9: Take life as it comes — Ecclesiastes 9:1-10:4

9All this I laid to heart, examining it all, how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God; whether it is love or hate one does not know. Everything that confronts them ² is meaningless, since the same fate comes to all, to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean, to those who sacrifice and those who do not sacrifice. As are the good, so are the sinners; those who swear are like those who shun an oath. ³ This is an evil in all that happens under the sun, that the same fate comes to everyone. Moreover, the hearts of all are full of evil; madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead. ⁴ But whoever is joined with all the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion. ⁵ The living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no more reward, and even the memory of them is lost. ⁶ Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished; never again will they have any share in all that happens under the sun.

⁷ Go, eat your bread with enjoyment, and drink your wine with a merry heart; for God has long ago approved what you do. ⁸ Let your garments always be white; do not let oil be lacking on your head. ⁹ Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that are given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun. ¹⁰ Whatever your hand finds to do, do with your might; for there is no work or thought or knowledge r wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.

¹¹ Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to the skillful; but time and chance happen to them all. ¹² For no one can anticipate the time of disaster. Like fish taken in a cruel net, and like birds caught in a snare, so mortals are snared at a time of calamity, hen it suddenly falls upon them.

Wisdom Superior to Folly

¹³ I have also seen this example of wisdom under the sun, and it seemed great to me.
¹⁴ There was a little city with few people in it. A great king came against it and besieged it, building great siegeworks against it. ¹⁵ Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that poor man.
¹⁶ So I said, “Wisdom is better than might; yet the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are not heeded.”
¹⁷ The quiet words of the wise are more to be heeded
than the shouting of a ruler among fools.
¹⁸ Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one bungler destroys much good.

Miscellaneous Observations

¹ Dead flies make the perfumer’s ointment give off a foul odor; so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.
² The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of a fool to the left.
³ Even when fools walk on the road, they lack sense, and show to everyone that they are fools.
⁴ If the anger of the ruler rises against you, do not leave your post, for calmness will undo great offenses.

Get into the Word

1. What has the author “examined?” What has he discovered about this question? How does Solomon feel about his findings? Why do you think he feels this way? How do you feel about his conclusion?

2. How does Solomon contrast life and death? Which is better in his mind? Why does he reach this conclusion [see Notes]? 

3. What does he advise people in this situation? What specific examples does he include here? How does this relate to our work? How do you respond to his advice?

4. What does the writer bring up next? What has he discovered about life? About fairness? About planning? About wisdom? About education?

5. What example does Solomon present? What happens in this example? What point is he trying to make here? How do you suppose the man felt? How would you feel in this situation?

6. How does he conclude this section? How does he contrast wisdom and folly? Which example seems most vivid to you? Why?

Get Personal

How is our situation different from Solomon’s situation? How does this difference affect your attitude toward life? Toward work? Toward Wisdom? Toward fairness? Toward death? How does God help you to trust his promises?

9:1-2. All this — Solomon begins with an echo of 8:2-10, but emphasizes that both wicked and righteous people will die in the same way (“same fate”) and neither will know their fate in advance.
9:3. An evil — since everyone will die regardless of how they conduct their life, and no one knows in advance what God might do, there is no hope and no incentive to be good, so people choose “the madness in their hearts.”
9:4. Joined with all the living — at this point Israelite beliefs did not include any sort of afterlife or existence after death, and Solomon has already observed there apparently is no consistent reward for good actions or punishment for bad actions in this life. He explains this concept in vv. 5-6.
A living dog is better than a dead lion — in Solomon’s time Middle Eastern culture considered dogs the worst of the animals and lions the best, which makes the saying even stronger.
9:7. Go, eat . . . — once more, Solomon ends up at the conclusion that people should enjoy the life they have since this is the life God gave them (the original English translation was “eat, drink and be merry”). Psalm 104 says that God gives people wine to gladden the human heart, oil to make the face shine, and bread to strengthen the human heart, [15].
White garments — were very practical in a desert climate. White is also a sign of purity and royalty. 
Oil on your head — kept a person’s skin soft

in the dry climate. Anointing with oil was also a sign of status or royalty.
9:10. Sheol — the “place of the dead.” Isaiah echoes this thought: for Sheol cannot thank you, death cannot praise you; those who go down to the Pit cannot hope for your faithfulness, [38:18].
9:11. Time and chance — even though Solomon has amply demonstrated the lack of apparent reason or fairness to the distribution of wealth and poverty or success and failure, the Israelites did not believe events were completely random as other cultures did. They considered such occurrences coincidences or unexpected events.
9:14-16. Little city — the author provides an example of wisdom and good works that go unrewarded because of others’ ignorance.
9:17-10:1. Solomon presents a series of proverbs contrasting wisdom and folly.
10:1. Dead flies — our modern version of this proverb is “one rotten apple can spoil the whole barrel.”
10:2. Right . . . left — the Middle Eastern culture believed the right hand was the hand of honor and strength; the left hand signified evil or unclean (the Latin word for left was “sinister”). The Psalms use this imagery a number of times [45:9, 63:8, 73:23-24, 110:5, 118:16]; and Jesus quotes Psalm 110: The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand, [Matt 22:44]. Interestingly, since the right hand wielded the sword, the left hand carried the shield, leaving the warrior’s right side unprotected and more vulnerable.