Ecclesiastes 11:9,10

2. Enjoy the days of your youth. Ecclesiastes 11:9-10

TEXT 11:9-10

9

Rejoice, young man, during your childhood, and let your heart be pleasant during the days of young manhood. And follow the impulses of your heart and the desires of your eyes. Yet know that God will bring you to judgment for all these things.

10

So, remove vexation from your heart and put away pain from your body, because childhood and the prime of life are fleeting.

THOUGHT QUESTIONS 11:9-10

401.

Although young men are encouraged to enjoy their childhood and young manhood, what warning should they remember (verse nine)?

402.

Should youth follow all the impulses and desires of their heart? Discuss.

403.

Why should young people withdraw from vexation and evil (pain)?

PARAPHRASE 11:9-10

Make the most, young man, of your youth as well as your more mature young manhood. Rejoice and be happy in both of them! Follow the delight of your eyes and the way the desire of your heart leads you. Explore the many facets of life utilizing all the vigor of your youth. However, keep ever before your eyes the fact that God will call you to account. Remove care and evil from your mind and bodythese things will prove to rob you of your joy. Youth is fleeting and the vigor experienced in your manhood is soon lost.

COMMENT 11:9-10

Ecclesiastes 11:9 Note the Preacher's admonition is directed to young men. The youth have the pathway of life before them. Their hopes, dreams and ambitions will be shaped by attitudes formed while still young. Parker remarks: Coheleth thus does not fear to enforce religious considerations upon the young mind. How noble a spectacle is a young life of joy consecrated to the service of truth, eager in upholding the claims of all pureness and wisdom! There is no nobler sight in all the earth than consecrated youth, sanctified enthusiasm, exuberant joy, used as a stimulus in sacred service.[22][22] Joseph Parker. The People's Bible, XIV (New York: Funk and Wagnalls Company, n.d.), p. 114.

There is a unit relationship that exists in the admonitions in Ecclesiastes 11:9-10 and Ecclesiastes 12:1. The unity of the section is somewhat minimized by the chapter break. However, Leupold[23] wisely points out that in verse nine, youth are to rejoice in all good things that give the heart true cheer; in verse ten he is told to put aside all that might interfere with such legitimate joy; and in chapter twelve verse one, provision is made for the youth to see that his roots are to run deep in remembering God which alone assures joy.

[23] Leupold. op. cit., pp. 268-269.

Solomon is encouraging the pursuit of pleasure tempered with the awareness that God will bring all activities into judgment. Some view the pleasures as sinful and thus the verse is taken as a prohibition or warning. The argument states that Solomon is using stern irony with a charge that one is free to enjoy all the sinful pleasures that youth finds exciting, but one must not forget that God will inevitably bring all deeds to judgment. Such an interpretation, however, is totally foreign to the spirit of the passage. What is evident is the fact that in the prime of life all that is wholesome activity, and thus approved of God, should be pursued.

Follow the impulses of your heart and the desires of your eyes. Job speaks of the heart following after the eyes (Job 31:7). This type of wholesome pleasure has previously been approved. (Cf. Ecclesiastes 2:10; Ecclesiastes 2:24; Ecclesiastes 3:12-13; Ecclesiastes 3:22; Ecclesiastes 5:18; Ecclesiastes 8:15) Much of what the Preacher identifies as both wise and foolish, he has observed with his eyes. The eyes stimulate impulses and desires. The caution expressed here is toward the innocent use of sight and that which is pleasing to God. The caution comes in the stern form of a reminder that God will bring you into judgment. One does not know many of the activities of God (verses five-six), but what he must know is that God will one day judge him. What is the nature of this judgment? Various views are offered: (1) The judgment is the pain and debility that comes to one in old age, but is increased because of the sowing of wild oats in one's youth. The more one corrupts his youth, the more he suffers in old age. (2) the calamities that befall one are the direct result of sins and should be interpreted as an outpouring of God's wrath. This kind of temporal judgment is in harmony with the principle of retribution previously discussed. (3) The interpretation which appears the most defensible in the light of Ecclesiastes 3:17; Ecclesiastes 12:1; Ecclesiastes 12:7; Ecclesiastes 12:14 is that there will be a final time of judgment. The Preacher's view of the final judgment is not clear or detailed, but he appeals to proper behavior on the premise that such a judgment is coming. Existence beyond the grave was hinted at in Ecclesiastes 9:5-6; Ecclesiastes 9:10 and confirmed in Ecclesiastes 12:7.

Ecclesiastes 11:10 Solomon now urges the removal of vexation and pain. The final argument offered which should motivate this action is that the years of youth are temporary. One should avoid that which injures the inner and the outer manthe spiritual and the physical. That which robs youth of good times, pleasant days, desires of the eyes, and general happiness are to be shunned. The emphasis through this section is on a positive note. Young people are exhorted to find genuine joy in their youth. Sin brings decay and sickness (1 Corinthians 6:18). For the person today who wishes to capture the same spirit of this passage, the words of Paul should be followed: Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God (2 Corinthians 7:1).

FACT QUESTIONS 11:9-10

540.

What shapes the dreams of young men?

541.

Explain the unity that exists in the three verses found in Ecclesiastes 11:9-10 and Ecclesiastes 12:1.

542.

Why should the pleasures discussed in verses nine and ten be considered as wholesome and not evil?

543.

What influence do the eyes have on the heart?

544.

Identify the three possible types of judgment that lie before youth.

545.

What is the final argument offered in verse ten?