Ecclesiastes 3:16-22 – A Time for Everything (Part Three)
Today’s passage is Ecclesiastes 3:1-8.  Please join us in study.

The Teacher has seen wickedness in the places of judgment and justice.  The Teacher was king in Jerusalem (1:1,12).  The maintenance of justice and judgment were his responsibility as king.

The American cultural attitude towards injustice, or wickedness in the places of judgment and justice, at least to the generation brought up on Superman, (‘Truth, Justice and the American way…’) is that it needs to be struck down and struck down wherever it is seen.

God too is about justice (See Jeremiah 7:1-11 as an example), but it is always within His context not ours.

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Ecclesiastes 3:9-15 – A Time for Everything (Part Two)
Today’s passage is Ecclesiastes 3:1-8.  Please join us in study.

There is a lot of grist for the mill in these verses.  I am going to mention three things that jumped out at us as we discussed this passage, but don’t let these get in the way of seeing what is here for you to see.

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A Time for Everything: Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (Part One)
Today’s passage is Ecclesiastes 3:1-8.  Please join us in study.
“There is a time for everything…” (NIV)  The word translated as ‘time’ here or ‘appointed time’ in other translations carries with it the idea of a time when something specific is set, fixed or appointed.  The word is used only three other times in the Old Testament (Nehemiah 2:6; Esther 9:27, 31) and in each of these instances, the context is dealing with the setting of an appointment or establishing a date.  Nehemiah is asked to set the time of his return to King Artaxerxes.  Esther is establishing the annual celebration of Purim.

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Toil is Meaningless: Ecclesiastes 2:17-26
Today’s passage is Ecclesiastes 2:17-26.  Please join us in study.

1. In today’s verses, the Teacher repeats the phrase ‘This too is meaningless…’ five times.  What is it that he is pointing to as being meaningless?  What are the similarities and differences between what he identifies as being meaningless?  Can you see a theme to what the Teacher is saying about what is meaningless?
2. Why does the Teacher hate life?  Why had all the work that he had done become grievous to him?  Why did he begin to despair?
3. Was all of this hatred, grief and despair the original objective for all of the work that he had done?  What had changed?  Did the Teacher have any control over what had made him hate life, grieve over his work and despair for his labor?
4. Verse 24 has a ‘This too…’ that does not fit into the pattern established by the other five ‘This toos’.  What is it that the Teacher sees as from the hand of God?  Would you agree with his conclusion that without God no one can eat and find enjoyment?
5. What does the Teacher’s conclusion about the role that God plays in man’s labor and its’ results say to you?  What does it reveal to you about the Nature of God and what He wants for you in the middle of all of this meaninglessness and chasing after the wind?
6. Have you come to hatred, grief and despair over life, its work and the results?  Does that hatred, grief and despair have anything to do with your expectations of meaning, purpose and satisfaction and the reality of meaninglessness and chasing after the wind?
7. What do you think that God really wants for you in this life?

Wisdom and Folly are Meaningless: Ecclesiastes 2:12-16
Today’s passage is Ecclesiastes 2:12-16.  Please join us in study.

Today’s Questions:

1. 2:12 is the second time that the Teacher has turned to consider wisdom, madness and folly (See 1:17).  Can you see any differences in his attitude now than the first time?  Are there any differences in his conclusions?
2. Why do you think the Teacher considers ‘madness and folly’ along with wisdom in both of these cases?
3. What is that makes a wise man wise, a mad man mad and a fool foolish?  What are the differences between the basic assumptions that drive the behavior of each?  On what do the assumptions of the wise man rest?  On what do the assumptions of a mad man rest?  On what do the assumptions of a fool rest?
4. What are the Teachers’ conclusions about the differences between a wise man and a fool?
5. What are the Teachers’ conclusions about the similarities between a wise man and a fool?
6. Can you make any tentative conclusions about why the Teacher is doing what he is doing?  What is he looking for?
7. Have you turned to consider wisdom, madness and folly?  How does that consideration apply to your life?  How does that consideration apply to the ultimate fate that overtakes both the fool and the wise man?