East of Eden
Only this, I have found, as a real good: that one should eat and drink and get pleasure with all the gains he makes under the sun, during the numbered days of life that God has given him; for that is his portion. Ecclesiastes 5:17 NJPS
Real good – There are two views of what is good. One comes from Genesis; the other from Ecclesiastes. Micah sorts them out for us with his question, “What is good, O man?” But before we get to the prophet’s answer, we must struggle with God’s garden and Man’s gardening.
Eden is the place of God’s delight. In the perfect creation, God made a garden. It was not the creation of human hands nor the expression of human vision. It was God’s planned place of sheer exuberance. Everything in the Garden, including some things that men would probably have left out, plays an essential role in God’s definition of delight. But God’s intention was not a vacation timeshare. Part of delight in the Garden is work! Not the kind of toil that most of us experience but rather avad – the work/worship/serve combination that fills God’s perfect creation with our particular place in it. Avad produces joy.
We no longer live in the Garden. Qohelet reflects on that undeniable fact in his conclusions about life. Qohelet’s version of Man’s efforts outside the Garden is summarized in one common phrase: enjoy it while you can. For Qohelet, good also means enjoyment, but in his case this is enjoyment without worship. Qohelet has truncated avad. Service, yes. Work, yes. But worship? No. Qohelet’s view of what is good has been reduced to what provides pleasure in the fleeting moments between toil and death. Since there is no larger picture of the relationship between what I do and who God made me to be, there is only today’s relief from the bitterness of living.
You and I reside in Qohelet’s fields, east of Eden. But we don’t have to live there. We can listen to Micah and decide that what is good is not simply what gives us pleasure in between agony and anxiety. “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” In other words, we can turn the fields east of Eden into the Garden of delight. We can bring God back into the meaning of avad. Qohelet is a sad figure in the Tanakh. Necessary, to be sure, since we must struggle with alien residence. But sad because he isn’t able to affirm, confess or assimilate worship into everything he does. He is a man trying to sit on a two-legged stool.
I suspect you know a lot of the disciples of Qohelet. They are searching for some form of relief, some trace of enjoyment in a world of pressure, demands and despair. Perhaps you have been one of them. But now things are different. Now you know that the Garden is wherever you do what is good. Listen to Micah and start plowing.
Topical Index: Garden, delight, toil, avad, good, tov, Ecclesiastes 5:17, Micah 6:8
It is often about farming. Plowing, sowing, and reaping. “Don’t look back there is no whistle on a plow.” M J Booher.
Avad. Amen.
~and you (Abraham, Moses, David, Peter, Paul, Mary…) shall “avad” the LORD your Elohim with all your heart-soul-mind-and-strength. The “all” of all of you. (All of) You shall avad the LORD your Elohim with “all” the all of you.
How do we love G-d? – by loving (serving) others.. “Jesus-Others-You..”- what a wonderful way to spell joy. Now, today, – how may I serve/avad you? ~For the Son of man came not to be (avad) served, but to avad (serve) and to give His life a ransom for many..~
You and I reside in Qohelet’s fields, east of Eden. But we don’t have to live there. We can listen to Micah and decide that what is good is not simply what gives us pleasure in between agony and anxiety. “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”
Amen – and thank you for reminding me.
(Jan, I am in South Africa)
Dear brothers and sisters,
I simply MUST tell you! Overflowing joy fills my heart. For the first time since last summer laughter fills the rooms of our house once again this week. God is really restoring our family. Today my daughter, who rejected me completely, let me hug her. And when I stopped she asked me to do it again. You simply can’t imagine what this is doing to me as a father… I just want to Praise God! You are really so good to us! Just when I was completely at the end of my power and ability to do anything, He stepped in and did what I could not do: give reconciliation. Today is my day of thanksgiving. And I just had to share. Thank You, Abba, Father!
Yes! We praise You Father for your goodness to Kees and his family. Your Arm is not too short to reach us and rescue us in our time of utter desperation. You are mighty to save!
Thank you for sharing that good news with us, Kees. I am blessed to read of this.
Kees, this is truly amazing! I also rejoice, as Mary, with you. And indeed all praise to our Father who will not let go of a single sheep.
Kees Brakshoofden,
Rejoicing with you in the ongoing redemptive power of our King! Thank you for sharing this update. May the Father’s love continue to flow through you and to your family in amazing and abundant ways. Praying for the continuing overshadowing of the Most High upon you and your family.
Kees,
Thank you for sharing this! Isn’t it amazing when He does what is not humanly possible! Even though we ask for great things, nothing is too great for Him! What wonderful news!
Thanks be to God!
Hi Kees,
I just read your post from yesterday and wanted to share in your joy. Praise G-d for bringing laughter back into your home and for restoring your family. I rejoice with you.
May you all keep the focus and praise on Him. He will continue to direct your paths.
I have been amazed and perplexed by pulpit sermons lecturing on this particular passage and how wisdom granted by the Sovereign could have turned out so badly for Solomon. But this seems to make it clearer, that wisdom spoken is only truly wisdom as it is lived out. Wisdom mixed with idolatrous practice is foolishness. He sets up the ultimate example for us doesn’t he? DO as he says and not as he does. And it is very important to know what is being said in order to understand it. Thanks for clearing the mud from this one for me!
The Talmud tells a story of Rabbi Hillel, who lived around the time of Jesus. A pagan came to him saying that he would convert to Judaism if Hillel could teach him the whole of the Torah in the time he could stand on one foot.
Rabbi Hillel replied, “What is hateful to yourself, do not do to your fellow man. That is the whole Torah; the rest is just commentary. Go and study it.” (Talmud Shabbat 31a).
Sounds a lot like Jesus’ “Golden Rule”? But this idea was a fundamental part of Judaism long before Hillel or Jesus.
It is a common-sense application of the Torah commandment to love your neighbor as yourself (Lev. 19:18), which Rabbi Akiba described as the essence of the Torah (according to Rashi’s commentary on the verse). (from Judaism 101)
Hmmm
Sounds a lot like the song by the Byrds: Turn, Turn, Turn…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LSTc-5Fn_Y
And Ecclesiastes 3:8 “a time for loving”
Qohelet’s version of Man’s efforts includes loving, which I think is the greatest good 🙂
Michael,
we can always depend on you to give us song… 😉 the best thing about that video was seeing those 2 little hippie kids groovin – they probably made it to woodstock with their parents…
i just can’t get into loving everything – especially evil; i know the Word says to love our enemies & those who persecute us which is really hard to do but then it also says we are to hate evil like God hates evil/sin; isn’t an enemy evil (sometimes) & those who persecute us or others – isn’t that evil/sin??? if God said one thing & Jesus says another – did God change His mind about what He said & then told Jesus to say something different??? here again, i have always been taught or read that Jesus only says what the Father tells him to say: sometimes the Bible as we know gets confusing but it probably isn’t confusing in the Hebrew (if we just knew it/Hebrew to read it properly)…
jan
“if we just knew it/Hebrew to read it properly”
Hi Jan,
I think you are referring to an “eye for an eye”
Funny because on our way up to Snow Ranch to launch a home-made rocket yesterday
My son, who is a very logical, mechanically inclined, sort of guy (unlike his father)
Was telling me that “eye for an eye” had caught his attention and he liked the concept
And so I explained to him that, as I understood it, Jesus was a Jewish man
Who taught us to love our enemies as well as our neighbors
But that God operated on a different principle, “an eye for an eye,” metaphorically speaking
Because God, unlike us, is without sin 🙂
Michael,
no, i had never even thought about an eye for an eye – eye/i don’t really believe in the that concept nor practice it – that would be awful for all of us but some cultures do practice that law…
i’m not sure i understand what you mean by God operated(es) on a different principal – eye/i was not aware of that – and if Jesus does everything & nothing more than what the Father tells Him to do eye/i would think they are/were on the same page – you think?!?!?! 😉
jan
“if Jesus does everything & nothing more than what the Father tells Him to do eye/i would think they are/were on the same page – you think”
Hi Jan,
Well I would think they were/are “on the same page” in a parent-child relationship
And God sent Jesus to tell us humans that we should love our neighbors
But in the Talmud the concept of justice as “measure-for-measure” retribution (middah k’neged middah) refers to “divinely implemented justice”
Much like Newton’s Third Law, which states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction
In God’s order of things, you “reap what you sow”
Which seems very different than “loving your enemies”
To me, when it comes to God, everything seems very logical
But Jesus is neither God nor man, he is a man-god
Jesus is a walking contradiction
So while I would say that the Son and the Father are on the same page
They seem to operate as two very different characters in the Book
Solomon had the same problem you and I have. He shared with us the same enemies we now enjoy. Sin, Satan and Self. I will get me houses, I will get me women, I will get me song, I will get me wine, I will glory in what I have done..- after all.. – it is all about me- right? I, I, I..- (Ricky Ricardo syndrome)- a little narcissism anyone?
Self or the Savior? what’s it going to be Solomon? Choose you this day who will serve: ‘self ‘or the Savior? Whether a preacher, a pirate, a poet or a plumber- “you serve the LORD Christ..” (Colossians 3.24)
What happened to me? Where did “I” go? “I” saw something.. I have been to the “I” doctor and this was the cure for “me-ism” for you see (hopefully)..- “I” have been crucified with Christ- nevertheless “I” live, yet not I, but Christ..
If ever there were a kernel of sweet meat, the center, the core, the inner chamber,- change that will take place- it is found in these foursqare words: “not I but Christ..” (Galatians 2.20)
Kees.. Want to rescue your family and redeem and restore your relationships? “not I, but Christ..”
Carl, will Christ be LORD today? What is the will of my Father? -“not I, but Christ..” I may (also, now) say with my Savior, these very words and know them (experientially) to be true..- “I delight to do your will, my Father.” I (now) want to do what He wants me to do.. Hallelujah!- We are on the same page..- rightly related- He has my “yes.” I will do what You want me to do. I will go where You want me to go, I will say what You want me to say, I will think what you want me to think.. “LORD-(Master, Savior, Friend, Teacher, Redeemer, Shepherd) – “what will You have me to do?” We (all) must be transformed by the renewing of our minds.. We must love (avad) the LORD our Elohim with “all” our hearts-souls-minds-strengths and love (avad) our neighbors..(the ones who are near- now.)
~May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, that Your way may be known upon earth, Your saving power among all nations. Let the peoples praise You, O God; let all the peoples praise You! Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for You do judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. Let the peoples praise You, O God; let all the peoples praise You! The earth has yielded its increase; God, our God, has blessed us. God has blessed us; let all the ends of the earth fear Him!~
~Love (avad) one another with a pure heart- fervently~ ..~for you (all) serve the LORD Christ..” ~Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth, so that you have a sincere love for your brothers, love each other deeply, with all your heart~ (1 Peter 1.22)
Commanded to love? But I thought love was a choice!.. Yes!,- it is. (Amen)