With the opening of this chapter we come to quite a different theme.
Like a fever-tossed patient, Ecclesiastes has turned from side to side
for relief and rest; but each new change of posture has only brought
him face to face with some other evil "under the sun" that has again
and again pressed from him the bitter groan of "Vanity." But now, for
a moment, he takes his eyes from the disappointments, the evil
workings, and the sorrows, that everywhere prevail in that scene, and
lifts them up to see how near his wisdom, or human reason, can bring
him to _God_. Ah, poor bruised and wounded spirit! Everywhere it has
met with rebuff; but now, like a caged bird which has long beaten its
wings against its bars, at length turns to the open door, so now
Ecclesiastes seems at least to have his face in the right
direction,--God and approach to Him is his theme,--how far will his
natural reason permit his walking in it? Will it carry him on to the
highest rest and freedom at last?
This, it strikes me, is just the point of view of these first seven
verses. Their meaning is, as a whole, quite clear and simple. "Keep
thy foot,"--that is, permit no hasty step telling of slight realization
of the majesty of Him who is approached. Nor let spirit be less
reverently checked than body. "Be more ready to hear, than to give the
sacrifice of fools." Few be thy words, and none uttered thoughtlessly,
for "God is in heaven and thou upon earth," and many words, under such
an infinite discrepancy in position, bespeak a fool as surely as a
dream bespeaks overcrowded waking hours. Oh fear, then, to utter one
syllable thoughtlessly or without meaning, for One listens to whom a
vow once uttered must be paid, for not lightly canst thou retract the
spoken vow with the excuse "It was unintentional,--it was not seriously
meant." His Messenger or Angel is not so deceived; and quickly wilt
thou find, in thy wrecked work and purposes astray, that it is _God_
thou hast angered by thy light speech. Then avoid the many words
which, as idle dreams, are but vanity; but rather "fear thou God."
After weighing the many conflicting views as to verses 6 and 7, the
context has led me to the above as the sense of the words. Nor can
there be the slightest question as to the general bearing of the
speaker's argument. Its central thought, both in position and
importance, is found in "God is in heaven and thou upon earth,
therefore let thy words be few,"--its weighty conclusion, "Fear thou
God."
Now, my beloved readers, there is a picture here well worth looking at
attentively. Regard him: noble in every sense of the word,--with
clearest intellect, with the loftiest elevation of thought, with an
absolutely true conception of the existence of God. Who amongst men,
let thought sweep as wide as it will amongst the children of Adam, can
go or has gone, beyond him? What can man's mind conceive, he may ask,
as well as man's hand do, that cometh after the King? Yea, let our
minds go over all the combined wisdom of all the ages amongst the wise
of the world, and where will you find a loftier, purer, truer
conception of God, and the becoming attitude of the creature in
approaching Him than here? For he is not a heathen, as we speak, this
Solomon. He has all that man, as man, could possibly have; and that
surely includes the knowledge of the existence of God,--His power
eternal, and His Godhead, as Romans i. clearly shows. The heathen
themselves have lapsed from that knowledge. "_When they knew God_" is
the intensely significant word of Scripture. This is, indeed,
diametrically contrary to the teaching of modern science--that the
barbarous and debased tribes of earth are only in a less developed
condition--are on the way _upward_ from the lowest forms of life, from
the protoplasm whence all sprang, and have already passed in their
upward course the ape, whose likeness they still, however, more closely
bear! Oh, the folly of earth's wisdom! The pitiful meanness and
littleness of the greatest of modern scientific minds that have "come
after the King" contrasted even with the grand simple sublimity of the
knowledge of Ecclesiastes. For this Preacher would not be a proper
representative _man_ were he in debased heathen ignorance. He could
not show us faithfully and truly how far even unaided human reason
could go in its recognition of, and approach to, God, if he had lost
the knowledge of God. Low, indeed, is the level of man's highest, when
in this state, as the Greeks show us; for whilst they, as distinct from
the Jews, made wisdom the very object of their search, downward ever do
they sink in their struggles, like a drowning man, till they reach a
foul, impure, diabolical mythology. Their gods are as the stars for
multitude. Nor are they able to conceive of these except as influenced
by the same passions as themselves. Is there any reverence in approach
to such? Not at all. Low, sensual, earthly depravity marked ever that
approach. That is the level of the lapsed fallen wisdom of earth's
wise. How does it compare with Solomon's? We may almost say as earth
to heaven,--hardly that,--rather as hell to earth. Solomon, then,
clearly shows us the _highest possible conception of the creature's
approach to his Creator_. This is as far as man could have attained,
let him be at the summit of real wisdom. His reason would have given
him nothing beyond this. It tells him that man is a creature, and it
is but the most simple and necessary consequence of this that his
approach to his Creator should be with all the reverence and humility
that is alone consistent with such a relationship.
But high indeed as, in one point of view, this is, yet how low in
another, for is one heart-throb stilled? One tormenting doubt removed?
One fear quieted? One deep question answered? One sin-shackle
loosened? _Not one_. The distance between them is still the distance
between earth and heaven. "God is in heaven, and thou upon earth."
Nor can the highest, purest, best of human reason, as in this wise and
glorious king, bridge over that distance one span! "Fear thou God" is
the sweetest comfort he can give,--the clearest counsel he can offer.
Consider him again, I say, my brethren, in all his nobility, in all his
elevation, in all his bitter disappointment and incompetency.
And now, my heart, prepare for joy, as thou turnest to thy own blessed
portion. For how rich, how precious, how closely to be cherished is
that which has gone so far beyond all possible human conception,--that
wondrous revelation by which this long, long distance 'twixt earth and
heaven has been spanned completely. And in whom? JESUS, The Greater
than Solomon. We have well considered the less,--let us turn to the
Greater. And where is that second Man to be found? Afar off on earth,
with God in heaven? No, indeed. "For when He had by Himself purged
our sins He sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high"; and
"seeing, then, that we have a great high priest, that is passed
_through the heavens_, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our
confession." Oh, let us consider Him together, my brethren. In
holiest Light our Representative sits. He who but now was weighted
with our guilt, and made sin for us, is in that Light ineffable,
unapproachable. Where, then, are the sins? Where, then, the sin?
Gone for all eternity! Nor does His position vary at all with all the
varying states, failings, coldness, worldliness, of His people here.
With holy calm, His work that has perfected them forever perfectly
finished, He _sits_, and their position is thus maintained unchanging.
Clearly, and without the shadow of the faintest mist to dim, the
infinite searching Light of God falls on Him, but sees nought there
that is not in completest harmony with Itself. Oh, wondrous
conception! Oh, grandeur of thought beyond all the possibility of
man's highest mind! No longer can it be said at least to one Man,
woman-born though He be, "God is in heaven, and thou upon earth"; for
He, of the Seed of Abraham, of the house of David, is Himself in
highest heaven.
But one step further with me, my brethren. We are in Him, there; and
that is our place, too. The earthward trend of thought--the letting
slip our own precious truth--has introduced a "tongue" into Christendom
that ought to be foreign to the Saint of heaven. No "place of worship"
should the Christian know--nay, _can_ he really know--short of heaven
itself. For, listen: "Having, therefore, brethren, boldness to enter
_into the holiest_ by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way
which He hath consecrated for us through the vail,--that is to say, His
flesh,--and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw
near," etc. We too, then, beloved, are not upon earth as to our
worship, (let it be mixed with faith in us that hear). Israel's "place
of worship" was where her high priest stood, and our place of worship
is where our great High Priest sits. Jesus our Lord sowed the seed of
this precious truth when he answered the poor sinful woman of Samaria,
"The hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at
Jerusalem, worship the Father. But the hour cometh, and now is, when
the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth,
for the Father seeketh such to worship Him."
But, then, are not "words to be few"? Good and wise it was for Solomon
so to speak; "few words" become the far-off place of the creature on
earth before the glorious Majesty of the Creator in heaven. But if
infinite wisdom and love have rent the vail and made a new and living
way into the Holiest, does He now say "few words"? Better, far better,
than that; for with the changed position all is changed, and not too
often can His gracious ear "hear the voice of His beloved"; and, lest
shrinking unbelief should still hesitate and doubt, He says plainly "In
_everything_, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving let your
requests be made known unto God." For He has shown Himself fully, now
that vail is down,--all that He is, is revealed to faith; and a Heart
we find--with reverence and adoring love be it spoken--filled with
tenderest solicitude for His people. Letting them have cares only that
they may have His sympathy in a way that would not otherwise be
possible; and thus again He invites "casting all your care upon Him,
for He careth for you." Nor is there a hint in the holiest, of
weariness on God's part in listening to His people, nor once does He
say "enough; now cease thy prayers and supplications." How could He so
speak who says "_Pray without ceasing_"? Then if, as assuredly we have
seen, Solomon shows us the highest limit of human thought, reason, or
conception, if we go even one step beyond, we have _exceeded_ human
thought, reason, or conception; (and in these New Testament truths how
far beyond have we gone?) And what does that mean but that we are on
holy ground indeed, listening to a voice that is distinctly the voice
of God,--the God who speaks to us, as He says, in order "_that our joy
may be full_."
But the Preacher continues to give, in verses 8 and 9, such counsel as
he can to meet the discordant state of things everywhere apparent.
"When thou seest violent oppression exercised by those in authority,"
he says, "marvel not; think it not strange, as though some strange
thing were happening; thou art only looking on a weed-plant that
everywhere flourishes 'under the sun,' and still thou mayest remember
that these oppressors themselves, high though they be, have superiors
above them: yea in the ever-ascending scale of ranks and orders thou
mayest have to go to the Highest--God Himself; but the same truth hold
good, and He shall yet call powers and governors to answer for the
exercise of their authorities. This for thy comfort, if thou lookest
_up_; but, on the other hand, look _down_, and thou shalt see that
which goes far to humble the highest; for even the king himself is as
dependent as any on the field whence man's food comes."
True, indeed, all this; but cold is the comfort, small cause for
singing it gives. Our own dear apostle seems to have dropped for a
moment from his higher vantage-ground to the level of Solomon's wisdom
when smarting under "oppression and the violent perverting of
judgment," he cried to the high priest, "God [the higher than the
highest] shall smite thee, thou whited wall." But we hear no joyful
singing from him in connection with that indignant protest. On the
contrary, the beloved and faithful servant regrets it the next moment,
with "I wist not, brethren." Not so in the silent suffering of
"violent oppression" at Philippi. There he and his companion have
surely comfort beyond any that Solomon can offer, and the overflowing
joy of their hearts comes from no spring that rises in this sad desert
scene. Never before had prisoners in that dismal jail heard aught but
groans of suffering coming from that inner prison, from the bruised and
wounded prisoners whose feet were made fast in the stocks; but the
Spirit of God notes, with sweet and simple pathos, "the prisoners heard
them"; and oh, how mighty the testimony to that which is "above the
sun" was that singing! It came from the Christian's proper
portion,--your portion and mine, dear fellow-redeemed one,--for Jesus,
our Lord Jesus, our Saviour Jesus, is the alone fountain of a joy that
can fill a human heart until it gives forth "songs in the night," even
in one of earth's foul abodes of suffering and oppression. He is the
portion of the youngest, feeblest believer. Rich treasure! Let us
beware lest any spoil us of that treasure, for we can only "sing" as we
enjoy it.
But once more let us listen to what the highest, purest attainment of
the wisdom of man can give. And now he speaks of wealth and the
abundance of earthly prosperity which he, of all men, had so fully
tested. "He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver, nor
he that loveth abundance, with increase"; and again there is the
sorrowful groan, "This is also vanity." "If goods increase," he
continues, "the household necessary to care for them increases
proportionately, and the owner gets no further satisfaction from them
than their sight affords. Nay, he who toils has a distinct advantage
over the wealthy, who is denied the quiet repose the former enjoys."
Carefully the Preacher has watched the miser heaping up ever, and
robbing himself of all natural enjoyment, until some disaster--"evil
travail"--sweeps away in a moment his accumulations, and his son is
left a pauper. And such, at least, is every man he marks, be he never
so wealthy, when the end comes. Inexorable Death is, sooner or later,
the "evil travail" that strips him as naked as he came; and then,
though he has spent his life in selfish self-denial, filling his dark
days with vexation, sickness, and irritation, he is snatched from all,
and, poor indeed, departs. Such the sad story of Solomon's experience;
but not more sad than true, nor confined by any means to Scripture.
World-wide it is. Nor is divine revelation necessary to tell poor man
that silver, nor gold, nor abundance of any kind, can satisfy the
heart. Hear the very heathen cry "_semper avarus eget_"--"the miser
ever _needs_"; or "_Avarum irritat non satiat pecunia_"--"the wealth of
the miser satisfies not, but irritates." But more weighty and
far-reaching is the word of revelation going far beyond the negation of
the king. "They that desire to be rich fall into temptation and a
snare and many foolish and hurtful lusts, such as drown men in
destruction and perdition, for the love of money is the root of all
kinds of evil, which some reaching after have been led astray from the
faith, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows."
But let us pass to the last three verses of the chapter. The Preacher
here says, in effect, "Now attend carefully to what I tell thee of the
result of all my experience in this way. I have discerned a good that
I can really call comely or fair. It is for a man to have the means at
his command for enjoyment, and the power to enjoy those means. This
combination is distinctly the 'gift of God.' From such an one all the
evils that make up life pass off without eating deep into his being. A
cheerful spirit takes him off from the present evil as soon as it is
past. He does not think on it much; for the joy of heart within, _to
which God responds_, enables him to meet and over-ride those waves of
life and forget them."
This is in perfect conformity with the whole scope of our book: and it
is surely a mistake that the evangelical doctors and commentators make
when they seek to extract truth from Solomon's writings that is never
to be attained apart from God's revelation. On the other hand, a large
school of German rationalists see here nothing beyond the teaching of
the Epicure: "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die." Rather does
it show the high-water mark of human reason, wisdom, and
experience,--having much in common with the philosophy of the world,
but going far beyond it; and then, at its highest, uttering some wail
of dissatisfaction and disappointment, whilst the majestic height of
divine revelation towers above it into the very heavens, taking him who
receives it far above the clouds and mists of earth's speculations and
questionings into the clear sunlight of eternal divine truth.
So here Solomon--and let us not forget none have ever gone, or can ever
go, beyond him--gives us the result of his searchings along the special
line of the power of riches to give enjoyment. His whole experience
again and again has contradicted this. Look at the 12th verse of this
very chapter. "The sleep of the laboring man is sweet, _but the
abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep_." No, no. In some
way to get _joy_, he confesses he must have _God_. He combines in
these verses these two ideas--"Joy" and "God." Look at them. See how
they recur: four times the name of God, thrice a word for joy. Now
this raises Solomon far far above the malarial swamps of mere
epicureanism, which excluded God entirely. It shows how perfect the
harmony throughout the whole book. It is again, let us recall it, the
high-water mark of human reason, intelligence, and experience. He
reasons thus: (1) I have proved the vanity and unsatisfactory character
of all created things in themselves, and yet can see no good beyond
getting enjoyment from them. (2) The power, therefore, for enjoyment
cannot be from the things themselves. It must be from God. He must
give it. (3) This assumes that there must be some kind of accord
between God and the heart, for God is the spring, and not the
circumstances without. So far the power of human reason. High it is,
indeed; but how unsatisfactory, at its highest. Consider all that it
leaves unsaid. Suppose this were where you and I were, my reader, what
should we learn of the way of attaining to this "good that is fair"?
Shall we ask Ecclesiastes one single question that surely needs clear
answer in order to attain it?
I am a sinner: conscience, with more or less power, constantly accuses.
How can this awful matter of my guilt in the sight of that God, the
confessed and only source of thy "good," be settled? Surely this is
absolutely necessary to know ere I can enjoy thy "good that is fair."
Nay, more: were a voice to speak from heaven, telling me that all the
past were blotted out up to this moment, I am well assured that I could
not maintain this condition for the next moment. Sin would well up
from the nature within, and leave me as hopeless as ever. I carry
_it_--that awful defiling thing--with me, in me. How is this to be
answered, Ecclesiastes?--or what help to its answer dost thou give?...
And there is silence alone for a reply.
Once and only once was such a state possible. Adam, as he walked in
his undefiled Eden, eating its fruit, rejoicing in the result of his
labor, with no accusing conscience, God visiting him in the cool of the
day and responding to all his joy,--there is the picture of
Ecclesiastes' "good that is fair." Where else in the old creation, and
how long did that last? No; whilst it is refreshing and inspiring to
mark the beautiful intelligence and exalted reasoning of Ecclesiastes,
recognizing the true place of man in creation, dependent, and
consciously dependent, on God for "life and breath and all things," as
Paul spoke long afterwards, appealing to that in the heathen Athenians
which even they were _capable_ of responding to affirmatively; yet how
he leaves us looking at a "good that is fair," but without a word as to
how it is to be attained, in view of, and in spite of, sin. That one
short word raises an impassable barrier between us and that fair good,
and the more fair the good, the more cruel the pain at being so utterly
separated from it; but then, too, the more sweet and precious the love
that removes the barrier entirely, and introduces us to a good that is
as far fairer than Solomon's as Solomon's is above the beasts.
For we, too, my dear readers, have our "good that is fair." Nor need
we fear comparison with that of this wisest of men.
Survey with me a fairer scene than any lighted by this old creation sun
can show, and harken to God's own voice, in striking contrast to poor
Solomon's portraying its lovely and entrancing beauties for our
enjoyment.
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath
blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ,
according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,
having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ
to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will to the praise of
the glory of His grace wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved:
in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins
according to the riches of His grace."
Dwell a little on this our own fair good; mark its sevenfold
perfection; go up and down the land with me. Let us press these grapes
of Eshcol, and taste their excellence together.
_First: Chosen in Him before the foundation of the world_.--A threefold
cord, that is, indeed, not soon broken. "Chosen," God's own love and
wisdom is the fount and spring whence all flows. And that in blessed
connection with the dearest object of His love--"in Him." "Before the
foundation of the world." In the stability and changelessness of
Eternity,--before that scene that is, and ever was, characterized by
change, began,--with its mirth and sorrow, sunshine and shadow, life
and death. Blessed solid rock-foundation for all in God and Eternity.
_Second: To be Holy_.--Separated from all the defilement that should
afterwards come in. Thus His electing love is always marked first by
separation from all evil. It can never allow its object to be
connected with the slightest defilement. The evil was allowed only
that He might reveal Himself as Love and Light in dealing with it.
_Third: without blame_.--So thoroughly is all connected with past
defilement met that not a memory of it remains to mar the present joy.
The defilement of the old creation with which we were connected has
left never a spot nor a stain on the person that could offend infinite
holiness. Clean, every whit. Bless the Lord, oh my soul!
_Fourth: In love_.--Thus separated and cleansed from all defilement not
mere complacency regards us. Not merely for his own pleasure, as men
make a beautiful garden, and remove everything that would offend their
taste, but active love in all its divine warmth encircles us. My
reader, do you enjoy this fair good? If you be but the feeblest
believer it is your own.
_Fifth: Adoption of Children_.--Closest kind of love, and that so
implanted in the heart as to put that responsive home-cry of "Abba,
Father," there, and on our lips. Yet nothing short of this was the
"good pleasure of His will.
_Sixth.--Taken into favor in the Beloved_: the wondrous measure of
acceptance "in the Beloved One." Look at Him again. All the glory He
had in eternity He has now, and more added to it. Infinite complacency
regards him. That, too, is the measure of our acceptance.
_Seventh_.--But no shirking that awful word,--no overlooking the awful
fact of sin's existence. No; the foundation of our enjoyment of our
own fair good is well laid "in whom we have redemption through His
blood, _even the forgiveness of sins_."
Sin, looked at in infinite holy Light,--thoroughly looked at,--and
Blood, precious Blood, poured out in atonement for it, and thus put
away forever in perfect righteousness.
Now may the Lord grant us to realize more fully, as we progress in our
book, the awful hopelessness that weighs on man's sad being, apart from
the blessed and infinitely gracious revelation of God.