Ecclesiastes 5:1-20

The Teacher searches for
the purpose of our lives

Book of Ecclesiastes

Hilda Bright and Kitty Pride

Chapter 5

Be afraid to make God angry – Ecclesiastes 5:1-7

v1 Be careful when you go to God’s house. Go there to listen. Do not be like foolish people when you offer your gift to God. They do not know when they are doing something wrong.

v2 Do not be too eager to speak to God.

You must think carefully before you promise something to God.

God is in heaven and you are on the earth.

So do not say much when you speak to him.

v3 If you worry too much about something,

you will dream about it.

If you talk too much like foolish people,

you will say the wrong thing.

v4 When you promise something to God, you must do it. God is not happy with foolish people. So, do what you have promised to do. v5 You must do anything that you have promised to do. Otherwise it is better not to promise it. v6 Do not let your words offend God. And do not say to the leader in the *temple that your promise was a mistake. God may become angry with you. And he might destroy everything that you do. v7 Too many dreams produce many words and many silly thoughts. So, wise people will be afraid to make God angry. And they will obey him.

Verse 1 The Teacher warns people about how they should approach God. ‘God’s house’ may mean the holy building that is called ‘the *temple’. It is in the city called Jerusalem. Or it may mean any place where people go to *worship God. ‘To listen’ means to take in carefully. And we must obey what we hear. People need to think carefully before they offer a gift to God. Then they will show that they really want to give honour to him. ‘To obey God is better. To give a gift to him is less important.’ (See 1 Samuel 15:22.) People are stupid if they do not intend to obey God. *Worship is foolish if it is only a custom. That kind of *worship is not sincere. The people are just imitating other people’s ideas. They are not showing that they themselves really want to *worship God. They may think that they are doing the right thing. But they may be doing something that is wrong.

Verses 2-3 are about prayer. We cannot behave towards God as we sometimes behave towards people. Jesus taught us to pray, ‘Our Father who is in heaven’. ‘In heaven’ reminds us that we must not speak to God carelessly. He is great because he made everything. And he is the great Judge who makes decisions about all men and all women. We must think before we speak. And we must not be impatient. Also, Jesus himself taught us that there is no need to say a lot (Matthew 6:7).

Verses 4-6 People make serious promises to God. A man and a woman make serious promises to each other when they marry. People may promise to give something to God. Or they may promise to do something for him. Here are some examples:

1) Jacob wanted God to protect him. So he made a serious promise to God. Jacob said that he would give to God one from every 10 of his possessions (Genesis 28:20-22).

2) Hannah promised that she would give her son to God (1 Samuel 1:11). Her son, Samuel, served God during all his life.

3) Jonah made a serious promise to give a gift to God. He wanted to thank God because God had rescued him from danger (Jonah 2:9).

A person is free to decide whether he promises something to God. So it is right to think carefully about it first. People should be sure that they can do that thing (Deuteronomy 23:21-23).

The leader would be an official person who worked in the *temple. The person has not done what he promised to God. So the leader would ask the person why he has not done it. The person must not answer just with an excuse. He must not say only that the promise was a mistake. He could not merely say that he wanted God to forgive him for the mistake. So the priest must stand and speak to God on behalf of the person. Perhaps the person had not intended to do a bad thing. But he was careless (Leviticus 4:22; Leviticus 4:27). God would be angry about a careless attitude to a promise. Whatever the person did in the future might not be successful.

Verse 7 Many dreams have no use. And people may talk a lot but their words have no value. So a wise person will be afraid to make God angry. They will use only a few sincere words when they talk to him.

When people use power in a wrong way – Ecclesiastes 5:8-9

v8 It should not surprise you when you see bad officials. They are not fair to poor people. And they are causing the people to suffer. But a more important official always is watching each official. And there are even more important officials who are watching them both. v9 The land produces crops, and everyone will benefit from those crops. But the king will benefit the most.

Verse 8 Where there are many officials, it is very hard for a poor person. He cannot obtain a fair decision. He cannot afford to give money to the officials. He must wait while the officials make excuses. Maybe they do nothing. Or maybe they send him to another official. People should realise that this happens in the world. Each official watches the other officials and each official takes a part of the taxes.

Verse 9 The *Hebrew text is not clear. These are three possible explanations of this verse.

1) The people’s work was agriculture. Perhaps it was better to have a king and his officials. This was true, even if some officials were unfair.

2) Some people think that these words praise a king like Uzziah. He liked agriculture (2 Chronicles 26:10).

3) A king exists to protect the country. This should benefit everyone who lives there.

Money cannot satisfy people – Ecclesiastes 5:10-12

v10 Whoever loves money will never have enough of it.

And whoever loves wealth will never gain enough.

This is very hard to understand.

v11 Your possessions may increase.

Then the number of people who depend on you will increase as well.

So the owner of the possessions gets nothing extra.

He can only look at his wealth.

v12 People who work hard may not have much to eat.

But they sleep well during the night.

A rich person has many possessions.

But he cannot sleep during the night.

There are three reasons why money cannot satisfy its owner.

1. Verse 10 People who have a lot of money often want more money. A man who earns a lot of money wants to earn even more money. Some people play games to gain more money. But what they gain does not satisfy them.

2. Verse 11 Money attracts other people who want to depend on wealthy people. Then the wealthy people have extra responsibilities. So there are more demands on the money. The owner has gained nothing for himself except something that he can look at. He cannot enjoy his wealth, because extra costs use all his money.

3. Verse 12 The poor man sleeps well at night after his hard work. Whether he has had enough to eat or not, he is free from anxious thoughts. But the rich man stays awake. He cannot sleep. Perhaps he has eaten too much and he has a pain in his stomach. Or perhaps he is worrying about his money and his possessions, so he cannot sleep.

When people lose their money – Ecclesiastes 5:13-17

v13 I have seen something really sad that happens in this world. It was not fair. A person became rich and he was guarding his money. But he had terrible trouble. v14 Unfortunately, he lost all his riches in one sad event. Then nothing remained for his son. v15 People wear nothing when they come into the world. In the same way, when they leave the world they have nothing. They cannot take anything with them. They cannot prove that they worked hard in this world. v16 This is not fair. It is a painful fact. A person leaves this world, as he comes into it, with nothing. There is no benefit for someone who tries to catch the wind. v17 Every day he has sad thoughts. He just worries all the time. He is sick and he is angry.

Verses 13-14 A person may save his money. He may work to protect his money. But he may not be wise in his business decisions. So he may lose all his money. Or he may lose it suddenly for some other reason. Then he would have nothing to give to his children.

Verses 15-16 Babies have nothing when they are born. They do not even have clothes! And people cannot take their possessions with them when they die. But people can forget this. If their hard work is only for their own satisfaction, it will not benefit them in the end. It is like people who are trying to catch the wind. But verse 18 will provide the answer. (See below.)

Verse 17 These people are very unhappy. They often feel disappointed and they worry a lot. Hard work and worry can affect their health so that they become ill. Sometimes they are angry because their plans fail.

How to enjoy your life – Ecclesiastes 5:18-20

v18 Then I realised what is proper for people. It is right for them to eat and to drink. It is good for them to enjoy all their hard work. This is what they should do during their short life on the earth. This is God’s gift to people. v19 God has given wealth and possessions to some people. He has given power to those people so that they can enjoy those things. God helps all people to enjoy their lives. He helps them to enjoy their work. All these things are God’s gifts. v20 God keeps us busy and he keeps us happy. Then we shall not have much time to be anxious. We can enjoy what we have.

Verses 18-19 The Teacher has talked about the wealthy person who was not aware of God. Here he describes the life that God has given to the wise person. The words ‘to eat and to drink’ mean ‘to be happy with friends’. A person can enjoy hard work too because it is God’s gift. God gives wealth to some people. Also he gives to them the power so that they can enjoy that wealth. People will enjoy things that they use wisely. But what they have depends on God. And people must remember that. In the *New Testament, Paul wrote this in Philippians 4:12: ‘I have learnt the secret about how to be content in any situation and in every situation.’

Verse 20 We should enjoy all that God gives to us. Then our days will be full of happy activity and the time will pass quickly. There will be little opportunity to worry. We will not think about why we do not live for a long time. We will not try to understand why we are alive. As a result, we will sleep well.

temple ~ the special building in the city called Jerusalem where the Jews worshipped God.
Jew ~ a person who was born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children.
worship ~ to thank God and to praise him.
worship ~ to thank God and to praise him.
worship ~ to thank God and to praise him.
Hebrew ~ the language that the Israelites spoke.
Israelite ~ a person that belonged to the nation called Israel.
Israel ~ the nation that God chose to be his special people or their country.'New Testament ~ the part of the Bible that is about Jesus and the first Christians.