There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven—
A time to give birth and a time to die;
A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted.
A time to kill and a time to heal;
A time to tear down and a time to build up.
A time to weep and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn and a time to dance.
A time to throw stones and a time to gather stones;
A time to embrace and a time to shun embracing.
A time to search and a time to give up as lost;
A time to keep and a time to throw away.
A time to tear apart and a time to sew together;
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.
After spending some time with our passage, I am tempted to try and put the Byrds’ “There Is A Season” to the melody of Doris Day’s “Que Sera Sera.” Solomon’s fatalistic tribute to time may be beautifully poetic, but it is barren of New Testament optimism. He sounds like a ruler, fatigued by 900 wives and jaded by worshipping their idols. At one point Solomon may have been the wisest man on earth, but his unwise choices regarding wives and worship may have corrupted his judgment. Nevertheless his pen is active. Here is another of his (tarnished?) gems:
Humans and animals come to the same end—humans die, animals die. We all breathe the same air. So there’s really no advantage in being human. None. Everything’s smoke. We all end up in the same place—we all came from dust, we all end up as dust. Nobody knows for sure that the human spirit rises to heaven or that the animal spirit sinks into the earth. So I made up my mind that there’s nothing better for us men and women than to have a good time in whatever we do—that’s our lot. Who knows if there’s anything else to life? (Ecclesiastes 3:19-22 The Message)
Unless Darwin has trumped Paul, Solomon seems to have sacrificed his hope to the idols he and his harem worshipped. In the estimation of the wise king, God has intentionally obscured any transcendent future, perhaps even obliterated it, so that men might focus more completely on their brief allotment of years. Listen to his sermon….
He has also set eternity in their heart, so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end… That which is has been already and that which will be has already been, for God seeks what has passed by. (Ecclesiastes 3:12 & 15)
I recall Country Joe McDonald’s impartation of wisdom after his cheerleading debut at Woodstock. Joe, too, may have just listened to the Byrds’ rendition of this scripture passage and been under Solomon’s spell. Sadly, Solomon’s fatalism was present in the “Whoopee, we’re all gonna die,” live-for-the-moment, 60’s moral devolution.
I have to keep in mind that not only was Solomon weighed down with the benefits of much wealth and many women, he also had no idea a new covenant was on the horizon. Do you think Solomon might have liked to edit his work after learning of Jesus the Messiah? Being wise, I think he would have quickly deferred to the hope-filled gospel of the kingdom.
Regarding time, Paul’s heart was more closely aligned with Moses, who said, “Teach us to number our days that we may present to You a heart of wisdom.”
Paul was a man bursting with hope regarding the future. Listen as he lays open his heart to the Philippians (from chapter 3):
I long that I may be found in Him…that I may know Him…that I may attain to the resurrection of the dead…I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
While I agree that there is an appointed time for every event under heaven, I believe mankind kept their appointment with the old covenant and now is the appointed time-window of the new covenant, with its own unique glory. I do hope God revealed this to Solomon before he discovered he was, in fact, a good deal more than an animal whose future was nothing but “dust in the wind.”
Father, thank you that our lives in Christ are anything but vanity, that our advantages over the beasts are infinite. Thank you that even though our vision is not comprehensive, it is sufficient to see your resurrected Son. Thank you that we, too, share the inheritance of resurrection life and that we have been created for a future and a hope. Thank you that we have not only been called to fear you but to love you as well and to live in a place you have gone ahead to prepare for us.