Day 333: Ecclesiastes 4-6 | Read The Bible In A Year | Bible Study with Dr. Manny Arango

Welcome to the Bible department podcast powered by Arma. We are walking through the entire Bible in a year. You can go to the description or thebaldapartment.com to download a reading plan and join the journey. (upbeat music) Family, welcome to day 333 here on the Bible department. We are looking at Ecclesiastes chapters four, five and six today here on the podcast. If you have already done the reading, then you've got all the context you need to follow along this episode. Now, if you haven't done the reading today, gonna challenge you, stop this video, pause the audio, go get the reading done. I personally thoroughly enjoyed the reading today. Tons of one liners, tons of mic drop moments. I'll highlight a couple of those today in the episode, but I think the reading took me 10 minutes if that. And I really, really enjoyed it. I actually listened to it a couple times. And so like every day, I am here to give you context clues and then we're gonna get into some nerdy nuggets. Gotta try to give you as many as time allows. And then we're gonna leave off with a timeless truth. And I'm really, really excited about our timeless truth today. All right, so I'm gonna give you some context. And our context today isn't necessarily like historical or cultural context.

It's more like, where does Ecclesiastes fit in the entire framework of scripture context? And so big, big, big, big, big idea, okay? I got two big ideas to give you for Ecclesiastes as a whole and for interpreting Ecclesiastes. And the first is that there is a six part structure that's kind of hidden right here in the beginning of Ecclesiastes. So by tomorrow, we'll be at a turning point in the book of Ecclesiastes, okay? So chapter one, okay? Verse 12, all the way to chapter six, verse nine, kind of is one big section of Ecclesiastes. And then chapter six, verse 10, all the way to really 12 eight is what we would say like the second half of Ecclesiastes. So a big, dramatic change. And in this first part of Ecclesiastes, which starts out at chapter one, verse 12, and goes all the way to chapter six, verse nine, we are gonna get a refrain, a repeated phrase over and over and over again. You can probably guess what that refrain is. Before I tell you what the refrain is, I'll give you all the verses, okay? Ecclesiastes, we're gonna get it six times. We're gonna get this exact same phrase in Ecclesiastes chapter one, verse 17, two, verse 11, two, verse 17, two, verse 26, four, verse six, and six, verse nine. I'll say those again.

We're gonna get the exact same refrain in Ecclesiastes chapter one, verse 17, two, verse 11, two, verse 17, two, verse 26, four, verse six, and six, verse nine. I'm gonna read those verses for you. Ecclesiastes chapter one, K verse 17 says this, then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom and also of Madison folly, but I learned that this too is a chasing after the wind. Okay, a chasing after the wind. Let's read chapter two, verse 11 says this, yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was hevel, hevel, that Hebrew word is hevel. Meaningless is a really bad translation of that word, but the Hebrew word is hevel. Doesn't mean meaningless, it means vapor, it means smoke. Everything is vapor, everything is smoke. A chasing after the wind, nothing was gained under the sun. That phrase under the sun, gonna be very, very important. Chapter two, verse 17 says this, so I hated life because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is hevel, a chasing after the wind. Okay, chapter two, verse 26 says these words, to the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the center, he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God.

This too is hevel, meaningless, translated, but that's not a good translation. This too is hevel, a chasing after the wind. I'll realize if you're noticing a pattern. Okay, chapter four, verse six, than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind. And then finally, Ecclesiastes six verse nine. What is it gonna say? I wonder if it's gonna mention chasing after the wind. Well, ding, ding, ding, it is gonna say chasing after the wind. Chapter six verse nine of Ecclesiastes reads as follows. Better what the I see than the roving of the appetite. This too is a chasing after the wind. So six times in this opening section of the book, we're gonna get the repeated phrase chasing after the wind that everything is hevel. This too is hevel, hevel, hevel, hevel. Now, if you weren't here yesterday, let me just kind of catch you up to speed that the translation meaningless for the Hebrew word hevel is actually a pretty poor translation choice. One of the interpretive keys that unlocks the book of Ecclesiastes fours is when you begin to realize that the author isn't saying that life is meaningless. The author's saying that life is hevel. I don't know if you've ever tried to grab smoke or to grab vapor. You can't, you can't grab it. You can't manipulate it, you can't control it. And if the big idea for the book of Job

is that Yahweh can't be controlled, then guess what? The big idea for the book of Ecclesiastes is that life can't be controlled. That there is a randomness to life. There is a chance aspect to life that life cannot be controlled. I want you to think about Ecclesiastes and proverbs in tension with each other. Essentially, proverbs is a saying, "Hey, if you do this, this is what's gonna happen." And the author of Ecclesiastes is going, "Yeah, I did that, it didn't work." Like, no, life's not that simple. Life is complicated and life is hevel. Every time you go to grasp it to control it, it slips through your fingers because life cannot be controlled. Life's not meant to be controlled. It's meant to be lived. Life's not meant to be controlled. It's meant to be enjoyed. Life's not to be meant to be controlled. It's meant to be accepted. And there's a difference between living life, enjoying life and accepting life versus trying to steer life and control life. Life is not a steering wheel, it's smoke. And there's no handles on it, it's hevel, okay? So then it says, so this too is hevel,

a chasing after the wind. Now, every time we get a chasing after the wind is actually the end of a poem or a section, which means that this opening movement of Ecclesiastes is split into six parts, six parts. Now, this is fascinating because Ecclesiastes is going to give a commentary or a response to Genesis. Now, remember, Genesis is following a seven part creation narrative, okay? God does everything in seven days, okay? But man is created on day six. So by creating a six part poem here at the beginning of Ecclesiastes, there's this underlying phrase called under the sun, under the sun. Everything is hevel under the sun. Everything is hevel here on earth. Like when you take heaven out of the equation, everything is toil some and labor some when you take God out of the mix. Actually, Jesus is going to say a lot of the same ideas as Ecclesiastes. Guess what Jesus is gonna say? Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moss and rust can destroy and where thieves can break in and steal. But rather store up for yourselves treasures where? Not under the sun, but beyond the sun. Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven

where moth and rust cannot destroy what thieves cannot break in and steal. And so this repeated phrase under the sun, under the sun, under the sun, is supposed to get you as the reader to go. Now, wait a second, are we stuck here under the sun? And the answer to that is no. Because of the shed blood of Jesus, we have the promise of eternal life. And we are not, we're living here under the sun, but we're not living for under the sun. We're living for life beyond the sun. And when you take eternity out of you, then yeah, everything here is simply heavy. Hevel, it's vapor, it's vanity. It's dare I say meaningless. And so all of our toil, So, six sections in this opening movement because the author's really trying to show us, we are one short of God's ideal. God's ideal is seven, we're at six. Six, seven, not as joking. God's ideal is seven and we are stuck at six. That's honestly what's going on here. So, if you read Ecclesiastes and you're just kind of like, this can't be true. Well, it is true. It is a purely human perspective on life. And the goal is to say, man, I've got to add God to my life. I've got to add a seventh element

to kind of perfect and complete what's happening. So, six is the number of man. Seven is the number of completion. And numbers have Biblical importance. And so, what's happening in this opening movement of Ecclesiastes is the author wants you to compare what they're saying to the ideal that we have in Genesis. Here's the next thing, and all of our nerdy nuggets are really going to focus on work and toil. We're supposed to be comparing Ecclesiastes to an Edenic ideal where Adam and Eve are two workers in a garden, two workers, two people who are given work to do. And the reality of the situation is that since the fall, since Genesis three, we still have work to do, but we have work to do in the context of imperfection, not perfection. And so, Ecclesiastes is going to offer tons of wisdom on our toil, our toil, our labor, some toil, our work, our jobs, okay? And so, with that context, let's dive into our nerdy nuggets. Sambley, the weight is over. My brand new book, "Crushing Chaos," is out now and available everywhere books are sold. Literally, today, I walked into a Barnes & Noble and I signed a bunch of copies at a physical location. So, you can grab this book at a physical Barnes & Noble or you can go to a books a million or Amazon or anywhere books are sold and grab a copy if you enjoy reading the Bible from an ancient perspective.

If you understand that the beauty of scripture is actually knowing it in context, then you'll love this book. And if there's any chaos in your personal life, I think that reading the Bible from an ancient perspective can actually help to crush the chaos in your life. I think this book is gonna be a New York Times bestseller. I really do. I think we wrote a good one. I think you should get a copy today. All right, back to the episode. Ecclesiastes chapter four versus one through three are all about oppression. And then we get to Ecclesiastes chapter four versus four through 16. This we're gonna spend the most of our time today. It's gonna give a commentary on four different kinds of work. So, let's go to Ecclesiastes chapter four and we're gonna start reading at verse four. Says this, "And I saw that all toil and all achievement spring from one person's envy of another. This too is heavy, chasing after the wind." So what is he saying? He's saying there's an ideal that God said in place for Adam and Eve, for how they were supposed to work. And it did not include envy or selfish ambition. And so, the moment that we allow work based on envy and empty ambition to drive us, to motivate us, man, you're building your life on,

you're trying to grasp smoke. This is not wise, okay? God's ideal was that you was never that you were trying to build your business because you were envious of another person's business. Or you're trying to build, you know, your marriage because you're envious of another person's marriage. And how much of our striving of our competing, of our toil is really based on envy and empty ambition. So that's the first thing that the author wants to challenge. Hey, this whole toil some, you know, part of life, the nine to five, the grind, like how much of it is built on envy? Like I'm not content with the house I have. I need a bigger house, therefore I need to work more hours and I need to become a workaholic. And now I don't spend time with my family. Why? Because it was all kind of fueled by envy and empty ambition. Okay, second, Ecclesiastes chapter four verse five, okay? If the author's gonna say that envy and empty ambition, But then in verse five, he's gonna add another dynamic. Fools fold their hands and ruin themselves. Wow, okay, that's laziness. Remember, a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest. Poverty will come on you, like a bandit, all right? That's what Proverb says. So the moment you see, fold, fold their hands. It's gonna say, man, hey, in the same way

that envy and empty ambition are gonna lead to an empty life. Guess what, laziness is also an issue, okay? Lasiness and the avoidance of work is a bad posture to have in life, unwise posture. Third, okay? So the author here has an issue with work that's based on envy and empty ambition. The avoidance of work totally and laziness is okay. That's also meaningless. That's heavy. But then verse six, okay? Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind. So what is the author saying? That being a workaholic is also not the goal for which Adam and Eve were placing the garden. They weren't designed for envy, empty ambition. They weren't designed for laziness. They weren't designed for workaholism. You see how the Bible is trying to steer us away from any extremes? Okay? And then fourth, what's the fourth issue that the author has with toil or work or are occupations, okay? Verse seven and eight says this. Again, I saw something meaningless. Where under the sun, this is not how this supposed to work in heaven. But this is how it works here under the sun.

When heaven's removed from the situation. This is how men do life. This is how men and women do life when God's not involved. There was a man all alone. He had not a son nor brother. There was no end to his toil. Yet his eyes were not content with his wealth. For whom am I toiling he asked? And why am I depriving myself of enjoyment? This to his meaningless, a miserable business. So what does the author have an issue with? The work of the lonely is the worst of all. If relationships are abandoned for the sake of riches, this is an issue. Now, historically this has been an issue of the industrial age, okay? In an agrarian society, fathers worked long hours, but they spent more time with their children. Because guess what? When you're working on the farm or you're working in an agricultural setting, your kids do the work with you. So your kids help you milk the cows and your kids help you harvest the corn and your kids are helping you. So it's the industrial age that forced men into factories. In the moment that men had to leave the home or leave the farm to go work into factories, it's the moment that men are now isolated from their families. Doing work and having to choose between family and work.

Where God's original design is integrated, okay? God didn't build a factory, built a garden. God's garden was designed for Adam and Eve to work it, to till it, but to do it with one another. And so I was watching this documentary on the Dallas Cowboys. And Jerry Jones was saying that he bought the Dallas Cowboys so that he could work with his children. Said, "I bought this team so I could work with my kids." And so when he bought the team, he called his son, called his daughter, said, "Quit your jobs. You're gonna come work for the Dallas Cowboys." And man, I looked at Jerry Jones and I said, this man just guilt-free, told everybody, I bought this team so that I could be a better father, so that I could be a better like family man. And you know, I've met so many pastors who get called all kinds of foul names because they hire their kids. It's nepotism, that's favoritism, that's this, that's that. You better believe it, buddy. Yeah, like Ecclesiastes is saying, the person who has to, look, listen to verse eight, there was a man all alone. He had neither son nor brother. There was no end to his toil, okay? Yet his eyes were not content with his well. He's having to sacrifice the relationship with his son and his brother in order to work. Who am I toiling he ask and why am I depriving myself of enjoyment?

This too, it's meaningless to miserable business. Then we get into the most famous lines or some of the most famous lines, okay? And this gets applied to marriage all the time but it's not really about marriage, it's about work. Now marriage is work, but you get what I mean, like actual employment, okay? And what does it say, two are better than one. The office now saying, "Hey, don't work alone. Don't work in a way that's isolated. Don't work and not be there for your kids or not to be there for your brother." Two are better than one because they have a good return for their toil or their labor. We're still talking about work. It's still what the office is talking about. You're not talking about marriage. Talking about work. If either of them falls down, one can help the other out, but pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Also if two lie down together, they will keep warm. How can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A chord of three strands is not easily broken. What Ecclesiastes is saying is that isolated work is actually not the best work. This idea of like, "Well, let me, let's leave me alone. Let me work by myself." That's actually not the way that God designed us to work. God designed us to work in teams. If I can move into our Thomas Truth, I'll say it this way. I've had to learn this the hard way. If you want to go fast, go by yourself.

But if you want to go far, go with a team. I have had to slow down so that I could go with a team. I have had to not work the way that I would naturally work so that I could go with a team. Elijah gave me these stats before the episode that the first three years of armour, man, I was a hot head. I had so many goals. I was trying to toil and achieve. I was trying to attain and accomplish. We went through, I think, 15 different employees in that three-year period. High turnover. I just kept blaming everybody. Nobody can keep up with me. Nobody can keep up with me. Nobody can perform at my standard. Then I decided, "You know what? The turnover is terrible for the culture." I decided as a leader, it's time for me to slow down. Let's toil less. Let's achieve less. Let's do less. You know what's funny? We've had no turnover in the last two years or significantly less turnover. Cam, who's in the studio with me, has been on staff with us for years now. Sarah just celebrated a year. Elijah's been with us for five years. Way less turnover. You know what's funny? In those first three years, while I was so frustrated, just trying to do it my way, the team would just listen to me and just do it my way. We would be okay if everyone would just have my capacity or work at my pace.

We could do this. We got to maybe a thousand subscribers. And then I switched the way that I worked. I decided, "You know what? I can't be the superstar who tries to score all the points by myself. I got to submit to some kind of a triangle offense. I got to submit to a system where my skills are actually best highlighted in the context of a team." And man, we went to 5,000 subscribers because the thing that I was trying to achieve, we would never accomplish it, trying to do it the way that I was trying to do it. And you know what I began to realize? The reason that two is better than one is because if one person accomplishes everything on their own, it's really just for their ego and for their pride. But when you begin to accomplish things as a team, oh man, you begin to realize, "Yeah, two really are better than one." And it's not my intelligence that wins the day. It's my ability to submit to the group. It's a random idea to the group to compromise, that actually makes us strong. It's funny, I was on staff in a church one time and literally the production director, the lighting guy posted this on Instagram. He said, "You know, the lights, when they let me do them by myself, and you know, it was beautiful. It was incredible." And then he posted another one that said, "The lights, when they make me involve volunteers." And it was just crappy and shabby. And I thought to myself, "Well, this guy needs Ecclesiastes, bad man, because two is better than one, two is better than one." Of course, it's not as good, but the reality of church is that church is a group project. And if you hate group projects and you're going to hate life, a group project always frustrates people who either want to, you know, put the weight on everybody else or take the weight

from everybody else. But at some point, you've got to realize two are better than one. And the way that we should be working is a lot like Jerry Jones. I bought the Dallas Cowboys so that I could work with my kids. And we should be the kind of leaders who relentlessly say, shamelessly say, shamelessly If I built this company, if I did all this stuff, but like, I didn't do it with my kids, I didn't do it with my wife, I didn't do it with a team, I didn't do it with a group of people that I can share the wins with. And that's not just true for Solomon in the book of Ecclesiastes, that's true for you, that's true for me. I hope the context, the nerdy nuggets, and the timeless truth help today in added value. Tomorrow, we've got day 334. We're gonna be looking at Ecclesiastes chapters 7, 8, and 9. I hope that Ecclesiastes is adding value. I hope that I'm, hopefully, I hope that I'm helping it to make more sense and not be depressing, 'cause it's not a depressing book. It's a book full of hope if you interpret it correctly. I'll see you tomorrow. I love you, I'm so proud of you. 'Til next time, peace! Thanks so much for joining us on the Bible Department podcast. And if this episode was helpful, how about you leave a comment, share with a friend,

and subscribe so that you never miss an episode. To learn more about the show, head to thebibledepartment.com. We'll see you right back here tomorrow.