401(k)
What real value is there for a man in all the gains he makes beneath the sun? Ecclesiastes 1:3 NJPS
Value – What’s the point of life? That’s the Teacher’s question. If all of life is nothing more than a test for righteousness, why doesn’t the all-knowing God simply scoop up those who will prove to be worthy and get them out of this mess? If life is simply a practice for eternity, then why does it seem too cyclical and so unfair? Why should I just continue day after day if my living really won’t mean anything in the long run? If my fame will be forgotten, my fortunes dissipated, my legacy turned to ash, then why struggle with it all?
Ecclesiastes is a lecture on meaningfulness. Does careful examination of the human condition really lead us to conclude that life in general is meaningful, and that my life in particular has meaning? When we look at the full range of history, do we really matter? Koheleth, the Teacher, drives home this point with the use of the Hebrew word yitron. It really doesn’t mean “value,” as if we were speaking about financial or material gains. It is about the meaningfulness of labor, not wealth. Ecclesiastes isn’t a book for those with a big 401(k). It is a book for those who have ever asked, “Why am I working so hard? What’s the point?” “Toil, he believes, does not produce enough of real value to compensate for its misery. . . . If the unending labors of nature accomplish nothing new and lasting (1:4-11), surely no human exertions, however protracted or intense, can do so.”[1]
Koheleth’s analysis is worthy of consideration. Think about your life. Will it have made a meaningful difference in a hundred years? Will the efforts and struggles and anxiety that you go through today and tomorrow really change anything? Can you ensure that your posterity won’t waste away all you leave to them? Can you guarantee that your name won’t be lost, or worse, shamed? As the old Communist antagonist said in The International, “Reputation is far easier to keep than to recover.” Do you feel as if you are always on the edge of disaster? Do you wonder why life has to be this hard? Would it really matter if you didn’t do everything you thought needed to be done?
Ecclesiastes was written centuries ago, but it is the most contemporary book of the Bible. If we don’t have answers for Koheleth’s questions, we live unexamined lives. We exist, flowing along with the tide of humanity. But we don’t really live because we don’t really know what in the world we are about. Until you can answer that question, you don’t know what you are doing or why you are doing it.
Abraham Heschel converted Koheleth’s despair into a religious inquiry. He reformulated the question. “What does God demand of me?” God’s purposes move invisibly among the lives of men, especially among those who have never asked “Why?” The Bible doesn’t shy away from this terrifying question. Like all other experiences with the Holy God, the Bible confronts us. It does not console us until we have first struggled with our own insufficiency. Maybe Koheleth is asking you today, “Why? Why are you doing what you do? What is the real meaning of your life?”
Before you push on with the day, why don’t you take one minute and write down your answer? Or is that too scary to contemplate?
Topical Index: value, yitron, meaning, Ecclesiastes 1:3, Heschel, why
I am to glorify the LORD with all of my heart, all of my soul, all of my strength …
Now, let me go and sort out the kids’ room ….
Can anyone tell this dutch guy what is meant with ‘401(k)’?
401(k) is a tax-related self-retirement plan in the USA
Ah, now I understand. Thanks!
“For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? (Mark 8.36)
..”a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” (Luke 12.15)
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.” (Matthew 6.19,20)
“I also consider all these things a loss for the majesty of the knowledge of Yeshua The Messiah, my Lord, him for whose sake I have lost everything, and I consider it all as a dung heap, that I may gain The Messiah,” (Philippians 3.8)
When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.
Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God!
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.
See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?
His dying crimson, like a robe,
Spreads o’er His body on the tree;
Then I am dead to all the globe,
And all the globe is dead to me.
Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.
To Christ, who won for sinners grace
By bitter grief and anguish sore,
Be praise from all the ransomed race
Forever and forevermore.
Check out this modern version of Ecclesiastes dilmenna:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1MQaHQgqrY
“Setting Up the Pins” by Sara Groves
man in a silk tie heads downtown
setting up the pins for knocking ‘em down
people in cars all rushing around
setting up the pins
let’s get rich, find a way around
setting up the pins for knocking ‘em down
we’ll get gadget with a whirring sound
for setting up the pins
everyone everywhere some way some how
are setting up the pins for knocking ‘em down
you can find joy in the fertile ground
setting up the pins and knocking ‘em down
you can try to fight it till your anger drowns
setting up the pins
everyone everywhere some way some how
are setting up the pins for knocking ‘em down
it can feel simple but it’s really profound
setting up the pins
rent a tent, build a stage, throw a party, get a gown
buy a ticket, rent a car, pack a bag and leave town,
cook a dinner, clean the kitchen, hit the light
brush your teeth, read a book, say a prayer good-night
everyone everywhere some way some how
are setting up the pins for knocking ‘em down
it can feel simple but it’s really profound…
my grandmother had a working song
hummed it low all day long
sing for the beauty that’s to be found
in setting up the pins for knocking ‘em down
That should be ‘dilemma.’ 😀
Is Koheleth Solomon?
I don’t think so. Often ancient literature used the names of famous people to give authority to the work, but that isn’t the only reason to think that this is not really the work of Solomon.
So who is Koheleth?
“So who is Koheleth”
Hi MarkB,
I think there is a very important sense in which it does not matter who K was in “real life”
On the one hand, to understand any any literary text, we need to understand something about
– the historical background
– the language in which it is written
– the culture
– the literary conventions, etc
On the other hand, if you have read Peter Pan, you don’t have to know who the real Tinker Bell is
To appreciate the meaning of Tinker Bell, who is a magical, fictional, character
If we willingly suspend our disbelief, Tinker Bell comes “alive”
But if we don’t believe in her, she dies
For me, the Bible is a lot like that, and the stories “teach” me a lot more about the “meaning of life”
Than the laws, which had to be broken and obeyed for me to understand