Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Ecclesiastes 3:1 - 3:11

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Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Ecclesiastes 3:1 - 3:11


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The Dependence of Man Upon the Course of NatuRev. 1. To everything, all that men undertake or do on earth, there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven, under the government and providence of God:

v. 2. a time to be born,
literally, "to bear," and a time to die, as the Lord has arranged; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted, these seasons being beyond the control of men;

v. 3. a time to kill,
by inflicting mortal wounds, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

v. 4. a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn,
on account of some grief or bereavement, and a time to dance, to leap for joy;

v. 5. a time to cast away stones,
where they encumber the ground, and a time to gather stones together, as for building purposes; a time to embrace, to show one's love and affection, and a time to refrain from embracing, for to show affection to excess is surfeiting;

v. 6. a time to get,
to obtain possession of, and a time to lose, deliberately to dispose of some object for some special reason, or cheerfully to give it up as the will of God indicates; a time to keep, and a time to cast away, without any care for the future;

v. 7. a time to rend,
as when garments were torn under the influence of great grief, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, not only in the silence of mourning, but on general principles, and a time to speak, for its omission may amount to a denial of the truth;

v. 8. a time to love,
this being the summary of the Law, and a time to hate; a time of war, when men think it necessary to shed blood in such a manner, and a time of peace. All these activities are carried out by men in the course of their lives, they occupy a certain period of time; not as though the Lord looked upon them all with approbation, but that He knows of them and uses all events for the furtherance of His will. It is not blind chance which rules the world, but "there's a Divinity that shapes our ends," and we Christians gladly submit to His guidance.

v. 9. What profit hath he that worketh
, being engaged in the one or the other of the activities enumerated above, in that wherein he laboreth? There is no lasting happiness and satisfaction to be found on this earth.

v. 10. I have seen the travail which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it,
the misery which is the lot of all human beings.

v. 11. He hath made everything beautiful In his time,
for the enjoyment of men during the short period of their lives, in the proper season; also He hath set the world In their heart, so that they might understand it as reflecting the wisdom and goodness of God, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end, this being the restriction which is placed upon man's knowledge, the inability to gain a correct and adequate insight into the divine plan of the world and the unsearchable essence of God.