by Kent Leslie ✉️
Skipping ahead a bit to 4.7:
7 Again, I saw vanity under the sun: 8 the case of solitary individuals, without sons or brothers; yet there is no end to all their toil, and their eyes are never satisfied with riches. “For whom am I toiling,” they ask, “and depriving myself of pleasure?” This also is vanity and an unhappy business.
9 Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their toil. 10 For if they fall, one will lift up the other, but woe to one who is alone and falls and does not have another to help. 11 Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? 12 And though one might prevail against another, two will withstand one. A threefold cord is not quickly broken.
Funny thing is, you remember back in 2.18-19, when Qohelet was pointing out he was gonna leave all his hard work to his successor, and his successor might be a moron, and that’s vanity? And here he’s talking about people who don’t have a successor, and who are they working for?—and that’s vanity. There’s vanity if you have family, and vanity if you don’t. You can’t win!
I should point out that in 4.9–12, Qohelet here offers some actual proverbial advice. You notice the rest of the book thus far has been on what’s vanity and what’s not, but here Qohelet points out companionship is definitely better than loneliness. Two are better than one; one can lift up another; they can keep each other warm; two can withstand one; a braided cord isn’t broken easily. There’s more vanity in being alone than in having an unworthy successor. So don’t go it alone!
Since Qohelet is now in an advice-giving mood, chapter 5 is full of more such proverbs.
1 Guard your steps when you go to the house of God; to draw near to listen is better than the sacrifice offered by fools, for they do not know how to keep from doing evil. 2 Never be rash with your mouth nor let your heart be quick to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you upon earth; therefore let your words be few. 3 For dreams come with many cares, and a fool’s voice with many words.
This advice about not uttering a word before God too quickly, does not have to do with prayer. Pray as much as you want! For some of us, it wouldn’t hurt to pray more. But Qohelet is talking about going into the house of God, the temple, and praying; and back then the Hebrews prayed aloud. And now we’re talking about big long out-loud public prayers, the kind Jesus tells us to avoid. [Mt 6.5-8] Go pray to your Father in private.
I should remind you: When people don’t pray very often, they’re in the bad habit of trying to cut deals with God. “God, if you’ll do that for me, I promise I’ll do this for you.” Just like Jephthah of Gilead: “God, if you let me defeat the Ammonites, I’ll sacrifice the first thing that comes out of my front door when I get home!” [Jg 11.30-31] and he probably thought it’d be some goat or sheep, and it was his daughter. [Jg 11.34-40] Yikes. So Qohelet’s reminding his readers: Don’t show off in prayer; keep those prayers simple. And keep those vows:
4 When you make a vow to God, do not delay fulfilling it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Fulfill what you vow. 5 It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not fulfill it. 6 Do not let your mouth lead you into sin, and do not say before the messenger that it was a mistake; why should God be angry at your words and destroy the work of your hands?
7 With many dreams come vanities and a multitude of words, but fear God.
In Deuteronomy 23, Moses commanded:
21 “If you make a vow to the L
ORD your God, do not postpone fulfilling it, for the LORD your God will surely require it of you, and you would incur guilt. 22 But if you refrain from vowing, you will not incur guilt. 23 Whatever your lips utter you must diligently perform, just as you have freely vowed to the LORD your God with your own mouth.”
If we swear to God we’re gonna do something (and it’s not sin) we gotta do it. He takes our oaths seriously. It’s why Jesus said don’t bother to swear at all; just let our yeses be yes and our nos be no. [Mt 5.33-37] Be honest and we shouldn’t have to swear. But foolish Christians make oaths all the time, and don’t fulfill them, and even though we live under God’s grace, God’s still gonna allow there to be consequences for the promises we don’t keep. Better, both Qohelet and Jesus say, to make no such promises. “Don’t let your mouth lead you into sin.”
8 If you see in a province the oppression of the poor and the violation of justice and right, do not be amazed at the matter, for the high official is watched by a higher, and there are yet higher ones over them. 9 But all things considered, this is an advantage for a land: a king for a plowed field.
Commentators aren’t sure whether Qohelet is saying it’s a good thing for there to be hierarchies, ’cause oppressors will be punished; or whether it means there’s corruption all the way up. But verse 9 indicates in the long run it’s better for there to be rulers and government, than anarchy.
Okay, now let’s talk about rich people:
10 The lover of money will not be satisfied with money, nor the lover of wealth with gain. This also is vanity. 11 When goods increase, those who eat them increase, and what gain has their owner but to see them with his eyes? 12 Sweet is the sleep of laborers, whether they eat little or much, but the abundance of the rich will not let them sleep.
13 There is a grievous ill that I have seen under the sun: riches were kept by their owners to their hurt, 14 and those riches were lost in a bad venture; though they are parents of children, they have nothing in their hands. 15 As they came from their mother’s womb, so they shall go again, naked as they came; they shall take nothing for their toil that they may carry away with their hands. 16 This also is a grievous ill: just as they came, so shall they go, and what gain do they have from toiling for the wind? 17 Besides, all their days they eat in darkness, in much anger and sickness and resentment.
I haven’t been rich, so I have no experience about having so much stuff I worry about it. I’ve been poor, so I know about worrying about that.
And I’ve seen people become poor through bad investment. Years ago I dabbled in cryptocurrency. I didn’t risk much, because I didn’t really trust it. I made money, but I still got out of it quickly because, again, I didn’t really trust it. But some people bought millions of dollars of it, and lost all their money. Like Qohelet says, the drive to get richer, which makes people crazy enough to try crazy investments, is vanity. They’re gonna undo all their hard work, and spend the rest of their lives bitter over it.
18 This is what I have seen to be good: it is fitting to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of the life God gives us, for this is our lot. 19 Likewise, all to whom God gives wealth and possessions and whom he enables to enjoy them and to accept their lot and find enjoyment in their toil—this is the gift of God. 20 For they will scarcely brood over the days of their lives because God keeps them occupied with the joy of their hearts.
Again Qohelet brings up eating, drinking, and finding joy where we can in the work we have. And he’s gonna bring it up again and again. Keep your pleasures simple, and live in the present.
And if God lets you get rich, be content with what you have, and do the same thing. Qohelet says such people are to “accept their lot and find enjoyment in their toil—this is the gift of God.” Not make yourselves nuts with fear and worry that you’re not rich enough to afford a decent End Times bunker. Not brood over how you could’ve been richer if you just hopped onto that investment, or how you could’ve been richer if the other guy won the election. Brooding doesn’t come from God! It comes from envy. It’s a work of the flesh. Ditch that and enjoy what God’s given us.