THE CONCLUSION OF THE MATTER
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`Judah and Israel were many, as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking, and making
merry' (1 Kings 4:20).
It is rather unfortunate that the present-day conception of the word `merry' dissociates it from spiritual things.
While however the occasions are few where the word is translated `merry', it is rendered many times `rejoice', `joy',
`glad'. Such passages as `In Thy presence is fullness of joy', `Serve the Lord with gladness', will shew that the word
carries a wider and deeper meaning than merely that of merriment.
Mirth may be very wrong, as Ecclesiastes 2 shews, but like many things mirth, merriment, joy, gladness, may
also be very right. Many there are who can walk by a hard and fast rule, few there are who can rise to the height of
the apostle who can say `Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing'. Partisans for either side could
easily be found. So with eating, drinking and being merry. It may be a sign of reckless worldliness. It may also be
a sign of godly contentedness. In Ecclesiastes 9:7-9 the subject is repeated, and with emphasis:
`Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy (same word "mirth" and "merry" in 8:15), and drink thy wine with a good
heart; for God now accepteth thy works. Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no perfume.
Live joyfully (Hebrew "see life") with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which He
hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labour
which thou takest under the sun' (Author's translation).
We can imagine that such language comes as a shock to some, whose conception of spirituality is something
devoid of either natural affection, a merry heart, or a cheerful countenance. If however I have given up the futile
search into the mysteries of providence and have gratefully fallen back upon the blessed words of Ecclesiastes 9:1
that `The righteous and the wise and their works are in the hand of God'; if when I see oppression and injustice I
remember that `He that is higher than the highest regardeth; and there be higher than they'; then I too can say with
the Preacher:
`Behold that which I have seen: it is good and comely for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy the good of all his
labour that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life, which God giveth him: for it is his portion ... power to
eat thereof, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labour; this is the gift of God' (5:18,19).
This by no means conflicts with the teaching of 7:4, `The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the
heart of fools is in the house of mirth', for a house of mirth, in that sense, can never be a true description of the house
of one redeemed by precious blood and taught by God. Sin and its ugly accompaniments press too closely for that.
Nevertheless the admonition of the Preacher is salutary and true.
The commendation of mirth or rejoicing, and the finding that a man hath no better thing under the sun than to
eat, drink and be joyful, follows immediately upon that inequality seen in the affairs of men where the righteous
suffer evil, and the wicked prosper. The parallel in 9:7-9 `Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, &c', follows
immediately upon the statement concerning the `one event' that comes alike to all. In the centre, between the two
passages, comes 9:1 :
`The righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God'.
The man who believes that, in face of the inequalities of providence and the `one event' which comes alike to all,
he of all men can `eat, drink, and rejoice', and `live joyfully with the wife whom he loves', &c.
`There is that neither day nor night seeth sleep with his eyes' (8:16).
`The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not
suffer him to sleep (soundly)' (5:12).
The reference to eating and drinking is incidental; the true and inner thought is summed up in the word `content'.
What Ecclesiastes expressed in his way and for his hearers Paul says to us:
`I have learned, in whatsoever state I am to be content' (Phil. 4:11).