Ecclesiastes 5
Let's see what I can remember after just reading this in the KJV. The opening theme is to be humble before God: be more ready to hear than to speak. Of course the theme of vanity is repeated. What we gain in our lives is lost once we're gone. Despite our motivation to gather things, food, money, etc., increase does not lead to satisfaction. Don't be greedy (I hear David Sedaris's voice when I type this, as it's a line from his story "Us and Them.") Nonetheless, it is good to enjoy what we have. The key to sleeping well, though, is to labor. If we're lazy, we won't sleep well no matter how much we have.
A spot of analysis
Having really stalled out on my commentary/journaling through Ecclesiastes, I'm not compelled to go into much depth here, as I still have seven chapters to go. But I'll consider a couple phrases of interest, "Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God" and "he shall not much remember the days of his life; because God answereth him in the joy of his heart." These happen to be the first and last verses of the chapter.
5:1 "Keep thy foot . . ."
Before I look at another translation, I'm going to guess that this is simply some kind of idiom meaning "restrain thyself." The remainder of the verse is "be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they consider not that they do evil." Clearly, we listeners are being cautioned against lacking self-awareness, and perhaps this weakness leaves us with no ground to stand on, our feet in the air so to speak, a reality which clearly cannot be sustained. The NRSV translates this phrase as "Guard your steps" and concludes the verse thus: "[fools] do not know how to keep from doing evil." I must confess I feel indicted by this verse, and unsurprisingly can easily identify with Paul's confession that he does what he does not want to do and does not do what he wants to do. Is this awareness enough? According to Ecclesiastes, it seems that it is not, but perhaps it is a good beginning. And according to Paul in Romans 7, this awareness is good only because it shows us that we have failed to fulfill the law. Thus we are returned to the theme of humility and a recognition of our own inabilities. And thus we find hope, hope in Christ who rescues us "from this body of death" (Romans 7:24). And for one more tie-in, it is not our sacrifices (which a fool offers) but Christ's sacrifice that can mend the relationship between us and God.
5:20 "For he shall not much remember the days of his life; because God answereth him in the joy of his heart."
The curious thing to me in this verse is the implication that God's joy is a cause for not remembering much of our lives. I am definitely aware that I do not remember much of my life. For example, I went to 1st grade for about 180 days, and I remember maybe three of them, and that only because somewhat traumatic things occurred. Even details of my adult years that I used to remember keenly have begun to fade. I have begun to question whether the stories I tell of my memories contain more fact or fiction. The NRSV translates this verse, "For they will scarcely brood over the days of their lives, because God keeps them occupied with the joy of their hearts." This leads me to the question, Who is "they" in this verse? Paraphrased, the pronoun references those who labor or "toil" as well as those who have been given the gifts of wealth and possessions. Given the inequity in the world, I choose to focus my interpretation on the joy that is granted to those who labor. As such, I suppose I can only interpret this verse as a motivation to dedicate myself to work of some kind. Once again, I am indicted; as a number nine in the Enneagram personality model, my personality's weakness is "sloth" or "acedia." Unfortunately, this is an easily recognizable weakness upon self-examination. According to the Enneagram, however, the best thing I can do for myself to combat this is to identify some purpose to commit to. Pairing this with the wisdom of Ecclesiastes, it seems important that I commit myself to my work, my labor, or that I find some work that I can pour myself into. Applying this verse, I could also infer that perhaps I remain in search of "the joy of my heart." This is a work in progress, and some days are better than others, enough of a truism that it has been put into song on U2's album, Achtung Baby. "Achtung" translated = Attention!
And as a postscript, I'll include the lyrics from this track that seem most relevant:
"Some days are work, most days you're lazy
Some days you feel like a bit of a baby
Lookin' for Jesus and his mother . . .
Some days you hear a voice
taking you to another place
Some days are better than others."
A spot of analysis
Having really stalled out on my commentary/journaling through Ecclesiastes, I'm not compelled to go into much depth here, as I still have seven chapters to go. But I'll consider a couple phrases of interest, "Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God" and "he shall not much remember the days of his life; because God answereth him in the joy of his heart." These happen to be the first and last verses of the chapter.
5:1 "Keep thy foot . . ."
Before I look at another translation, I'm going to guess that this is simply some kind of idiom meaning "restrain thyself." The remainder of the verse is "be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they consider not that they do evil." Clearly, we listeners are being cautioned against lacking self-awareness, and perhaps this weakness leaves us with no ground to stand on, our feet in the air so to speak, a reality which clearly cannot be sustained. The NRSV translates this phrase as "Guard your steps" and concludes the verse thus: "[fools] do not know how to keep from doing evil." I must confess I feel indicted by this verse, and unsurprisingly can easily identify with Paul's confession that he does what he does not want to do and does not do what he wants to do. Is this awareness enough? According to Ecclesiastes, it seems that it is not, but perhaps it is a good beginning. And according to Paul in Romans 7, this awareness is good only because it shows us that we have failed to fulfill the law. Thus we are returned to the theme of humility and a recognition of our own inabilities. And thus we find hope, hope in Christ who rescues us "from this body of death" (Romans 7:24). And for one more tie-in, it is not our sacrifices (which a fool offers) but Christ's sacrifice that can mend the relationship between us and God.
5:20 "For he shall not much remember the days of his life; because God answereth him in the joy of his heart."
The curious thing to me in this verse is the implication that God's joy is a cause for not remembering much of our lives. I am definitely aware that I do not remember much of my life. For example, I went to 1st grade for about 180 days, and I remember maybe three of them, and that only because somewhat traumatic things occurred. Even details of my adult years that I used to remember keenly have begun to fade. I have begun to question whether the stories I tell of my memories contain more fact or fiction. The NRSV translates this verse, "For they will scarcely brood over the days of their lives, because God keeps them occupied with the joy of their hearts." This leads me to the question, Who is "they" in this verse? Paraphrased, the pronoun references those who labor or "toil" as well as those who have been given the gifts of wealth and possessions. Given the inequity in the world, I choose to focus my interpretation on the joy that is granted to those who labor. As such, I suppose I can only interpret this verse as a motivation to dedicate myself to work of some kind. Once again, I am indicted; as a number nine in the Enneagram personality model, my personality's weakness is "sloth" or "acedia." Unfortunately, this is an easily recognizable weakness upon self-examination. According to the Enneagram, however, the best thing I can do for myself to combat this is to identify some purpose to commit to. Pairing this with the wisdom of Ecclesiastes, it seems important that I commit myself to my work, my labor, or that I find some work that I can pour myself into. Applying this verse, I could also infer that perhaps I remain in search of "the joy of my heart." This is a work in progress, and some days are better than others, enough of a truism that it has been put into song on U2's album, Achtung Baby. "Achtung" translated = Attention!
And as a postscript, I'll include the lyrics from this track that seem most relevant:
"Some days are work, most days you're lazy
Some days you feel like a bit of a baby
Lookin' for Jesus and his mother . . .
Some days you hear a voice
taking you to another place
Some days are better than others."
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