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Thursday, June 30, 2016

All Is Like A Chasing After The Wind In This World WITHOUT JESUS





Ecclesiastes 2:1-26 NIV







Pleasures Are Meaningless







1I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.” But that also proved to be meaningless. 2“Laughter,” I said, “is madness. And what does pleasure accomplish?” 3I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was good for people to do under the heavens during the few days of their lives.


4I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. 







 5I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. 6I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees. 7I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. 8I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired male and female singers, and a harema as well—the delights of a man’s heart. 9I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me.






10I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;
I refused my heart no pleasure.
My heart took delight in all my labor,
and this was the reward for all my toil.
11Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done
and what I had toiled to achieve,
everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind;
nothing was gained under the sun.











Wisdom and Folly Are Meaningless




12Then I turned my thoughts to consider wisdom,
and also madness and folly.
What more can the king’s successor do
than what has already been done?
13I saw that wisdom is better than folly,
just as light is better than darkness.
14The wise have eyes in their heads,
while the fool walks in the darkness;
but I came to realize
that the same fate overtakes them both.

15Then I said to myself,

“The fate of the fool will overtake me also.
What then do I gain by being wise?”
I said to myself,
“This too is meaningless.”
16For the wise, like the fool, will not be long remembered;
the days have already come when both have been forgotten.
Like the fool, the wise too must die!






Toil Is Meaningless




17So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. 18I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. 19And who knows whether that person will be wise or foolish? Yet they will have control over all the fruit of my toil into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless. 20So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. 21For a person may labor with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then they must leave all they own to another who has not toiled for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune. 22What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun? 23All their days their work is grief and pain; even at night their minds do not rest. This too is meaningless.

24A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the Hand of GOD, 25for without HIM, who can eat or find enjoyment? 26To the person who pleases Him, GOD Gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner HE Gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases GOD. 


This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.














Ecclesiastes 2





The Book of Ecclesiastes is, up to a certain point, the converse of the Book of Proverbs. It is the experience of a man who-retaining wisdom, that he may judge of all-makes trial of everything under the sun that could be supposed capable of rendering men happy, through the enjoyment of everything that human capacity can entertain as a means of joy. The effect of this trial was the discovery that all is vanity and vexation of spirit; that every effort to be happy in possessing the earth, in whatever way it may be, ends in nothing.


There is a cankerworm at the root. The greater the capacity of enjoyment, the deeper and wider is the experience of disappointment and vexation of spirit. Pleasure does not satisfy, and even the idea of securing happiness in this world by an unusual degree of righteousness, cannot be realized. Evil is there, and the Government of GOD in such a world as this, is not in exercise to secure happiness to man here below-a happiness drawn from the things below and resting on their stability; though as a general rule it protects those who walk with GOD.


There is no allusion to the truth that we are dead in sins and offences. It is the result in the mind of the writer of the experience which he has gone through, and which he sets before us. As to the things around us, there is nothing better than to enjoy the things which GOD Has Given us; and finally, the Fear of JEHOVAH Is the whole of man, as the rule of his walk on earth. His own capacities do not make him happy nor the gratifying of his own will, even when he has everything at command. "For what can the man do that comes after the king?" Man fails to secure joy; and permanent joy is not to be found for man. Consequently, if there be any joy, it is with the sense that it cannot be retained.


The moral of this book goes even farther than that of the Proverbs-on one side at least; for we must remember that it is this world that is in question (under the sun). Wisdom avails no more than folly. The difference between them is as great as that between light and darkness. But one event happens to all men, and much reflection only makes us hate life. The heart becomes weary of research, and after all one dies like another. The world is ruined as a system, and death cuts the thread of thoughts and projects, and annihilates all connection between the most skillful workman and the fruit of his labors. What profit has been to him?


There is a time for all things, and man must do each in its season, and enjoy that which GOD Gives on his way. But GOD Is The Same In All HIS Works, that men should fear before HIM. HE knows that GOD Will Judge the righteous and the wicked; but, as far as man's knowledge extends, he dies as the beast dies, and who can tell what becomes of him afterwards? There is no question here of the revelation of the world to come, but only of the conclusions drawn from experience of what takes place in this world. The Knowledge of GOD Teaches that there is a Judgment; to man all is darkness beyond the present life.


Chapter 4 expresses the deep sorrow caused by the crying injustice of a sinful world, the wrongs which compose the history of our race, and which, in fact, make the history of man insupportable to one who has a sense of natural justice, and creates the desire to put an end to it. Labor and sloth alike bring their quota of distress. Nevertheless, in the midst of this quicksand in which there is no standing, we see the thought of GOD arise, giving a firm foundation to heart and mind.

This is in the beginning of chapter 5. He demands respect from man. The folly of the heart is indeed folly in His presence. From thence onward we find that that which takes away the vain hope of earthly happiness gives a more true joy to the heart that becomes wise, and therefore joyful, in separating itself from the world. There is therefore the grace also of patience. The self-sufficient effort to be righteous only ends in shame; to be active in evil ends in death.


Finally, to strive after wisdom by the knowledge of things below is labor in vain. He has found two things: first, with respect to woman, judged by the experience of the world, he has found none good; among men, one in a thousand; and, in a word, that GOD Made man upright, but he has sought out many inventions apart from GOD. GOD Must Be Honored, and the king also, to whom GOD Has Given authority.


We see too in chapters 9 and 10, how little everything here meets the apparent capacity of man; and, even when this capacity is real, how little it is esteemed. Nevertheless the wisdom of the upright, and the folly of the fool, have each its own consequences, and, after all, GOD Judges.


To sum up the whole, GOD Must Be Remembered, and that before weakness and old age overtake us. For the manifest conclusion of all that has been said is 


 "Fear GOD and Keep HIS Commandments, for this is the whole of man."


The chief subject, then, of this Book is the folly of all man's efforts in seeking happiness here below, and that the wisdom which judges all this only renders man still more unhappy. And then all this experience, on the part of one who possessed the highest capacity, is put in contrast with the simple principle of all true wisdom-submission and obedience to GOD, WHO Knows all things, and WHO Governs all things, because  


"GOD Shall Bring every work into judgment."



If we remember that this Book gives us the experience of man, and the reasoning of man, on all that happens under the sun, there is no difficulty in those passages that have the semblance of infidelity. The experience of man is necessarily infidel. He confesses his ignorance; for beyond that which is seen, experience can know nothing. But the solution of all moral problems is above and beyond that which is seen. The Book of Ecclesiastes makes this manifest:


The only rule of life then is To Fear The GOD WHO Disposes of our life, WHO Judges every action all the days of the life of our vanity.



There is no question, in this book, of grace or of redemption, but only of the experience of this present life, and of that which GOD Has Said with respect to it-namely, HIS Law, HIS Commandments, and the Consequent Judgment-that which is decreed to man. A Jew under the Law might say these things, after having had the experience of all that GOD Could Give man to favor him in this position, and in view of the Judgment of GOD that is connected with it.


In Proverbs we have practical moral guidance through the world; in Ecclesiastes the result of all efforts of man's will to find happiness, with all means at his disposal. But in the whole inquiry in Ecclesiastes there is no covenant relationship, no revelation. It is man with his natural faculties, and such as he is, conscious indeed he has to say to GOD, but seeking by his own thoughts where happiness is to be found. Only that conscience has its part in the matter, and the Fear of GOD Is Owned at the end. It Is GOD Owned indeed, but man in the world with full experience of all in it.







If Our Life Is Not For JESUS, Everything Is Meaningless!







Ecclesiastes 1:1-18 NIV











Everything Is Meaningless




1The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem:







2 “Meaningless! Meaningless!”
says the Teacher.
“Utterly meaningless!
Everything is meaningless.”


3What do people gain from all their labors
at which they toil under the sun?
4Generations come and generations go,
but the earth remains forever.
5The sun rises and the sun sets,
and hurries back to where it rises.
6The wind blows to the south
and turns to the north;
round and round it goes,
ever returning on its course.
7All streams flow into the sea,
yet the sea is never full.
To the place the streams come from,
there they return again.
8All things are wearisome,
more than one can say.
The eye never has enough of seeing,
nor the ear its fill of hearing.

9What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.






10Is there anything of which one can say,
“Look! This is something new”?
It was here already, long ago;
it was here before our time.
11No one remembers the former generations,
and even those yet to come
will not be remembered
by those who follow them.










Wisdom Is Meaningless




12I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13I applied my mind to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under the heavens. What a heavy burden GOD Has Laid On mankind! 14I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

15What is crooked cannot be straightened;
what is lacking cannot be counted.

16I said to myself, “Look, I have increased in wisdom more than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before me; I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge.” 17Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and also of madness and folly, but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind.

18 For with much wisdom comes much sorrow;
the more knowledge, the more grief.








Ecclesiastes


Ecclesiastes ( GreekἘκκλησιαστής, Ekklesiastes, Hebrew: קֹהֶלֶת,  Koheleth) is a book of the Jewish Ketuvim (meaning Writings, one of the three sections making up the Hebrew Bible) and of the Old Testament. The title is a Latin transliteration of the Greek translation of the Hebrew Koheleth, meaning "Gatherer", but traditionally translated as "Teacher" or "Preacher".

Koheleth introduces himself as "son of David, king in Jerusalem," perhaps implying that he is Solomon

The book is in the form of an autobiography telling of his investigation of the meaning of life and the best way of life.

He proclaims all the actions of man to be inherently hevel, meaning "vain", "futile", "empty", "meaningless", "temporary", "transitory", "fleeting," or "mere breath," as the lives of both wise and foolish men end in death. While Koheleth clearly endorses wisdom as a means for a well-lived earthly life, he is unable to ascribe eternal meaning to it. In light of this senselessness, one should enjoy the simple pleasures of daily life, such as eating, drinking, and taking enjoyment in one's work, which are gifts from the Hand of GOD.

The book concludes with the injunction: 

“Fear GOD, and keep HIS Commandments; for that is the whole duty of everyone” (12:13).

Ecclesiastes is presented as the autobiography of Koheleth, the Teacher. Koheleth's story is framed by voice of the narrator, who refers to Koheleth in the third person, praises his wisdom, but reminds the reader that wisdom has its limitations and is not man's main concern. Koheleth reports what he planned, did, experienced and thought.

His journey to knowledge is, in the end, incomplete, and the reader is not only to hear Koheleth's wisdom, but to observe his journey towards understanding and acceptance of life's frustrations and uncertainties: the journey itself is important.

Ecclesiastes has had a deep influence on Western literature: American novelist Thomas Wolfe wrote:

“[O]f all I have ever seen or learned, that book seems to me the noblest, the wisest, and the most powerful expression of man’s life upon this earth — and also the highest flower of poetry, eloquence, and truth. I am not given to dogmatic judgments in the matter of literary creation, but if I had to make one I could say that Ecclesiastes is the greatest single piece of writing I have ever known, and the wisdom expressed in it the most lasting and profound.”(Wikipedia)







Charm Is Deceptive, And Beauty Is Fleeting





Proverbs 31:1-31 NIV








Sayings of King Lemuel





1The sayings of King Lemuel—an inspired utterance his mother taught him.


2Listen, my son! Listen, son of my womb!
Listen, my son, the answer to my prayers!
3Do not spend your strengtha on women,
your vigor on those who ruin kings.
4It is not for kings, Lemuel—
it is not for kings to drink wine,
not for rulers to crave beer,
5lest they drink and forget what has been decreed,
and deprive all the oppressed of their rights.
6Let beer be for those who are perishing,
wine for those who are in anguish!
7Let them drink and forget their poverty
and remember their misery no more.
8Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves,
for the rights of all who are destitute.
9Speak up and judge fairly;
defend the rights of the poor and needy.









Epilogue: The Wife of Noble Character








10 A wife of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies.







11Her husband has full confidence in her
and lacks nothing of value.
12She brings him good, not harm,
all the days of her life.
13She selects wool and flax
and works with eager hands.
14She is like the merchant ships,
bringing her food from afar.
15She gets up while it is still night;
she provides food for her family







and portions for her female servants.
16She considers a field and buys it;
out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.
17She sets about her work vigorously;
her arms are strong for her tasks.
18She sees that her trading is profitable,
and her lamp does not go out at night.
19In her hand she holds the distaff
and grasps the spindle with her fingers.







20She opens her arms to the poor
and extends her hands to the needy.
21When it snows, she has no fear for her household;
for all of them are clothed in scarlet.
22She makes coverings for her bed;
she is clothed in fine linen and purple.
23Her husband is respected at the city gate,
where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.
24She makes linen garments and sells them,
and supplies the merchants with sashes.
25She is clothed with strength and dignity;
she can laugh at the days to come.







26She speaks with wisdom,
and faithful instruction is on her tongue.
27She watches over the affairs of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.
28Her children arise and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:
29“Many women do noble things,
but you surpass them all.”

30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
but a woman who fears The LORD is to be praised.






31Honor her for all that her hands have done,
and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.













Chapter 31




This chapter is added to Solomon’s proverbs, some think because it is of the same author, supposing king Lemuel to be king Solomon; others only because it is of the same nature, though left in writing by another author, called Lemuel; however it be, it is a prophecy, and therefore given by Inspiration and Direction of GOD, which Lemuel was under in the writing of it, and putting it into this form, as his mother was in dictating to him the matter of it.



Here is,


I. An exhortation to Lemuel, a young prince, to take heed of the sins he would be tempted to and to do the duties of the place he was called to (v. 1-9).


II. The description of a virtuous woman, especially in the relation of a wife and the mistress of a family, which Lemuel’s mother drew up, not as an encomium of herself, though it was her own true picture, but either as an instruction to her daughters, as the foregoing verses were to her son, or as a direction to her son in the choice of a wife; she must be chaste and modest, diligent and frugal, dutiful to her husband, careful of her family, discreet in her discourse, and in the education of her children, and, above all, conscientious in her duty to GOD: such a one as this, if he can find her, will make him happy (v. 10–31).