Ecclesiastes 9-10

Ecclesiastes 9-10

Chapter 9: Time and Choice Happens to All Men

                Solomon believed in enjoying life as a gift from God. The world is finite, and sin has twisted life, making it something other than what God intended. Society honors many things above wisdom such as attractiveness, wealth, popularity, and success. Solomon believed that wisdom is the greatest asset even though it often goes unrecognized.

                “Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity [prideful, meaningless life]…” (Ecclesiastes 9:9) – (See Proverbs 5:18-20)

                Life is about getting married and having children… it is about spending your short life with someone that can enlighten you and make you a better person.

                “…Wisdom is better than strength: nevertheless the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard.” (Ecclesiastes 9:16)

                You don’t need money or fame to make you powerful and wise… even the simplest man can be filled with knowledge. This means that we need to listen to everyone and value their input.

Chapter 10: Fools Are Full of Words

                By describing circumstances that are unfair or don't make sense, Solomon is saying that wisdom alone can’t bring justice. Everything we have is nothing without God. But when he uses what little we have, it becomes all we could ever want or need. If you lack skills, you should sharpen them through training and practice. This will make you more effective for God's work.

                One particular verse really caught my eye… “A wise man’s heart is at his right hand; but a fool’s heart at his left.” (Ecclesiastes 10:2) I am not going to say it, but there is something political about this verse.

Proverbs 17-18

Proverbs 17-18

Chapter 17: Friends Forever

                “Whoso mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker: and he that is glad at calamities shall not be unpunished.” (Proverbs 17:5)

                I really love this verse, but when I read verses I often look at other translations of the same verse to see what kind of differences or possibly new interpretations of the verse exist. This particular verse had a different translation that I think really captured the message. The translation is from the Douy-Rheims Bible and is basically the same except; “…he that rejoices at another man’s ruin, shall not be unpunished.” Essentially we learn that we should never make fun of someone because of their social status and if we rejoice in seeing someone else suffer or be ruined (example: tricking them into paying you more money, taking advantage of someone) then those people will be punished for that.

                “He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends.” (Proverbs 17:9)

                This is another verse where I hate to say it, but I like the entire translation better than the King James Version, and I REALLY like the King James Version… “Love prospers when a fault is forgiven, but dwelling on it seperates close friends.” (New Living Translation of Proverbs 17:9) When we are forgiven by others or forgiven of sin, LOVE can prosper. If we dwell on things and never let them go it will ruin relationships.

                “A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.” (Proverbs 17:17)

                Friends and Family are important. True friends and “brothers” (which can be both friends and family) are there for each other… ALWAYS!

                “Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.” (Proverbs 17:28)

                Sometimes it is just better for us to keep our mouth shut and move on. We will probably look a lot more intelligent if we do so.

Chapter 18: Find a Wife

                “The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.” (Proverbs 18:8)

                In other words… we can say that the words of the gossiper or liar will come back to hurt the one telling the stories.

                “Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the Lord.” (Proverbs 18:22)

                Marriage is important in the eyes of the Lord. We must get married, instead of “living” with someone.

                “A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.” (Proverbs 18:24)

                If you want friends, you too must be friendly and keep the friendship going. Friendships that are not taken care of will eventually die off.

Proverbs 5-6

Proverbs 5-6

Scripture Thought (What I Learned): 

                Both Proverbs 5 and 6 have a very clear message that is directed towards men, but can easily be applied to women. That message is pretty simple; 1: Don’t fornicate or commit adultery; 2: Be careful who you marry or who you trust in general. People can deceive and have lying lips that appear to be sweet as ‘honey’ but once you partake the ‘sweet honey’ turns ‘bitter’; 3: Once you are married is important to stay married and ensure that both partners feel a strong connection on all levels that includes a very healthy sexual intimacy.

                I believe that all too often (especially in the LDS Church) that sex is talked about as something evil and perverted. Which is true if done outside of marriage, but in marriage it should be something that both husband and wife can have sexual fulfillment that will keep them from lust and sin. Eternal Marriage goes one step beyond traditional marriage in the sense that being married to someone who you can trust with your physical and spiritual life. Husband and wife should be a check and balance system to ensure that both return to our Heavenly Father and dwell in the Celestial Kingdom. God knew that man was weak, so he gave man the woman to keep man in check and ensure that we will return to live with him. Mankind in general is weak, and men and women sin. But if man and woman are bound together in Holy Matrimony they become ONE, just like God the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost are ONE, one in purpose.

Chapter 5: Don’t Divorce

                In this proverb we learn a lot about the importance of marriage to the right person. We also learn about the evils of the world and the ways that man can be tricked into evil ways.

                “…the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil:” (Proverbs 5:3)

                Essentially this is a warning to men who may get caught in the trap of lusting after a woman who may appear to have “lips of honey” and someone who is a “smooth” talker. She may appear to be sweet, but… “…her end is bitter… sharp as a twoedged sword… her steps take hold on hell… her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them.” (Proverbs 5:4-6)

                The counsel given in this proverb is very clear: “Remove thy way far from her…” (Proverbs 5:8)

                But the proverb continues to tell us who we should marry “Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth. Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love.” (Proverbs 5:18-19)

                Something very important to remember and take away from this Proverb… sex is not evil. Sex outside of marriage is evil. Those who are married should enjoy sexual intimacy between one another and if a healthy sexual relationship is balanced with all other activities of being married, spending time together, working through problems together, having children etc… then the marriage will be successful and filled with love. God does not want us engaging in sexual relations before marriage and wants to make sure that once we are married, WE STAY married. God does not like divorce.

Chapter 6: Seven things the Lord Hates

                This proverb lists seven things that the Lord hates (in my version of the Bible, which is the King James Version it tells me that there are ‘6’ things the Lord hates, I like to classify them as 7.

1.       “A proud look…” (Proverbs 6:17)

2.       “…a lying tongue…” (Proverbs 6:17)

3.       “…hands that shed innocent blood.” (Proverbs 6:17)

4.       “An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations…” (Proverbs 6:18)

5.       “…feet that be swift in running to mischief.” (Proverbs 6:18)

6.       “A false witness that speaketh lies…” (Proverbs 6:19)

7.       “…he that soweth discord among brethren.” (Proverbs 6:19)

God does not like sin, period. The laws don’t change, we either choose to follow them or we don’t. “For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life:” (Proverbs 6:23)

                Essentially the law is light, we can choose how much light we want in our lives by adjusting the amount we follow the commandments (our lantern), if we chose to not follow the commandments it is like not putting any oil (or batteries) in our lamp. If we chose to follow the commandments and fill our lantern with fresh oil or batteries then we can have more of the light. If we go against this WE WILL be left in the dark. We also have to understand that criticism and even chastisement is part of life and it occurs for our own learning.

                This proverbs ends by re-addressing what we learned from Proverbs 5; that is “…whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul.” (Proverbs 6:32)

                Committing adultery, or fornication (sex outside of the bonds of marriage) will be wounded and dishourned and will carry that sin for life (Proverbs 6:33)

                We must remember that “…jealousy is the rage of a man…” (Proverbs 6:34)