Ecclesiastes 9:13 – 10:20 Group notes

Read 9:13-16

Although God is mentioned by in Ecclesiastes 9:13 – 10:20, God’s truth is found in this. We also see a glimpse of Jesus – a wise man saves many lives, yet isn’t recognised or rewarded by the world because he doesn’t fit our preconceptions of what a saviour should look like.

Q1: Where else in the do we see images or predictions of Jesus? Q2: Why does the include sections that don’t talk about God? Q3: Why is it important to see the beauty of God and the Gospel before striving to live in line with it? How can we do this?

Wisdom = “judgment based on eternal and significant factors.” Folly = “judgement based on temporary and superficial factors.”

Read :2 Read Proverbs 9:10

Ecclesiastes 10:2 refers to the Israeli tradition that the right hand, dominant for 80% of us, is associated with strength, honour and favour (and the left hand with the opposite). What it is saying is that begins in the heart. A wise heart, concerned with eternal and significant matters, will love and trust and fear God.

Q4: In your own words, what is the eternal and significant purpose for which God has created us? Q5: What temporary and superficial factors can pull us away from this purpose? Q6: Why is the heart important in wisdom? Q7: Why is the fear of the Lord important in wisdom? Q8: How would you describe the fear of the Lord?

Read Ecclesiastes 10:1

Flies are small, and can ruin the ointment without anyone realising they are there until it is too late. Solomon is comparing folly to flies; it can ruin everything before you realise it is there.

Today is the day to swat a fly; to break an unwise habit that is gratifying your appetite for the temporary and superficial, at the expense of the eternal and significant plans of God.

Q9: In your experience, does wisdom outweigh folly, or folly outweigh wisdom? Why? Q10: Why is important to tackle sin and foolishness before they gain a hold on your life? Q11: If you are comfortable, this is an opportunity to share with your small group an area of folly which you want to surrender to God. Discuss how you can support each other in pursuing wisdom and avoiding folly.

Read Ecclesiastes 10:4-20

Ecclesiastes 10:4-20 contains proverbial wisdom – Solomon addresses a wide range of topics in no particular order. A lot of the wisdom discusses rulers; this reflects Solomon’s position in society, but the wisdom is still applicable in our context.

Q12: How can the Bible be a timeless book for all of God’s people if it was written by people from specific cultures? How should we apply the message of the Bible in 21st century Bedford? Q13: What is the message of:

• v4 on perseverance • v5-7 on chance and injustice

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Ecclesiastes 9:13 – 10:20 Group notes

• v8-9 on danger and realism • v10 on preparation • v11 on taking action promptly • v12-14 on listening and speaking • v15 on hard work • v16-18 on responsibility to one another • v20 on forgiveness and reconciliation?

Q14: Many of these Proverbs are hard to understand at a first reading. What do you do when you struggle to understand a passage in Scripture? Q15: God wants us to be concerned with eternal and significant matters. How does this wisdom help us with this?

Read Ecclesiastes 10:19

C.S. Lewis: “The Christian says, 'Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim: well, there is such a thing as water. Men feel sexual desire: well, there is such a thing as sex. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing. If that is so, I must take care, on the one hand, never to despise, or to be unthankful for, these earthly blessings, and on the other, never to mistake them for the something else of which they are only a kind of copy, or echo, or mirage. I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find till after death; I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main object of life to press on to that country and to help others to do the same.”

Q16: Do you hope more in the eternal and significant things God is starting now to continue in the next world, or in temporary and superficial things under the sun which will perish? You can test this by asking:

• what occupies my thoughts when I am not busy? • what do I think of when I think about the future? • which reality is reflected in my actions, my time, my passions and my money?

Q17: How does our hope in the next world stir us up for mission in this one?

I was asked to reproduce my poem about Ecclesiastes 9:13-16 in the notes.

Jesus – our God – left heaven, which is described as being made of pure gold, with walls and pillars of sapphire and emerald, and he came to the poverty of our world. His bedroom was a stable, With a feeding trough instead of a cradle. When he was a child, there was nowhere else to go. But as an adult, he loved to live with the lowest of the low; fishermen and tax collectors, adulterers and lepers, prostitutes and beggars. He sided with minorities

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Ecclesiastes 9:13 – 10:20 Group notes

Yet he was also wise; The Bible says he taught with authority. His parables and stories captured the imagination, He taught a message of mercy and no condemnation. He had an ear to listen, and eyes to see He filled the hungry, but wasn’t deceived By Pharisees and teachers who looked so righteous The outside was clean, but he saw their hearts were lifeless We call him Saviour, but he doesn’t just save a town He saves any and all who will bow down From any age and any nation Everyone in all creation And he saves us from more than just a king or siegeworks He saves us from our sinful hearts’ dirt From endless separation From Satan’s condemnation From our misplaced adoration From our lives’ termination. Now that he has stopped death’s sting All of us are free to sing! The angels shout! They worship! They’re amazed! Yet here on earth, he’s often erased By a world which loves the dark By cynics with all their snark By the far-too-busy with no remark But also by his church who dare To forget him; to have an affair One moment, flirting with his covenant, fiery, all-consuming love But the next? We’ve had enough Yet before the cross, before his death, Before his final gasping breath Before our sins which God so grieved Before the night we were conceived Jesus knew of our unfaithfulness Yet still he spilt his blood to pay for us He knew that we could never repay But he is selfless – he did not sway From his purpose – our souls to save He has written us into his story Unto him, praise honour and glory! Though I said I would speak only of beauty I’m changing subject to our duty Learning all of Jesus’ wisdom How we now must live as Christians Doing good, doing right; Sharing the Gospel with all our might Reaching out to all the lost; For this mission, any cost! Without expectance of reward Living for our Saviour’s cause

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