Treblinka death camp.
What was Wiesenthal's motivation? He had plenty of good reasons. During World War II, he spent the last three years of the war in a series of labor and concentration camps. The Nazis killed eighty-nine members of his and his wife's Jewish families during the war. But when asked the reason for his work, he pointed to one concrete experience that happened in a World War II death camp.
One day two Nazi officers rode to the site where the prisoners were excavating rock. One of them grabbed a Jewish man and made him stand back to back with another Jewish man. He had a guard bind the two men together with ropes. Then, just as calmly as if he were swatting a fly, he pulled out his gun and shot through the first man's head into the head of the man behind him, killing them both with one bullet. He turned to the other officer and said, “See, I told you we've been wasting 50 percent of our bullets.”
An Outline of Ecclesiastes
Following the Logic of Solomon
III. The Conflicts of Belief: 3:16-4:16
Inequity, oppression, rivalry, materialism, and popularity
Simon Wiesenthal's response to the atrocities he experienced was the assertion that “God is on leave.”
At the beginning of their experience in the concentration camps, Betsy Ten Boom said to her sister, “Corrie, we are in hell.”
Have you ever been through a time of suffering which seemed to have no possible redemptive purpose? That's why I love the Book of Ecclesiastes. It is far more honest about life than we are sometimes.
In this chapter, Solomon tackles more than just the random pain and suffering we experience. In verse 16 and following, we see that the plan of God also includes inequity and even insanity sometimes. When these insane things occur, you, like Wiesenthal, believe that He must be on leave. Or like Betsy Ten Boom, you feel that you are in hell and He's nowhere to be found.
In verse 16, Solomon uses the term “I have seen.” Again in verse 22 he says, “I have seen.” In 4:1 he says, “I looked again”; 4:4, “I have seen”; 4:7, “I looked again”; and in 4:15, “I have seen.”
Solomon knows that his conclusion is going to be hard for us to accept, so he wants us to know that he has observed it long and hard. Over and over, Solomon shows us what he has witnessed about the insanity of life in the context of a sovereign God. God has rigged life so that we have to trust Him even though it doesn't always make sense.
Solomon deals with five areas of life that every person wonders about.
Furthermore, I have seen under the sun that in the place of justice there is wickedness, and in the place of righteousness there is wickedness. (v. 16)
Solomon observes the inequity of life. Sometimes bad guys win and good guys suffer. Johnny Christian doesn't always score the touchdown, and Paul Pagan doesn't always fumble the ball. That's a fact.
Do you have a problem with that? Would you rather have a “perfect” universe?
Wouldn't it be great if, after a driver ran you off the road, his car would break down five minutes later? Or if someone cheated you in business, he would go bankrupt the next month? Or if someone got angry and yelled at you, her teeth would fall out that night? Wouldn't that be wonderful?
But unfortunately you'd have to live in the same universe. So if you gossiped about someone, your tongue would turn green. Every time you lusted or envied another person, more of your hair would fall out. Every time you spent money on something you didn't need, the food in your refrigerator would rot overnight.
Would you want to live in a world like that?
None of us want that kind of instant justice from God. God's patience with sin is an incredible blessing—otherwise, all of us would come under His immediate judgment.
I said to myself, “God will judge both the righteous man and the wicked man,” for a time for every matter and for every deed is there. (v. 17)
Here's a fact to comfort us: There will be a day when God will deal with evil. The question is not, Why does God not punish evil? but, Why does He not punish evil now? He will deal with it. A guy once told me in a gym, “You know, good guys finish last.” And I smiled and said, “Yeah, but bad guys go to hell.” It will be one of the last chapters written.
I said to myself concerning the sons of men, “God has surely tested them in order for them to see that they are but beasts.” For the fate of the sons of men and the fate of beasts is the same. As one dies so dies the other; indeed, they all have the same breath and there is no advantage for man over beast, for all is vanity. All go to the same place. All came from the dust and all return to the dust. (vv. 18-20)
God tests man and shows him his fallibility. Under the sun, we are no different from the beasts. There is a greater difference between God and you than between you and the dust mites living on your skin. God tests us so that we recognize our great need and quickly repent. Death unveils the true human condition.
In contrast, verse 21 shows us that, unlike the beasts, man will have to face God one day.
Who knows that the breath of man ascends upward and the breath of the beast descends downward to the earth?
Without revelation from God, man sees himself as just another animal. This is why man is losing his unique status in our secular culture today. Many people today are elevating animals to the status of humans. At the same time, others are dehumanizing people, especially the unborn, to the status of animals.
This is a humiliating thing. But in nature, both animals and people die. Solomon says that the difference is that people will face judgment by God.
So what should you do?
And I have seen that nothing is better than that man should be happy in his activities, for that is his lot. For who will bring him to see what will occur after him? (v. 22)
Solomon reiterates his earlier point: Do not let what you can't understand destroy what you can enjoy. As encouraged in the previous chapter, go eat some Rocky Road, find some good friends, and read a good book. Go catch a baseball game. Choose a beautiful afternoon, grab your friends and go sit in the stands, get a cold drink and a Snickers, and enjoy the game because we're all going to die someday.
Do you know what the word “lot” means in verse 22? It means a heritage—an inheritance. God gives you fun times right now. God gives you Rocky Road—that's the Hebrew. Don't live in constant fear of what might happen.
I have a friend whose father worked all of his life to retire at age fifty-five. He worked like a dog, denying himself all sorts of pleasure so he could retire before he was sixty. He finally made it.
At his retirement party, everybody celebrated and ate Italian food. At the end he stood up and said, “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.” Then he suddenly got woozy and passed out. His fainting was due to a brain tumor. Within six months, he was dead.
Enjoy right now. If you can change the bad stuff, change it. But if you can't, you better just enjoy life as it comes.
In chapter 4 Solomon goes on to deal with the oppression and suffering he saw around him.
Then I looked again at all the acts of oppression which were being done under the sun. And behold I saw the tears of the oppressed and that they had no one to comfort them; and on the side of their oppresssors was power, but they had no one to comfort them. (v. 1)
I don't like that the bad guys hurt the good guys. I think we should work as hard as we can for justice. But the reality is that we still have men like Stalin and Hitler, and we've got genocide going on in a half a dozen countries right now. And it's going to keep happening as long as we are alive on this earth. The oppressors have the power, and the poor have no one to comfort them.
How can this be true? How does this evil occur just after Solomon has emphasized the sovereignty of God? It seems insane. Under the sun, you'd be better off dead.
So I congratulated the dead who are already dead more than the living who are still living. But better off than both of them is the one who has never existed, who has never seen the evil activity that is done under the sun. (vv. 2-3)
Solomon laments that if you're alive, you can be sure somebody is going to hurt you unjustly. Oppression and injustice are a part of life.
Not only do we have to deal with oppression, Solomon says we also have to deal with rivalry.
And I have seen that every labor and every skill which is done is the result of rivalry between a man and his neighbor. This too is vanity and striving after wind. (v. 4)
Do you ever get tired of running in the rat race where only the rats win? Do you ever get weary of keeping up with the proverbial Joneses?
My generation got sick of the affluence of the 1950s. In the 1960s we bailed out and claimed the title of “flower children.” Everybody just gave up ambition and the drive for financial success. We let our hair grow long, quit bathing, and just sat on the grass and hummed.
Solomon sounds like the first flower child. Why should we do something just to satisfy or impress somebody else? Some people never enjoy life because they're always trying to keep up a front. But Solomon shows us that we can take our denial of status quo too far.
The fool folds his hands and consumes his own flesh. One hand full of rest is better than two fists full of labor and striving after wind. (vv. 5-6)
If you quit working simply because of all the competition, you'll end up destroying yourself. In our modern culture, you have to work. You have to buy normal clothes that normal people wear. Dropping out is not an option for someone who wants to honor God.
But he also says that it doesn't make any sense to kill yourself to be a success in this world. Let me give you verse 6 in the Tommy Nelson Translation. Rather than putting two hands in for eighty hours a week, why don't you put in forty hours with one hand and with the other eat some Rocky Road?
All of those fancy clothes may look silly on you when you're eighty. And as for your flashy convertible, after you get about fifty-five years old, you won't be able to drive it anymore because you may feel like a fool. So Solomon says enjoy life with balance; don't focus solely on achievement and success.
Then I looked again at vanity under the sun. There was a certain man without a dependent, having neither a son nor a brother, yet there was no end to all his labor. Indeed, his eyes were not satisfied with riches and he never asked, “And for whom am I laboring and depriving myself of pleasure?” This too is vanity and it is a grievous task. (vv. 7-8)
The word “dependent” in verse 8 means a partner. This “certain man” doesn't have a buddy to share his life with. Here's a guy who is working so hard but doesn't have any relationships.
This is Ebenezer Scrooge. He works and works, comes home to a drafty house, counts his money, then goes to bed. And no one likes him. Solomon is giving us a picture of Scrooge.
This guy has no friend, no son, no brother, no family— nobody that he loves. But there's still no end to his labor. His eyes are not satisfied with riches, and he never asks the question, Why am I depriving myself of pleasure?
What's the evil we're looking at in verse 8? It's accumulating wealth at the expense of relationships. It's focusing more on things than on people.
How many mothers and fathers have shortchanged their children for $10,000 or $20,000 extra a year? How many young consultants make great money but don't have any friends because they travel every week? How many “Scrooges” have accumulated huge nest eggs but no friends?
Ty Cobb, the great Detroit Tiger whose harsh demeanor continuously alienated others, said, “If I had it to do over, I'd make more friends.”
Solomon gives us advice on the value of relationships.
Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up. Furthermore, if two lie down together they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone? And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart. (vv. 9-12)
Solomon reminds us that life is met by two people better than by one. Working together, two people can be more productive than one. If it gets cold, they can also keep each other warm. They can protect each other when danger comes. And if two is good, then three good friends are even stronger together.
The idea is that we shouldn't make money then stay away from people so we can keep more money. If we do that, we've forgotten life. Life is buddies. Life is pals. Life is partners and friends.
Even though I enjoy my wife tremendously, there are times when I need to get with a hairy-legged guy. I'll grab a good bud and say, “Let's go to Outback and just eat, talk, and tell stories about how great we were in high school.”
Solomon asks, “What's the use of accumulating all this money if you don't have any friends?” This is one of the secrets to navigating life.
Are you lonely? Don't be lonely for the wrong reason: Don't be lonely by design. Be a loving, giving, kind, servant-hearted friend. Life is cold when you're by yourself. In this world, we all need a little help from our friends.
Someone told me to make sure every day to study and minister and play. Even though I got in the ministry to teach the Word, I need to make sure that I enjoy life with people. And so do you.
Life is not just making a living or performing a function. It is experiencing the delight of people. Cultivate and protect your friends. Develop friendships with willful acts of enjoyment. Protect your friends by constant acts of courtesy and sensitivity. Make sure that you stay in touch with people.
When it's all said and done, the only thing you'll have with you at your funeral will be your friends and family. The people who made money from your work won't be there, but your friends will. And they will be crying.
In verse 13, Solomon looks at popularity.
A poor, yet wise lad is better than an old and foolish king who no longer knows how to receive instruction. For he has come out of prison to become king, even though he was born poor in his kingdom. I have seen all the living under the sun throng to the side of the second lad who replaces him. There is no end to all the people, to all who were before them, and even the ones who will come later will not be happy with him, for this too is vanity and striving after wind. (vv. 13-16)
Solomon sees that many people are hoping to be popular and famous. As a matter of fact, these verses hit close to home for him because they evoke the memory of his father, King David.
Even though David was born poor in his kingdom, under God's hand, David rose to become the ruler of Israel. Then the son took over, and Solomon says the whole world came out to celebrate the young guy. Isn't popularity wonderful?
But look at verse 16: There is no end to the people who will not be happy with you.
How quickly, Solomon says, they will forget you. Don Meredith used to say about quarterbacks, “Today you're in the penthouse. Tomorrow you're in the outhouse.”
If you want to be a famous actress, have a great time. But don't make a bad movie because the press will absolutely dog you. No matter how naturally pretty you are, don't gain ten pounds because an editor will stick your “fat” face on the front of a magazine, and everybody in the grocery store checkout line will laugh at you. Do you like to wear nice clothes? Don't experiment with rowdy styles or you'll get stuck on the worst-dressed list, and then Letterman and Leno will make fun of you for a month.
Try this on your own? Become president of the Rotary Club. Get elected chairman of your Homeowners Association. You'll be doing great if more than half the people still like you when you're done.
Do you really want to get on that slippery slope of popularity by seeking the approval of men? Isn't it great to be normal with no one caring about what we think because we're just average people? There is a blessedness to anonymity sometimes.
Instead, Solomon says, trust God, do good, let the chips fall where they may, and enjoy life. Find some buddies, make all the money you can in a hard day's work, then go home and sit loose.
Do some things that will matter for eternity. Serve Christ as long as you can until your number comes up, then die well. Enjoy the things you do know and don't be so concerned and distraught about things you don't.
That's pretty good stuff for a three-thousand-year-old book. It's sound wisdom, and only a fool would ignore it to his peril.
But sometimes it is easier said than done, particularly when we see the wicked prosper and the righteous suffer. That's why in the next chapter we'll discuss Solomon's advice about dealing with the tough times we face.
1. Have you known people who bailed out when something bad happened to them? Did they come back?
2. Do you have friends that will stick with you in tough times? What forces keep you from forming real relationships? How can you overcome them?
3. How do our expectations of God lead us to disappointment with Him? How do those expectations affect you?
4. What are some of the answers for dealing with the seeming insanity of life? How can you live sanely in an insane world?