Ecclesiastes 5:1-20
1 Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil.
2 Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thinga before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.
3 For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool's voice is known by multitude of words.
4 When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed.
5 Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay.
6 Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it was an error: wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thine hands?
7 For in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also divers vanities: but fear thou God.
8 If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter: for he that is higher than the highest regardeth; and there be higher than they.
9 Moreover the profit of the earth is for all: the king himself is served by the field.
10 He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity.
11 When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and what good is there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes?
12 The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.
13 There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt.
14 But those riches perish by evil travail: and he begetteth a son, and there is nothing in his hand.
15 As he came forth of his mother's womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand.
16 And this also is a sore evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go: and what profit hath he that hath laboured for the wind?
17 All his days also he eateth in darkness, and he hath much sorrow and wrath with his sickness.
18 Behold that which I have seen: it is good and comely for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labour that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life, which God giveth him: for it is his portion.
19 Every man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth, and hath given him power to eat thereof, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labour; this is the gift of God.
20 For he shall not much remember the days of his life; because God answereth him in the joy of his heart.
The observation of the religious life brings no truer satisfaction. In this brief passage contempt for religion is not expressed, but there is absolutely no joy or satisfaction manifest. The life is wholly conditioned under the sun. The recognition of God is always irksome. This is based largely on the conception of God which is the inevitable outcome of such life, that conception which we have already seen manifest in the previous words of the king. A11 the things which he advances here are good so far as they go, but they all need something added to them before they can finally express the qualities of the religious life which give rest to the soul. Nothing is here other than a caution, based on fear. Brief phrases taken from these words will reveal the truth of them. "Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God," "Be not rash with thy mouth," "When thou vowest... defer not to pay." "Fear God."
Turning again to a general survey of the conditions under which men live, the preacher appealed against surprise at oppression. His reason for the appeal shows how low was his conception of God. He declared that all these things are known to One who is higher than the high, and the deduction he drew is that God does not interfere, that all iniquities are part of the great system. Yet the prosperous are not to be envied, for the man who has possessions does not possess them. Others eat them, and the owner merely beholds them. Indeed, the very care of wealth becomes a reason for restlessness. In view of all these things there is but one attitude, which the preacher advises: Do not hoard anything, but enjoy it. The only answer which God gives a man is the joy he finds in eating and drinking and using for himself the things which he possesses. It is the advice of pure sel6shness, but it is always given by those who live wholly "under the sun."