I was reading Ecclesiastes 3 today and I admired the beauty of it. The reality that much of the passage is poetry came alive to me in this reading. The structure of the chapter proves to us that this in fact poetry. It's structured as A) Poetry B) Reflection A) Poetry B) Reflection. It's quite beautiful. It's like reading a poem and then having the author give commentary on the piece, telling the reader what the context of the writing is. What were they thinking about during the writing? What did this art bring out of them? How did it affect the way they see the world and how does it prove the way they see the world for the reader? Having those types of questions answered by an artist is always nice. That's why people enjoy DVD commentaries!
I've argued before that this passage (more specifically, the first poem in the chapter which consists of verses 1-8) is not a declaration of ethics or things permissible for lovers of God but rather observations about the way life is through the eyes of Solomon. Today I saw this again during my reading. Here is the first poem,
There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
While some read this phrase "a time to..." meaning "at times you should/can..." (as though it were a blessing to perform the activity mentioned) I firmly believe it's saying "a time of..." If my reading were correct then this first poem would essentially be communicating that there are times of birth, death, planting, uprooting, killing, healing, tearing down, building up, weeping, laughing, mourning, dancing, scattering stones, gathering stones, embracing, pushing away, searching, quitting, keeping, throwing away, tearing, mending, silence, speaking, loving, hating, war, and peace. When we poetically look at life we tend to throw the good and the bad together. People often use contrasts to paint a picture of the chaos and beauty of life. Life is full of so much stuff that it's easiest to explain how much exists in life by pointing to one thing and then it's antithesis (opposite). I think the opening line of "There is a time for birth and a time for death" sets up the reader to expect a message of "here is what is between birth and death, here is what life consists of." This describing of what life is like through contrast is what Solomon is doing in this poem. He's simply saying that there is a time in which everything happens in life, every activity pops up, from life to death, from war to peace. In life we have the good, the bad, and everything between.
Solomon goes on to give some commentary after this poem. He then writes another poem (which actually appears to be a second half to the first) which is clearly derivitive of his commentary on the first poem. He writes,
Whatever is has already been,
and what will be has been before;
and God will call the past to account.
And I saw something else under the sun:
In the place of judgment—wickedness was there,
in the place of justice—wickedness was there.
I said to myself,
“God will bring into judgment
both the righteous and the wicked,
for there will be a time for every activity,
a time to judge every deed.”
This is what seals the deal for knowing that Solomon is making observations about the reality of life. He walks to the end of the age, a time when judgment from God shall be present, and he states that there will be a time for every activity - a statement which points back to the first poem - and that there will be a judgment for every deed done. Everything will happen and everything will come under the judgment of God. If it were good and permissible to do every activity under the sun, which is the conclusion one must reach if he/she believes Solomon's first poem is a giving of permission and not an observation, then God would have no reason to judge it for it would all be good. There would be no need to divide wheat from chaff, lamb from goats, good from bad. Solomon writes that God will bring into judgment both the righteous and the wicked. Due to there being both righteous and wicked people every activity under the sun will have it's time. In other words the righteous will bring into this world times of love, healing, planting, peace and so on while the wicked will bring into this world times of hate, war, killing, uprooting, and so on.* Yes, there is a time for everything. Everything under the sun will and does have it's time because the righteous and the wicked bear fruit in our reality. Just as Solomon had used contrast earlier in the first poem he is using it in the second. There are the righteous and there are the wicked. There is love and hate, peace and war, birth and death, healing and killing. This is not a mistake and it is not a coincidence. It is intentional poetry which reveals theological truth.
Following this Paul shares a few more thoughts on life in general. That's a key to understanding this whole chapter. Solomon continues to return to the big picture of life. He writes a poem and then gives a commentary which deals with the general reality of life. He's not setting out to write what's ethical or permissible for believers but rather reflecting upon what's true about life. We know this is true because he starts phrases in his commentary with structures such as "I have seen...", "He [God] has...", "I know...", "God tests...", "All have/go...", "Everything is...", "Who knows if..." Like we all do, Solomon is reflecting on the big picture and he's doing it through poetry. This isn't like the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus gives teachings about how to live ethically as citizens of the kingdom of God and it's not like Paul's letters which lay out theological truths and the ethical applications of those truths for the believer. This is good poetry with good theological truth. We can pull some ethical material out of the implications of this work but we must acknowledge that Solomon wasn't writing a work about ethics.
It's beautiful poetry and I'm thankful for it. I'm grateful that we have minds that are able to understand contrast and how to use that tool to draw out the truths of our world. I'm grateful that Solomon brings all human activity, good and bad, to it's end where there exists a good judgment from a good God. Our world is messy but God's going to sort it out. Yes, God mysteriously makes everything beautiful in it's time (v. 11). Everything happens, but it won't always be that way because after there is judgment "there will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain..." (Revelation 21:4). Until that time we should work and toil and enjoy life while doing good. It seems to me that doing good probably consists of things such as planting, loving, making peace, healing, building, and rolling with the punches. May we be mindful of what is to come as we see mourning and laughing and all the contrasts that exist in our world.
*While I would say this is typically a fair look at life I also believe that God, who can make all things beautiful, has righteously initiated killings and "wars" and commanded his righteous people to obey him in those pursuits. Of course, I also believe God can do certain things well that men can not. So while there is the truth that killing and war have been brought about through non-wicked parties it's still commonly agreed that both killing and war are bad things so the contrast method seen in the poem still makes it's point.
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