“……….The wise man who knows God knows what is good. The good is to see life as a gift, enjoy it as a gift, and then leave what comes after to God. You don’t know the future, so trust God. …….. we are a moment, but God is eternal. We are a vapor, but God is forever. We are limited; God is without measure. The fulfillment we long for is not in the money we earn or the achievements of a career. A happy life is not found in just a little bit more…..enjoy life as God has given it to us. If we don’t, it would have been better for us never to have been born.” -Brian Borgman

Ecclesiastes 6

Earning money through labor is one of the primary reasons we work. Work is a gift. Money is a gift. God provides through the gift. However, both money and work are easily spoiled by expecting more from them than they can give.

Qoheleth knows truth which impacts and shapes life does not come easily or quickly. It’s not learned the first time around. Worldviews are formed through repetition, not one lecture. Truth must be kneaded into our hearts and minds. Although this chapter seems like a downer. He does not want us to spoil the gifts of work and money. He does not want us to waste our breath.

Satisfaction NOT Guaranteed – In chapter six, we encounter one of Qoheleth’s hypothetical yet all too common characters. This person has everything: wealth, possessions, and children. Then he dies. What is missing in his outwardly blessed life is the ability to enjoy the blessings. The prevalent evil in view is as overwhelming as it is common. God gives a man everything. This man lacks nothing. He not only has everything he needs but everything he desires. But one thing is missing, and it is that God has not granted him the grace to enjoy the abundance. Instead, a foreigner, not a family member, who did not work for any of it, enjoys it all. Qoheleth examines this situation and concludes it is hebel and a severe affliction.

Sometimes the mere breath is just a breath, but when it is compounded with affliction, it is a grievous evil. This hebel weighs heavy on mankind. What advantage has the man to whom God has given everything and yet not the grace to enjoy it? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

There is much more to life than outward blessings. The stillborn, who is better off than the man who could not enjoy God’s gifts, is now described. The child comes in a vapor, goes out in darkness, and in darkness his or her name is covered with obscurity. “The name in Hebrew thought is more than a label; it includes the personality and the character. The still born has no chance to develop a character or acquire a reputation.” The stillborn never sees the sun, that is, never has a chance to enjoy life. But the stillborn is still better off than our guy in Ecclesiastes 6:1–3 because at least the stillborn finds rest.

Now Qoheleth, in a hyperbolic flourish, says even if the rich guy lives a millennium, twice, he still goes to the same place as the stillborn. One thousand years would be the perfect life. Even if this rich man has two perfect lives with all his blessings, he still dies. “It is the quality of life to which Qoheleth is referring, not its duration. If one is denied enjoying one’s life, then one is better off never entering the world at all.”

There is no inextricable link between prosperity and God’s favor. This smashes the conventional paradigm…..The rich guy might have a warehouse stocked full of cans of peaches, but if he doesn’t even have a Swiss Army Knife can opener, he is to be pitied. A graceless man with a big bank account and a full quiver is the picture of sadness.

Full, But Still Hungry – We work to eat and eat to work. But working is never what ultimately satisfies the appetite. This section serves as a summary and underscores the truth that if life is reduced to working to eat and eating to work, it will leave us unfulfilled…Qoheleth never gives up on wisdom because wisdom is always better. Here he refers to wisdom as “seeing eyes” since they express the ability to perceive and enjoy life. Having that sight is better than wandering appetites. The continual motion, the fluctuations, and the vacillations, driven by desire, are never satisfied. The wise have a fixed gaze, firm priorities, a perspective on life and the grace to enjoy it. The wandering heart of unfulfilled appetites drives to and fro. Qoheleth then concedes, but this too is hebel and chasing the wind. Both the seeing eyes and wandering desire are a vapor. So although wisdom is better, it still doesn’t resolve hebel.

Boxing with God–  “whatever has come to be has already been named.” By this he means that things in this life are settled. The nature of man is unambiguous: he is a breath, a beast, and profoundly limited. Our ability to dispute with God over any of this is an illusion. Our arms are far too short to box with God. “Man cannot escape his limitations, nor can he completely unravel the world’s anomalies (cf. 1:15). He may, like Job, wish to debate the matter with God, but God is altogether greater.” Our arguments, our retorts, our rebuttals are a vapor. Or as the NET puts it, “The more one argues with words, the less he accomplishes. How does that benefit him?” (6:11). This verse reminds us that talking, arguing, and debating, will change nothing. We are slow to realize this and the multitude of armchair philosophers and theologians, along with a few lawyers, railing against God only pile up the hebel. A mountain of vapors is still a vapor.

The final verse is one that clearly demonstrates hebel is not futility or meaningless. This verse tells us that we have only a few days and that we spend them like a shadow. In these few days, who knows what is good?

The sage of Ecclesiastes has already answered this question (2:24–26; 3:12; 5:18). The wise man who knows God knows what is good. The good is to see life as a gift, enjoy it as a gift, and then leave what comes after to God. You don’t know the future, so trust God.

This passage is a dark part of the forest, and it reminds us that we are a moment, but God is eternal. We are a vapor, but God is forever. We are limited; God is without measure. The fulfillment we long for is not in the money we earn or the achievements of a career. A happy life is not found in just a little bit more. As Qoheleth brings this leg of the ride to an end through a dark tunnel, he reminds us to enjoy life as God has given it to us. If we don’t, it would have been better for us never to have been born. Indeed, as Jeremy Taylor warned long ago, “God threatens terrible things if we will not be happy.”-Brian Borgman

SOLI DEO GLORIA!