Is work worth it? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.
We move on now to Ecclesiastes 2:18-23. I have written previously here about my issues with making work everything in our lives. This is a danger I think Christians are sadly especially prone to. For now, my thoughts that I wrote on this passage:
What if someone says “Forget pleasure and go with hard work.” The Teacher works hard and then he asks the question, “What good came of it?” Even granting Solomonic authorship, Solomon did not know the future and there lies a great irony in that in the biblical narrative, all that Solomon did to build the nation of Israel came undone in the lifetime of his son Rehoboam when the kingdom split in two. The Teacher says that a fool might come after him. In the case of Solomon, that did happen.
Modern readers must remember that in the world of the Old Testament, great hope came in having a descendant. Abraham in Genesis feared that all his immense wealth would go to someone not related to him. Once a son came to a family, then the family could see itself as living on. The son could go on and have more heirs and a person would not disappear into the sands of history.
The Teacher can look at this situation and says “So what? You had a son. That son could grow up and turn into someone worthwhile who will honor you. He could also grow up to ruin your legacy.” A man can work himself to the bone and in the end when he passes away, everything that the man did gets wasted by a foolish ancestor of his and the man has no control over it. Consider perhaps all the changes in the nation of Judah when a good king comes only followed by a wicked king who undoes all the good that took place before him. A reader sees this as grim, and the Teacher agrees using the word despair. This word shows up in Isaiah (57:10) and Jeremiah (2:25 and 18:12) and refers to a situation with no hope. The teacher has tried it all and, in the end, has said, “hopeless.” Even if someone comes with the rejoinder of “Yes, but the son turned out good”, then the Teacher could just say, “For now. What about the next one? And the next one? And the next one?” Eventually, one comes across an ancestor who ruins everything for the legacy.
All this toil then gives a man nothing overall. The saying comes to mind of “You can’t take it with you.” The prince and the pauper both die in the end. Under the sun, they have identical fates. Not only this, but also a man possibly makes himself unhealthy by all the work that he does. Sleeplessness comes to the man who wants to work and thinks he has not accomplished all that he needs to do. He goes to bed wondering “How will I ever get everything done tomorrow that I need to do?” and sometimes as a result he does not sleep at all. When the time for work comes, if he shows up at all, he shows up unrested and unprepared and falls even further behind starting a vicious cycle. Under the sun, even work becomes meaningless.
So the Teacher has destroyed another path to meaning. You will not find it in work. Fortunately, tomorrow we will discuss a possible glimmer of hope the Teacher sees.
In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)
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