Is it coming? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.
In Final Fantasy X, when the party fights Seymour for the third time, he transforms into a form that unleashes a powerful attack, that will instantly kill a party member and declaring, “Death awaits you!”
Well, he’s right.
The Teacher said it before him in Ecclesiastes 9:
But all 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, man does not know; both are before him. 2 It is the same for all, since the same event happens to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean, to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice. As the good one is, so is the sinner, and he who swears is as he who shuns an oath. 3 This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that the same event happens to all. Also, the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead. 4 But he who is joined with all the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion. 5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. 6 Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished, and forever they have no more share in all that is done under the sun.
I wrote about this that:
In 9:3, the Teacher writes of another evil under the sun in that the same fate overtakes all men. While Proverbs 22:2 says that the rich and poor have in common that “the Lord is maker of them all”, the Teacher sees a contrast here on the other side and while having no disagreement with that, refers not to their creation but their ending. They also have in common that they will die.
Garrett sees here a reference back to Eden. The Teacher does not consider death as something natural. If man had kept access to the Tree of Life, he could have lived forever. Garrett goes on to say that “The astonishing thing, however, is that instead of reckoning with the meaning of death, humans fill their lives with the distractions of a thousand passions and squander what little time they have to immediate but insignificant worries[1].” I must disagree with this as even if I grant Garrett’s point, I do not see this in the text. The Teacher does say regularly to enjoy life. If anything, he could even contend that perhaps man should distract himself!
Still, another strange paradox takes place. The Teacher regularly speaks in ways that go against what many readers would expect him to say. Why does he consider the living better off? Surely because they have the chance to enjoy their life. Right? No. He considers them better off because they know they will die. The dead can do nothing more with their lives. The living can make the best of it.
The same theme continues in verse 6 with saying that the dead have no part in life under the sun. Their time has come to an end. At this point, the Teacher then gives another few words before the next “under the sun” where this time, he actually encourages us to enjoy something specific, namely a man should enjoy his wife under the sun. The Teacher also favors enjoying feasting and the labor that you do. Goldingay says that for the first time the Teacher gives a carpe diem that comes with an imperative.[2] Instead of a suggestion on how one might enjoy their life, the Teacher gives an order on how to enjoy life. Sadly, this comes with despair as well as the Teacher speaks about the meaningless days one has under the sun. Love your wife, have a feast, and work hard at all you do, because you will die anyway so you might as well do the best at what you do.
We naturally wonder about the idea that there will never be anything again under the sun. Here, I think the Teacher is likely speaking from a perspective of apart from divine revelation. He knows the world is messed up and if all you have is your wisdom alone, wisdom can’t tell you resurrection. It can hope for it, but it will not demonstrate it.
The Teacher has two great realities. Death is certain and enjoy life. We need to balance both of those. We need to not see death as so certain that we cannot enjoy our lives, and we should not enjoy our lives just to deny the reality of death. Wisdom teaches us to try to find a balance.
In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)
[1] Duane A. Garrett, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs (vol. 14; The New American Commentary; Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1993), 331.
[2] Goldingay, 363.