SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/11/2013
8:50 AM.
My Worship Time Focus:
More on the Introduction to Eccl.
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Eccl. 1:1-3
Message of the
verses: “1 ¶ The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. 2 "Vanity of vanities," says the Preacher,
"Vanity of vanities! All is vanity." 3 What advantage does man have in all his work
Which he does under the
sun?”
I have highlighted some key words and phrases in the
first three verses of the first chapter of Eccl. The Word “Preacher” means “1) collector (of
sentences), preacher, public speaker, speaker in an assembly, Qoheleth.” We went into a bit more detail on this in
yesterday’s SD, but this is the definition from the Hebrew/English dictionary
found on my Online Bible Program.
Let us look at Eccl. 12:8 to see how Solomon will end
this book: “"Vanity of
vanities," says the Preacher, "all is vanity!’” Looks like he ends it the way he begins
it. Now what does this phrase “vanity of
vanities” mean, for we will see it throughout this book? Solomon will use this phrase some
thirty-eight times in this book. Dr.
Wiersbe states that “It is the Hebrew word hevel,
meaning ‘emptiness, futility, vapor.’
The name ‘Able’ probably comes from this word (Gen. 4:12). Whatever disappears quickly, leaves nothing
behind and does not satisfy is hevel,
vanity. One of my language professors at
seminary defined hevel as ‘whatever
is left after you break a soap bubble.’”
As we go through the book of Ecclesiastes we will see
what Solomon calls hevel, things like
wealth, his world, and his wisdom, things like this mean nothing to him in and
of themselves. Solomon will also have
another statement near the end of the book that will help us to understand what
is not hevel.
“Under the Sun:”
This is found twenty –nine times in the book of Ecclesiastes. Dr. Wiersbe quotes G. Campbell Morgan from
his book Unfolding Message of the Bible,
“This man (Solomon) had been living through all these experiences under the
sun, concerned with nothing about the sun…until there cam a moment in which he
had seen the whole of life. And there
was something over the sun. It is only
as a man takes account of that which is over the sun as well as that which is
under the sun that things under the sun are seen in their true light.” We can see from this statement that things
under the sun “are the outlook of the writer as he looks at life from a human
perspective and not necessarily from heaven’s point of view.”
“Profit:” The
Hebrew word for profit is yitron and
we will find it ten times in the book of Ecclesiastes. This word, according to Dr. Wiersbe is not
used any other place in the Old Testament.
The basic meaning of this word is “that which is left over.” As we look at the meaning of this word we
will find it is the opposite of vanity.
Dr. Wiersbe writes “In the light
of all the puzzles and problems of life, what is the advantage of
living? Is there a gain?”
“Labor:” In the
Hebrew language there are at least eleven different words which are translated
in the English as labor, but the one we will be looking at in Ecclesiastes is,
in the Hebrew “amal.” This word is used twenty-three times in the
book of Ecclesiastes. The meaning is “to
toil to the point of exhaustion and yet experience little or no fulfillment in
your work.” This is truly not something
that a person would want to make a habit of doing. Paul writes the following in 1Cor. 15:58 to
give hope to believers “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast,
immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is
not in vain in the Lord.”
“Man:” Let us look
at Genesis 1:26 and then 2:7, and 19: “Then
God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and
let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over
the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on
the earth." Then the LORD God
formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath
of life; and man became a living being. Out
of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of
the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and
whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name.” The word man is seen in all these verses and
it is actually the Hebrew word adam. This refers to man as made from the
earth. Now we realize that man is made
in the image of God but we also know from Genesis that man was created from the
ground. Man came from the earth and will
return to the earth when he dies. We see
this word used forty-nine times in Ecclesiastes. Of course we will see this word man used as
his work under the sun. Solomon is
talking about the human things at this point in his book, and for that matter
most of the way through the book.
Tomorrow we will look at some other words that are not
used in the first three verses of chapter one of Ecclesiastes, but are used
different times throughout the book, words like evil, joy, and wisdom.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I have been
trying to find how God is seen in the verses that I look at in my Spiritual
diary, and looking at the verses from Genesis I am reminded that God is the
creator of all that is seen in the world.
Some may think that God did not build the buildings we look at every day,
but we must remember that God did make the material that are used to build
those buildings. A cute story to go
along with this is about a man who was talking to God and he told him that he
too could make a man and so the man got some dirt to begin making a man to
which God told him “get your own dirt.”
My Steps of Faith for Today:
To seek wisdom from the Lord in all the
decisions that I make today.
Memory verses for the
week: Psalm 32:7-10
7 You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble;
You surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah. 8 I will instruct you and teach you in the
way which you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. 9 Do not be as the horse or as the mule which
have no understanding, whose trappings include bit and bridle to hold them in
check, otherwise they would not come near you.
10 Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but he who trusts in the LORD, lovingkindness
shall surround you.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
Question: “Jesus Christ” (Romans 2:16)
Today’s Bible
Question: “Complete Philippians 2:9
(KJV) ‘Wherefore God also hath exalted him and given him a name which is…’”
Answer in Tomorrow’s SD.
4/11/2013 10:06 AM
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