THE QUESTION `WHAT IS THAT GOOD?'
11
Nothing but senseless and unbridled licence can explain why those who are aware that `the end of those things is
death' do not appear moved by the prospect and saddened at the outlook.
In chapter 8:4 we read, `Where the word of a King is, there is power', but verse 8 reveals the need of a greater
than Solomon. `There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in the day
of death: and there is no discharge in that war'. Not only does the sense of vanity come to the writer as he sees all
men, fools and wise, subject to death, he contemplates the burial of the wicked and the fact that they are forgotten
with an equal sense of vanity (10). Still the subjects haunts him:
`All things come alike to all: there is ONE EVENT to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the
clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as to the good, so to the sinner:
and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath. This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that
there is ONE EVENT unto all ... madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead' (9:2,3
Author's translation).
Surely, had Ecclesiastes lived in this twentieth century he would have heard the echo of his words in the
colloquial, `What's the good of ANYTHING - nothing!' A Proverb is the wisdom of many in the wit of one, and slang
though it may be, it is the subconscious finding of man at large.
`Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor
wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest' (9:10 see also 9:5).
Here the writer reveals the identity of the one place whither all go, Sheol, the Hebrew equivalent to Hades. The
uncertain tenure of life also appeals to him:
`For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in
the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them' (9:12).
Whatever the condition in which a man may live, he is wise never so to live as though the rude intrusion were
not bound to come.
`Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun: But if a man live many years, let
him rejoice in them all, yet let him remember the days of darkness; for they shall be many. ALL THAT COMETH IS
VANITY' (11:7,8 Author's translation).
The survey concludes with the exhortation to the youth to remember his Creator while the evil days come not.
For:
`Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God Who gave it. Vanity of
vanities, saith Koheleth; all is vanity' (12:7-8).
Thus ends the search and the survey. Dust returns to dust. Spirit returns to God the giver. What an end! What
can we say after viewing the travail, the labour, the inequalities, the just suffering as the wicked, the wicked
prospering as though just, the time and the chance, the one event to wise and to fools, but Vanity, all is vanity! Is
this a sceptic's finding, or a believer's verdict? We dare to say that it is the finding of every Scripture-taught
believer. One thing, and one thing only, can alter the verdict - RESURRECTION.
`If Christ be not RISEN, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain ... if Christ be not raised, your faith
is vain; ye are yet in your sins ... If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable'
(1 Cor. 15:14,17,19).
That the teaching of the apostle is similar to that of Ecclesiastes when resurrection is removed from the argument
is manifested by the fact that he echoes Ecclesiastes 2:24; 8:15, where Koheleth, looking at the just man who suffers
like a wicked man, commends mirth saying:
`Eat, and drink, and be merry'.
So the apostle says: