CRITICAL NOTES.—
Ecclesiastes 9:8. Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no ointment] No literal observance of these circumstances of external appearance is intended; but rather an exhortation to indulge those calm and pure emotions of joy, of which white garments and a face which oil causes to shine are the well-known symbols.
Ecclesiastes 9:10. For there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave whither thou goest.] This may be compared with the saying of our Lord in John 9:4. The grave.] The unseen state to which thou art hastening.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Ecclesiastes 9:7-10
THE UNSATISFACTORY CONDITIONS OF THE PRESENT LIFE IN THEIR BEARING UPON DUTY
The Preacher had shown that the ways of God to man are full of dark mystery. This has been a terrible oppression to many—to some even a fatal one. We must admit that man’s present condition is unsatisfactory; for it is rudimentary. It is on the way to perfection. The dark enigma of life, however, should not be a fatal obstacle to duty. Of the unsatisfactory conditions of the present life, we affirm—
I. They do not Forbid a Joyful Acceptance and Use of the Blessings of Providence. (Ecclesiastes 9:7-9.) The habit of dwelling exclusively upon the dark side of things is hurtful to the soul. We are either driven to melancholy and despair, or else to the mad pursuit of pleasure by which we seek to drown all anxiety and care. There is a safe middle way between these two extremes, by which we avoid gloom and despair, on the one hand, and a reckless pursuit of pleasure, on the other hand. We should thankfully accept the blessings of Providence, and use them with sobriety. The consciousness that God “accepteth” our “works” should be at once the impulse and the director of our joy (Ecclesiastes 9:7). The constant reference to God, and the intention of pleasing Him, will sanctify all life. There are three sources of enjoyment referred to here, which we may soberly and thankfully use.
1. The satisfaction of the appetites. (Ecclesiastes 9:7.) Our physical wants are a fact of our nature which we must accept. They crave for satisfaction. These natural endowments, as they arise from the appointment of the Creator, are not sinful in themselves. They only become the occasion of sin by unlawful indulgence. The bounty of the Great Giver has furnished means for the satisfaction of our common wants, even ministering to the most delicate perceptions of taste and gladdening the heart of man.
2. The taste for outward beauty. (Ecclesiastes 9:8.) There are outward forms, the contemplation of which gives an exquisite and refined pleasure. Thus the ornaments of dress minister to the instinct of beauty and harmony. The Creator, in His works, has not only studied utility, but has even prepared those graces and ornaments which wait upon our perception of elegance. He has placed this instinct in the human breast. We may indulge it if we only do so with moderation, remembering that outward beauty has no infinite capacity to please. It is a joy which is bounded, and God alone is the soul’s pure and permanent delight.
3. Domestic joys. (Ecclesiastes 9:9.) The various relations of life, whether we are born to their possession, or enter them by choice, minister to our social enjoyments. They tend to abate the natural selfishness of the human heart and to multiply and exalt our pleasures. These are the gifts of God—they are our “portion” here. They serve for awhile to lift our minds above the overwhelming sense of the vanity of life. We can use such joys if we remember that they too are fleeting, and that the only sure and abiding portion for the soul is God. “The fashion”—the outward form, scheme, or arrangement—“of this world passeth away.” (1 Corinthians 7:31.)
II. They do not Forbid proper Zeal and Diligence in the Work of Life. (Ecclesiastes 9:10.) We may dwell upon the dark things of life until we are driven to despair, and despair paralyses effort. Weak hands and feeble knees accompany melancholy. Whatever be the tendencies and issues of things—the ultimate solution of this mystery—we have great practical duties to perform.
1. We should accept the task and duty lying nearest to us. It is in vain to sit still and wait for some congenial task to fall in our way. There are duties enough lying to our hand. No man has need to be idle for lack of a task.
2. We should be earnest in our work. The most exalted natures are distinguished by the highest activity—God, who works in and through all—the angels, who are quick and strong to do His will. Throughout the whole course of nature we observe unwearied activity. Creation preaches to us, saying, be earnest. The illustrious names of history who have won a distinction that will never die exhort us to industry. Such is the price we have to pay for all possessions that are of true and abiding worth.
3. We have a strong motive for such earnestness. Whatever may lie before us in the future, there are certain kinds of work which can only be done in this world. While the work is before us and our faculty is fresh, all is fluent to our hands; but when our life’s day is ended, all becomes rigid—fixed in the solemn stillness of eternity! There are forms of work and of knowledge which are only possible here. If we disregard them, there will be no chance afforded us to repair the omission. Even Christ himself, during his earthly sojourn, came under this law. There was a work which even He could do only in this world. (John 9:4.) He felt that in His mortal day His allotted task must be accomplished. The grave is the dark terminus of our earthly work.
III. They do not Destroy our Hope of Reward. From the appearances of this life we may draw the hasty conclusion that there is no reward for goodness hereafter, no vindication of suffering innocence. It seems as if this troubled drama of human history must repeat itself endlessly throughout the ages. But we have to reflect,
1. That we stand in a present relation to God. If we are good in His sight, He accepts our works now. He receives them as the homage of our gratitude, and pieces out our imperfections with His goodness. We may well hope that that goodness has provided for us the larger gift of immortality. God will not permit us to know Him and work for Him through the brief space of life, and then blot us out of existence for ever.
2. We have reason to hope that we shall stand in a future relation to Him. If we can say with the Psalmist, “O God, Thou art my God” (Psalms 63:1), we may well hope that He shall be our portion for ever, that He shall redeem us from the power of the grave. The majesty of God requires that He shall make His servants rich, not only by the bestowal of gifts by which they serve Him, but also in the heritage of eternal life, so that they may serve Him for ever. Therefore, though the way be dark, we can have light enough for duty; and unfading hope to assure us that there is for us a higher service in other worlds.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Ecclesiastes 9:7. The mystery of God’s moral Government should not render our sight insensible to the impressions of His goodness, the proofs of which are full and manifest.
The Almighty Maker of all things intended that the beauty of His works should make an appeal to mind and heart. In like manner, He intends that the gifts of His hand should awaken in us the emotions of gratitude and joy.
When God accepts our works, the commonest actions of our life become sanctified.
Though faith be sorely tried by appearances, yet God is on the side of the righteous, giving them tokens of acceptance and reserving greater things for them.
We must learn to live before we can live rightly and well. With us, “that which is natural” forces itself upon us as our first care. Afterwards that which is spiritual. Wherefore those ordinary gifts of Providence by which we are constantly delivered from death deserve the instant tribute of our praise and joy.
Moses putting his hand into his bosom took it out leprous, putting it again into his bosom, he took it out clean. The hand is the instrument of working, and the works of man are sometimes leprous and unsound, sometimes healthy and good. If they proceed from a sincere and honest heart, which God approveth, then they are sound and healthy; but if they come from a corrupt heart, and be done for the pleasing of men, then they are leprous and unsound. Now it is a healthy and sound body that is fittest for mirth and freest in mirth, it is a healthy and sound body that eateth and drinketh most cheerfully. Wherefore seeing where God accepteth thy works, there is health and soundness, let there also be freeness of joy and mirth [Jermin].
Ecclesiastes 9:8. Cheerfulness should be the soul’s habit, and joy the prevailing expression of the soul’s countenance.
God gives His people the oil of joy to assuage their grief, and fits them for the feast of His pleasures by the garments of praise.
The notion of pleasure seems invariably associated with the practice; and it was aptly indicated by the richness and freshness, and, in many cases, by the aromatic fragrance, of the balsamic unguents. “Let thy head lack no ointment” is equivalent to—Rejoice in the bounty and loving-kindness of the Lord; “let not thy heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” And the expression “let thy garments be always white” is of the same account with the Apostolic exhortation, “Rejoice evermore!” Take the enjoyment of whatever the hand of a kind Providence bestows, with a grateful and cheerful spirit; not with selfishness or extravagance, or thoughtless mirth; but with benevolence and sobriety, and with that true joy which is independent of the possessions of time, which, coming from above, infuses into the things of earth a relish of heaven, and would continue to be the inmate of the pious soul, though they were all removed [Wardlaw].
Christ was anointed with the oil of joy, although he lived under the shadow of a great calamity. All noble souls have a deep and intimate joy which no disasters can dislodge.
Ecclesiastes 9:9. The disciples of wisdom affect no refinement beyond the ordinances of God.
We should joyfully use those solaces which God’s Providence has provided for us as a peaceful retreat from the tumultuous scenes of life.
“Here love his golden shafts employs, here lights
His constant lamp, and waves his purple wings—
Here reigns and revels” [Paradise Lost].
The moral character of nations is determined by the purity and integrity of domestic life. The home is the support, the forerunner, the very material of the State and Church. The righteous man, by beautifying and sanctifying home, is the real safety and hope of his country.
We should look upon the joys of domestic life as the earthly reward of our labour, our measured portion of happiness here, and the gift of God.
The sense of time fast speeding on to eternity hangs over the most endearing scenes of life, and at times touches thoughtful minds with overwhelming emotion.
By the repetition of the last words we are expressly taught that, in the midst of the vanity and travail with which human existence is burdened, we are pressingly summoned not to seal up the sources of enjoyment which still remain open to us [Hengstenberg].
The consideration of the vanity and shortness of their life, and of the miseries incident to it, though it should not provoke them to excess of sensual delights, yet it should incite them to a more cheerful use of these comforts, that, seeing their time is short, they may have the more strength and encouragement to serve the Lord cheerfully. For while Solomon is pressing upon men a cheerful and free use of outward comforts, he minds them twice of the vanity of their life, which, in the midst of these things, they are ready to forget, and makes the same a reason pressing the cheerful use of their allowance [Nisbet].
Ecclesiastes 9:10. The melancholy and gloom which deep thought awakens is dissipated by the active exertion of our powers in duty.
Whatever is dark and mysterious in man’s present state, his work, and the obligation to perform it, are quite clear and evident. It is better to spend his energy upon what is certain than to torment himself with the pain of speculation.
That the opportunity is short is a motive for diligent exertion in our work, but not the strongest motive; which the notion of our state hereafter, depending upon our work here, alone supplies. Therefore this exhortation requires, though it does not formally state, the doctrine of a future life.
Death is truly an unclothing of man, who, though his being is continuous, must put aside what he cannot resume again. There are duties to be performed, talents and powers to be used, which are peculiar to the present state; they must altogether be put off with our mortal life.
Though sustained by immortal hope, it is salutary to reflect upon the physical side of death, and learn from thence diligence in the duty of the moment, or even console ourselves by the melancholy prospect of its long repose. Whatever the state of the dead may be, it is certain that it is night to us, as far as some kinds of work and modes of knowledge are concerned.
Nothing that has been neglected here can be attended to there. If we fail to perform a duty in this life, there will be no opportunity of performing it in the place of the dead. If we have errors to confess, or wrongs to repair—if we have any bad influence to undo, or any good influence to employ—if we have any evil habits to unlearn, or any gracious tendencies to cultivate, now is the time [Buchanan].
Man’s characteristic is restlessness; restlessness foretells his immortality; and a sluggard by his apathy seems to destroy the mark, and silence the prophecy. But if confined to other things, indolence may not be absolutely fatal; the indolent man may have wealth which secures him against want; and by the occasional exercise of rare talents he may, in spite of habitual sluggishness, even attain to some measure of distinction. But an indolent Christian—it is a sort of contradiction—Christianity is industry spiritualised [Melvill].
Diligence in our earthly and heavenly callings is the surest way through mystery and darkness up to God.