Ecclesiastes 11:7-12:8
AFTER a sustained and
at times torturous reflection on the meaning of life, the Preacher
finally goes to the heart of the matter, to the One in whom all
believers must find their rest and security.
The verses in this passage invite readers, time and again, to
look past the vanities of life under the sun, indeed to look beyond
its contradictions to the sovereign Creator. The Preacher does
this by pointing once again to the inevitability of death in verses
2-5, and in verses 6-8. The metaphor of the sun, light and moon
growing dark is often used in Hebrew literature to point to the
end of one's life.
Notice that the Preacher is not speaking here about the setting
of the sun, but of it losing its luminosity altogether. Although
the sun sets everyday, it doubtless still shines; and with the
dawn of each new day, it will rise again, illuminating the horizon
and pushing back the darkness. But here, the sun itself loses
its light altogether, as do the lesser luminaries, the moon and
the stars.
The imagery of the clouds expands the theme in that clouds cause
darkness to fall on the land by covering light from the sun and
the moon. When this happens, fear grips us all and even the strongest
among us would "stoop" in despair as the darkness slowly
swallows up our fading existence. Then death occurs: "Then
man goes to his eternal home, and mourners go about the streets"
(12:5). Our lives are snuffed out like a candle in the wind.
In verses 6 and 7, the Preacher continues to discuss the reality
of death by using a number of metaphors and imageries that are
no doubt familiar to his original audience. The first metaphor
is "the silver cord", which refers to anything long
and twining, like the branches of a plant. Its severing would
result in its death and decay since it no longer can draw nourishment
from its source.
The second metaphor, the "golden bowl", probably refers
to the receptacle at the end of a lampstand which contains the
oil for the lamp. When it is broken, and could no longer hold
the oil, the lamp consequently could no longer be lit.
While these two metaphors' allusion to death is easily gleaned,
the next metaphor, the "shattering of the pitchers (or pots)"
requires some familiarity with Jewish culture. Since the second
temple period, broken pots were found at Jewish tombs. These broken
vessels, scholars maintain, are used in the funerary rites of
the Jews and the peoples of other ancient near-eastern cultures
to symbolise death or the end of life. Finally, the broken wheel
at the well refers to the pulley for drawing water. Because it
is broken, water from the well, which symbolises life itself,
is no longer accessible. Thus, with one powerful metaphor after
another, the Preacher presses the point that death is an eventuality
that awaits all of us.
It is therefore
with utter seriousness that the Preacher urges those who would
listen to his words to look to their Creator. And it is his careful
choice to present God supremely as the Creator of all that there
is. Not only has the Creator brought everything into being, He
alone sees the pattern of human history and the whole temporal
existence of humankind. Furthermore, having brought everything
into existence, the Creator is also guiding His creation towards
its intended end. Thus although the evil and contradictions that
we experience in the world sometimes obscure the fact that God
is in control, the Preacher reminds us that this is indeed the
case - God is in control because He is the Creator of the world.
The Preacher therefore urges his readers to remember God their
Creator. In the Bible, to remember is a much more profound act
than the perfunctory way we sometimes take it to mean in modern
parlance. In the Bible, to remember is more than a mental activity,
like not forgetting to take the dog for a walk or to shut the
windows before leaving the house.
Remembering is a matter of passionate fidelity; to remember is
to commit oneself unquestioningly and unequivocally to God. The
Bible therefore does not make the distinction between remembering
and obedience because the former would make no sense without the
latter. The Preacher's exhortation to remember the Creator is
therefore nothing less than a summons to resist the temptation
of godless secularism and to entrust ourselves fully to the God
who alone knows our beginnings and our ends. The counsel to put
one's faith in God "in the days of your youth, before the
years of trouble come" is no less significant. Learning to
trust God in one's youth would go a long way in preparing one
to face the storms of life, which the Preacher implies will visit
both the believer and unbeliever alike.
For the believer, this reminder to be always mindful of God
is relevant not just in times of great difficulty or when faced
with the harrowing prospect of death. The believer must be mindful
of God at all times, in good times as well as in bad. Yet in this
accelerated world of ours, in which we are carried relentlessly
and at times mindlessly from one activity to another, God often
seems so far from our minds. The pressures of our cluttered world
do not allow us to create the spaces that we need to spend quiet
time in the presence of our God, to remember our Creator.
But how easily does this world of ours, this Babel that we have
created for ourselves, crumble into dust when tragedy visits unannounced.
How easily does the very foundation on which we stand splinter
and give way when hit by the seismic events of life.
The believer here is reminded to be always mindful of God, for
such mindfulness will result in trust, and trust alone will enable
the believer to weather the turbulent storms of circumstance in
our fallen and fragmented world.
Dr Roland Chia, Dean of Postgraduate Studies at Trinity Theological
College, worships at Fairfield Preaching Point in Woodlands.
QUOTE:
ALWAYS BE MINDFUL OF GOD
'For the believer, this reminder to be always mindful of God is relevant not just in times of great difficulty or when faced with the harrowing prospect of death. The believer must be mindful of God at all times, in good times as well as in bad.'