Ecc. 7: The Gravity of Life

Ecclesiastes 7:13 "Consider what God has done: Who can straighten what he has made crooked?"

This is a pretty serious chapter. The Choir have a pretty incredible song that kind of made me wonder, but as I read Ecclesiastes 7 for the first time in my life, it became clear because of it's context.



When you read something like the day of death being better than the day of birth, and that a sad face is good for the heart, that sorrow is better than laughter, what comes to mind? What is your first instinct? In my case it was a bit of incredulity. I had the consider it. I wondered if Solomon (presumably) was referring to an afterlife, and the departure of a meaningless world under the sun, with the hope of entering God's presence. I think more than that, it is a grim reminder not to forget that life is temporary. Remember the sad times, for balance, for a greater sense of joy in the good times, and hope. I think a good answer or elaboration can be found in verse 14. God creates the good and bad times.

To be quickly provoked is meaningless foolishness. Why get so angry? Why let emotion get the better of you?

God's methods and intentions are inscrutable. When God zigs when we zag, or he's crooked when we expect a straight line, its not...normal. It's unexpected. It's incredible. We don't know why he does these things, and can only count on his promise that he has our best interests in mind. Its confusing, and upsetting. Our minds are crammed in this compartment of a limited understanding of an omnipotent, eternally-wise God. Why bother attempting to figure it out? Maybe our feeble brains derive some sort of legitimacy in the attempt to connect impossibly far-flung dots or impossible combinations of possible outcomes to our perceived suffering.

There is no one on earth not culpable for sin. (V. 20) God started making man upright, but, like Adam, man searched for other schemes.

Good practical advice...don't worry about catching everything someone says about you. Someone's bound to badmouth you whether you deserve it or not. Do you always keep things to yourself?

Is the voice of a jilted lover writing verse 28? Not one upright woman in a thousand? Srsly? Maybe he is looking in the wrong thousand? Solomon had his problems with women, to be sure, and it cost him a lot.

Dt. 9: It Ain't Me

Deuteronomy 9:5 "After the LORD your God has driven them out before you, do not say to yourself, "The LORD has brought me here to take possession of this land because of my righteousness." No, it is on account of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is going to drive them out before you."

Ah, yes. That is why these other nations could not live when Israel came around. These weren't just nations minding their own business. These other nations were steeped in idolatry and wickedness. This dispossession of the land of these other nations was more about their wickedness than Israel's righteousness. Because, as Moses says, they had rebelled against the LORD since the day they left Egypt.

This is interesting as a parallel to the Holy of Holies. As only the priests, those who were ceremonially clean could perform priestly duties, only the nation of Israel, the people God set apart in the world, could possess the promised land. Certain death (God's judgment) awaited those who did not follow God's commands in priestly duties...ahem, Nadab and Abihu.

Why were these nations so wicked though? They all came from one source, that being Noah...at least from the text I have read thus far, and therefore had a chance to know what God did for Noah, and God's covenant with Noah. Somewhere along the line, the connection was disrupted. The storyline ceased. People didn't need God or didn't know God. Was God absent from their lives? No, I don't think so. From what I have read, God has worked in many non-Israelite people...Balaam, Abimelech, Pharaoh. Granted, they were in the context of Israel. But God made a promise to Noah.

By this logic, there are no people alive on this earth with any excuse not to know about God. This probably steps on some toes, but someone's ancestry dropping the ball on the existence and knowledge of God results in them being outside His covenant. God's covenants were good from generation to generation, and those who agreed to them were those who were declared righteous.