Ecclesiastes 3:2 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Ecclesiastes 3:2

Comments

Now follows a list of pairs of purposes under heaven, events of profound significance for individual men and women, which are determined by heaven above, but over which we have little or no control. Heaven does not tell us why it has fixed the boundaries of our lives where it has, but God knows all things and though we cannot see him, we are subject to his decisions and we cannot alter what he has decreed for us. ‘A time to be born, and a time to die.’ The most profound pair come first, defining the beginning and end of life, and all other pairs are conditioned by it. No man chooses when to be born. How can we make an active choice in something in which we are entirely passive? We do not decide who our parents will be, where they will live, our nationality, what genes we will inherit, our physical appearance, our gifts and capacities; we receive all these things as given. Nor do most people decide the moment of their death. Disease or accident carry us away and generally speaking the individual and all those around resist death with all their might, yet it comes regardless.Solomon steps back from the detail of life to look at the big picture. We remember that he is looking at these things from the point of view of man under the sun, man without God. Heaven has a purpose but man under the sun does not know what it is. We are caught up in the effects of God’s decisions, without knowing why he chooses as he does. The purpose of our birth and our death are hidden from us and that makes everything that lies between these two boundaries meaningless. Once we reject the word of God, we might as well have come into existence by chance for all the light we have on the matter. Death negates birth, and all that has taken place since birth is rendered futile, and man without God has no explanation for this strange situation. How is it that such a great gift as life is given to him, only to be taken away again without regard to all that has occurred since it began? Death is the ultimate reality for fallen mankind, reversing any gains made in life and leaving no trace of life’s gains or losses, happiness or sorrow, hopes and memories, or triumphs and achievements. It doesn’t care about the deepest human bonds of love; it is indifferent to the tenderest acts of self-sacrifice or courage. It callously demolishes the edifice of life however carefully constructed.Seed time and harvest follow each other relentlessly. There is good reason why we put the seed in the ground and there is also good reason why we pluck the resultant plant out of the ground, but what can we do to vary this? The earth has its own seasons and man must fit in with them whether he likes it or not, to feed himself from its produce. Yes, we can innovate to a limited extent, but generally speaking seed time and harvest are governed by rules which we cannot get around.

Application

Our situation under heaven is deeply humbling: to think that we are unable to influence the most significant milestones in our lives, but must simply submit to them. This is not said to comfort us. It is humbling in a real way, and not like the celebrities who declare themselves to be humbled to receive a certain honour conferred on them. It renders us powerless in the things we care most about – an intensely uncomfortable position for human beings to be in. Understanding will only come when we seek God’s face to see the meaning of our lives within his purposes. We cannot manufacture purpose for ourselves but we must look up to our Creator and Redeemer. Life has meaning for the Christian because he has been chosen by God from eternity.

Questions

Some see a secondary meaning in these pairs. They see two lessons in the passage. The first lesson is that you need God or else you will live a very predictable life. The second is about how to come to God. Solomon was a poet and skilled at setting down proverbs or parables. We can equally take this passage, it is argued, as a series of spiritual events. There is a time to be born again. You seek the Lord and say, I need him. I need a new life. I need the Spirit of God to bring my soul to life so that I know God, I know Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour. There is a time to die because, before this birth, there must come a death to sin and to the old life. We must pray, ‘Lord give me new character.’ Continuing in the same theme, there is a time to plant: God will plant new understanding. There is a time to pluck up old sins, to kill old opinions and ambitions which were just for me. There is a time to be healed and have warts of character removed. In this way, Solomon’s words are seen as a riddle with a spiritual meaning. There is a time to weep about how I have offended God by my life and all things I have done that were contrary to his commandments. I will experience a time to laugh in happiness because God gives me an eternal hope. I will mourn the old life and rejoice in the new. I must come to Christ and believe in him who came to earth, to bear immeasurable suffering for his people. He is the Saviour who died for sinners and he has purchased the right to make you acceptable to God. It is a time for total change.

Outline

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Introduction

Ecclesiastes 3:2 Commentary and Bible Study