Wednesday Bible Study: And now, for something completely different: The same old story

Today we are at Ecclesiastes 3:16, and in honor of that, I'm going to approach this one completely differently- by going through the previous verse.

Our verse this week is:


Ecc 3:16  Moreover, I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, even there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness, even there was wickedness. 

And boy, isn't that one easy to understand?  Don't we shake our heads and say, "Solomon could have been talking about today!"  And in a way, he was.  But to see that, let me show you 3:15-

From my Bible, the New Open:

That which is has already been, and what is to be has already been; And God requires an account of what is past.

Now, you notice that part I boldened.  I questioned that, wondering what it meant.  So I got on my handy-dandy e-Sword program to see how other versions wrote that phrase.  And, oh, boy....

The Apostolic Bible Polyglot w/numbers:

and God  shall seek the thing  pursuing.

The American Standard:

and God seeketh again that which is passed away. 

"Passed away"? "Pursuing"?  "An account"?  Wait, it gets better.

1965 Bible in Basic English:

because God makes search for the things which are past. 

Contemporary English Version:

 God does everything over and over again. 

1899 Douay-Rheims:

and God restoreth that which is past. 

Easy to Read:

But God wants to help those who have been treated badly. 

English Standard:

and God seeks what has been driven away. 

Jewish Publication Society:

and God seeketh that which is pursued. 

And the KJV:

 and God requireth that which is past.

So why are there so many DIFFERENT things being said here?  Two reasons:  First, the nature of the word being used; second, the nature of the concept being expressed.  Let's go in reverse here, and put together all the things this verse seems to be saying.

God looks at the past and requires an account.  Why?  That is going to be a key question.

God is seeking something that is past- or something that is passing away.

God is seeking someone being pursued, someone driven away, who has been persecuted.

GOD IS DOING THE SAME THING OVER AND OVER.

Okay, now that we kinda know what we are looking AT, let's explore the original.

There are two key words in the phrase.  The first is the word translated "requires" or "seeks".  And that is a spot on translation.  God is requiring or seeking.  The object of that search is the tricky element.  The word most often translated "past" in these versions, from Strong's concordance:

רדף

râdaph

raw-daf'

A primitive root; to run after (usually with hostile intent; figuratively (of time) gone by): - chase, put to flight, follow (after, on), hunt, (be under) persecute (-ion, -or), pursue (-r).

So we have a lot of elements here:  Something being hostilely pursued; something in the past; something being chased, hunted, or persecuted.  So you see, any one of the differing translations can be shown valid- but which one is meant?  How about, ALL of them?

If you look at the context of our passage, Solomon stars and ends with the basic same conclusion- 

Ecc 3:12  I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; 

Ecc 3:13  also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil--this is God's gift to man. 

Ecc 3:22  So I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his work, for that is his lot. Who can bring him to see what will be after him? 

But how he gets there is from two different angles.  One thing I have learned from Dr David Jeremiah's recent teaching on Ecclesiastes that finally made this book make sense, is the reason for his use of the phrase, "under the sun".  That this indicated Solomon was bending his wisdom to seek a meaning of life WITHOUT including God- under the sun basically meaning, short of heaven.  And previous to our section is the one that Pete Seeger turned into the song Turn! Turn! Turn!- to everything there is a season, and God has His purposes.  After 3:16, however- actually, starting with it- he looks at the same thing without God in the picture- and ends up at the very same place.  It doesn't matter if you believe in God or reject Him, on this earth, it happens to both the same.

NOTE:  Which puts to rest the idea of "becoming a Christian will change your circumstance ON THIS EARTH."  On the contrary, being a Christian changes things in just two ways.  One, you have hope for a future in eternity...

Ecc 3:11  He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. 

...and two, you begin to see the things of life from their proper perspective- as in 3:13, as God's gift to man.

And this impacts 3:15 how?  Let me bring what we saw in the various versions back down here to dissect.

God looks at the past and requires an account.  Why?  That is going to be a key question.

God is seeking something that is past- or something that is passing away.

God is seeking someone being pursued, someone driven away, who has been persecuted.

GOD IS DOING THE SAME THING OVER AND OVER.

Let's start out with one basic concept- God made time.

Gen 1:5  God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. 

Next basic concept: as He made time, He is not part OF time.  Therefore, He never changes.

Numbers 23:19 God is not man, that he should lie,

    or a son of man, that he should change his mind.

Has he said, and will he not do it?

    Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?

Therefore, everything that has happened has happened before and will again.  To illustrate this, think about today's controversies about fake news and journalism being driven by agenda instead of facts.  Then go back and read about the "yellow journalism" of the 1880's and 1890s.  Got it?  This also means, the way God judges a person, a nation, a people, way back in the times of Noah, he judged in the times of Sodom, of Zedekiah, and will also today.  If you see how He lifts up the obedient Moses or Abraham, He will do the same for the obedient Joe or Sam.

He examines that past, that someone can't say, "Well, He did things that way in the days of Moses, but He does them different now."  All those idiots out there that try to excuse their sinful ways by saying, "But Jesus never specifically mentioned that," this is your cue.  What God called into judgment then, He calls into judgment now.

And for those of you that thought that Easy To Read version was a bit of a stretch, the word used covers it as well.  If a sinner could be forgiven then, he can be forgiven now.  All because He has used one consistent judgment the whole time.

So when we said, "Boy, Solomon sounds like he was talking about today," he WAS.  Over and over, he uses the phrases, there is nothing new under the sun.  And that was and is and will be His plan.

All of which should be to us a comfort- and a warning.  For one thing, for all of us who believe, with good reason, that the End Of Days is approaching- let's not get ahead of ourselves.  Things are bad.  Things were bad before.  In the year 1000, the Church was absolutely convinced it was the End of Days.  One would assume the righteous people of Constantinople felt the same way in 1453.  But we don't know when that day is.  We might have a million years yet to go on Earth before God in His Bright Mercy and patience says, "Enough!"  And you might not ever even get a chance to read this.

So the comfort is, you still have time.  To be saved, to share salvation with others.  The warning- well, let Jesus give that in His own words:

Luk 17:26  Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. 

Luk 17:27  They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. 

Luk 17:28  Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot--they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, 

Luk 17:29  but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all-- 

Luk 17:30  so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed.