1 By the necessary change of times, vanity is added to human travail.
11 There is an excellency in God’s works.
16 But as for man, God shall judge his works there, and here he shall be like a beast.
A Time for Everything
Ecc 3:1 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:
God has ordained certain seasons for the various natural phenomena (see Lam. 3:37; cf. James 4:15). From a common Hebrew word for “time,” often the beginning of a period.
Season. From a Hebrew word whose root means “to take delight in,” “to have pleasure in.” The noun, therefore, basically means, “that in which one takes delight,” a vocation or an avocation. This same noun is translated “pleasure” in Isa. 58:3, 13; Mal. 1:10, and “delight” in Ps. 1:2; 16:3.
Ecc 3:2 a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,
To die. Birth and death are, naturally, the two most important events in a person’s life. A man has no control over the time of his entrance into the world, and under ordinary circumstances little control over the time of his exit from it.
To plant. This expression corresponds to the one that precedes it, “to plant” being the counterpart of “to bring forth,” and “to pluck up,” of “to die.” The one is concerned with human life and the second with plant life. There comes a time when even the finest fruit trees must be cut down.
Ecc 3:3 a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,
Ecc 3:4 a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,
It is a good thing at times to allow pent-up emotions to express themselves. Israel wept bitterly in exile (Ps. 137:1).
Also, the day will come when God’s people will laugh (Ps. 52:1–6).
To mourn. The word translated “mourn” is a technical term used for the loud, public lamentations and expressions of grief indulged in by Eastern peoples (see 2 Sam. 3:31; Jer. 4:8; 9:17–22; 49:3).
To dance. In ancient times dancing was an important part of religious and festive ceremonies, particularly in the East (see 2 Sam. 6:14, 16; 1 Chron. 15:29; cf. Matt. 11:17; see on Ex. 15:20; 32:19).
Ecc 3:5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
Reference is probably here made to cleaning the fields of the stones that impede cultivation, and then using them to build demarcation walls as boundaries and retaining walls for fields and vineyards (see Isa. 5:2, 5).
To embrace. Perhaps a euphemism for the marital relations of husband and wife .
Ecc 3:6 a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away,
To give search. The common Hebrew term for searching or seeking.
To give up. An intensive search might lead to unpleasant reactions, or might prove futile.
Ecc 3:7 a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,
There are circumstances under which “silence is golden” (see Lev. 10:3).
Ecc 3:8 a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.
Matt. 5:43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
Mat 5:44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
A time of war and a time for peace. Perhaps one illustration of the truth of this statement is that the battle of the great day of the Lord, yet to come (Rev. 16:15–17), will be followed by everlasting peace (Rev. 21; 22).
The God-Given Task
Ecc 3:9 What do workers gain from their toil?
Solomon’s question implies a negative reply. Why should man toil to improve his status in life when he is thwarted at every turn? He must learn that the One who places tests along life’s pathway is a loving Father, disciplining His earthborn children for their eternal good (see Heb. 12:11; Rev. 3:19–21).
Ecc 3:10 I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race.
The stern discipline of life is necessary for the seeker after immortality (see Rom. 2:6, 7). The discipline of life is all under the hand of an omnipotent, loving Father. Yet man is free to choose his own way of life, to develop his own character, and to decide his own eternal destiny.
The practical difficulties of life can be met successfully only under God’s leading.
Ecc 3:11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
Beautiful. Compare the account in Gen. 1:31, of God’s work in creation. Not only was everything “good,” but beautiful also, aesthetically pleasing; not only perfect for practical use, but lovely in its appeal to the eye and to the taste.
This was true not only of some things but of “everything.”
Also. This word suggests an additional point that the author would not have the reader overlook.
Set. Literally, “given.” This meaning should be emphasized, as it suggests the goodness of God in supplying man’s needs.
He has also set eternity in the human heart. Deeply implanted within man is a concern for the future. This awareness of the infinite in time and space stirs dissatisfaction with the transitory nature of the things of this life.
It is God’s design that man realize that the present, material world does not constitute the sum of his existence. He is linked to two worlds, physically to this world, but mentally, emotionally, and psychologically to the eternal world.
Even with his consciousness beclouded by sin, man seems dimly aware that he ought to continue living beyond the narrow confines of this unsatisfying life.
Yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. No man can find out. The unaided human intellect cannot enter the intricacies of God’s created marvels or the mysteries of eternity that God has not seen fit to reveal. This fact should lead men to seek a closer union with the God of all creation.
Ecc 3:12 I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live.
An ascetic life is contrary to God’s will for man. It was the will of the Creator that man enjoy, in moderation, the good things provided for his needs and happiness.
Ecc 3:13 That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God.
Ecc 3:14 I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him.
Here Solomon affirms the effective immutability of the divine will, operative in the affairs of men (see Ps. 33:11; Isa. 46:10).
People will fear Him. Not abject fear (see on Deut. 4:10; 6:5) but a reverential awe based on an enlightened understanding of the divine attributes (Ps. 40:3; 64:9) and the operation of the divine will in human affairs (see Isa. 45:18; Mal. 3:6; cf. Rev. 15:3, 4).
Ecc 3:15 Whatever is has already been, and what will be has been before; and God will call the past to account.
This verse presents a word picture of the completeness and permanency of God’s works. In a sense there is with Him no past and no future; eternity is ever present (see Rev. 1:8).
The idea is that all things in past time are open before God as if they were present; He projects His thinking into the past as readily as He thinks in terms of the present or the future.
From Dust to Dust
Ecc 3:16 And I saw something else under the sun: In the place of judgment—wickedness was there, in the place of justice—wickedness was there.
the first expression indicates the place, and the second, the person who sits in authority in that place.
Ecc 3:17 I said to myself, “God will bring into judgment both the righteous and the wicked, for there will be a time for every activity, a time to judge every deed.”
God is not only the one who will act as arbiter to decide the cases of the righteous and the wicked, but also the one who executes the penalty.
Ecc 3:18 I also said to myself, “As for humans, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals.
There is hope for the man who recognizes his sinful and unclean condition.
Animals. Usually translated “cattle.” It is from the root “to be dumb,” and is related to an Arabic word meaning “to be impeded in speech,” “to be tongue-tied.”
Ecc 3:19 Surely the fate of human beings is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; humans have no advantage over animals. Everything is meaningless.
Dies. That inscrutable phenomenon, death, is the lot of all living creatures, whether man or beast. The psalmist says that “man being in honour abideth not: he is like the beasts that perish” (Ps. 49:12).
In the matter of being subject to death, man is in no way superior to beasts.
Breath. Heb. ruach. When the breath of life departs, the living creature dies, whether it be man or animal (see on v. 21). No preeminence. All living creatures are identical in that, with the cessation of breath, the creature dies; the physical consequences of death are the same.
Outward appearances suggest no superiority for man. But through faith in the Inspired Word we believe that God will redeem man from the power of the grave (1 Cor. 15:51–58).
Ecc 3:20 All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return.
Same place. That is, the grave (see Job 7:9, 10).
Dust. See Gen. 2:7; 3:19; Dan. 12:2.
Ecc 3:21 Who knows if the human spirit rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?”
The life principle does not belong to the physical realm, the realm of flesh, for it is of God and returns to Him (ch. 12:7). In v. 21 ruach is translated “spirit.” Note that man and beast both have a ruach, and that the ruach of man is “one” with that of the beast.
If, then, the ruach, or “spirit,” of man becomes a disembodied conscious entity at death, the ruach of beasts must also. But the Bible nowhere so much as infers that at death a disembodied, conscious “spirit” continues to live on; and no Christian claims this for animals.
In v. 21 Solomon incredulously asks who knows—who can prove—that the ruach of man ascends, while that of the beast descends. Solomon knows nothing of such a proceeding and doubts that anyone else does.
If so, let him prove it. It is important to distinguish between the use of ruach to denote the literal breath (see Job 9:18; 19:17) and its figurative use denoting the life principle (see Gen. 6:17; 7:22), as here.
The figurative use of ruach to mean “life” is similar to the figurative use of “blood” (see on Gen. 4:10; 9:4).
Ecc 3:22 So I saw that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy their work, because that is their lot. For who can bring them to see what will happen after them?
Enjoy their work. That is, find contentment and satisfaction in what this life has to offer. This is the normal outlook of the man who does not have faith firmly based on eternal things.
What will happen after them? What lies beyond the grave is outside the scope of human knowledge. Similarly, it is beyond human power to bring a dead person back from the grave. God alone can do so (see 1 Thess. 4:14–18).
There are Christians today who, like the Sadducees of old, have no faith in a future resurrection. But God is the God of the living (see Matt. 22:23–32), and “sons of God” (1 John 3:1, 2) will live again. Life beyond the grave has been made a certainty by Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 15:16–22; 2 Tim. 1:10).