Ecclesiastes 3 · The Lantern

To Everything There Is a Season

For everything there is a season, and a time for every delight under the heavens:

a time to give birth and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted;

This is written in the Scriptures and is manifest to all. For although it be hidden and unknown to all, what period of time is allotted to each, and how it is allotted; yet every one knows this, that as there is a time for spring and for summer, and for autumn and for winter, so, as it is written, there is a time to die, and a time to live.

He does well to mention right away the binding union between birth and death; death necessarily follows birth, and each generation passes away. To show the connection between death and birth, the former is like a spur to arouse persons immersed in the flesh who love this present existence that they may pay attention to the future.

A time to be born. Above he set forth the general proposition; here he proves it by induction in particular cases, showing the diverse varieties of times in things. And this part has four parts. First is touched upon the variety of times which regards rise and decline. Second, that which regards state, at: A time to weep and a time to laugh.

a time to kill and a time to heal; a time to break down and a time to build;

a time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to lament and a time to dance;

"A time to weep, and a time to laugh." A time to weep, when it is the time of suffering; as when the Lord also says, "Verily I say unto you, that ye shall weep and lament." But to laugh, as concerns the resurrection: "For your sorrow," He says, "shall be turned into joy."

"A time for weeping and a time for laughter." Now is the time for weeping and in the future it will be the time for laughter: for "the blessed weep, since they themselves will laugh." [Luc. 6, 21.] "A time for bewailing and a time for dancing.

A time for weeping etc. Having set forth the variety of times which regards the rise and fall of things, here is set forth the variety of times which regards their state, namely of prosperity and adversity. And this is considered according to a threefold distinction, namely of prosperity, joy, and security, and their opposites.

a time to throw stones and a time to gather stones; a time to embrace and a time to be far from embracing;

Persons who look only at the letter and the superficial sense also accommodate Ecclesiastes' words to the Law of Moses which bids us to cast stones at law breakers. History has taught us about persons who break the Sabbath and who have stolen sacred objects in addition to other transgressions which the Law has commanded to be punished by stoning.

But thou who both hast sons, and livest in that end of the world, wherein now is the time not of casting stones, but of gathering; not of embracing, but of abstaining from embracing; when the Apostle cries out, "But this I say, brethren, the time is short; it remains, that both they who have wives be as not having;" assuredly if thou hadst sought a second marriage, it would hav…

As regards the time of security and its opposite, he says: A time for scattering stones, namely when there is security: Micah 4: "No man shall take up the sword against another." A time for gathering, for the building of fortifications, namely when there is fear of enemies: Second Chronicles 32: "He built up every wall that had been broken down and erected towers." A time for e…

a time to seek and a time to lose; a time to keep and a time to throw away;

Jerusalem, therefore, was abandoned "like a booth in a vineyard" because the guardian angels left it along with the Lord when Christ had suffered. A crop in the field is guarded by the Lord not for its own sake but only for the grain it yields, such that the stalk is permitted to be destroyed once its fruit is harvested.

Before the good things were found (for example, the knowledge of truth), people were in ignorance. For them it was the time of losing. But this time was preceded by the time of seeking; for when some one seeks the good, the time has come to lose what in his case had been before the good.

Regarding the use of possessions, he says: A time to acquire and a time to lose. We acquire through diligence, but lose through sloth; Proverbs 14: "The wise woman builds her house, but the foolish one tears down even what was built with her own hands." Or a time to acquire in life, to lose in death: Job 20: "The riches which he gathered, he shall vomit up," etc.

a time to tear and a time to sew; a time to be silent and a time to speak;

"A time to keep silence, and a time to speak." A time to speak, when there are hearers who receive the word; but a time to keep silence, when the hearers pervert the word; as Paul says: "A man that is an heretic, after the first and second admonition, reject."

A brother asked a hermit, 'If I live with other monks, and see something wrong, do you want me to say something about it?' The hermit replied, 'If some are older than you, or your contemporaries, you will have more peace of mind in keeping silent for you will find peace in putting yourself below the others.' The brother said to him, 'How can I do that, abba?

Regarding the use of garments, he adds: A time to rend, when they are worn out; and a time to sew, because our garments are daily worn out and are not renewed, unless perhaps by a divine miracle, as in Deuteronomy 8: "Your garment with which you were covered has in no way been consumed by age"; but ours are quickly consumed; therefore little care should be given to them: 1 Timo…

a time to love and a time to hate; a time of war and a time of peace.

Therefore the distinction between virtue and vice enables us to understand the opportunity which present. Ecclesiastes explains continence and pleasure, temperance and intemperance, modesty and arrogance, benevolence and maliciousness and anything else of this sort for imparting profitable advice.

"A time for loving and a time for hating." The time for loving God, children, wife, and relatives is afterwards, and the time for hating those in martyrdom since hostile piety attacks those steadfast men for the sake of the confession of Christ.

Regarding the alternation of the act of the concupiscible power, he says: A time of love, when a thing possesses goodness; and a time of hatred, when it turns to wickedness; Psalm: "I have hated and abhorred iniquity"; and Romans 12: "Hating evil, cleaving to good, loving one another with fraternal charity." As for the alternation of the act of the irascible power, he says: A t…

God’s Works Remain Forever

What profit has the worker in that at which he labors?

I have seen the business that God has given to the sons of man to be busied with.

He has made everything beautiful in its time; also he has put eternity in their heart, yet so that man cannot find out the deed that God has done from the head to the end.

Of all these things there is not one either idle or useless. Not even the meanest of them—the hair, or the nails, or such like—is so; but all have their service to do, and all their contribution to make, some of them to the soundness of bodily constitution and others of them to beauty of appearance.

I have seen, he says, the material world that preoccupies human minds, that which God gave to the human race prior to its cleansing so that they would occupy themselves. He means here that the beauty of the material world is temporal, not eternal. For, after cleansing, the one who is pure no longer needs to view material things only as a diversion of the mind.

And he explains what that affliction is, namely of consideration; whence he says: He has made all things good in their time; whence Ecclesiasticus 39: "All the works of the Lord are good, and in its hour he will supply every work.

I knew that there is nothing good in them except to be glad and to do good in his life.

And also that every man should eat and drink and see good in all his labor — it is the gift of God.

I knew that all that God does, it will be forever; there is nothing to add to it and nothing to take from it; and God has done it so that they should fear before him.

God has made creation so that human beings, through an outward picture of the greatness and beauty of created things, might [understand] that God exists.

"I realised that whatever God does will endure forever: nothing can be added to it and nothing taken away, and God has acted so that man should fear Him. "There is nothing in the world that is new. The course of the sun and moon in turn and the dryness and verdure of the earth and trees are born and take shape with the world itself.

Art. 3. The immutability of the divine works is shown. I have learned that all the works etc. He showed above the mutability of works, and from this reproved human curiosity. Here thirdly he shows the immutability of the divine works, because above he had shown their variability. He says therefore: I have learned that all the works which God has made persevere forever.

What has been already is, and what is to be has already been; and God seeks what is pursued.

From Dust to Dust

And again I saw under the sun: the place of judgment — there was wickedness; and the place of righteousness — there was wickedness.

I saw in the lower regions a pit of punishment awaiting the ungodly but a different place set apart for the godly.

"The shape of this world passes away," not its substance; just as with our bodies too, the shape will be changed. The substance does not perish when "what is sowed as a physical body rises as a spiritual body." But we read nothing of this sort about the fire and the water.

Part II. The vanity of fault is proved, then the remedy against it is set forth. I saw under the sun, etc. He treated above of the vanity of nature; here of the vanity of fault: and because this is dangerous, therefore it needs a remedy. First, therefore, he sets forth the vanity; second, the remedy against it, below in chapter four: Guard your foot.

I said in my heart, “God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time for every delight and over every deed there.”

I ask you, then, are we to suppose that the only decree of God that will not come to pass, the only decree of God, will be the one which we read in those same writings as being about to judge between believers and unbelievers, when everything else that we read has happened as it was foretold? On the contrary, it will come to pass as all those other prophecies came to pass.

The Divine Wisdom has pointed out in Ecclesiastes that for everything, i.e., for all things happy or those which are considered unfortunate and unhappy, there is a right time: saying: "For all things there is a time, and a time for everything under the heaven." … and below: "For there is a time," it says, "for everything and for every deed." None therefore of these things does…

And I said in my heart: God shall judge the just and the wicked. Here, second, he shows how from this he arrives at the premeditation of future judgment. For which reason he adds: And I said in my heart: He shall judge the just, unto reward; the wicked, unto punishment: Job 34: "Far be wickedness from God, and iniquity from the Almighty.

I said in my heart concerning the matter of the sons of man, that God might test them, and that they might see that they themselves are animals.

For the happening of the sons of man and the happening of the animal — one happening is theirs. As this one dies, so this one dies, and there is one spirit for all; and the advantage of man over the animal is nothing, for everything is breath.

Animals are mortal beings without reason, angels are immortal beings with reason, human beings are mortal beings with reason. Regarding mortality the human being is grouped together with beings without reason. Regarding reason [the human being] is grouped together with the immortal beings, since angels also have reason.

Why did he write, "What advantage does man have over beast?" Perceive now what had happened. Understand now the scorn toward us when he saw that humanity had recognized gods other than the Lord God alone and had not obeyed this utterance, "No foreign god shall be in your midst, nor shall you worship a strange god." Then, when he saw humanity had acted wickedly by [doing] what i…

As regards death he says: And therefore one is the destruction of man and of beasts, and equal is the condition of both, namely for the proving of men, because, just as a beast does not always live, but rather sometimes dies, so also man: below in chapter nine: "There is no one who always lives and who has confidence of this matter"; and therefore he shows that the likeness is…

Everything goes to one place; everything was from the dust, and everything returns to the dust.

The resurrection as a fact is not to be rejected because of an exceptional situation. Yet, since all things earthly return and crumble into the earth, I wonder how there can be any doubt even concerning the instances noted. For the most part, the sea itself also casts up on neighboring shores whatever human bodies it has swallowed.

In order, indeed, that you may have the fullest and clearest assurance that what is the soul is in the usage of the Holy Scriptures also called spirit, the soul of a brute animal has the designation of spirit. And of course cattle have not that spirit which you, my beloved brother, have defined as being distinct from the soul.

And he adds the likeness as regards matter: and therefore he says: All things are subject to vanity, namely, because they were made from nothing, therefore they are vain; Romans 8: "The creature was made subject to vanity." He does not say that nothing is the matter, but he means to say that they do not have uncreated matter nor essence, but they have created matter, which he u…

Who knows the spirit of the sons of man, whether it goes up above, and the spirit of the animal, whether it goes down below to the earth?

And I saw that there is nothing good except that a man should be glad in his deeds, for that is his portion; for who can bring him to see what will be after him?

Ecclesiastes3

To Everything There Is a Season

God’s Works Remain Forever

From Dust to Dust