Ecclesiastes chapter 7

vs 11

Which is sort of odd, because apparently inheritance is also a meaningless thing. But hey, that's just one more thing that it shares with wisdom. Just because something is meaningless in terms of life, death and eternity, though, doesn't mean it isn't useful. A life with plenty of wisdom and a bit of wealth is better than a life without either, but both are ultimately meaningless if that is all there is to them.

vs 12

And because death is the ultimate bringer of meaninglessness, then preserving life becomes worthwhile, if only for delaying the inevitable. Better alive and poor than rich and dead.

vs 13

I love this idea that God has made some things crooked. We can't fix what he's broken. It's not our job. When we look at broken things, we mourn, and perhaps rightly so. But we can't fix them. God made them (or more appropriately, broke them) that way.

vs 14

This I don't love so much, but it's absolutely true that God made both. It perhaps is wrong to label it 'bad' in that case, but it's certainly convenient for conveying the difference between the two. I'm not so sure about the 'therefore'. Or the whole discovering future thing. But especially how it relates to God being author of both the good and the bad. I suppose perhaps people look to good things to see what their future holds, because God is the author of those, but they deny the bad things? I remember talking to a guy who was the leader of a church, and he said to me, "Ben, when something bad happens in the life of a Christian community, are we more likely to interpret it as God telling us "Don't do that," or are we more likely to think it is the devil getting in the way of us doing good things for God?" The question (and answer, "The devil one") were in the context where that was really the only right answer. But this verse shows us the truth - that even if it is the devil who is causing ruckus, God has made the one as well as the other. He does take responsibility.

This is not denying our responsibility for the consequences and reactions of sin. But we have to remember too that sin doesn't always have direct consequences on our lives - that is not how God made it. It's not specific sin = lightning bolt. Sometimes it's not even specific sin = suffering (thank you Job). However, it is always within the will of God.

Still stuck on the discovering future thing. What it does do is make anything God tells us about the future that much more valuable.

vs 15

This is Job and anti-Job, taken to extremes. It happens every day that bad things happen to good people, and good things happen to bad people. That's reality. That's God's world.

vs 16

How does one read this verse? Is there such a thing as overrighteousness? I might be being pedantic, but I think that while someone can act in a way they think is righteous, if it isn't actually right, then it isn't actually righteous. So it is possible that someone can adopt a 'holier than thou' attitude, even towards God. But that doesn't make them righteous. Perhaps that is really the only connotation that can logically be taken from a word like 'overrighteous'?

So, with that in mind, being overrighteous is obviously wrong (which I find just a little ironic). Overwise could be said to be the same, but I think Qoheleth has actually made a case for too much wisdom being a bad thing in its own right.

vs 17

Interesting that there is a 'middle path' theology forming here. But what is 'overwickedness', and how is it different from just regular wickedness? Perhaps regular wickedness is that shared by all people, whereas overwickedness is that perpetrated by those who know it's bad but do it anyway, for the purpose of gain or pleasure?

vs 18

So in fearing God we come to him with righteousness as well as wickedness, with wisdom as well as foolishness? Tell me another way? I'm not saying I disagree with the idea that there is no-one who is righteous. But the fact is that everyone has done at least one righteous act. Surely. And everyone has acted like a fool at some point. Everyone accepts some sort of truth, too. So really, we must understand who we are and how we present before God.

But there's more to it, too. We have to understand who God is, and how he views these things. We can't just say, "This is me, God. Take it or leave it." We have to acknowledge that our wickedness and foolishness is bad before him, and that only he can change it.

vs 19

Knowledge is apparently power. However, 10 armies and a city do help.

vs 20

Bam. Qoheleth stitches it up here. This verse feels like the sorts of things I say - covering ass theologically. Go Qoheleth!