Ecclesiastes: Week Two ~ Day Two

March 29, 2016

Week 2, Day 2

Read: Ecclesiastes 2:18-19

SOAP: Ecclesiastes 2: 18-19

S:

I hated all my labor in which I labored under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who comes after me.  Who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool?  Yet he will have rule over all of my labor in which I have labored, and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun.  This also is vanity.”

O&A:

Hated – to hate, or enemy

Labor – heavy, wearisome labor à the produce of labor

To leave behind anything to anyone, spoken of a person dying à like leaving a will

Wise – to be wise/to become wise à to judge, hence to rule

“I hated all my labor, seeing that I must leave it to the man who comes after me.”  In other words, “All my hard work goes to the next guy.”  He finally says that this next guy, whether wise or foolish, will have rule over all the labor he put in, and in the areas he has shown himself wise… yet it is also vanity, or meaningless.

The ‘leaving behind’ makes me think of leaving a will.  Usually a person will do that for their loved ones to have something to remember them by, or to enjoy after the will-er’s death, but not Shlomo!  Over a year before my Papa (grandpa) died, he made out a detailed list of everything he had that would go to his family, and he asked us to take what we wanted from the list (furniture, books, family heirlooms, etc.).  He wanted to see us enjoy his possessions.  Shlomo is mad that someone else will reap the rewards of his labor, and that this person may gain from the harvest of his own hard work.

There’s a parable that Yeshua tells about the workers.  The man hiring the workers is the one paying the workers.  He tells them from the beginning that everyone will get the same wage, no matter how long they work, and the workers agree to it.  So one man works for 8 hours, and gets paid the same wage as the man who only worked for one hour.  The one who had worked longer thinks it’s unfair, that he should get paid more because he has worked longer, yet he knew from the start what his reward would be.  In today’s passage, Shlomo is like the first guy who is mad that everyone gets the same reward, instead of being thankful for the reward, and thankful that others are able to access the reward! 

Spiritually, our reward is in the salvation of Yeshua the Messiah, so I can’t help but wonder what it would be like if we tried to keep our saved-ness to ourselves..?  If the works we are called to do while we’re here died with us, simply because we didn’t want someone else to come behind us and continue in YHVH’s will doing those works, what would the world look like?

A pastor at a church we used to attend in Louisiana once spoke about some people being tillers, some planters, some nurturers, and some harvesters.  He said that there was a couple that he and his sweet wife had ministered to time and time again, and they just knew they would get to see the harvest of all their labor.  But then a visiting pastor came, it was him and his wife who were there when the couple gave their lives to Yeshua!  And our pastor said they were glad for it!  He didn’t want the “credit”!  Like that person would get the glory, instead of YHVH.  The glory is of YHVH!  So if we would let Abba have his way in these matters, how much more could there be for His harvest?

Eureka!!!  So maybe Shlomo was wanting the glory of his works, instead of attributing the glory to YHVH!  He had stopped glorying in YHVH and began to glory in the things of this world, and his own possessions – he began to love the things of this world in stead of loving YHVH, and this is why he saw everything as empty, meaningless… as vanity.

Personally, I can understand Shlomo’s stance (in a way), but it also makes me want to shake him!  Before Papa died, he began to wonder about how we all (his family) would be without him.  He knew his time was coming.  The Parkinson’s disease was taking over his body, but HalleluYah, not his spirit!  Thankfully, Papa didn’t consider his works, his labors, as patriarch of our family to be vanity.

P:

Abba YHVH, I praise You, and I praise Your works!  I thank You for allowing us to see in Ecclesiastes the intimate and candid thoughts of Shlomo.  So far, this has been a wake-up call to me about pity parties, and feeling sorry for myself, and opening my eyes, spiritually, to how I perceive things.  Abba, I pray that the seeds my husband and I plant in our sons of Your word, and Your goodness, and Your holiness will not only take root in our children, but will last through the generations.  I pray that You continue to teach us from this study, and from Your word how we can better glorify You in all that we do.  Help us to be better tillers, and planters, and nurturers, and harvesters, in Your timing, not our own.  Help us know when to keep tender seedlings (new believers, children, etc.) safe from the elements, and when to transplant them into the garden when they gain stability, and will be sustained, not ruined.  Thank You for helping me to find Your glory in obscure places and situations, and allowing me to serve You.  In Yeshua’s name, Amein.