The "Better" of Ecclesiastes Helps Us Read Proverbs

I recently finished teaching through Ecclesiastes for the second time. As I taught through it, I appreciated anew the spiritual depth to which this work leads us, and how vital its wisdom is for living as God’s covenant people this side of Genesis 3. In fact, I asserted over and over that Ecclesiastes is an expansive meditation on Genesis 3:17-19. Much of how I taught Ecclesiastes stayed the same as when I went through it with a different congregation five years ago. There is one aspect to Ecclesiastes, however, that I realized this time around was key to a proper understanding of biblical wisdom, and, in particular, the book of Proverbs.

The element of Ecclesiastes to which I am referring is the concept of “better.” It’s just “good” in the Hebrew (טוֹב), but “gooder” has never taken root in the English language, despite the best efforts of all of us in the first years of learning the language.

Ecclesiastes opens with the statement הֲבֵל הֲבָלִים, variously rendered “absolute futility” (CSB, the translation I’m using in this post), “meaningless! Meaningless!” (NIV), “everything is meaningless” (NLT), and, most popularly, “vanity of vanities!” This is the seemingly senseless repetition of the days of our lives that is all undone and must be done again, over and over. It is the reality that “what is crooked cannot be straightened” (1:15), and that it is God Who has done the twisting (7:13). The cursing of creation in Genesis 3:17-19 (see also Romans 8:20) set up the comprehensive and total frustrating of every human being on the face of the earth. Human beings were created to “rule” (Genesis 3:26) and “subdue” (3:28) creation, but, after the Fall, God caused creation to resist and war against human beings. To live in this world is to live frustrated. All that we do is temporary and must be endlessly done again. Having just moved to southwest Missouri from southwest New Mexico, the “absolute futility” for my family is mowing. By the time we finish mowing the property, we already see signs that we will need to be mowing again very soon. It must be done, but there is no endurance to the results of our effort. And God is the One Who has decreed it.

Believe it or not, this “absolute futility,” this twisting of all creation to fight against beings made to subdue creation, is an act of grace.

If all done “under the sun” wasn’t endlessly futile, I wouldn’t seek an eternal satisfaction in the only One Who can provide that for me. If, after the Fall, the creation yielded perfectly to me, I would create a substitute heaven here, and wouldn’t long for the one created for me in eternity by my Jesus.

My frustration here for a few brief moments of life is promised to be utterly eclipsed because of the re-making that Christ will bring about.

But, as a child of God in Christ, I am still in this world, still daily moving through this “absolute futility.” How then shall we live? The answer of the wisdom works of the Bible is found, at least in part, with the idea of “better.”

“There is nothing better for a person than to eat, drink, and enjoy his work. I have seen that this is from God’s hand” (Ecclesiastes 2:24).

“I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and enjoy the good life” (3:12).

“I have seen that there is nothing better than for a person to enjoy his activities because that is his reward” (3:22).

“Better is one handful with rest than two handfuls with effort and a pursuit of the wind” (4:3).

“Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their efforts” (4:9).

“Better is a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer pays attention to warnings” (4:13).

“Better than you do not vow than that you vow and not fulfill it” (5:5).

“A good name is better than fine perfume…” (7:1a).

“It is better to listen to the rebuke from a wise person than to listen to the song of fools” (7:5).

“…a live dog is better than a dead lion” (9:4b).

“Wisdom is better than strength” (9:16a).

“Wisdom is better than weapons of war” (9:18a).

There are plenty of other verses that carry a similar idea without using the language. While we cannot undo the twisting of creation, we are nonetheless called to daily attempt to bring it into order (we can’t help it…it’s hard-wired into us). Ecclesiastes is written by “the Teacher, son of David” (1:1), who concludes that all true wise “sayings are given by one Shepherd” (12:11). The book begins and ends leading us to the final “the Son of David,” Jesus Christ, Who is also our “Teacher” and “Shepherd.” How do we walk through this world as citizens of another without falling into a paralyzed fatalism?

“Better.”

With “better” are not promises of “best” or the total undoing of “absolute futility”; in fact, there are no this-world promises at all with “better”! As the people of God in this twisted world, though, it is “better” for us to live in obedience to God’s wisdom than otherwise. Will we still have to deal with the consequences of living in this “absolute futility”? Yes. Ask Job. But following the Lord’s Spirit-given wisdom in the Scripture is “better” than doing otherwise.

Here’s what I realized this time around in Ecclesiastes: this doctrine of “better” helps us rightly read Proverbs. We tend to read Proverbs as a series of iron-clad promises. Wisdom literature doesn’t speak in iron-clad promises, though. Wisdom literature speaks honestly and deeply about living as God’s children in a fundamentally messed-up world. We are called to the “better” of God’s wisdom, recognizing that everything will fall apart on a daily basis, and that all things in this world are temporary.

I can give one illustration: “Start a youth out on his way; even when he grows old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6). How many parents do we know that did all they could to bring up children “in the training and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4) only to see them wander as far away from it as possible? How many, reading Proverbs 22:6 as some sort of guarantee, therefore beat themselves up because of feelings they must have failed, given the result?

When we plug the “better” of Ecclesiastes into our reading of Proverbs, something helpful happens.[1] The world cursed by sin doesn’t go away, but a way of living “better” than eating thorn sandwiches appears. It is God’s way in Christ, Who is the fullness of God’s wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:24,30; Colossians 2:2,3). If trusting Jesus exempted us from a daily living in the “absolute futility,” it wouldn’t be long before we would decide we didn’t need him, heaven, or a resurrection. Instead, we are reborn by faith in Jesus Christ, but still find ourselves beating back the thorns in a million areas in our lives. But we do it, not only because we can’t help but do it, but because we are doing it in Christ, Who leads us to push back briars in a way “better” than the world does it.

There is a beautifully hopefulness in this way: the “better” of today in Christ among the thorns will one day be eternally transformed into the infinitely, unimaginably “best” in Him. I can’t wait. But, until then, may we day-by-day continue on in this “absolute futility” walking in Jesus in the “better” that He has mapped out for us in this world.

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[1] For occurrences of “better” in Proverbs, read 3:14; 8:11,19; 12:9; 15:16,17; 16:8,16,19,32; 17:1; 19:1,22; 21:9,19; 22:1; 25:7,24; 27:5,10; 28:6. Beyond just the actual instance of the word itself, I hope you see the principle I’m driving at!

A Call from His Heights

I’ve been preaching through Proverbs for a while now during our Lord’s Day evening service, and teaching through L. Michael Morales’ most excellent Who Shall Ascend the Mountain of the Lord? (InterVarsity Press, 2015) on Tuesday mornings. While Morales’ work focuses on the Pentateuch (especially Leviticus), the principles of biblical theology he highlights span the entire Bible. In this post, I want to examine a few places where the “mountain of the LORD” finds a thematic echo in Proverbs with the house of the Woman Wisdom at the top of the city and her call to join her for a feast in the heights.

“Does not wisdom call,
And understanding lift up her voice?

On top of the heights beside the way,
Where the paths meet, she takes her stand;
Beside the gates, at the opening to the city,
At the entrance of the doors, she cries out:
‘To you, O men, I call,
And my voice is to the sons of men.

O naive ones, understand prudence;
And, O fools, understand wisdom.
Listen, for I will speak noble things;
And the opening of my lips will reveal right things.
For my mouth will utter truth;
And wickedness is an abomination to my lips.
All the utterances of my mouth are in righteousness;
There is nothing crooked or perverted in them.
They are all straightforward to him who understands,
And right to those who find knowledge.
Take my instruction and not silver,
And knowledge rather than choicest gold.’
(For wisdom is better than jewels;
And all desirable things cannot compare with her.)

‘I, wisdom, dwell with prudence,
And I find knowledge and discretion.
The fear of the Lord is to hate evil;
Pride and arrogance and the evil way
And the perverted mouth, I hate.
Counsel is mine and sound wisdom;
I am understanding, power is mine.
By me kings reign,
And rulers decree justice.
By me princes rule, and nobles,
All who judge rightly.
I love those who love me;
And those who diligently seek me will find me.
Riches and honor are with me,
Enduring wealth and righteousness.
My fruit is better than gold, even pure gold,
And my yield better than choicest silver.
I walk in the way of righteousness,
In the midst of the paths of justice,
To endow those who love me with wealth,
That I may fill their treasuries.

The Lord possessed me at the beginning of His way,
Before His works of old.
From everlasting I was established,
From the beginning, from the earliest times of the earth.
When there were no depths I was brought forth,
When there were no springs abounding with water.
Before the mountains were settled,
Before the hills I was brought forth;
While He had not yet made the earth and the fields,
Nor the first dust of the world.

When He established the heavens, I was there,
When He inscribed a circle on the face of the deep,
When He made firm the skies above,
When the springs of the deep became fixed,
When He set for the sea its boundary
So that the water would not transgress His command,
When He marked out the foundations of the earth;
Then I was beside Him, as a master workman;
And I was daily His delight,
Rejoicing always before Him,
Rejoicing in the world, His earth,
And having my delight in the sons of men.

Now therefore, O sons, listen to me,
For blessed are they who keep my ways.
Heed instruction and be wise,
And do not neglect it.

Blessed is the man who listens to me,
Watching daily at my gates,
Waiting at my doorposts.
For he who finds me finds life
And obtains favor from the Lord.
But he who sins against me injures himself;
All those who hate me love death.’

Wisdom has built her house,
She has hewn out her seven pillars;
She has prepared her food, she has mixed her wine;
She has also set her table;
She has sent out her maidens, she calls
From the tops of the heights of the city:
‘Whoever is naive, let him turn in here!’
To him who lacks understanding she says,
‘Come, eat of my food
And drink of the wine I have mixed.
Forsake your folly and live,
And proceed in the way of understanding’” (Proverbs 8:1-9:6)

The false “wisdom” (see James 3:14-16) the “Woman Folly,” makes it her ambition to deceive through her imitation of  this ascended true wisdom:

“The woman of folly is boisterous,
She is naive and knows nothing.
She sits at the doorway of her house,
On a seat by the high places of the city,
Calling to those who pass by,
Who are making their paths straight:
‘Whoever is naive, let him turn in here,’
And to him who lacks understanding she says,
‘Stolen water is sweet;
And bread eaten in secret is pleasant.’

But he does not know that the dead are there,
That her guests are in the depths of Sheol” (9:13-18).

Notice the contrast between the message given “on a seat by the high places of the city” with the final result of that message: “…her guests are in the depths of Sheol.”

The same contrast between ambition-to-heights and Sheol is seen in the taunt of the king of Babylon:
“…you said in your heart,
‘I will ascend to heaven;
I will raise my throne above the stars of God,
And I will sit on the mount of assembly
In the recesses of the north.
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.’
Nevertheless you will be thrust down to Sheol,
To the recesses of the pit’” (Isaiah 14:13-15).

In the story of the tower in Babel, the LORD had to “come down” (וַיֵּרֶד, from יָרַד) to engage the builders (Genesis 11:5), implying that their place of construction was in a lower realm. In the same way, the woman Folly’s realm is a descending one toward Sheol:

“…the lips of an adulteress drip honey
And smoother than oil is her speech;

But in the end she is bitter as wormwood,
Sharp as a two-edged sword.
Her feet go down [יֹרְדֹות, from יָרַד] to death,
Her steps take hold of Sheol.
She does not ponder the path of life;
…her house is the way to Sheol,
Descending [יֹרְדֹות, from יָרַד] to the chambers of death” (Proverbs 5:3-6; 7:27).

In the other Wisdom literature of the Old Testament, the “heights” are known as the domain of God:

·        “Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven,
And my Advocate is on high” (Job 16:19).

·        “Dominion and awe belong to Him
Who establishes peace in His heights” (Job 25:2).

·        “And what is the portion of God from above
Or the heritage of the Almighty from on high?” (Job 31:2).

In the Song of songs, the lovers either dwell on mountains and descend to meet, or are compared to mountains.

·        “‘Listen! My beloved!
Behold, he is coming,
Climbing on the mountains,
Leaping on the hills!
My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag.
Behold, he is standing behind our wall,
He is looking through the windows,
He is peering through the lattice.

My beloved responded and said to me,       

“Arise, my darling, my beautiful one,

And come along”’” (Song of songs 2:8-10).

·        “O my dove, in the clefts of the rock,
In the secret place of the steep pathway,
Let me see your form,
Let me hear your voice;
For your voice is sweet,
And your form is lovely” (Song of songs 2:14). How can we not hear an echo of Exodus 33:18-23 in this Song?

·        “Until the cool of the day
When the shadows flee away,
I will go my way to the mountain of myrrh [1:13; 3:6; 4:14; 5:1,5,13]
And to the hill of frankincense [3:6; 4:14]” (Song of songs 4:6).

·        “You are altogether beautiful, my darling,
And there is no blemish in you.
Come with me from Lebanon, my bride,
May you come with me from Lebanon.
Journey down from the summit of Amana,
From the summit of Senir and Hermon,
From the dens of lions,
From the mountains of leopards…
…a garden locked is my sister, my bride,
A rock garden locked, a spring sealed up…

…you are a garden spring,
A well of fresh water,
And streams flowing from Lebanon” (Song of songs 4:7,8,12,15). As the garden in Eden was built on a mountain and its river flowed downward to water the lower region (representing the “four corners” of the earth) in Genesis 2:10-14, the bride of this Song dwells on high in a garden whose spring flows down to lower realms.

·        “You are as beautiful as Tirzah, my darling,
As lovely as Jerusalem” (Song of songs 6:4).

The “heights” in the Psalms, too, are the domain of the LORD:
Psalm 7:7; 10:5; 18:16; 68:18; 71:19; 92:8; 93:4; 102:19; 144:7; 148:1.

The call of the “Woman Wisdom” in Proverbs to join her for a feast in the heights echoes the call from heaven in the Revelation to “come up here” (4:1; 11:12; compare with Exodus 24:12; 34:2).

This “Woman Wisdom” is a personification of “the wisdom from above” (James 3:17), given to those who “ask in faith without any doubting” (1:6), “coming down from the Father of lights” (1:17).

Jesus promises His disciples that a time will come when they are arrested and persecuted. They will not stand alone to give witness, but the Christ assures them that He Himself “will give…utterance and wisdom which none of your opponents will be able to resist or refute” (Luke 21:15). Where is Jesus while His disciples are standing trial for His “names’ sake”? From where will He give them “utterance and wisdom”? He is in the heights: “Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift your heads, because your redemption is drawing near” (21:27,28).

The “Woman Wisdom’s” call to join her in the heights points us to the gifting of the Father and Son from above. It is “in the Spirit” (given by the Father and Son from “on high,” Luke 24:49) that we are lifted up with the apostle to “a great and high mountain,” from which we meet the descending “holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God” (Revelation 21:10,11). This “city” is imagery for the Church, which is “the bride, the wife of the Lamb” (21:9). She is no mere piece of architecture, but a people. Us.

The Bible paints a single, glorious portrait of a return to a greater walled garden on the mountain of God, greater than the one from which we were exiled at the beginning of the story. Elements of this beautiful mural are found all over the Book, including the Wisdom Literature. May we catch glimpse of these, and may they, by the illumination of the Book’s Author, God the Holy Spirit, enrapture us to an elevated joy in what God has in store for His people.

Pueblo Mountain, north of Taos, New Mexico (2010)