The Solomon Project Ecclesiastes 3:16-22

See the earlier blogs on my approach to this blog. In short it is a blog concerned with the application of the biblical book of Ecclesiastes to people who suffer from addiction and compulsion, especially sexual addiction and compulsivity. This week we are dealing with Chapter 3 verses 16-22.

We would like to think that justice is blind in our country. All of us who have lived for any length of time know that it just isn't so. unethical lawyers and judges pervade our system. One of my clients now is serving time in what appears to be a twisted act of justice. As DNA testing is perfected inmates to be exonerated who have served time for crimes they didn't commit. Justice isn't perfect and as we find out from Ecclesiastes it never has been.

Ecclesiastes 3:16 reads: "And I saw something else under the sun: In the place of judgment--wickedness was there, in the place of justice--wickedness was there." (Ecc 3:16 NIV) The author, I think Solomon personally, not only saw that there was wickedness in the judgment but also wickedness in the justice. The verdict was perverted and the sentencing was as well. Solomon holds out hope though that it will all be made right. He adds: "I thought in my heart, "God will bring to judgment both the righteous and the wicked, for there will be a time for every activity, a time for every deed." (Ecc 3:17 NIV) Hearkening back to the beginning of the chapter he presents the concept that there is an appropriate time for everything including the leveling out process of justice. As we think about justice as addicts and compulsive people we want justice for ourselves. We many times feel that we have been wronged. This is part of the process of recovery. One of many sections of the road on the pathway to healing. What we don't realize is that we may not always want the justice we deserve as well. We have wronged others. Other individuals we have been in close relationship with, spouses and almost all we have touched in an intimate way, including friends and relatives. There is an appropriate time for justice but also a time for forgiveness and grace. In our efforts to avoid dealing with our own difficulties and pain we sometimes set out to reform the world, working tirelessly to reform others or society. These things can be good but not at the expense or searching and fearless moral inventory (step 4).

Solomon now turns to the human condition apart from anything good or bad, done or not done--death. He says in verse 18-20: "I also thought, "As for men, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals (v. 18)." Man's fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; man has no advantage over the animal. Everything is meaningless (v. 19). All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return." (Ecc 3:18-20 NIV) God's judgment on all living things is appropriate and final and equal--all die. The first part of the chapter has argued for beauty in the plan of God's timing. Injustices bring that appropriateness into question. Solomon brings forth the argument that all living things face the same fate. A fate I might add that came from the actions of Adam and Eve in the garden. The historical significance of this incident from the book of beginnings is not lost on an intelligent man like Solomon. This presents a sobering thought for us. Addicts and compulsive people tends to live as if there is no marking of time. They never get old. All that matters is that the addiction/compulsion gets energized and acted out (notice I did not say it is satisfied!) This passage tells us that we will die one day. Existentialist thinkers have presented in their writings the concept that one is not ready to fully live until one is fully ready to die.

Solomon then presents a rhetorical question: "Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?" (Ecc 3:21 NIV) He does not expect an answer here. There is no observable answer. When one dies, regardless of whether it is a human being or an animal, the "lifebreath" leaves them. It is the same for all. That life force says Solomon cannot be seen we do not know whether it goes upward or downward. It is conceivable that at this time in the intellectual history of the Jewish people such philosophical questions may have been entertained but certainty eludes us. "under the sun," her on earth. there is no empirical data that will tell us for certainty where the spirit of men or animals goes.

"So I saw that there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work, because that is his lot. For who can bring him to see what will happen after him?" (Ecc 3:22 NIV) "This is a variation on a theme. When we reach life's conundrums turn from the sobering realities of injustice and enjoy life. Here he says enjoy work. Some of us will see life as a problem to be solved rather than a mystery to be lived (Bradshaw, Healing p. 104-5). Solomon brings us back to a our place in the world to make sense of all of this. We allow God to have his place and we take our rightful place. Enjoying fulfilling work. Addicts live in a certain sense of excess and deprivation. True enjoyment escapes the addict. Those things that would be good for him to partake in he dismisses. They get in the way of acting out and compulsive behavior. Deprivation becomes part of the routine because acting out compulsively take effort and focus. Things lost on more meaningful, appropriate, and beneficial behaviors. Our time is up for today. Keep coming back it works if you work it and you're worth it.