On Edwin Kaiser and Related Topics

[Scott Kaiser]

So we examined Proverbs who I think of as a bright young teacher, she is all about pursuing wisdom and attributes, an attribute of God that's woven into reality. She's optimistic that if you use wisdom you will build a successful life. Then we come to Ecclesiastes, who's more like the sharp middle-age critic, and he says you think using wisdom will bring you success, you better think again, because life here under the sun is meaningless, and that's a phrase he uses a lot in this book.


Ecclesiastes is the critic, he has wrestled with that very same problem, and he's going to push us further in our journey to find the good life.


To understand this book, we have to understand that it's like two individuals communicating with each other. The first is the teacher, we're going to call him the critic. He's the main voice in the book. He is introduced to us by the other figure called the author, he's the one that has collected the critics words, and at the end of the book he summarizes everything, and gives us the final word. So why does the author want us to hear from the critic? Well, he wants to turn your view of the world upside down, he is going to let the critic explore three really disturbing things about the world, and I should warn you these are pretty intense.


The first is the march of time, whereas the critic says generations come, and generations go, but the earth has been here long before us, and it will be here long after. No one remembers people from long ago, and all the people yet to come, they too will be forgotten by those who come after them. So, on a cosmic scale you and I are just a blimp. Stars are born and then they die, they form planets that births new stars, and those planets, they change overtime, and eventually everything burns out. And, amidst this cosmic backdrop my entire existence is like a blink of an eye. Which leads us to the critics second disturbing observation, that we are all going to die. Humans face the same fate as the animals, death. All people, the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, those who offer sacrifices to God, and those who don't. We all share the same destiny, our only guarantee in life. We all join the dead. (Man, this book is depressing).


And so, we come to the third and final observation by the critic and that is life's a random nature, so in Proverbs life isn't random, there is a clear cosmic effect that's doing the right thing, and being rewarded, but the fact is life doesn't always work that way. The critic has observed a glitch in the system, and he calls it "chance." The race isn't always won by the swift, or the battle to the strong, nor does food always come to the wise, or wealth to the brilliant, or favor to the educated. Time and chance happen to them all, his point is that you can't really control anything in life it's just the way it is, it's too unpredictable. But, I want to master life, so I'm setting myself up for a fall. Now, throughout the book the critic uses the metaphor to tie together all these disturbing ideas nearly 40 times. He says that everything in life is Hevel, a Hebrew word for smoke or vapor, like smoke, life is beautiful and mysterious, it takes shape of one thing, and before you know it, it takes shape of another. Smoke looks solid, but if you try and grab it, it will slip right through your fingers, and when you're stuck in the thick of it, like fog, it's impossible to see clearly.


Now, the modern translations has lost the metaphor, they translate Hevel as meaningless, but if you read closely, the critic doesn't say life has no meaning, but rather its meaning is never clear. Like smoke, life is confusing, disorienting and uncontrollable. So what are we supposed to do with all of this?


Well, surprisingly, the critic offers the perspective of Proverbs, he says, it's a really good idea to learn wisdom, and live in the fear the Lord. Really? But, he just said that doesn't guarantee success, but he also knows, it's the right thing to do, and secondly, more often he says, since you can't control your life, you should stop trying. Learn to hold things with an open hand, because you really only have control over one thing, and that's your attitude in the present moment, stop worrying he says, and choose to enjoy a good conversation with a friend, or the sun on your face, or a good meal with people who care about you, the simple things in life, and both the good things and bad are both rich gifts from God.

Let me say that again, both good things and bad, are rich gifts from God.

That's the surprising wisdom of Ecclesiastes, listening to the critic is painful, and can lead you into some dark place, and that's why the author speaks up at the end of the book. He doesn't want you to lose hope to someone you trust, he wants to show you life has meaning even when you can't make sense of it, that one day, God will clear your Hevel, and bring justice to all that we have done. And so, he tells us that the proper response to this is to fear the Lord, and keep his commandments, that's the book of Ecclesiastes, now there's one more voice in the Bible's wisdom literature, and that book is Job. Job will bring us the final and much-needed perspective of our journey into wisdom.

Job will really open our hearts.