Turn turn turn. (3.1-22)

by Kent Leslie ✉️

If you know the Byrds song, you don’t need me to quote the first part of Ecclesiastes 3. If you don’t, here it is!

Ec 3.1-8 NRSVue:

1 For everything [turn turn turn] there is a season, [turn turn turn] and a time for every matter under heaven…

It’s basically “There’s a time for one thing, and a time for its comparable thing.” Birth and death, planting and plucking, killing and curing, breaking and mending, weeping and laughing, bla bla bla. There’s a time for everything.

Now here’s what Qohelet says God has us do with the times we’re in.

Ec 3.9-8 NRSVue:

9 What gain have the workers from their toil? 10 I have seen the business that God has given to everyone to be busy with. 11 He has made everything suitable for its time; moreover he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live; 13 moreover, it is God’s gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil. 14 I know that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it; God has done this, so that all should stand in awe before him. 15 That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already is; and God seeks out what has gone by.

Qohelet actually doesn’t say much! He repeats in verse 13, it’s God’s gift that all should eat, drink, and find pleasure in their toil. As for what gain we get in our toil, what benefit there is—well he doesn’t answer that. God’s given us stuff to do. God’s not revealed everything he’s up to. Whatever God does endures forever. The past is gone, the future is inevitable, and God’s dealing with the rest.

The hint, in this and many other scriptures, is it’s not for us to worry about. The things of God, unless he personally gets us involved in them, are not for us to stress out about. The End Times, for example: Is there anything we can do to stop them from happening? No. Should we therefore presume, “Well, since bad stuff is part of the End Times, we shouldn’t even bother to try to stop evil from happening?” No; God told us to do good works, and he didn’t make any exceptions. Yet there are Christians who actually think doing evil to hasten the End Times is a valid exception. They want wars, want crime, want chaos, want L.A. to burn down; they think these things are helping Jesus return. They are not. They’re just sinners being sinful. God tells us to be good. That’s all. The rest is up to him.

Qohelet actually talks about this sort of evildoing a bit:

Ec 3.16-17 NRSVue:

16 Moreover I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, wickedness was there, and in the place of righteousness, wickedness was there as well. 17 I said to myself, God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for he has appointed a time for every matter, and for every work.

Qohelet was king of Jerusalem, [Ec 1.1] you remember; and back then, the supreme court was the king. If you wanted justice, you got it from the king—and if the king didn’t follow God, you wouldn’t get justice, for the king would only be looking out for himself. If you got anything resembling justice, it was only because your interests were congruent with the king’s: You got lucky.

Qohelet knew God, and probably tried to judge righteously, but he saw firsthand how evil people would try to trip him up. Qohelet also went to temple and saw how people tried to trip up the priests. Whenever God’s doing something, the devil and evil people are trying to undermine or nullify it. God’s the only truly fair judge, and in the end he’s gonna sort out all the unfair judgments that’ve been impressed upon people. For now, we just have to live in our fallen world, and fix it as much as we can. Qohelet had some thoughts about that:

Ec 3.18-17 NRSVue:

18 I said to myself with regard to humans that God is testing them to show that they are but animals. 19 For the fate of humans and the fate of animals is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and humans have no advantage over the animals, for all is vanity. 20 All go to one place; all are from the dust, and all turn to dust again. 21 Who knows whether the human spirit goes upward and the spirit of animals goes downward to the earth? 22 So I saw that there is nothing better than that all should enjoy their work, for that is their lot; who can bring them to see what will be after them?

From time to time we gotta remember Qohelet knew God, but didn’t know everything. At this point in the 4th century BC, God hadn’t yet revealed what happens to us when we die. Seriously. The Old Testament never goes into it. It only gives hints. The Hebrews had Ezekiel’s vision of the dry bones, [Ek 37] which showed them what resurrection looks like, but they didn’t yet understand God was gonna literally resurrect everyone at the end of history; the Pharisees figured that out centuries later, and Jesus and his apostles clarified that further for us in the New Testament. The Hebrews had Daniel’s vision of the Son of Man, [Da 7] but they didn’t quite get it that their future Messiah was this guy. They knew God saved them from their sins, and forgave them and blessed them and showed them grace, but they didn’t know anything about Jesus achieving this atonement through his death. The Old Testament is just a bunch of incomplete revelation.

So here we see just how much Qohelet knew: Humans and animals each have a רוּחַ/ruákh, a word which means “breath,” “wind,” and “spirit.” Basically anything that breathes has a spirit. (And plants breathe too! Surprise–they have spirits.) Now you notice your bibles won’t translate it “spirit,” because your average Christian does not believe animals have spirits. Nor souls. (Even though the Latin word for soul is anima, which is what our word “animal” comes from.) Now, what is this belief based upon? Well, certainly not Ecclesiastes. My guess is it’s because we don’t want them to have spirits or souls like we do; we don’t want to see them later in heaven. I’ve eaten probably thousands of chickens by now. If I encounter them later in heaven… it’s gonna be weird.

Okay, but silly scenario aside, it appears the people of Qohelet’s day believed the human spirit goes upward, and the animals’ spirits went downward. Our spirits go to God; animals’ spirits die and are buried with them. And maybe that’s what happens… but God never says, which is why Qohelet says “Who knows?” He doesn’t know. We don’t know. Will any animals get resurrected?—favorite pets, maybe? I don’t know! I don’t think so; the scriptures only talk about humans getting resurrected. Maybe if we ask God, he’ll bring back our favorite dogs and cats. Maybe he won’t; maybe he’s not happy that we baby those favorite pets instead of loving our neighbors. We’ll see.

Sidetrack aside, Qohelet is pointing out we humans pretty much live like animals. We’re not much better. We fight each other for resources, power, and anything else we feel like fighting over. Lots of us fight for fun. The only thing that makes us better is God, who expects better of us. And some of us are actually trying to live up to his expectations. The rest, not so much.