Episode 455: A Survey of Ecclesiastes, with James Jordan

[Music] Hey folks and welcome back to The Theopolis Podcast. I'm your host Brian Roads and I'm the content manager at Theopolis Institute. We have Theopolis trained men and women to lead cultural renewal by renewing the church. Participants in our programs learned to read the Bible imaginatively, worship God faithfully, and engage the culture intelligently. In this episode we are concluding our series on biblical wisdom with James Jordan and here he's going to give a bit of a survey of the book of Ecclesiastes. Do you know towards the end there are a few minutes with some odd audio glitches that happen? I actually included the audio excerpt from Jim where he explains what happened here and we just decided to keep that content and but know that it is just a few minutes and it will self correct towards the end of this recording. We just wrapped up our Theopolis and Ministry conference on Monday and Tuesday of this week. Our Wednesday episode of The Podcast featured Peter Lightheart's lecture on Shepherds and Kings that we really think it'll be helped by so be sure to check that out and next week we will showcase two other talks from that conference, one of which will be on Theopolis and Church planning. So be sure to check back next week as we think those episodes will be a real help to you. As always we want to thank you so much for listening and we hope that you enjoy this time of teaching and here is James Jordan giving a survey of the book of Ecclesiastes. I mentioned that the wisdom literature of Solomon should be seen as growing out of the Psalms. Just as Deuteronomy grows out of the revelation of the law of God and Moses meditating on it for a generation of time. So David and Korah and Asaph the other Psalm writers, the sons of Korah, produce the bulk of the Psalter and it's been sung now for 30 years or so, 40 years before Solomon for years before the temple is built and then during the time the temple is built the Psalms are being sung. And imagine the temple is being built over here on Mount Mariah and right on the next hill over here on Mount Zion is the Ark of the Covenant in its shrine and their musicians and singers around it singing the Psalms. These Psalms are being sung the whole time the temple is being built. So as we said before the temple is like an architectural expression of the Psalter but a wisdom literature grows out of this. This is what Solomon is hearing the whole time. So all this stuff in the Psalms about the enemy and how the enemy seems to be victorious, it's all grist for the mill of these later books. Psalm 45 about the king's daughter and the marriage of the king and how she's dressed, well the king is dressed in mirroring allos and Cassia and ivory palaces and stringed instruments and all that. You can see that it's background that's expanded in the song of Solomon. Psalm 49 the folly of trusting and riches this says is the Psalm of the sons of Korah. Solomon is listening to this verse 10 of Psalm 49. He sees it even wise men die, the stupid and the senseless alike parish and leave their wealth to others. I mean that's exactly stuff that's all over Ecclesiastes. Their inner thought is that their houses are forever, their dwelling places will last for all generations but man and his pomp will not endure. He is like the beasts that perish. Well there's a whole section in Ecclesiastes about men perishing like beasts. Listen chapter 3. I said to myself concerning the sons of Adam, God has surely tested them in order to see that they are but beasts. For the fate of the sons of Adam and the fate of beasts is the same. As one dies, so dies the other. Indeed they all have the same breath and there's no advantage for man over beast for all his vapor. All go to the same place. All came from the dust and all returned to the dust. Who knows that the breath of man ascends upward in the breath of beast ascends downward to the earth? How do you know that? That's this question. How do you know that man's breath ascends upward back to God in the breath of beast ascends downward to the earth? Well you know that by faith alone. See there's nothing by sight. Let's just spinning out from what Solomon has heard all his life in Psalm 49. Of course we know that actually all this literature was written three, four centuries later and none of this can be trusted right. If that's your scenario then the Bible is incoherent. The scenario that the Bible presents is that this is what Solomon has been learning his whole life. All this kind of stuff. And I'd like to point you to Psalm 73 because this is by ASAP. Again a Psalm that Solomon grew up with. And you know this Psalm, I just couldn't remember the number of it this morning until I was informed of it. Someone who took the opportunity to ridicule me because I couldn't remember it. But anyway it talks about how the wicked are rich and prosperous. My feet almost slipped, says ASAP. When I was envious of the arrogant and I saw the prosperity of the wicked, they know pains in their death. Their bodies fat. I guess I'm wicked. They're not in trouble like other men. They're not plagued like mankind like the sons of men. Their eye bulges from fatness. They mock and wickedly speak of oppression. They're on high. They rule. They're kings. They run the earth. Boy Solomon has a lot to say about that. In the verse 15, "If I said I should speak to us, I would have betrayed the generation of your children." When I pondered to understand this it was troublesome in my sight until I came into the holy places of God. It's plural because you see there are two sanctuaries operating at this time in history. There's one, the tabernacles in Kibbia and the arkis in Jerusalem. So he can say sanctuaries of God once the temple is built, they just be one. For us again, now there's many. I perceive therein and how it's within the temple next to God, he sees the truth that the wicked will be punished and the righteous will be vindicated. Now I think that's important for ecclesiasties. Let's remind ourselves of worship and wisdom. Worship is in the sanctuary. Wisdom is out in the world. This is your knowledge of good and evil, even at the end of ecclesiasties. The King Lee Book says God will judge everything you do good and evil. See, repeats the wisdom king Lee phrase. Out here everything is misty and things don't seem to work out. You can't look out here in this world of natural revelation. Just forget natural revelation if you want to understand reality. When you look out here at what goes on in the world, it doesn't tell you anything. How do you know from natural revelation whether the soul of beasts goes to the earth and the soul of man goes back to God? You don't. All this business of getting all kinds of information from nature and natural law is contradicted by reality. You can't. Where you get the information about ultimate reality is from the Word of God at the center of life. As Saul Aceh says, "When I looked out here in the world, I couldn't figure it out and it made me angry and bitter. But when I came into the sanctuary, when I returned to the garden, when I feared God." That means worship as well as just plain being afraid. When I saw who God was and thought, "Whoa, he's going to call everything into judgment when I bowed to him and worshipped him. When I came here and I ate dragon was merry at the feast. When I heard the words of wise men which are sharp and pointed and not misty at all, then I understood." So that's the distinction. And Solomon is constantly pointing to that here. When you look out here in society and in the world, it doesn't often make sense. When you come into the place of worship, you hear the scripture, you sit down at the feast, then you get the perspective and things make sense. My faith, because God tells you he will come and he will set things right. So those two perspectives are governing the glesiasis. The eat drink and be merry refrain, the fear God refrain. Those are the things that center you back at the garden, back at the sanctuary, back in the church as opposed to the kingdom. Now this is not quite the Kaiperean Calvinistic view that you've got state and the church and the family and the school. And each one of them is its own separate thing operating out of the Bible. That's true to a certain extent, but it's also true that the church is central, that there is confusion out here that there's no supposed to be here. Of course even sermons can be confusing, but ultimately it's the word of God itself that's not that is the absolute in the midst. And everything that begins to flow out from it can begin to partake of mist. Like for instance, I won't have everything right this morning. I think I do, but I probably don't. As Doug Wilson says, I always think I'm right, but I don't think I'm always right. Think about that. Alright, so let's just look into the book a little bit and see what he does here and we'll just skim it for a while and then I'll be done with what I'm going to do with the Klesiastes. This is a slightly annotated translation here on page 15. That just means I have occasionally given you my opinion and I've tried to translate it consistently instead of preacher which is not what Cahal means. This means to gather together. We've changed that together. Instead of vanity we have mist or vapor. I've used vapor instead of pursuing wind, shepherding wind. Because that's the idea. Man seeks to shepherd the wind, to control it, to make it do what he's supposed to do. And that's in contrast to the one shepherd at the end of the book who does have everything under control. I've italicized the phrase under the sun. In other words marked out some of the themes in the book and given you the Kaisiastes structures. But this first section here on page 15, at the center of it is the statement all things are worrisome. And remember we said from Genesis 1 that the themes of lighting, forming and filling are coursing through this book. The world is filled by generations. Over time it's filled up. And so the fact that the rich man lays up an inheritance for a fool or the fool lays up an inheritance for the rich man, all of these generational time things have to do with filling. What man has to do with structure, man's attempt to shape and form the world, governs those passages, and in light has to do with the sun and with rulers and governors who are the lights in the world. And these three themes then run through this book. At the center of this is the statement all things are worrisome. And on either side of that are statements about filling. All the rivers flow into the sea and yet the sea is not full. So the place where the rivers flow there they flow again. It's not getting filled up. And then matching that on the other side, man is not able to tell. The eye is not satisfied with seeing nor is the ear filled with hearing. The sea never gets filled up. You never get filled up with understanding. Out from that are two statements about form. Verse 6, "Bloing toward the south, turning toward the north, the wind continues swirling along and on its circular courses the wind returns." That's the form of the wind, the shape of it. It just goes round and round, goes to the south, goes back up to the north, in the northern hemisphere, counterclockwise. With the other hemisphere it gets to be the other way around. But more in the northern hemisphere in the Bible. If you were in Australia you'd have to translate this "reversos" to verses maybe. It's just a joke, I'm not serious. That would be dynamic equivalent translation. I am the taco of life and all these other dynamic translations. Instead of shepherd you would have the guy who heard "pinguins" or something. Getting back to it here, the form is circular and so doesn't really have any form. Watching that in verse 9, "That which has been is that which will be that which has been done is that which will be done." We're not changing anything, we're not forming anything. Then the life theme is on either side of that. In verse 5 also the sun rises, the sun sets, hastening to its place, it rises there again. So the sun isn't doing anything either. And then he matches that by saying there's nothing new under the sun. This whole section is about the fact that nothing is really changing but still light, shape and filling are the way he sets it out. And he says everything is worrisome. If we match that out on page 28, the matching section is chapter 11. He continues to say creation can't be understood. But it's good and not worrisome under God. So he discusses filling at the beginning. Well let's go to the center of it. It's on page 29. There's light on either side of this and then he says it's not worrisome. So in the 11 verse 70, he says light is pleasant. It's good for the eyes to see the sun. Well, you don't really want to look at the sun but. And then he returns to that and says before the sun and the light, the moon and the stars are darkened, the light theme. But in the center, he says life doesn't have to be worrisome. At the center of this, he says know that God will bring you to judgment for all these things. That's the center of this section. All things are worrisome with his first reflection. Nah, no, no. If we look at things under the perspective of the judgment of God, then everything looks different. And so he starts off and says in 11 verse 8, indeed if a man should live many years, let him rejoice in them. And that's matched at the end before the evil days come and the years drawn near when you say I have no rejoicing in them. I have no delight in them. That's the beginning and the end of this section. Moving in from that, the B sections, let him remember the days of darkness for the they will be many and matching that, remember your Creator in the days of your youth. Parallel ideas. Coming in from that, he says everything that is to come will be vapor and he says because childhood in the prime of life or vapor. They're vapor, you can't control them. So live by faith. And at the center of it, then he says, "D, rejoice young man during your childhood and let your heart be pleasant during days of young manhood. Follow the impulses of your heart, the desires of your eyes. But know that God will bring you to judgment for all these things." And then again, remove grief and anger from your heart and put away pain from your body. So enjoy the pleasant things. But remember that God will bring you to judgment. Now that's not the same as saying everything just continues all along and it's all worrisome. He still says, "Yeah, it's vapor, but it's not worrisome. God is going to bring an explanation to it all. God is going to bring it all under judgment and so you can rejoice in all of it." Even when things are not very pleasant. The imagery of clouds and weather is used in the two form sections. In 12 verse 2, he just mentions it, clouds return after rain, but then speaking up what he's already said in 11, 3, 6. The clouds are full. They pour out rain on the earth. Whether a tree falls toward the north, south, or toward the north, wherever the tree falls, there it lies. So there's that north and south stuff again. He who watches the wind will not so. He who looks at the clouds will not reap. That's not the stuff that tells you what to do. Just as you do not know the path of the wind or how bones are formed in the womb of a pregnant woman, so you don't know the activity of God who makes all things. So your seed in the morning and don't be idle in the evening. But you don't know whether morning or evening, so I will succeed or whether both of them alike will be good. So I think this section is answering with a different perspective, the same themes and the first one. Now on page 16, let me just discuss the shape of this passage with you because it's extensive. All right. The bear outline of it is on page 12. You might want to put your finger back on page 12. I think this is the major section in the book which lays out Solomon's test. And are you going to come back and talk about this again tonight, right? So I won't go into a lot of the details. I just wanted to show you the shape of it and how it's put together. One has three opening statements that deal with three themes he's going to discuss. He's going to discuss human works and activity. He's going to discuss wisdom and he's going to discuss joy. And his opening statements are man's works don't mean anything. Wisdom doesn't mean anything. And joy is a waste of time. Then he says, but I decided to test all of this and he discusses his building project, which we've mentioned several times. He only evaluates the test and he makes two evaluations. His first evaluation is, I liked it everything I'd done under the sun and it was a total waste of time. I found that the deeds were worthless. The wisdom was worthless. The joy was worthless and death is everywhere. Those were the four things he talks about. Then he looks at everything again in reverse order under God. That is absent from his first evaluation. Under the sun is not the rhetoric he uses in his second evaluation. And this time he says, our works are worthwhile, wisdom is worthwhile, joy is worthwhile, and death is not the last answer. So he gives two evaluations, one under the sun and one under God. So let's quickly look at this and I'll just, since it's going to be dealt with again tonight, I won't go into the details of it. His opening statement deals with deeds and works. Just notice how it's done, verse 13, "I set my heart to explore all that is done under the heavens, and evil task God has given to the sons of Adam. I have seen the deeds that are done under the sun, and everything is vapor and shepherding wind." Then he says, "Why is crooked cannot be straightened? That's form. What is lacking cannot be counted, that's filling." Well, then he talks about wisdom. I said in my heart, I have magnified and increased wisdom. My heart was set to observe an abundance of wisdom and knowledge. I said, "My heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly." I realized this is shepherding wind. In wisdom, much wisdom is much grief. But there is this initial statement about wisdom. It doesn't seem to amount to much. But what about joy? I said, "In my heart, come now, and I will test you with joy." I said, "The good and the good." That too is vapor. I said, "Of laughter, madness, of joy, what does it accomplish?" I was with his opening statement, so then he has his test. I explored in my heart to cheer my body with wine. "Hey, that's joy. My heart was guiding me wisely." And how to grasp or restrain folly. That's his deed. So I can see things. And then he decides to make his own garden of Eden. And we looked at this before, performs it by building his parks. He fills it by getting mail and female slaves and cattle and gold and singers. And then he summarizes it by saying, "My wisdom stood by me. I did not withhold my heart from any joy. My heart rejoiced because of all of my labor." Those are his three things. Now, all this has happened. Seems great. Now he steps back and takes a look at it. His evaluation. 211. "I consider all the deeds my hands have done all the labor. It was all vapor and shepherding wind. There was no advantage. Nothing gained under the sun. Six times he's going to say under the sun. "Whisdom," he says. "I turn to consider wisdom, madness, and folly." Doesn't matter much. Death says the curse of death hangs over everything you do. The fate of the fool and of the wise men are the same. There's no lasting memorial for the wise men. He's still talking a bit about wisdom here. But it's all vapor. Deeds and works. I hated all the deeds that I had done under the sun. I have to leave it to the man who comes after me and he may be a wise man or a fool, this to his vapor. I gave up my heart to despair over all the labor I had labored. All the deeds I had done. No good in that. And then joy. Human labor is cursed, he says. What does a man get in all his labor and his heartfelt striving under the sun? All his days his task is painful and grievous. Even at night he doesn't get any rest. So there's no joy. That's his first evaluation under the sun. Then he looks at it again. He doesn't say it under the sun. Not once in what follows. He says, "Under the heavens once." But now he talks about before God and from the hand of God and how things look from that perspective. In reverse order, he says, "There is no good in man." Mickey had an interesting translation. What was it? There was no good in man. There's no good inherent in man that he should eat and drink and tell himself his labor is good. But it's from the hand of God who can eat and have enjoyment without him. So yeah, there is joy. He ended by saying there's no joy. Now he says, "But from God there's joy. From your own activity, if you stay out here, outside the garden and the world, in the place of mist and natural revelation, you just don't get any reward. But if you look at it from the perspective of the sanctuary, instead of from the perspective of natural law, so to speak, then it's a gift and you can be happy in it." Then he talks about deeds and works. He says, "You know, well, before I was saying, I build all this stuff and who knows what will happen to it, so work is I hate my work." But then he says, "You know what, under God, the wicked are out here working by the sweat of their brown. We're just sitting around, eating and drinking and being married." They're doing all the work for us. The center gathers and collects, and the man who loves God is given wisdom and knowledge and joy. Because God shepherds the wind and God controls the mist." He says. Then he talks about death again, and this is a famous section. There's a pointed time for every delight under the heavens. Seven times, he puts the positive before the negative, and seven times, he puts the negative before the positive. Time to give birth and a time to die. See, that's the opening statement. Death. Time to plan the time to uproot. Those are the positive and then the negative. Then he reverses it. A time to kill and a time to heal. Time to tear down and to build up. All of these have to do with death. Death is under God's control. Death comes when God says it's right. We, as images of God, is supposed to have wisdom to know when the times are right for various things. But God does. And then he ends up by saying wisdom. And here the word God appears a bunch of times. You just can circle each time. What advantage is there for the worker? Is wisdom any good? I've seen the task God has given the sons of Adam to afflict him. Man will not find out the deeds that God has done. But there's nothing better than to rejoice and do good in your lifetime. This is a gift of God. I know everything God does will remain forever. God has worked and man should fear him. See, this is where he brings this section to his climax. Fear God. That's always kind of a climactic moment in the book. That which has been already and that which will be has already been. Now he says, you know, it's still the case that change doesn't seem to happen in the world. But God seeks what is passed by. Whatever that means, it means God sees it all. God remembers it all. God evaluates it all. So, orangence your life toward God. Fear God means orangence your six days of work to the seventh day where you come into God's presence. Orangence the kingdom to the church. Orangence your thinking to the Bible. Orangence your activity to the eat drink and be merry that takes place in the liturgy and at the table. If you're oriented that way, then this stuff is still missed. But, you know, by faith that God controls a mist. He controls his glory cloud. He can manipulate clouds and mist and he can shepherd wind. So, we'll hear more about this tonight at a practical level. But this seems to be the kind of programmatic section for the book. And it is, I think, matched on page 27 by the entirety of chapter 10. I don't think I'll go through that much. But he repeatedly talks about the fool and the wise man in the section and we just looked at. And here he kind of amplifies all that. At the beginning and end of chapter, well, actually it's an ABC and then center. But the words of the fool come up in verse 1. Dead flies make a perfumer's oil stink and a little foolishness. It is way dear than wisdom and honor. It doesn't take much to destroy what somebody else has built with a great deal of care and sensitivity. And then in verses 12, 13 and 14, he talks about words from a fool. Words from the mouth of a wise, intergraceous lips of a fool consume him. The beginning of his talking is folly. The end of it is wicked madness. The fool multiplies words. No one knows what will happen and who can tell him what will come after him. He can't talk to fools. Then he moves to the acts of a fool. In verses 2 and 3, a wise man's hardest toward his right, but the foolish man's hardest toward his left. Pretty bad to be left handed, that's all I've got to say. I don't quite understand why he says it this way, but there you are. Even when the fool walks along the road, his sense is lacking and demonstrates to everybody that he's a fool. Walking along, verse 15 picks this up again. The toil of a fool so wear his end that he does not even know how to go to a city. I don't know how to walk along. Beningess to rulers in verses 4 and 5, the rulers temper the folly said in exalted places. And verse 16 to 20, "Wode you, O land whose king is a lad, blessed are you, O land whose king is of nobility. This prince is know how to eat at the right time, who eat for strength and not for drunkenness, so forth." And the center of this, he talks about wisdom. Verse 8 to 11, "Has an ABBA structure, 8 and 11 match each other. He who digs a pit may fall into it, a serpent may bite him who breaks through a wall. If a serpent bites before being charmed, there is no advantage for the charmer." So you need wisdom. And then at the center, he who quarries stones may be heard. by them and he who splits logs may be endangered. If the axe is dull and he does not sharpen it, he has to exert more strength. Wisdom has the advantage of giving success. And you understand, a blunt knife is more dangerous than a sharp knife. That's what he's saying. If the axe is dull, you have to swing harder, you're more likely to hurt yourself. It's more likely to bounce off and chop into your leg. But if you're wise, you sharpen your axe so that you don't have to swing as hard, it's safer that way. For those of you who've never chopped wood. But if you have a knife that you use in your kitchen, the same principle applies. Don't think you can sharpen a knife with one of these things. That's to keep it sharp. You take it to a knife sharpener to sharpen a knife, then you keep it sharp by using these things. Take your knives into a knife sharpener once every year or two. Get them nice and sharp. Then you'll be ready to face the enemies of the gate. All right. Now, this is kingly literature. And so the East sections talk about authorities moving into or the center. As I say, we're not going to do everything, but just look at some of the things that are here. Now, I have to keep talking because I've got to go. You know, I've got to use up all my time. So let's see what else I can figure out to blow me to about here. Chapter three verses 16 and 17 is matched by 913 to 18. 316 and 17 says, "For the more I have seen unto the sun." Now, I think this is where the center of the book starts. Now, he's made his initial statement. He's brought us to the fear God part. That's his initial statement. Now, he starts in with some of the details. "For the more I have seen unto the sun that in the place of justice, there is wickedness, in the place of righteousness, there is wickedness. The rulers are wicked. The place of justice, the place of righteousness." I said to myself, "God will judge both the righteous man and the wicked man for a time for every matter and for every deed is there. A time for this and a time for that and a time for this and a time for that. That's not a despairing statement." He's telling you the wise man knows the right times and God controls the times, and now he returns to that right here. God is in control of it. God will judge, and there is a time. God knows when to let the wicked be on high. God knows when to give us bad Supreme Court justices who are going to exercise tyranny. Who are going to allow imminent domain to be used by any community that decides they want to wipe out all the poor people and build a strip wall? That's just absolutely appalling. But it's no surprise. I mean, if the police chief around here decided he wanted my house, all he'd have to do is plant some marijuana in my house, and then he could just take my house, and I'd never get it back. They do this all the time in this country. There's wickedness in high places. What is that called? Asset forfeiture. If you're found with drugs, the government can seize all your stuff, all of it, and you can't get it back. You'll be very fortunate if you ever get it back. So all they have to do is just plant a little drugs on you and you say, "Oh, we have to seize all your assets." Every bit of it. Dean Cohen said that one of his novels is about this, and he says, "There's appendix that there's thousands of cases of this." This doesn't report it. All right, I'll get off of that. I'll talk about global warming instead. There are more applications. Yeah, I. What's that? That's right. I stepped out of him. I made an application. I apologize. I'm sorry. That's not my place. I'm not going to talk about global warming. There's no such thing as global. Read Michael Critons' novel on global warming. Oh, brother. He's even got footnotes all the way through it. I love it. The guys who all believe in global warming, they're so liberal. They go out to New Guinea and this global warming guide, he tells the intelligence scientists, this rhythm, he says, "Oh, the Christians came up with all these myths about cannibalism out here. There's those other things cannibalism. That was just racist talk. They captured this guy and they ate him." They make him run a gauntlet and they all beat him with sticks to tenderizing. They tie him to a tree and they start having a human sushi off of him. Oh, it's pretty good. I mean, it grows, but. So, I don't think Michael Critons is going to be very popular with the establishment after this book. Why am I talking about this? Because I don't know what to say about ecclesiastes. With a matching section is in chapter 9, 13 to 18. Again, those who are wise are seldom given authority. This is the reality. He doesn't want us to have some fantasy view. The fantasy view is, if our conservative, relatively conservative president appoints a good Supreme Court justice that's conservative, then that's going to change things. Well, we've been there, haven't we? Let's hope that things change. Let's pray that things change, but we might get another David Souter in there, who just turns out not to be anywhere near as conservative as she or he appeared to start with. The king's heart is in God's hands and if it's the right time to have wicked people in high places in order to scourge a nation, that's what he'll do. That's what the first section here says. Matching it in chapter 9, 13 to 18 is Seth. Also, this, I came to see his wisdom under the sun. And it impressed me, he says, and you need to be impressed by this. The Solomon was impressed by it. We need to be impressed by it. So, under the sun, in history, in a world of sin, under human government, all the things that that phrase connotes. There was a small city with human in it and a great king came to it, surrounded it and constructed a large siege works against it. There was found in it a poor wise man and he delivered the city by his wisdom. Yet no one remembered that poor man. So I said, "Wisdom is better than strength, the poor wise God delivered the city, but the wisdom of the poor man is despised and his words are not hated. Nobody remembers it afterwards." Can we have a play on that last year? A little bit. The words of the wise, hurting quietness are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools. Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one center destroys much good. Again, calling up themes that he's discussed earlier, one center destroys much good. One bit of foolishness is more powerful in some ways than wisdom. It's more destructive. So it's a good thing that God is remembering everything and that God is going to make a final evaluation of everything. So we have to live by faith alone. You cannot live by sight. Out here in the mist, you cannot live by sight. You cannot live by natural revelation. The natural revelation is missed. Animals dying, people dying, how can you tell us the difference? And the animal world is the male animals that are pretty and the female ones that are playing. The Bible says it's a reverse in the human world. That's what it says. I didn't say it. The women are pretty and men are ugly. They're made of shiggins, pies, men are made of snakes and snails and puppy dogs snails. Men are pigs. All right, he talks about death. That's the next section. F. Man and beast, he says, and what matches that is death, righteous and wicked. So in chapter 318 to 22, mentioned this already, the suns of Adam and the fate of beasts is the same. One dying so dies the other. They all have the same breath. There's no advantage for man over beasts. Everything is vapor. Is that right? Well, he says this is what I said to myself. They all go to the same place. All came from dust, all returning dust. Who knows if the breath of man ascends upward? So he says, when you look at it, you can't tell. So in verse 32, 22, he answers it. I've seen that nothing is better than the man should be happy in his activities for that's his life. Who will bring him to see what will occur after him? Well, death will occur after him. How do you know what that entails? In terms of the overall theme of the book, rejoicing your work because God tells you you can cause easing control. He's sovereign. The matching sections, chapter 9, we talked about how death comes to the righteous and the wicked, but you rejoice in the midst of it. Death, joy, death is the structure here. Verses 1 to 6. I have taken all this to my heart to explain that righteous and wise men, their deeds are in the hand of God. Man does not know whether it will be lover hatred. Anything awaits him in the future. It's all the same. It's the same for everybody. There's one thing for the righteous and the wicked, for the good, for the clean and young clean, for the man who offers sacrifice and for one who does not bring anything near. As the good man is so is the sinner, as the swearer is so is the one who is afraid to swear. There's an evil done under the sun and that is there is one fate for all men. And not ultimately, but under the sun, the fate is the second you die. On the other side of the sun, when the sun is gone at the end of history, at the other side of this history, then the fate is different. There is history beyond the sun. But under the sun, for the more the hearts of the suns of Adam are full of evil and sanity is in their hearts throughout their lives. Their hearts are full of evil, and sanity is in their hearts throughout their lives. That's a nice, kiosic statement. The hearts are full of evil. And sanity is in their hearts throughout their lives. Hearts, evil, and sanity hearts. Afterward they go to the dead. For whoever is joined with the Linder is hoped, surely a live dog is better than a dead lion. He's bringing up animals again, he didn't live animals, dead and lived people. And then he matches that again in verses 11 and 12 of the interchapter. I saw it under the sun, that the races not to the swift, the battle is not to the warriors, neither is bread to the wise, nor wealth of discerning, nor favor to men of the belly for time and chance overtake them all. Chants! Oh well, can't say that. More over, man does not know his time. Look, fish caught on a treacherous net, birds trapped in a snare. See, more animal stuff about death. The sons of equal are ensnared and an evil too when it suddenly falls on them. What falls on them? Death falls on them. Like a fish on a hook or a bird in a snare. He did, man. This is James Jordan interrupting to explain that the chirping sounds you're hearing are on the master tape. The first thing you see on a defect on your particular copy, something with wrong Hollywood baking master, at the lecture itself, and so there's nothing we can do about it. Perhaps next year we'll have a more sophisticated recording method. Now back to the chirping lecture. So in the middle of the chapter, he says, even as he said earlier, in the priest form, be happy in your activities. He says, "Ghost in each your bread, happiness. Drink your iron with a cheerful heart. Bread, iron! Wow! God has approved your works. Let your cluck white all the time." I've got some white here. There is some white. Let no oil be lacking on your hip. Oh, that's right. The drive did now, guys. Hi. Sorry, it's not a high-crow of stuff, guys. My robe, oil, enjoy life with the woman whom you love off of your life, of your vape that he's given you under the sun, all the days of your vapors. Relationship with a wimp just vapor here. He brings off him at any rate. Enjoy life with it under this, and this is life that you have. It's fun. I will bid out in the fog, in the downtown. This is put in life in your toil with which you've labored under the sun. Whatever your hand finds to do with all your might, for there's no act you're planning your knowledge or wisdom is still where you're going. So under the sun is death because it's a gift of God joy life. Well, I'd observe anything further except to call attention to further book. I'll share with this will probably come up again. But once again, the center of the book he brings up where he explores and he refers occasionally to the center, the worship center, eating and drinking, God making he with God, hearing God, the climactic book or where he has this fear God. Here's what I think for the book in I-1 to-7. And the beginning and the end of the second, are your steps as you go to the house of God. Chair to listen. This is the word. There's a lot more about eating and drinking this book than there is about hearing the scriptures. But what is the house? I have to repeat this a bit. What do you hear when you come to the house of God? Do you hear this scripture? That's what the priests read at the portico or the temple. That's what the Levi reads to you in the synagogue because most people don't read and write. So that's what you hear. So guard your steps as you go to the house of God. Draw near to listen rather than to offer sacrifice of fools. What's the sacrifice of fools is when you bring an offering as a bribe to God rather than as an act of worship. They don't even realize they're doing evil. And matching that in verse 7 he says, in many dreams and many words there is vapor that's picking up from the previous things. Rather fear God. Come into the house of God is fearing God. Then the center of this is don't run your mouth off when you go to God. Instead shut up and listen to him. That's the center of this. Don't be hasty in word or impulsive and thought to bring a matter in the presence of God. God isn't heaven and you are on the earth. Therefore let your words be few. A dream comes too much effort and the voice of a fool through many words. When you make a vow to God don't be late in paying and he tastes no delight in fools. Pay what you vow. It's better you should not vow than you should vow and not pay. Don't let your speech cause you to sin. Don't say in the presence of the angel of God that it was a mistake. It means the priest practically speaking in the ancient world. The priest is the angel or messenger of God. Why should God be angry on account of your voice and destroy the work of your hands? You're here to listen to God. Not to have a whole bunch of things to say or to boast a bunch of vows to God. Rather listen. That's what clues you into reality. So I think that's all I want to say about the book. We'll hear other kinds of things. You can examine this structure that I have here. I'm sure it can use adjustment and as I say there's more than one way to outline this book but this is a way I found that's helpful to me to organize the material it's here. Otherwise it just looks as if he's talking about one thing after another. But he is reiterating certain themes and I think they are from Genesis 1. It's forming, filling, lightning theme in the human dimensions. So anybody want to raise any questions about this before we quit? Yes. What is the word there? 5-1. What is the word for sacrifice? He brews it for 17. Guard your steps when you go to the house of the God and then go near to listen then to to hit then to offer the fools savac. So fellowship offering, peace offering. For not they are ones knowing that they are doing ruff. So this is peace offering of fools. Thank you again for enjoying this episode of Theopolis Podcast. For more information and for more content from Theopolis you can check us out online at TheopolisInstitute.com. We release new articles every Tuesday and Thursday on our blog so you'll want to make sure to look out for those. You can also find us on Twitter @_Theopolis and on Facebook if you just search for our name. If you've been helped sharpened and encouraged by this podcast we'd really love it if you would go to iTunes and leave us a review. It just takes a few seconds and it really will help us along getting our content in front of new listeners. That's all for now friends. We really look forward to being with you all again in the next episode and as always thank you so much for listening. [Music]