Ecclesiastes 3

General context

The chapter opens with the statement that everything has a season and every purpose a time, followed by fourteen paired times: to be born and to die, to plant and to pluck up, to kill and to heal, to break down and to build up, to weep and to laugh, to mourn and to dance, to cast away stones and to gather them, to embrace and to refrain, to get and to lose, to keep and to cast away, to rend and to sew, to keep silence and to speak, to love and to hate, war and peace. The Preacher again asks what profit the worker has, and says God has given travail to the sons of men, has made everything beautiful in its time, and has set the world in their heart so that no one can find out God's work from beginning to end. He states what he knows: that there is nothing better than to rejoice and do good, that eating, drinking and enjoying labour is God's gift, that whatever God does lasts for ever and is done so that men should fear before him, and that God requires what is past. He then reports seeing wickedness in the place of judgment and says in his heart that God will judge the righteous and the wicked. He says God shows the sons of men that they are beasts: both die, both have one breath, all go to one place and turn to dust again. He asks who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast downward, and concludes that nothing is better than for a man to rejoice in his own works, since no one can bring him to see what comes after him.

Cited passages: Ecclesiastes 3:1, Ecclesiastes 3:2, Ecclesiastes 3:3, Ecclesiastes 3:4, Ecclesiastes 3:5, Ecclesiastes 3:6, Ecclesiastes 3:7, Ecclesiastes 3:8, Ecclesiastes 3:9, Ecclesiastes 3:10, Ecclesiastes 3:11, Ecclesiastes 3:12, Ecclesiastes 3:13, Ecclesiastes 3:14, Ecclesiastes 3:15, Ecclesiastes 3:16, Ecclesiastes 3:17, Ecclesiastes 3:18, Ecclesiastes 3:19, Ecclesiastes 3:20, Ecclesiastes 3:21, Ecclesiastes 3:22

Ecclesiastes 3 (KJV)

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Historical context

The speaker is not renamed in this chapter; the first-person voice continues from the Preacher of chapters 1 and 2. The list of times gives no occasions, names or places; it speaks of war and peace, killing and healing, without saying which wars or whose healing. The observation about the place of judgment and the place of righteousness states that wickedness and iniquity were there, but identifies no court, judge or city, so the text does not establish what injustice the Preacher saw. His statement that God shall judge the righteous and the wicked is marked as something he said in his heart, alongside his statement that men might see that they are beasts. The chapter poses the question of the spirit of man going upward and the spirit of the beast going downward as a question, who knoweth, and does not answer it. The claim that all are of the dust and turn to dust again is stated as fact. Twice the Preacher marks a statement with I know: that there is no good but to rejoice and do good, and that whatever God does lasts for ever.

Cited passages: Ecclesiastes 3:8, Ecclesiastes 3:3, Ecclesiastes 3:16, Ecclesiastes 3:17, Ecclesiastes 3:18, Ecclesiastes 3:21, Ecclesiastes 3:20, Ecclesiastes 3:12, Ecclesiastes 3:14

Literary context

The chapter is built in three movements. First comes a poem of fourteen paired opposites, each line holding two times, so that birth answers death in the opening pair and war answers peace in the last. The pairs are not ranked; the poem gives each its time. The second movement returns to the question of profit from chapter 1 and answers it with what God has done and given: travail, beauty in its time, and a world set in the heart that cannot be searched out to its end. Here the Preacher's counsel to eat, drink and enjoy labour, first given in chapter 2, is repeated as the gift of God, and the purpose of God's lasting work is stated as fear before him. The third movement moves from a wrong seen in the place of judgment to the leveling of man and beast: one event, one breath, one place, one dust. The chapter ends, as chapter 2 did, on rejoicing in one's own works as a portion, now sharpened by the question of who can show a man what comes after him. The repeated I said in mine heart and I know mark the difference between the Preacher's reasoning and his settled statements.

Cited passages: Ecclesiastes 3:2, Ecclesiastes 3:8, Ecclesiastes 3:9, Ecclesiastes 3:11, Ecclesiastes 3:13, Ecclesiastes 3:14, Ecclesiastes 3:16, Ecclesiastes 3:19, Ecclesiastes 3:20, Ecclesiastes 3:22, Ecclesiastes 3:17, Ecclesiastes 3:12

Key moments

1. A season for everything (Ecclesiastes 3:1). The chapter opens by stating that every purpose under heaven has its time.
2. Birth and death paired (Ecclesiastes 3:2). The first pair sets being born against dying and planting against uprooting.
3. The world set in the heart (Ecclesiastes 3:11). God makes everything beautiful in its time, yet no one can find out his work from beginning to end.
4. Enjoyment as God's gift (Ecclesiastes 3:13). Eating, drinking and enjoying labour are called the gift of God.
5. Wickedness where judgment sits (Ecclesiastes 3:16). The Preacher sees wickedness in the place of judgment and says God will judge.
6. Man and beast share one breath (Ecclesiastes 3:19). He says one thing befalls men and beasts, and both die.
7. Rejoice in one's own works (Ecclesiastes 3:22). He concludes that a man's portion is to rejoice in his works, since no one can show him what follows.

For reflection

The poem gives a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to love and a time to hate, without saying how anyone knows which time it is. Does the Preacher's later line, that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end, answer that question or make it harder?