Ecclesiastes chapter 5

vs 1

So far I'm a pretty big fan of whoever did the verse numberings for Ecclesiastes. How often do you think he gets props?

As for the actual verse, well it's pretty harsh. It would seem that the author thinks that learning the wisdom of God from listening at the temple is more important than just making sacrifices because everyone else does, and not even recognising what they've done wrong to need to do the sacrifices.

vs 2

And not just because the STD charges are out of this world. In the same way that, when before someone of great majesty and importance you keep your words few, so it should be with God. I know I ramble at God a bit, but I always try and keep in my mind that he is Lord. I treat him as a friend, but I try not to overstep that boundary. It's like in Master and Commander - the captain and the doctor are good friends, but the captain is still the captain.

vs 3

I'm not sure if these two are linked or not. But it really reads like they are. I think that it's saying that a dream is fabricated, not reality, and you know you will have dreams when you have many cares. So many cares points to dreams, which are fabrications. In the same way, many words, especially to someone in authority like God, shows a fool at the end of them. While I think the words themselves are clearer, I actually think the idea of the passage is clearer in (dun dun DUN) the KJV.

vs 4

This whole idea of vows to God is something that's a little foreign to us. But this verse links on from the previous. Don't be a fool and yammer on to God about how you will fulfil the vow. Just do it.

vs 5

This could very well be the wisdom that Jesus drew on when he tells the story about the two sons - one who does what his father wants, even though he says he won't, and one who doesn't, even though he says he will.

vs 6

This verse is quite long. The first bit of it is a follow on from verse 5 - making a vow and not fulfilling it is sin. So don't let your mouth lead you into sin by making promises you aren't going to keep. Now it's interesting, as soon as I look at a vow like that, it makes things like baptism very much more powerful.

The second bit is about thinking that your vow to God was a mistake, and so going to the temple messenger (KJV 'angel') and saying as much. I'm pretty sure what it is saying is this: "You made the vow. If you don't fulfill it, God will get upset. It's actually less important how stupid the vow is, than you fulfilling it, because failing to fulfill a vow is sin. If you make a stupid vow, you still have to fulfil it - after all, God calls on you to fulfil it, and why would he angry with your vow and so make its completion worthless?"

vs 7

Dreams and words themselves are not meaningless. But too much of them is not a good thing, and can lead to a lack of fear of God. And fearing God is always a good thing. You can't do that enough.

vs 8

This doesn't make perfect, immediate sense. But what it is saying is that the system in the ancient world (which still exists in many ways and in many places) is that officials had to rely on taxation of the people for their income - they didn't get a wage as such from doing their job. And the officials above them don't get an wage - they get their income from the lower officials.

So because of this constant skimming, because of the system, but also because of the greed of those in the system, the poor (who have no-one from whom to extort money) end up oppressed.

vs 9

The way you can see this work ultimately is in the richness of the king. Kings don't get rich simply by being king. There's not someone above the king who pays him, as such. No, he is the head skimmer - he skims off the top of all the officials. But the place the wealth is created is the fields, the poor people. So the king is actually gaining from the fields just as much as the lowest level of official.

Government in Australia is somewhat different, because our tax collectors don't have to "add a little extra" so that they get paid. There's not really a middleman anymore. But if you want to bribe somebody, then be prepared to fork it out - because everyone involved in the system will want a piece of that pie, and no doubt this is how it is in places like Pakistan.

vs 10

And this is why this system that the writer has explained is so bad for the poor - because people are greedy, and so they keep increasing the burden on those below them. But as he points out, it's meaningless. There is no profit worth the greed. The greedy one is one who is never satisfied. That's pretty much the whole capitalist system - it is never satisfied.