Ecclesiastes 9
Everyone’s Fate Rests in God’s Hands
After taking all of this to heart, I’ve concluded that good people, intelligent people, and everything they do are all in God’s hands. People don’t know if they’ll be loved or hated—anyone could come up against anything.
Everyone is in the same position. The same fate meets both the law-followers and the criminals; the pure and the impure; those who offer sacrifices and those who don’t. Moral people are the same as immoral people. People who make oaths are the same as those who are scared to make oaths. Isn’t it wrong how everyone beneath the sun shares the same fate? The sons of Adam have hearts full of evil. Their hearts harbor madness their entire lives, and then they die.
The Living Still Have Hope
But there’s still hope for people who hang out with the living, since a live weasel is better than a dead lion. At least the living know that they’ll die—whereas the dead don’t know anything. They aren’t owed anything else, and the memory of them has been forgotten. Their loves, their hates, and their passions died out a long time ago, and they don’t have a share in everything that happens beneath the sun anymore.
Enjoy this Vapor-of-a-Life while You Still Can
So go ahead and eat your food with happiness and drink your wine with cheer, because God has already approved of your work. Wear nice clothes and style your hair. Watch life go by with the woman you love—do that every day of the vapor-of-a-life God lended you beneath the sun. That’s your share in life, and it’s your reward for all the troublesome work you’ve done beneath the sun.
Whatever work your hands find to do, do it with all your might, because there aren’t any endeavors, plans, perceptions, or strategizing in the home of the dead where you’re headed.
As I focused my attention back beneath the sun, I saw that the fastest people don’t always win the race. The battle doesn’t always go to the strong, food doesn’t go to the wise, and wealth doesn’t always go to the intelligent—because everyone comes up against various happenstances. Human beings don’t know when their time has come. Like fish caught in nets or birds caught in traps, the sons of Adam get caught at unexpected moments when their time suddenly comes.
Quiet Wisdom is Better than Fame
Here’s something else I came to see as an important piece of wisdom.
There was a small town with a small population, and a great king went and surrounded it, laying siege against it. A poor man in the town used his wisdom to save the entire town, yet no one remembered him.
That story made me realize it’s better to be wise than strong. Yet no one values a poor man’s wisdom or listens to what he has to say. But I say it’s better to listen to a quiet wise man than a flashy leader among fools. Wisdom is better than weapons, but one mistake ruins a lot of good.