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The sun rises, sets, and hustles back to rise again. Like the hypocrite at his prayers, the sun engages in vain repetition. The sun that rose this morning is the same one that Abraham, Odysseus, David, Paul, Voltaire, Isaac Watts, and Robert E. Lee saw. And when the sun goes down, we have every expectation of seeing it again. It does not necessarily expect to see us again.
God oversees when men are executed or when they are slaughtered in battle. He determines when men are lifted up and restored (v. 3).
The man may think he knows the import of what he says, but only the Lord really understands the direction of the words. Silence and eloquence are both bestowed by Him—and to fulfill His good purpose and will.
We are born to trouble as the sparks fly upward.
So the answer is that the gift of God bestows companionship.
Men who build empires frequently find themselves holding a grizzly bear by the ears. The more they do, the less they are able to do. The more control they amass, the less control they have. The more power they acquire, the more powerless they feel. This is because the vanity of increase, the futility of silver and gold, has a life of its own. A man may work hard to acquire money, only to discover at the end of the day that the money actually acquired him. Few men have wealth, and even fewer control it when they do.
The conclusion of this cynical line of argument is peace and joy. In verses 18–20, the crucial phrases are these: and given him power to eat of it and this is the gift of God. God, as part of the goodness of His grace, keeps a man occupied with his stuff, giving him joy. The fact that some men can just take it as it comes, without agonizing all the time over the ultimate meaning of things, is the gift of God (v. 20).
We want to evaluate everything that parades by us simply, and say that material blessings are always a blessing and that adversity is always a curse. It is not necessarily so. We cannot necessarily tell God’s disposition toward a man through his outward condition.
4The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. 5It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools.
Everyone, king and courtier alike, is in a war with death. No one can keep the spirit contained in the body; no one is able to obtain a discharge from that coming fight, and all will lose it (v. 8). All political battles must therefore be kept in perspective. No one is able to fight the final war between light and dark here under the sun, and no one should pretend to try.
To say that things happen by “chance,” if we are using anything other than a figure of speech, is to be theologically and philosophically incoherent. Everything that happens is caused by something; the Bible teaches that it is caused by Someone. To say that something happens by chance is simply to confess our ignorance of the cause.
A little folly in a wise man is far more visible than a little wisdom in a fool.
It is good to be wary. A babbler should always be handled like a dangerous snake. A babbler is a dangerous snake. The tongue is a restless fire, ignited by hell. The problem need not be driven by malice; a verbal scribbler can do a lot of damage as well. Many lives are torn apart with the tongue.
