Series: Ecclesiastes
Sermon #7: Inexplicable Beauty, Gracious Joy, and the
Basis for Fear — all from the Eternal Sovereign
Ecclesiastes
3:9-15
Part 1: Inexplicable Beauty
Ecclesiastes
3:9-11
9 What
profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth? 10 I have
seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in
it. 11 He
hath made every thing beautiful in
his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find
out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end. 12 I
know that there is no good in them,
but for a man to rejoice, and to do
good in his life. 13 And also that every man should eat and drink,
and enjoy the good of all his labour, it
is the gift of God. 14 I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it
shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and
God doeth it, that men should fear before him. 15 That
which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God
requireth that which is past.
Introduction:
Reminders:
1) the unique aspects of Ecclesiastes that must be
observed to appreciate what the author has done
2) the inspired and inerrant nature of Ecclesiastes as
the Word of God
3) the impact of Ecclesiastes on proud unregenerate
philosophers and mankind in general
Where we have been, and where we have come to in our
study of this book
What we have learned along the way so far
Outline:
I. The Problem of Profit — Personal Observation
(3:9-10)
II. The Problem of Perspective — Inexplicable Beauty (3:11)
I. The Problem of Profit — Personal Observation (3:9-10)
9 What
profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth? 10 I have
seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in
it.
The Rhetorical Question: What profit hath he that worketh in that
wherein he laboureth?
“This verse, taken together with what follows, may spell out the
philosophic point of the catalogue of times.”
— Robert
Alter, The Wisdom Books: Job, Proverbs,
and Ecclesiastes, A Translation with Commentary (New York: W. W. Norton, 2010), pg. 355.
profit
1:3 — What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh
under the sun?
2:11 — Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought,
and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and
vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.
The Basis for the Rhetorical Question: I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be
exercised in it.
travail
1:13 — And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom
concerning all things that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised
therewith.
2:23 — For all his days are sorrows, and his travail grief; yea, his heart taketh not rest in the
night. This is also vanity.
2:26 — For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom,
and knowledge, and joy: but to the
sinner he giveth travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him
that is good before God. This also is
vanity and vexation of spirit.
This verse “…must be taken together with verse 11.”
— Walter C. Kaiser,
Jr., Ecclesiastes: Total Life, in
Everyman’s Bible Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1979), pg.
66.
II. The Problem of Perspective — Inexplicable Beauty (3:11)
11 He
hath made every thing beautiful in
his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find
out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.
He hath
made every thing beautiful in his time:
NASB: appropriate (mg. Lit beautiful)
HCSB: appropriate (mg. Or beautiful)
NRSV: suitable
Mt. 23:27 — Woe unto you, scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward,
but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.
Acts 3:2-10 And a certain man lame
from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of
them that entered into the temple;….And they knew that it was he which sat for
alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple:
and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto
him.
Rom. 10:15 — And how shall they
preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace,
and bring glad tidings of good things!
Hymns based on this verse! See
especially: Diane Ball, “In His Time,” in The
Hymnal of Worship and Celebration (Waco, TX: Word Music, 1986), #465.
also he hath set the world in their
heart,
the
world — should be translated eternity,
especially given the context, as with all modern translations (NASB, ESV, HCSB,
NIV, NLT, NKJV, RSV, YLT, etc.) except the NRSV which renders it “a
sense of past and future.” The NRSV translation does not begin to address the
ramifications of eternity as
transcendent of time whether conceived of as past, present, future, or any
combination thereof.
This is the “key word” (Kaiser, op. cit.) in this verse, and, if
that is understood as being so, then it underscores the need to get this word
right in translation and interpretation!
This must be connected to man being created in the image and
likeness of God. This divinely embedded realization and awareness is one of the
fundamental distinctions between mankind and the other earthly creatures.
so that no man can find out the work
that God maketh from the beginning to the end.
“It seems more likely that the intended meaning is: man is
conscious of the idea of eternity (Qohelet as philosopher surely is), but that
is the source of further frustration, for he is incapable of grasping “what it
is God has done from beginning to end.”
— Alter, op. cit.
[Sermon preached 22 NOV 2015 by Pastor John T. “Jack”
Jeffery at Wayside Gospel Chapel, Greentown, PA.]
Select Sources on Ecclesiastes:
J. Sidlow Baxter,
Explore The Book: A Basic and Broadly
Interpretive Course of Bible Study from Genesis to Revelation, 6 vols. in 1
ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, n.d., 1960 printing).
William D.
Barrick, Ecclesiastes: The Philippians of
the Old Testament, Focus on the Bible series (Fearn, Ross-Shire, Scotland:
Christian Focus, 2012).
C. Hassell
Bullock, An Introduction to the Old
Testament Poetic Books: The Wisdom and Songs of Israel (Chicago: Moody
Press, 1979)/
Michael A. Eaton,
Ecclesiastes: An Introduction and
Commentary, Vol. 16, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL:
Inter-Varsity, 1983).
F. Delitzsch,
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon,
trans. M. G. Easton, Vol. VI in C. F. Kiel and F. Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament in Ten
Volumes, trans. James Martin (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, n.d., 1975 reprint).
Duane A. Garrett,
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs,
Vol. 14, New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman, 1993).
Donald R. Glenn,
“Ecclesiastes,” in The Bible Knowledge
Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, eds. J. F. Walvoord, and R. B.
Zuck (Wheaton, IL: Victor, 1985).
William Henry
Green, “Scope and Plan of the Book of Ecclesiastes,” Biblical Reparatory and Princeton Review 29 (1857), pp. 419-40; on Gordon Faculty Online at http://faculty.gordon.edu/hu/bi/Ted_Hildebrandt/OTeSources/21-Ecclesiastes/Text/Articles/Green-ScopeofEccl-1857.pdf
[accessed 7 NOV 2015].
Walter C. Kaiser,
Jr., Ecclesiastes: Total Life, in
Everyman’s Bible Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1979).
Walter C. Kaiser,
Jr., Coping With Change: Ecclesiastes
(Fearn, Roth-shire, Scotland: Christian Focus, 2013).
H. C. Leupold,
Exposition of Ecclesiastes (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1952).
Tremper Longman
III, The Book of Ecclesiastes, New
International Commentary on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997).
John MacArthur, MacArthur Study Bible, rev. ed.
(Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1997).
Roland Edmund
Murphy, Ecclesiastes, Vol. 23A, Word
Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, 1992).
Philip Graham
Ryken, Ecclesiastes: Why Everything
Matters, in Preaching the Word, gen. ed. R. Kent Hughes (Wheaton: Crossway,
2010).
Philip G. Ryken, Why Everything Matters: The Gospel in
Ecclesiastes (Fearn, Ross-shire, Scotland: Christian Focus Publications,
Ltd., 2015).
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