Ecclesiastes

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Ecclesiastes 11 – Skeptic's Annotated Bible answered

A response and reply to the notes on Ecclesiastes 11 in the Skeptic's Annotated Bible (SAB).

King James Version

SAB comment

My comment

1 Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.

"Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days." I don't know what this means, but it sure sounds cool.

Christians oftentimes have interpreted and acted upon this verse as to spread the gospel to many people and in many forms in the expectation of God's blessing upon all their different endeavors. And as John Gill comments on the casting of the bread:

bread is to be given to such as are in distress and affliction, that have waters of a full cup wrung out unto them, whose faces are watered with tears, and foul with weeping, from whom nothing is to be expected again, who can make no returns; so that what is given thorn seems to be cast away and lost, like what is thrown into a river, or into the midst of the sea; and even it is to be given to such who prove ungrateful and unthankful, and on whom no mark or impression of the kindness is made and left, no more than upon water; yea, it is to be given to strangers never seen before nor after, like gliding water ...

And he continues on “thou shalt find it after many days”:

not the identical bread itself, but the fruit and reward of such beneficence; which they shall have unexpectedly, or after long waiting, as the husbandman for his seed; it suggests that such persons should live long, as liberal persons oftentimes do, and increase in their worldly substance; and if they should not live to reap the advantage of their liberality, yet their posterity will, as the seed of Jonathan did for the kindness he showed to David: or, however, if they find it not again in temporal things, yet in spirituals; and shall be recompensed in the resurrection of the just, and to all eternity.

2 Give a portion to seven, and also to eight; for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth.

3 If the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth: and if the tree fall toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be.

4 He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap.

5 As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all.

6 In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good.

7 Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun:

8 But if a man live many years, and rejoice in them all; yet let him remember the days of darkness; for they shall be many. All that cometh is vanity.

However long you may live, enjoy your life to the fullest. But do not forget the dark days and know that the end is both certain and final.

The end is certain, but death is not the final thing. Solomon continues in the next verse: “but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.”

9 Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.

"Walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes." Should we follow after our own heart and eyes?

Solomon does not advice that we should walk in the ways of our heart, but he points out that if we do so: remember that God will judge. So this verse says exactly the opposite of how the author of the SAB chooses to read it. And to confirm his words, Solomon continues in the next verse with: “remove sorrow from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh,” because that is what “walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes” will be, both in this life and in the life after.

10 Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh: for childhood and youth are vanity.