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Ecclesiastes 3

Chapter 3 in 30 seconds

There is a time for everything, from being born to dying. God made everything beautiful in its time and set eternity in our hearts. People and animals both go to the dust, so enjoy the work God gives you.

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In this chapterField Notes · ArchaeologyThe Harper's Songs · after verse 8 The Big QuestionWhat Happens When We Die? · after verse 22

To Everything There Is a Season

¹To everything there is a season,

and a time for every purpose under heaven:

ECC 3:1[NOTABLE]Life has seasons. Hard ones do not last forever, and good ones are not wasted.
ECC 3:1[NOTE]A TIME FOR EVERYTHING. 3:2 to 8 is a poem of 14 pairs of opposites. In 1965 the Byrds turned it into a number one song, Turn! Turn! Turn!, written by Pete Seeger.

²a time to be born and a time to die,

a time to plant and a time to uproot,

³a time to kill and a time to heal,

a time to break down and a time to build,

⁴a time to weep and a time to laugh,

a time to mourn and a time to dance,

⁵a time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together,

a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,

⁶a time to search and a time to count as lost,

a time to keep and a time to discard,

⁷a time to tear and a time to mend,

a time to be silent and a time to speak,

⁸a time to love and a time to hate,

a time for war and a time for peace.

Field Notes · Archaeology

The Harper's Songs

Ecclesiastes 2:24 · 3:22 · 9:7 to 10 · 11:9

A harper sings for the dead man and his wife in the tomb of Inherkhau, Deir el Medina, Thebes, Egypt, about 1150 BC. Public domain.

WHAT THEY ARE: Egyptian songs sung by a harper at a feast, written on tomb walls and on papyrus. Many of them talk about death and tell the living how to live.
HOW OLD THEY ARE: The best known, the song from the tomb of King Intef, is copied in a tomb from about 1340 BC and on a papyrus a little later. The song itself is likely much older. Others are in tombs at Thebes, like this one.
WHAT THEY SAY: In plain words: the bodies of the great are gone, their tombs have fallen, and no one comes back to tell us what it is like. So follow your heart while you live, put on fine clothes and perfume, and make a happy day.
SOUNDS LIKE ECCLESIASTES: Who can bring him to see what will come after him? 3:22. Walk in the ways of your heart, 11:9. Let your garments always be white, 9:8.
WHAT IS DIFFERENT: Some harper's songs answer back and say the land of the dead is good. The Teacher does not party to forget death. He enjoys life as a gift from God and remembers that God will judge, 11:9.

CONFIDENCE: HIGH

God’s Works Remain Forever

⁹What does the worker gain from his toil? ¹⁰I have seen the burden that God has laid upon the sons of men to occupy them. ¹¹He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men, yet they cannot fathom the work that God has done from beginning to end.

ECC 3:11[HEART]God has set eternity in the hearts of men. People long for more than this life because God made them that way.
ECC 3:11[NOTE]ETERNITY IN THEIR HEARTS. God made people with a hunger for forever. Nothing under the sun can fill it. Many hear an echo here of Augustine's prayer: our heart is restless until it rests in You.

¹²I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and do good while they live, ¹³and also that every man should eat and drink and find satisfaction in all his labor—this is the gift of God. ¹⁴I know that everything God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it or taken from it. God does it so that they should fear Him. ¹⁵What exists has already been, and what will be has already been, for God will call to account what has passed.

From Dust to Dust

¹⁶Furthermore, I saw under the sun that in the place of judgment there is wickedness, and in the place of righteousness there is wickedness. ¹⁷I said in my heart, “God will judge the righteous and the wicked, since there is a time for every activity and every deed.”

¹⁸I said to myself, “As for the sons of men, God tests them so that they may see for themselves that they are but beasts.” ¹⁹For the fates of both men and beasts are the same: As one dies, so dies the other—they all have the same breath. Man has no advantage over the animals, since everything is futile. ²⁰All go to one place; all come from dust, and all return to dust.

ECC 3:19[NOTE]LIKE THE ANIMALS. From under the sun, people and animals look alike at death: same breath, same dust. 3:21 asks, Who knows? 12:7 says more. See the Big Question What Happens When We Die?

²¹Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward and the spirit of the animal descends into the earth? ²²I have seen that there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work, because that is his lot. For who can bring him to see what will come after him?

The Big Question

What Happens When We Die?

What the Teacher Could See

Ecclesiastes 3:19 to 21 · 9:5 to 10 · 12:7

THE VERSES: People and animals have the same breath and go to the same dust, 3:19 to 20. Who knows if the spirit of man goes up? 3:21. The dead know nothing, 9:5. There is no work or wisdom in Sheol, the grave, 9:10. The dust returns to the earth, and the spirit returns to God who gave it, 12:7.
UNDER THE SUN AGAIN: The Teacher is looking from earth. From here, death looks the same for people and animals. The Old Testament says little about what comes next. Daniel 12:2 later speaks of waking up to everlasting life.

What Happens When We Die? · Every View

Daniel 12:2 · 2 Timothy 1:10 · John 11:25 · Philippians 1:23

VIEW 1: THE VIEW FROM EARTH: Most Christians say the Teacher describes what we can see: the dead have no part in this world any more, 9:6. Later Scripture shows more. Jesus brought life and immortality to light, 2 Timothy 1:10.
VIEW 2: THE DEAD SLEEP: Some, like Seventh day Adventists and Jehovah's Witnesses, read 9:5 to mean the dead are not aware of anything until the resurrection.
VIEW 3: 12:7 POINTS UP: Many see a hint of more in 12:7: the spirit goes back to God. Paul said he wanted to depart and be with Christ, which is far better, Philippians 1:23.
SEE ALSO: Every view is laid out in the Big Question What Happens When You Die? in Luke.
WHAT ALL SIDES AGREE ON: Death comes to everyone, 9:2. God will judge every deed, 12:14. And Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life, John 11:25.

Ecclesiastes 3

To Everything There Is a Season

God’s Works Remain Forever

From Dust to Dust

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