Ecc 11:7 | KingComments | STEP | The Preacher said in that we must work diligently and persistently, even if we realize that all our earthly labor has no permanent value. We must take advantage of the opportunities, while we carry out our plans in such a way that we do not get out of balance if something unexpected happens. At the same time we must realize that our labor still has temporal value anyhow. This is what he will argue about in the following verses. On top of that, even though the earthly labor has no permanent value, this does not mean that there are no things at all that do have a permanent value. For there are things that indeed have permanent value, which the Preacher will bring forward at the end of his book. That is where he, with all his observations in which he lets us participate, wants us to end up. The observation of the futility of life if we only see it under the sun, must lead us to the question whether there is also something above the sun. In other words: in the above-mentioned he addressed us about the present life in itself, but now he is going to consider the present life as a preparation for the life after this life. Before he arrives there, he first wants to share a number of observations with us, which we can accept as certainty in this life and which we can also enjoy to a certain extent. Therefore, from he will speak about the certainty of growing up and becoming older. “The light” and “to see the sun” are characterizing life here ( ; cf. ; ). Living in the light is not just living, but living with joy, the opposite of living in bitterness. Life is “pleasant”. ‘Pleasant’ indicates that life is tasted and enjoyed with enthusiasm and enjoyed in the same way as honey is tasted and enjoyed. We should be glad about it if we are given a long life, “many years” ( ). We are allowed to rejoice in the joy of life as intense as possible, “all” those years. Certainly at the beginning, when we are young, life is pleasant. It is a time in our life that there is much enjoyment of life and energy, so that all things seem possible and the sun is shining all the time ( ; cf. ). Nevertheless, we must also pay attention to the inevitable limitations associated with old age. The Preacher describes those days as “the days of darkness”, of absence of the sun. It is not that he mitigates the joy of seeing the light and the good, but he puts it in the right perspective. He will describe the limitations of old age in the next chapter in visual language. The life of the older human being is like the sun that we see going down in the direction of the evening, then finally disappears, through which the night falls. What he now already wants to point out, is that we must continue to realize that life is being lived in a world of emptiness and futility. A part of that futility is the aging process. This process was set in motion on the day that Adam and Eve disobeyed God. That is when their bodies started to die ( ). With “days of darkness” we should not think of death, but of the consequences of old age ( ). The enjoyment of life and vitality given by God are good and intended to be used and enjoyed. However, any age has to acknowledge that the consecutive changes in the rhythm of a day – sunrise, noon, afternoon, evening and night – are reflected in the rhythm of life. At the old age the days can be “many” and at the same time they are experienced as “futility”. This final remark underlines that with the many days and “everything that is to come” not death is meant, for death is not futility, but an endless situation. The Preacher has orientated himself. He comes to the conclusion of . The young man is called to pursue real joy and to do so during his “young manhood”, during his childhood. Rejoicing is not only allowed, but commanded. He is allowed to follow “the impulses” of his heart. They are good impulses if in his heart “the highways” are found ( ), meaning that he finds his strength in God. The heart is the center of life, the source of thoughts, feelings, decisions and character. The eyes are the instrument of the heart ( ). Orientation happens by what we see. What we are looking at and the way we look at something, is determined by our faith ( ; ; ). What we see may make us rejoice. Joy is a purpose in life. The question is only about what kind of joy the Preacher is talking about. In order to have the good joy, we have to verify it by the awareness of the judgment of God. That puts the emphasis on God’s involvement, in His sovereignty over and His might in the life of man. The warning “yet know” connects to the act of man and to his joy directly the awareness that there is Someone above him. ‘Yet know’ goes further than intellectually agreeing with what he has learnt. It is the understanding of a truth that corrects and shapes life, it is modeling. It has to do with knowledge, but also with setting the will into motion. For older people it may seem risky to advise a young man to follow the impulses of his heart and the desires of his eyes. But, as it has already been noticed, the advice is connected to a reminder of the responsibility toward God. Enjoying does not mean just ‘having a great time’, lawlessly enjoying, a temporal pleasure of sin ( ). There are boundaries set by God to enjoy really and meaningfully what He has given. The Preacher does not say this to take away with the one hand what he has given with the other hand, but to make clear that the awareness of responsibility belongs to childhood just as well as lust for life. Besides, he has already spoken about it earlier in his teaching ( ). This awareness of responsibility must be there, no matter how it has been broken down or distorted in society or all mankind. It is something that we all have at some point or another, as soon as we say something or do or do not say or not do something. Young people are addressed personally. They are a part of it. Just the fact that he points out their responsibility, proves that he takes them seriously. The old and wise Preacher knows how to appreciate being young. It is God’s will that old and young together honor and serve Him. In several new testament letters the children and young people are also addressed separately ( ; ; ). Being young does not always only have to do with age. Someone can also be young at heart. This is certainly true for those who wait for the Lord ( ; ). The Preacher points out to the young man that there are robbers who want to take his joy away from him ( ). These are problems that can attack the heart and body and prevent them from living life with joy, but which can be repelled or removed. The heart is the inner man, the body is the outer man. Our human life consist of these two aspects. The first problem is “grief and anger”, or irritability, displeasure, in the “heart”. This grief and anger can be caused by fear or sorrow as a result of sin in us or around us. The cause can also come from stress at school, at work or in a friendship. Game addiction can also be a cause. The danger is that grief and anger due to the mysteries and annoyances of life, get a hold on our heart, which leads to disillusionment and cynicism. Beware of a root of bitterness, for whatever reason. The call of the Preacher is to remove grief and anger from our heart, to deny them the access to our heart. Gratitude must come instead. The second problem is “the pain” of our “body”. Anything that blocks our physical joy, must be put away as something evil. We can abuse our bodies for example to commit fornication with it. Fornication is a sin whereby our body is directly involved in an extremely inappropriate way ( ). If that is the case with us, then it is out and done with the joy. It is all about a life in purity, not a life of excesses of any kind ( ). It is clear that a young person is confronted with strong temptations. If he does not resist these temptations, it will make him realize that emptiness and frustration are just as much a part of youthfulness as lust for life and power of life. Every young person has to learn to say both yes and no and has to remove what damages the mind or body (cf. ). Then he will be able to optimally enjoy “his childhood and the prime of life”, the glow of the dawn of life. After all, the prime of life is “fleeting”, the time of young manhood flies (cf. ). One of the signs that the years of young manhood are over is the appearance of the first grey hairs. This cannot be stopped, also not by dyeing the hair. Anyone who spoils that wonderful time of youth through ‘grief and anger’ and ‘pain’ has nothing to be happy about. Therefore: enjoy life now, and live for Christ. This is what the Preacher will talk about in the next chapter.

‏ Ecclesiastes 11:7

Young People Also Will Be Judged

The Preacher said in Ecc 11:1-6 that we must work diligently and persistently, even if we realize that all our earthly labor has no permanent value. We must take advantage of the opportunities, while we carry out our plans in such a way that we do not get out of balance if something unexpected happens. At the same time we must realize that our labor still has temporal value anyhow. This is what he will argue about in the following verses.

On top of that, even though the earthly labor has no permanent value, this does not mean that there are no things at all that do have a permanent value. For there are things that indeed have permanent value, which the Preacher will bring forward at the end of his book. That is where he, with all his observations in which he lets us participate, wants us to end up.

The observation of the futility of life if we only see it under the sun, must lead us to the question whether there is also something above the sun. In other words: in the above-mentioned he addressed us about the present life in itself, but now he is going to consider the present life as a preparation for the life after this life.

Before he arrives there, he first wants to share a number of observations with us, which we can accept as certainty in this life and which we can also enjoy to a certain extent. Therefore, from Ecc 11:7 he will speak about the certainty of growing up and becoming older.

“The light” and “to see the sun” are characterizing life here (Ecc 11:7; cf. Job 3:16 ; 20; Psa 49:19). Living in the light is not just living, but living with joy, the opposite of living in bitterness. Life is “pleasant”. ‘Pleasant’ indicates that life is tasted and enjoyed with enthusiasm and enjoyed in the same way as honey is tasted and enjoyed.

We should be glad about it if we are given a long life, “many years” (Ecc 11:8). We are allowed to rejoice in the joy of life as intense as possible, “all” those years. Certainly at the beginning, when we are young, life is pleasant. It is a time in our life that there is much enjoyment of life and energy, so that all things seem possible and the sun is shining all the time (Ecc 11:7; cf. Ecc 12:2).

Nevertheless, we must also pay attention to the inevitable limitations associated with old age. The Preacher describes those days as “the days of darkness”, of absence of the sun. It is not that he mitigates the joy of seeing the light and the good, but he puts it in the right perspective. He will describe the limitations of old age in the next chapter in visual language. The life of the older human being is like the sun that we see going down in the direction of the evening, then finally disappears, through which the night falls.

What he now already wants to point out, is that we must continue to realize that life is being lived in a world of emptiness and futility. A part of that futility is the aging process. This process was set in motion on the day that Adam and Eve disobeyed God. That is when their bodies started to die (Gen 2:17 ; Gen 3:19).

With “days of darkness” we should not think of death, but of the consequences of old age (Ecc 12:2-3). The enjoyment of life and vitality given by God are good and intended to be used and enjoyed. However, any age has to acknowledge that the consecutive changes in the rhythm of a day – sunrise, noon, afternoon, evening and night – are reflected in the rhythm of life.

At the old age the days can be “many” and at the same time they are experienced as “futility”. This final remark underlines that with the many days and “everything that is to come” not death is meant, for death is not futility, but an endless situation.

The Preacher has orientated himself. He comes to the conclusion of Ecc 11:9. The young man is called to pursue real joy and to do so during his “young manhood”, during his childhood. Rejoicing is not only allowed, but commanded.

He is allowed to follow “the impulses” of his heart. They are good impulses if in his heart “the highways” are found (Psa 84:5), meaning that he finds his strength in God. The heart is the center of life, the source of thoughts, feelings, decisions and character. The eyes are the instrument of the heart (Job 31:7). Orientation happens by what we see. What we are looking at and the way we look at something, is determined by our faith (Gen 3:6; 2Sam 11:2; Jos 7:21). What we see may make us rejoice.

Joy is a purpose in life. The question is only about what kind of joy the Preacher is talking about. In order to have the good joy, we have to verify it by the awareness of the judgment of God. That puts the emphasis on God’s involvement, in His sovereignty over and His might in the life of man.

The warning “yet know” connects to the act of man and to his joy directly the awareness that there is Someone above him. ‘Yet know’ goes further than intellectually agreeing with what he has learnt. It is the understanding of a truth that corrects and shapes life, it is modeling. It has to do with knowledge, but also with setting the will into motion.

For older people it may seem risky to advise a young man to follow the impulses of his heart and the desires of his eyes. But, as it has already been noticed, the advice is connected to a reminder of the responsibility toward God. Enjoying does not mean just ‘having a great time’, lawlessly enjoying, a temporal pleasure of sin (Heb 11:25b). There are boundaries set by God to enjoy really and meaningfully what He has given.

The Preacher does not say this to take away with the one hand what he has given with the other hand, but to make clear that the awareness of responsibility belongs to childhood just as well as lust for life. Besides, he has already spoken about it earlier in his teaching (Ecc 3:17 ; Ecc 8:12-13). This awareness of responsibility must be there, no matter how it has been broken down or distorted in society or all mankind. It is something that we all have at some point or another, as soon as we say something or do or do not say or not do something.

Young people are addressed personally. They are a part of it. Just the fact that he points out their responsibility, proves that he takes them seriously. The old and wise Preacher knows how to appreciate being young. It is God’s will that old and young together honor and serve Him.

In several new testament letters the children and young people are also addressed separately (Eph 6:1-3; Col 3:20; 1Jn 2:13-14). Being young does not always only have to do with age. Someone can also be young at heart. This is certainly true for those who wait for the Lord (Psa 103:5; Isa 40:31).

The Preacher points out to the young man that there are robbers who want to take his joy away from him (Ecc 11:10). These are problems that can attack the heart and body and prevent them from living life with joy, but which can be repelled or removed. The heart is the inner man, the body is the outer man. Our human life consist of these two aspects.

The first problem is “grief and anger”, or irritability, displeasure, in the “heart”. This grief and anger can be caused by fear or sorrow as a result of sin in us or around us. The cause can also come from stress at school, at work or in a friendship. Game addiction can also be a cause. The danger is that grief and anger due to the mysteries and annoyances of life, get a hold on our heart, which leads to disillusionment and cynicism. Beware of a root of bitterness, for whatever reason. The call of the Preacher is to remove grief and anger from our heart, to deny them the access to our heart. Gratitude must come instead.

The second problem is “the pain” of our “body”. Anything that blocks our physical joy, must be put away as something evil. We can abuse our bodies for example to commit fornication with it. Fornication is a sin whereby our body is directly involved in an extremely inappropriate way (1Cor 6:18). If that is the case with us, then it is out and done with the joy. It is all about a life in purity, not a life of excesses of any kind (Rom 13:13-14).

It is clear that a young person is confronted with strong temptations. If he does not resist these temptations, it will make him realize that emptiness and frustration are just as much a part of youthfulness as lust for life and power of life. Every young person has to learn to say both yes and no and has to remove what damages the mind or body (cf. Col 3:8-14). Then he will be able to optimally enjoy “his childhood and the prime of life”, the glow of the dawn of life.

After all, the prime of life is “fleeting”, the time of young manhood flies (cf. Psa 90:10). One of the signs that the years of young manhood are over is the appearance of the first grey hairs. This cannot be stopped, also not by dyeing the hair.

Anyone who spoils that wonderful time of youth through ‘grief and anger’ and ‘pain’ has nothing to be happy about. Therefore: enjoy life now, and live for Christ. This is what the Preacher will talk about in the next chapter.