Plymothian

Ecclesiastes 8: 1 – 17

1. Who should you obey?
2. What happens when a sentence is not carried out quickly?
3. What does the author commend?
4. How does verse 1 contrast the sentiments of the last chapter?
5. How should you act in the presence of authority?

There is a social etiquette, a civility, that is disappearing in the present age.  The Teacher of Ecclesiastes advocates the authentic expression of emotion in private life, among family.  However, there is a game that we are to play among the rich and the powerful so that we can survive and get out fast.  As Dale Carnegie writes in How to Win Friends and Influence People, the smile is a powerful tool for getting the job done.  Powerful, self-interested people bring hurt and destruction on themselves and others.  It is best not to get in a fight with them.  Smile.  Nod.  Leave.

Going Deeper

Observation

• What does wisdom do to a man’s face and appearance in the context of this passage?
• What two extremes should a person not follow in the king’s presence?
• What will the wise in heart know?
• What did the author see happen to the wicked (king)?
• What will accompany the man who eats and drinks?

Interpretation

• How does the wise and godly man put on a facade in front of the king?
• How were kings of ancient times different from rulers today?
• How does verse 5 echo the beginning of chapter 3?
• How does it go better for the God-fearing man in the mind of the author?
• How is verse 15 representative of the positive message of Ecclesiastes?

Application

• How should a Christian approach politics?
• In what arena in your life do you know an uncompramising tyrant?
• Is it wrong to hide your authentic feelings for a tyrant?
• How does justice eventually come to bad government?
• How does citizenship in God’s kingdom interact with national citizenship?

Ecclesiastes 7: 13-29

1. What are we to consider?
2. How might we destroy ourselves?
3. What does not exist on earth?
4. Have you met people who act like they know everything or are righteous?
5. How can a right view of God keep you from becoming a know-it all, or a self-righteous ‘git’ (UK expression for low-life)?

The teacher realises that to really understand the nature of things, one must make deep connections between things.  The Teacher has found just one person he has a deep connection with, but he finds women incomprehensible to him.  Compared to other humans he is wise.  Compared to God’s totality of knowledge he knows very little.  The conclusion is that it is worth being as wise as possible because it gives advantage in life.  Still, before God our efforts at righteousness, wisdom, and happiness are small.  Best to let God be God.

Going Deeper

Observation

• What should you be when times are good?
• What should you do when times are bad?
• What will overwicked foolishness bring your way?
• What will the man who fears God avoid?
• What does the author find more bitter than death?

Interpretation

• Why would a person reading this bother doing anything at all?
• Why isn’t it good in this passage to be righteous?
• Is avoiding extremes the same as hitting the ‘Golden Mean’?
• What kind of woman is more bitter than death?
• Is the author a misogynist?

Application

• How have self-righteous people given Christians a bad name?
• How have self-righteous people died early?
• In what areas are you self-righteous?
• How does sexual attraction lead to becoming enslaved?
• How does pleasing God lead to an escape from sexual sin?

Ecclesiastes 7: 1-12

1. What word is repeated in v. 1, 2, 3, 5, 8 and 10 (NIV)?
2. What is better than the day of birth?
3. What is better than pride?
4. How does wisdom lead to better living?
5. How could you be wiser in the way that you live?

Although the Teacher in Ecclesiastes has said that wisdom does not bring ultimate satisfaction there are better ways to live.  In our day and age we are told that any choice is as good as another.  we are told that we are to be true to ourselves.  However, there are ways that are better ways to live.  The wisdom of the ancients is still good for us to heed today.  From where do you draw the wisdom to make the best choices?

Going Deeper

Observation

• What should the living take to heart?
• Whose heart is in the house of pleasure?
• What is it better to heed from a wise man?
• What does extortion do?
• What questions are not wise to ask?

Interpretation

• How is it possible to focus on death and live well?
• What good does a sad face actually do for a person?
• Why is foolishness presented as more enjoyable than wisdom?
• What is the connection between anger and foolishness?  Doesn’t God get angry?
• How can wisdom and money be used well to create a shelter?

Application

• Is everyone’s opinion on an issue of equal value?
• How do you decide whose opinion is most wise?
• How did you feel about Ted Kennedy’s funeral this weekend?
• Has anyone corrected you recently?  Why or why not?
• Is there some project that you need to finish?  How could you finish it?

Ecclesiastes 5: 8 – 6: 12

1. In an NIV Bible find the words “consume”, “eats”, “eat”, and “enjoy”. 
2. What is a ‘gift from God’?
3. What is the condition that means a stillborn child is better off than a person?
4. What is meant today by ‘consumerism’?
5. How does your identity as a consumer conflict with your identity as a child of God?

“All you can eat” made me fat at Moody Bible Institute.  I consumed more than I was designed to eat.  I had been raised by a ‘consumer’ who gorged at pizza buffets or banquets when there was no limit on consumption.  I couldn’t control my appetite until I realized how I was hurting my body.  How did I learn to consume more and more?  With the help of God I have lost 30 lbs since being a student at Moody.  I have learned to resist the messages that tell me that I should be consuming more.  How much of the world’s finite resources are you consuming each day? 

Going Deeper

Observation

• As goods increase what also increases?
• How does a person come and depart?
• God sometimes allows a person to accept his lot and what?
• What is better than the roving of the appetite?
• What comes with more words?

Interpretation

• How does Matthew 6:32 reinforce the teaching of this passage?
• How does Proverbs 30:8-9 reinforce this passage?
• How does 1 Timothy 6: 5-10 capture the thrust of Ecclesiastes?
• How can the human longing for more be satisfied?
• What was available for consumers to consume in ancient times?

Application

• What have advertisers told you that you need to consume in the last 24 hours?
• What do you consume more than is healthy for you?
• When you look at where we live, what we drive and what we eat compare it to those in Sudan, Iraq, or Bolivia.  What does such a comparison show?
• How can people without washing machines, automobiles and indoor plumbing be happier than we are sometimes?
• How could you make a personal plan to balance the consumption of te world’s resources a little?  How would this be an act of worship?

Ecclesiastes 5: 1-7

1. What should you go near the house of God to do?
2. What should you do if you make a vow to God?
3. The accumulation of dreams and of words are what?
4. How does religion often start with the grand ideas of people?
5. How does a person get to a position of silent awe before God?

The last song in the worship service is a loud and upbeat joyfest that leaves us happily dancing out of the door.  The time in the doors of a church is spent with everyone saying how excited they are at their new plans.  The endless chatter in the lobby speaks of the endless chatter in our minds.  When is it that a person in a church falls face down in wordless worship before a fearsome God?

Going Deeper

Observation

• What should you do when you go near the house of God?
• What should you not be hasty to do in your heart?
• What phrase is repeated in verse 3?
• In what does God have no pleasure?
• What might God do if he is angry at what you say?

Interpretation

• What does ‘guard your steps’ mean (v.1)?
• Why would thoughtless worship lead to more words and not less?
• How is gain and accumulation a topic in this passage?
• What is the biblical definition of a fool?
• How is much dreaming related to much speaking?

Application

• If you go to church, do you think about what to say and do before you arrive?
• How could you be more prepared for church?
• How is a holy God portrayed in your church?
• Have you cut a deal with God?  Why did you need that sense of control?
• How does different church architecture affect how you approach God?

Ecclesiastes 4: 1-16

1. What is the writer’s first topic in this chapter?
2. What is the root of all labour and achievement?
3. How is loneliness addressed by the author?
4. Why would a political ruler (king) be a great example of one who oppresses to get ahead, strives to have more than others, and ends up alone?
5. What examples have you seen of people competing against others to build their careers, ultimately alienating the people around them?

The newspapers tell us ‘successful’ people oppress others, never have enough, and are alone.  So often our success depends on crushing the competition – that is oppression.  We destroy the tranquility of having enough by craving more – that is envy.  We end up alone like Scrouge in A Christmas Carol – that is miserable.  Is your success at someone else’s expence?  Loving your neighbour means that you must put that right.  The tranquil life that God wants for you is one where you work in community and share the fruit of your labour.  Do you have that tranquil life?

Going Deeper

Observation

• What is better than being an oppressor or being oppressed (v.3)?
• What springs from man’s envy and achievement?
• How many hands bring tranquility (0,1,2)?
• What does the person who is over-committed to his work ask himself (v. 8)?
• How is the strength of community contrasted with the weakness of solitary existence (v. 12)?

Interpretation

• Why is it better not to have lived than to have been involved in oppression?
• How do you picture someone working with no hands, one hand or both hands?  What is the author trying to say?
• Leviticus 19: 13, 18 reinforce which ideas in the passage?
• Read Luke 12: 15-21.  How does it relate?
• What is a biblical perspective of loving your neighbour according to today’s study?

Application

• How do people in your home town steal, retain lost property that has been found, defraud?
• How is power abused, financial and otherwise?
• Why is it dangerous for people to identify themselves as liberal or conservative, politically left or right when coming to a passage like this?
• How do politically conservative Christians justify making a profit and consuming goods that have been produced by the oppressed?  How is becoming politically liberal not an answer?
• How could you use your labour and salary for the benefit of the community?

Ecclesiastes 3:1-22

1.       What is the repeated word in the opening section?

2.       What rhetorical question is asked in verse 9?

3.       What is the ultimate fate on this earth of both men and animals?

4.       In the light of our fate, how are we to enjoy life?

5.       How does preoccupation with past mistakes or future goals strip you of enjoying the day?

Carpe Diem was made famous in Dead Poets’ Society.  However, the movie glories in self and the pursuit of self-formed goals.  There is more to life than this.  The passage here shows a pattern to the ebb and flow of life which is evidence of God superintending time.  God has allotted the proper times for events to occur. We see this in the New Testament when Jesus appears at just the right time.  Our selfish desire to manage and control our own destinies strips us of the joys that surround us now.  What events are you trying to control?  What events like marriage, having children, death, or graduation pull your thoughts away from today?  How can you enjoy today a little more?

Going Deeper

Observation Questions

·         How many contrasting pairs are listed in the opening paragraph?

·         When are things beautiful?

·         What is there nothing better for a person to do?

·         What is in the place of judgment or justice?

·         How does God remedy this in his own time?

Interpretation Questions

·         What is ‘merismus’ and how does it apply to the passage?

·         How does 3:9 connect with 1:3?

·         What is ‘eternity in the hearts of men’?

·         How does the permanence of God contrast with the transience of our own existence?

·         How is the writer’s perspective on death devoid of New Testament understanding?

Application Questions

·         How would you divide your life into different ‘times’?

·         What period of your life are you in now?

·         How can you accept the period of life you are in without longing too much for a past or future time?

·         What does a God-conscious application to the tasks of today look like for you?

·         When was the last time you went to a funeral?  How did it affect you?

Ecclesiastes 1:12 – 2:26

1. Name three things that are ‘meaningless’ (transient) according to the passage?
2. What comes with much wisdom?
3. How do verses 24 – 26 give insight into what is not meaningless?
4. How does trying to get ahead by education, hard work, and living it up lead to frustration?
5. How would people be happier if they learned to enjoy what they already have?

When my wife asks me to do one more thing, I ask, “Why is it never enough?”  and she replies, “It is never too much.”  We’re told that our life lacks real happiness because we lack something.  It’s hard to be happy about having a master’s degree when we don’t have our doctorate.  It’s hard to be content with the car we have when the next car is better.  Our job seems wonderful until we dream of what we could be doing. The pursuit is a chasing after the wind.  Take a look around you at what God has already given you.  Learn to enjoy it before you die.

 Going Deeper

• What did the Teacher seek to understand by wisdom?
• What can not be straightened?
• What is laughter?
• What great projects did the Teacher undertake?
• To whom does your work get left?  What is wrong with that?

Interpretation

• Why is it essential to understand the Teacher’s quest for profit or gain when reading his words?
• What is the end of any profit or gain that comes to everyone?
• How does ‘under the sun’ reinforce the idea that man is mortal?
• How do wisdom, toil, and enjoyment benefit a person who does not look on them for gain?
• How do wisdom, toil, and enjoyment torture people who are looking to gain ultimate meaning through them?

Application

• Which of the areas of education, work, and entertainment tends to suck you in?
• How do godless education, work, and entertainment leave people desolate?
• How could God make education enjoyable for you day by day?
• How could God make work enjoyable for you day by day?
• How can entertainment be a gift from God?

Ecclesiastes 1: 1-11

1. What word is repeated most in verse 2?
2. What does the author ask regarding toils and labour?
3. What shape is brought to mind by the processes listed?
4. How does man’s life compare with the natural processes?
5. How do you try to ‘get ahead’ or store more than you need?

Working to amass stuff, gather wealth, or gain in any way is pointless.  The world was not designed that way.  If we look at nature we see cycles.  We see that the earth sustains itself.  To be provided for means to have enough.  Just like the earth’s processes we are designed to sustain not gain.  The word ‘meaningless’ (NIV) is problematic.  The word in Hebrew speaks of a breath that passes away or a vapour.  If we remember that this life is brief and that we are going to die, we won’t value the pile of resources that we leave behind.  How could you feed back into nature’s system more?

Going Deeper

Observation Questions

• Whose words are these?
• What remains for ever?
• What phrase is repeated in verses 3 & 9?
• What are all things, more than one can say?
• What is there no remembrance of?

Interpretation Questions

• Who is the Teacher? Is it a proper name?  Is it the author or someone the author is pretending to be?
• If the earth is viewed with permanence, how should mankind be treating it?
• What does ‘under the sun’ mean?
• If ‘wearisome’ (NIV) was translated ‘hard work’ how would that change the meaning of verse 8?
• How do we resolve the issue that people do remember famous people from one generation to the next?

Application

• Why don’t people read Ecclesiastes?  How could Ecclesiastes become a more commonly read book?
• Why are Christians perceived as being ‘Creationist’ but being anti-Creation?
• How could Christians be more proactive in saving God’s planet as a whole rather than just humans?
• How does ‘The Circle of Life'( http://www.lionking.org/lyrics/OMPS/Circle-EJ.html ) in The Lion King reflect Ecclesiastes 1?  How does it differ?
• How much is ‘enough’ for you?

I like the book of Ecclesiastes.  It frequently gets a bad rap because everyone thinks it is miserable and meaningless.  When the author repeats, “meaningless, meaningless, everything is meaningless,”  it begs the question, “Isn’t your own writing meaningless, then?  So, why don’t you shut up and depress someone else?”  Of course, this is not what the book is about.

In September, we will start studying Philippians as prep. for The Chapel (www.chapel.org) series Joyride.  Until then, let’s get a little more deep and meaningful in a potentially dark and Gothy kind of way.

Exercise:

1. Get a Bible with introductions to the books.  An NIV Study Bible will do.
2. Who is the author of the book?  I assume that it is NOT Solomon.
3. What was the author of the book intent on saying?
4. How does this book address our generation who pursue many things and come up empty?
5. Read through the book once (Approx. 1/2 hour)
6. Where are there apparent contradictions?
7. What words or phrases stood out?

Over the next couple of weeks we are going to go deeper into the book section by section.