Ecclesiastes 3 begins with the most famous poem in the book: “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” Birth and death, planting and harvest, weeping and laughing all have their appointed times. God “hath made every thing beautiful in his time,” and He has “set the world in their heart,” a longing for eternity that nothing on earth can satisfy. Solomon sees injustice and trusts that “God shall judge the righteous and the wicked.” And he looks honestly at death: man and beast “have all one breath,” and “all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.”
A study in Ecclesiastes 3 · Arthur Baldwin · StandUp4Jesus.Org · 14 min read
A Time To Every Purpose
“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.”
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
Fourteen pairs of opposites, twenty-eight “times.” They cover the whole range of human life, from birth to death, from war to peace, from tears to dancing. Solomon is not telling us to do all these things. He is describing the world as it is: life moves through seasons, and none of them lasts.
For someone living only “under the sun,” that is a frightening thought. We do not control the seasons. We cannot choose the time of our birth or death, and we cannot keep the joyful seasons from ending. But for someone who knows God, the same truth is a comfort. The seasons are not random. There is “a time to every purpose,” and the One who sets the times is good. “My times are in thy hand” (Psalm 31:15).
Some of the pairs speak to daily wisdom. “A time to keep silence, and a time to speak.” There are moments when a word of truth must be spoken, and moments when silence is kinder and wiser. “A time to weep, and a time to laugh.” Faith does not require us to pretend that grief is not grief. Jesus wept at a friend’s tomb (John 11:35) before He called him out of it.
Beautiful In His Time
“What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth? I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it. He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end. I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life. And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God. I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him. That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past.”
Ecclesiastes 3:9-15
“He hath made every thing beautiful in his time.” Even the hard seasons have their place in God’s design. We often cannot see it at the time. But the whole pattern, seen from God’s side, is beautiful.
“Also he hath set the world in their heart.” The Hebrew word here, olam, usually means “eternity” or “for ever.” God has placed a sense of eternity inside every human heart. That is why nothing temporary can satisfy us, and why Solomon’s pleasures and possessions left him empty. We were made for more than time. And yet “no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.” We feel eternity, but we cannot see the whole plan. That is where faith comes in.
Then comes a contrast with everything Solomon had built. His works would be forgotten and given away. But “whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it.” God’s purposes do not change or fail.
“But though individuals and peoples may thus separate themselves from Him, His purpose for those who trust Him is unchanged. ‘Whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever.’ Ecclesiastes 3:14. While there are different degrees of development and different manifestations of His power to meet the wants of men in the different ages, God’s work in all time is the same.”
Ellen G. White · Education, p. 50
And the purpose of it all: “God doeth it, that men should fear before him.” Reverence for God is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10), and it will be the conclusion of this whole book (12:13).
God Shall Judge The Righteous And The Wicked
“And moreover I saw under the sun the place of judgment, that wickedness was there; and the place of righteousness, that iniquity was there. I said in mine heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked: for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.”
Ecclesiastes 3:16-17
Solomon had been a judge himself; his wisdom in judgment was famous (1 Kings 3:16-28). Now he admits that even in the courts, “wickedness was there.” Justice under the sun is often bent.
But he does not stop there. “God shall judge the righteous and the wicked: for there is a time there for every purpose.” Among all the seasons of verses 1-8 there is one more: a time of judgment. Human courts may fail, but God’s will not. Every wrong will be set right, and every unjust verdict reversed (Acts 17:31).
They Have All One Breath
“I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts. For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity. All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth? Wherefore I perceive that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his own works; for that is his portion: for who shall bring him to see what shall be after him?”
Ecclesiastes 3:18-22
These verses speak plainly about death. As far as death itself is concerned, “that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts… as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath.” The Hebrew word for “breath” here is ruach, the same word translated “spirit” in verse 21. It is the breath of life that God gives to every living creature (Genesis 7:22). When it is withdrawn, man and animal alike return to the dust: “all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again,” just as God said to Adam, “dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return” (Genesis 3:19).
Solomon is not saying that people are no more than animals. Man alone was made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). But he is saying that man has no natural immortality. Death is real death for us, as it is for them. The Bible never teaches that a conscious soul slips out of the body at death and carries on living. That idea came from pagan philosophy, and before that from the first lie in Eden.
“And the declaration of the serpent to Eve in Eden—‘Ye shall not surely die’—was the first sermon ever preached upon the immortality of the soul. Yet this declaration, resting solely upon the authority of Satan, is echoed from the pulpits of Christendom and is received by the majority of mankind as readily as it was received by our first parents.”
Ellen G. White · The Great Controversy, p. 533
“Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward?” Solomon asks this “under the sun,” from the limited view of what human eyes can see. Looking at a grave, no one can tell any difference. At the end of the book he gives the answer that revelation supplies: “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it” (12:7). The breath of life returns to its Giver. It is not a conscious person floating away, but the life God lent, taken back until the resurrection, when He will give it again.
“The doctrine of natural immortality, first borrowed from the pagan philosophy, and in the darkness of the great apostasy incorporated into the Christian faith, has supplanted the truth, so plainly taught in Scripture, that ‘the dead know not anything.’”
Ellen G. White · The Great Controversy, p. 551
Solomon ends the chapter where chapter 2 ended: rejoice in your work, “for that is his portion.” Receive today’s life as a gift, because “who shall bring him to see what shall be after him?” The Preacher cannot see past the grave from under the sun. But we can see further, because Christ has come back from beyond it. “Because I live, ye shall live also” (John 14:19). The God who sets the times has also set a time for the resurrection.
