Ecc 5

Summary for discussion leader: Ecc 5 explains how to find the restfulness which Kohelet presented in the preceding chapter. As the solution for our lack of peace with God and men, we must seek God in His ‘temple’ for the sake of listening, and not for the sake of vain religious sacrificing, nor to be deluded by our own ‘dreaming’. ‘Being quiet’ to stop listening to ourselves and our own dreams, we must instead hear the true word of God and what it really says, thereby beholding His glory by which we are transformed into His image (cf 2Cor 3:18).

Read Ecclesiastes 5

Context: After recounting his despair about man’s injustice, lack of consolation, and the futility of his attempts to fix himself (Ecc 1-2) or to find out what God is doing about it other than delaying justice (Ecc 3), Kohelet began to explain what God has revealed as the solution (Ecc 4): “Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind” (Ecc 4:6). This sounds inconspicuous, were it not for the context. If Ecclesiastes is primarily about “The redemptive work of God” (by faith in the Son of David), the author’s insight how we should work must grab our attention – especially at this turning point of the book where one wonders what stopped him from committing suicide.

If resting in God is the key to find peace and to avoid becoming wise-in-our-own-eyes (Ecc 4:13), one now wants to know: How then can I find this ‘handful of tranquility’?

1) v1: Where should we seek the restfulness that Kohelet described as God’s solution to find peace with God and men?

• What is the ‘house of God’? Why is it not a building? cf Heb 3:6
  [“…Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope” => He dwells among those who rely (and continue to rely) not on their own goodness but on that of Christ]
• Why did Kohelet call for listening ‘in the house of God’ (and not just anywhere)? Hint: What was the temple worship there meant to teach its observers? cf Ex 26:30 Then you shall erect the tabernacle according to the plan (lit. ordinance/type/model) that you were shown on the mountain.
• If this layout was only a 3D model, what is its original? Heb 8:5.
• How could true worshipers learn to look beyond the model and behold the original? => e.g.:
  • What could they learn from the fact that the same temple sacrifices had to be repeated every year, Heb 10:1+11?
  • 288 singers were appointed to sing (1Chr 25:7; 2Chr 35:15) the prophecies of the Psalms of David and Asaph (1Chr 25:2): What did they prophecy, e.g. Ps 130:8? [Ps 130 is an example of prophetic gospel preaching in the OT, and how to pursue hearing this word of God, v5]

2) vv1-3: What objections will cross your mind if someone claims that church attendance is the solution to man’s root problem?

• To guard your steps in the presence of God, what do you have to be watchful about?
• What different types of worship are described by v1? What motivates each of these two types of worshipers and their (different) goals?
• What could be the ‘sacrifices of fools’?
  • Read Mt 23:18 What did Jesus identify as the reason why the Pharisees overestimated the value of their gifts?
    • => If they underestimated the ‘altar’, how can we make the same mistake?
      [The altar represents God’s institution of forgiveness through faith in Christ’s atonement for sin, where man can enter into the presence of God to be transformed by him]
• v3: What is wrong about their dreaming?
  • =>Read from the parable about the self-righteous (Lk 18:9ff): What kind of dreaming is this? [cf Rev 3:17 Deluded about themselves and their own piety; 1Tim 6:4 being puffed up; Jer 23:28-29 valuing the dreaming above God’s word]
  • Do such deluded worshipers know how deluded they are? How may they find out? cf Rev 3:17
  • False religion also takes the form of false claims of prophetic authority: Do such people even fool themselves with their dreams or ‘supernatural’ power? cf Deut 13:1-5.
• (if time allows) vv4-7: What is wrong about their vows? [While the temple was still standing, people would probably pledge offerings that were then collected by temple messengers] => So why would Kohelet warn about these (or other) vows? cf Ja 5:12Did he warn of all forms of commitment to anything? Or only of our self-reliance that we keep a promise?
  • Is Christian baptism a vow? Of what? (To never sin again? Or what else?)
    • How can a marriage vow illustrate what a Christian commits to in baptism?
  • To pledge money to the temple may have been a form of sacrifice for its upkeep: How could these or other sacrifices be spoiled? [cf Ps 40:6 if the worshipers failed to hear and believe what their meaning was].
    • Do you think one who does not listen to hear of God’s work can know that his own sacrifices are ‘evil’, v1? Why?

• v1: “…draw near…”: How can one draw near to what one has not yet found? =>
  • How did Jesus instruct people to find the hidden ‘narrow gate’ that leads to eternal life? Where must their search begin, Mt 7:7-8?
  • What will show them the way to the narrow gate (Jesus), Mt 7:12? cf Jn 5:39-40 [Hearing the law and the prophets: The law that says you cannot be saved by faith in your own works, and the prophets who speak of how to be saved by faith in the work of Messiah]
• “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches…”: i.e. pay attention how you hear (e.g. Deut 6:4; Jer 6:10; Mk 4:23; Rev 2:7…): What should we expect the Spirit to talk about (Jn 15:26)?
•  If ‘one handful of quietness’ is the fruit of proper listening, what should we expect to be told? =>
  • Do you expect to hear God speak about you and your ‘work and life balance’, i.e. that you should relax and work less?
  • Or should we expect to hear him speak about what he does (in and through believers: To lead them in his works instead of their own?)
  • Is the ‘narrow way’ of faith (Mat 7) just more work than the spacious road? Why not, Eccl 4:6?

4) After distinguishing believers from those who bring ‘evil’ sacrifices, Kohelet asks: How will they differ in how they go about daily work?

• v8: How will they handle power?
  • Why should believers not be shocked that ‘evil sacrificers’ hold and abuse power?
  • Why must believers not expect the ungodly to behave godly? cf Mt 7:18 [trees and their fruit]
• v9 “But…”: i.e. those who listen are expected to lead in a way that is not corrupt (the meaning in Hebrew is uncertain).
• vv10-12: What advantage has the believer, compared to how ‘sacrificers’ are tormented by covetousness? cf Ro 7:8 [Content with his lot whatever his career may be]

6) Personal and application

• When you mingle with a local body of Christians to attend church, why do you go there?
• Do you go there to buy God’s favor with your offerings, or to be transformed by hearing what he does through Christ? How can you know?
• In your faith community, how do you avoid hearing only your own ‘dreams’?
• How occupied are you with God-given joy described by v20? Can we search after that? Where and how? [v1: cf Jn 17:13]