A Commentary in Simple English on Ecclesiastes

Chapter 11 Towards home

Verses 1 and 2 You do not know

There is an Arab saying, which is like verse 1. ‘Do good, cast your bread upon the waters, and one day you will be rewarded’. The Jews too thought that the bread here was money, which the rich should give to the poor. Yet we cannot be sure quite what ‘bread’ or ‘waters’ means here. It could mean ‘seed’ and ‘ground’. There is something that we do know here, however. You will find the ‘bread’ again. (See 7:24-29 for ‘finding’.) There is an English proverb, which is rather like verse 2: ‘Do not put all your eggs in one basket’. If you do, and you drop the basket, the eggs will all break.

So in verse 2 we have a picture of man who buys and sells. We do not know what his trade is. But he should split up his trade. If he loses money on one part, he may make money in another. You do not know what bad things may happen. Once again, here is one of the things that a wise man knows. He knows how much he does not know. (See verses 5 and 6). The wise man knows that there are things which we can never know. There are things that we can and should know. Now the Teacher brings these thoughts out in pictures.

Verses 3-6 The clouds gather

Usually, the Teacher looks at other people. Here, he looks at the world of nature.

First in verse 3, there is a picture of dark clouds in the sky. When we see that, we can be fairly sure that it will rain. The next picture is of a tree. The wind blows the tree down. We know that the tree cannot move. We do not control these things. In verse 4, we have a picture of a farmer. His work begins when he plants seeds. It ends when he ‘reaps’ or gathers in the crop which he has grown. ‘Plant’ and ‘reap’ take in everything in between. The farmer must get on and do his work when he can. ‘The difference between a good farmer and a bad farmer is about twenty-four hours’. If the farmer ‘watches the wind’ he may think: ‘The weather may be better tomorrow’. But it may be worse tomorrow so that he cannot do his work. He may ‘look at the clouds’ in the same way.

The Hebrew word for ‘wind’ is ‘ruah’. It also means ‘spirit’. So in verse 5, the word could mean either of these things. What matters is that the Teacher says: ‘There are many things which no one knows’. We do not understand how the wind blows. We do not understand how life comes to a baby before its mother gives birth to it. So it is no surprise if we cannot understand how God works. His work is much greater than these things.

Verse 6 speaks again about the farmer. He works from the morning until evening. He plants his seed. Only God knows which seed will grow best. The farmer does not know. Yet that does not stop his work. There are many things that we do not know. But this does not stop us from doing our work.

From verse 7 through to 12:7 the Teacher gives advice. He tells us what we ought to do. This is a new part of the Book, so we should see what he has said so far. This is: -

1. There are some things that we can never know. Even a wise man cannot find them out.

2. There are, of course, many things which we can know, and which we should know. This helps us in life.

3.There is work to be done. We have to live our lives. We should enjoy our lives. What we do not know should not stop us.

Verses 7-10 The dark clouds

In verse 7, light is like honey, which tastes sweet. We ‘see the sun’. We live a life filled with joy. We are not troubled by the thought that we only see what is under the sun. In the first part of verse 8, the Teacher says the sort of thing he has said before (2:24; 3:12 and 22; 5:18; 9:7-9). Enjoy life however long you live. Yet the dark shadow of bad trouble or of death is still in his thoughts. At least now the present is not without meaning. It is now ‘everything to come’ which has no meaning. The word ‘remember’ in English means that we think about something in the past. We do not do anything about it. In Scripture, ‘remember’ means that we think of something from the past or the present. Then we do something about it. Here, and in 12:1 and 12:6 we are to remember God. As we think about Him, we know what He is like. He is not only great and good. He is holy. He does not grow old. He does not change. He is the Judge. We may be young or old. We still need to remember Him. We need to shape our lives to please Him.

The ‘young man’ in verse 9 has been chosen. This may just be to serve as a soldier. Our heart can bring us sorrow and pain. The Teacher says that it can bring us joy. The young man is free! He is to ‘walk in the ways of his heart’. There will be good things that he wants. There will be good things that he will see and he will want to have them. He is not just sadly to say ‘No’. Yet God will be our Judge. He will look at good and bad in our lives. We may then have to say: ‘Even what was good in my life should have been much better’. Even what was better was not the best. So in verse 10, the young man is to get rid of the worry and care inside him. He is told to get rid of pain from his body.

Youth and the ‘dawn of life’ or ‘black hair’ are without meaning.