Ecclesiastes 5:9

"After all,. king who cultivates the field is an advantage to the land."

Points To Note:

1 Solomon was well acquainted with political intrigue (1 Kings 1-2). The whole system is one of corruption, and the weaker always suffers. The only comfort is that your local corrupt official is being oppressed and exploited by the higher-ups. 2. But even tyranny, even. very corrupt government is better than anarchy. "True to the standpoint of the book, the comment on all this is dry and realistic. After all, if we are looking at the world on its own terms of thoroughgoing secularism, we cannot expect too high. moral tone, either from the system we find in force or from any other. For all his hatred of injustice, Qoheleth pins no hopes on utopian schemes or on revolution…nothing would be gained by returning to the simple structure of the old nomadic days.. developed country needs the strength of central government, even if it entails the burden of officialdom" (Kidner p. 55). 3. Even. corrupt government provides valuable services, such as organization, standards,. stable economy, protection, etc…4. The idea also could be that while we might view ourselves helpless against "the system", those in high places depend upon what the lowly farmer does. In the final analysis, the king himself is dependent upon the labors of those being oppressed, the industry and labor of the common man. Every government would simply grind to. halt is the common person simply stopped working.

MONEY, MONEY, MONEY

Various threads might be linking this section with the previous one: 1. Where injustice and corruption exist, the cause is typically. love of money. 2. Superficial and misdirected religious activity is vain, and so is placing all our hopes in wealth. In addition, greed is something which robs earthly labor of pleasure and satisfaction. The theme of money has actually already been hit in this book. couple of times and this section will run through Ecclesiastes 1:12. It is. frequent subject in the Bible for the precise reason that is it. common problem (Mark 2:24; Luke 16:14-15; Ecclesiastes 12:13-21; Matthew 6:24; 1 Timothy 6:5ff). "The subject of these reflections (Ecclesiastes 5:10-12) is one of our most compelling interests, as Jesus implied when He warned us against making mammon. second God. The three sayings show it up for what it is, by pointing out the craving it creates, the hangers-on it attracts. and the dyspeptic (bad tempered) plight which is its typical reward" (Kidner p. 55).