CRITICAL NOTES.—
Ecclesiastes 5:1. Thy foot] The outward movement, as showing the tendency of the heart. The sacrifice of fools] Some unworthy satisfaction of the religious idea—an offering whose purpose is merely to please God, and to serve as a salve for the conscience. They consider not that they do evil] Theirs is the error of simple ignorance rather than of any intention to deceive.
Ecclesiastes 5:2. Rash with thy mouth] Refers to the repetition of unmeaning words—mere babbling.
Ecclesiastes 5:3. The multitude of business] Lit. of annoyance—the worries of life disturbing the mind, and giving rise to restlessness and dreams.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Ecclesiastes 5:1-3
THE ETHICS OF DIVINE WORSHIP
The Royal Preacher enters upon a new object of thought. Happiness is only to be found in religion, and the most exalted act of religion is worship. The solemn services of the house of God demand duty from the worshipper.
I. We must avoid an unintelligent worship. God must be acknowledged in His relations to us as communities. Hence to attend His house for the purpose of worship is a solemn duty. Some cautions must be observed, if the service of the sanctuary is to be acceptable. The worship should be intelligent; marked by all the cautiousness, deliberation, and sobriety of thought. There are three principal classes of offenders against this requirement.
1. Those who worship simply from custom. They are not governed by the deep reasons of this sacred duty, but without due reflection follow what is considered to be a common obligation. Hence they go with careless feet, walking in the ruts of custom. They are imitators of others. Their devotion is soulless—mechanical.
2. Those who worship with a pre-occupied mind. The mind being filled with other objects, thought wanders, and the worship is but languidly performed.
3. Those who in the act of worship are not completely possessed with a solemn purpose. One great purpose must carry away the soul of the worshipper. The service of worship demands the concentration of thought and feeling. The soul, like the feet, must not wander in uncertainty, but go straight to her solemn purpose.
II. We must avoid a Barren Worship. The worship is not to end in itself, as if external homage were all that was required of us. It must have issue in quickened spiritual power, and practical duty. No barren or unproductive worship is acceptable.
1. The end of worship is to stimulate to obedience. (Ecclesiastes 5:1.) “To hear” in the language of the O. T. signifies to obey, i.e., to hear with the inner ear. Thought is awakened that it might lead to action. The sense of the Divine presence summons to duty. Obedience is the proper vesture of the thoughts and feelings roused in the sanctuary.
2. Worship without obedience has no rational ground. The adoration of the Divine Nature implies a respect for those laws of duty which are but an expression of that nature. A sacrifice, therefore, without obedience is but the sacrifice of a fool. It has no solid reason to go upon. Such worship is but a careless effort; without any wise design or sure aim.
3. Worship without obedience is sometimes the result of ignorance. It does not always arise from a pure and unmixed attempt to deceive, or to act the hypocrite. Some deceive themselves. They, being ignorant of the true way of religion, imagine that outward service will atone for many follies and sins—that the whole reckoning with heaven can thus be closed. This is the folly of many religions—they are but a salve for the conscience.
III. We must avoid an Irreverent Worship. Reverence is essential to all true worship. It is the proper attitude of man before the Supreme. In order to secure the spirit of reverence, we must attend to certain rules of duty in worship.
1. Be careful in the employment of words. (Ecclesiastes 5:2.) Rash and hasty words are here forbidden. This is not meant to check devotion, or to cool the ardour of the soul by some formal and severe requirement. It is opposed
(1) To empty words. These are uttered without solemn reflection—empty phrases, possessing but little meaning for the worshipper. They are mere words, spoken without due consideration—“rash.” It is opposed
(2) To superficial words. They do not proceed from the inner depths of the soul. They are quickly uttered, and in any required number, as involving no expense of thought or feeling. Words that are not winged by the soul’s desire cannot rise to heaven. It is opposed
(3) To all useless repetitions. It is not a fatal defect in prayer that it is marked by some repetition, for the soul may love to linger upon a thought to make her desire more emphatic, or to express intense emotion. The habit censured is the regarding mere words as possessing merit—that their multitude can atone for sin, and make compromise for the high demands of duty. To avoid irreverence, we must
2. Have a proper sense of the majesty of the object of worship. We have to remember that God dwells in unapproachable glory, far beyond the reaches of our mind; and that we are upon the earth—the scene of ignorance, error, sin, and want. With such a conviction, the language we utter before high heaven will be marked by brevity of expression. A sense of reverence will impose on us a solemn reserve. The employment of few and careful words most befits the sacred act of worship.
(1) Because this is the method of true passion. The most powerful feelings discharge themselves in few, simple, and direct expressions. True passion disdains the long array of words.
(2) Because it suits the nature of the duty. The silent awe and admiration proper to worship must not lose their effect through the intrusion of the multitude of words. When in the presence of a Superior Being, reserve and caution are the most commendable qualities of speech.
(3) Because it is agreeable to the best examples. The prayers recorded in the Bible are brief, and expressed in words of simple majesty. The Lord’s Prayer is marked by fulness in little compass.
3. Have a proper sense of the evil of careless speech in devotion. It has a bad effect upon the soul. The language degenerates into weakness and twaddle. Devotion becomes a mere babble of words involving no serious effort of intellect or heart. As dreams often arise from the perplexing cares and business of the day—these, in a confused manner, presenting themselves in sleep—so the multitude of words, though uttered not without some carefulness at first, at length degenerates into confusion and unreality. (Ecclesiastes 5:3.)
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Ecclesiastes 5:1. The feet translate the dispositions of the mind—they are the outward indicators of purpose.
There is a proper frame and disposition of the soul before engaging in worship. On the way to the house of God, the worshipper should be acquiring a readiness for its solemn services.
The royalty of the Supreme King demands a careful, reverent, and subdued manner in those who approach his Majesty.
Obedience is the most splendid issue of the adoration of the fount of law. Duty is our clearest revelation, and the path to our true honour.
The worship of God is a reasonable service, demanding the best fruit of the intellect and heart. He who does not make it a thoughful and heartfelt exercise presents the sacrifice of a fool.
It is the simplicity of the heart, and not of the head, that is the best indictor of our petitions. That which proceeds from the latter is undoubtedly the sacrifice of fools; and God is never more weary of sacrifice than when a fool is the priest and folly the oblation [South].
The vanity, hollowness, and insincerity of the outward world intrudes even into the temples of religion.
In the spirit of that significant Oriental usage which drops its sandals at the palace door, the devout worshipper will put off his travel-tarnished shoes—will try to divest himself of secular anxieties and worldly projects—when the place where he stands is converted into holy ground by the words, “Let us worship God” [Dr. J. Hamilton.]
Ecclesiastes 5:2. The tongue of the worshipper should not outstrip the fervours of his heart. Unless the words of devotion glow with the inner heat, they are but empty sounds.
It is an affront to the Majesty of Heaven to offer the unripe fruit of our mind and heart.
The multitude of words in prayer does not imply deep thought and fervour of devotion. They are but the tawdry garment that covers the poverty of the soul.
Before Job saw God with the inner eye, he was loquacious, but after sight of the Divine vision, his words “were ended,” and afterwards he only opened his mouth to declare how he “abhorred himself.”
He who regards the pure splendour in which God dwells, and the humble platform on which he himself stands, will render his devotion in few and careful words.
A heap of unmeaning words only smothers the fires of devotion.
Remember at whose throne you are kneeling; and be not verbose, but let your words be few and emphatic, as of one who is favoured with an audience from Heaven’s King.… When the emergencies of life—some perplexity or sorrow, some deliverance or mercy,—at an unwonted season sends us to the Lord, without any lengthened preamble we should give to this originating occasion the fulness of our feelings and the foremost place in our petitions [Dr. J. Hamilton].
The Lord’s Prayer begins by reminding the petitioner of the lofty dwelling-place of that Being whom he addresses, yet this august Majesty of heavenly state is tempered by the endearing name of Father.
What a wide application may be made of these words both to teaching and preaching, to prayer and to our ordinary life! How many sermons, hours long, would be expunged by this censorship, though never so skilfully arranged and put together according to the preaching art. And if all sermons and other discourses concerning Divine things were purged from all useless, unedifying, fruitless, offensive, and wrong words, how few would the censorship leave standing! [The Berleburger Bible].
Ecclesiastes 5:3. Tertullian, expressing the nature of dreams, saith, “Behold a fencer without weapons, a coach-driver without his running chariot, acting and practicing all the postures and feats of his skill. There is fighting, there is stirring, but it is an empty moving and gesturing. Those things are done in the acting of them, but not in the effecting anything by them. So it is in many words; there is often much fencing, but no weapons wherewith the enemy is wounded; there is much running, but no chariot winneth the race; much seemeth to be said, but it is to as much purpose as if nothing were said; all is an empty moving of the tongue [Jermin].
All speech that does not commence upon the solidities of truth is unsubstantial as a dream, the multitude of words only making the disordered mixture more bewildering.
The fool’s prayer is composed of—trifles—meaningless and unreal.