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

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0:00Hey Bible nerds, this is Dr. Manny
0:02Orango. Welcome to the Bible department
0:04podcast powered by Arma. We are walking
0:08through the entire Bible in a year. You
0:10can go to the description or the bible
0:13department.com to download a reading
0:15plan and join the journey
0:24family. Welcome to day 333 here on the
0:27Bible department. We are looking at
0:29Ecclesiastes chapters 4, five, and six
0:33today here on the podcast. If you have
0:36already done the reading, then you've
0:38got all the context you need to follow
0:40along this episode. Now, if you haven't
0:42done the reading today, going to
0:44challenge you, stop this video, pause
0:47the audio, go get the reading done. I
0:50personally thoroughly enjoyed the
0:52reading today. Tons of oneliners, tons
0:56of mic drop moments. Uh I'll highlight a
0:59couple of those today in the episode,
1:02but I think the reading took me 10
1:04minutes if that. And uh I really really
1:07enjoyed it. I actually listened to it a
1:08couple times. And so uh like every day,
1:11I am here to give you context clues and
1:15then we're going to get into some nerdy
1:17nuggets. I'm going to try to give you as
1:19many as time allows and then we're going
1:21to leave off with a timeless truth. And
1:23I'm really really excited about our
1:24timeless truth today. All right. So, I'm
1:28going to give you some some context. And
1:31uh our context today isn't necessarily
1:33like historical or cultural context.
1:36It's more like like where does
1:38Ecclesiastes fit in the entire framework
1:42of scripture context. And so big big big
1:44big idea. Okay. I got two big ideas to
1:48give you uh for Ecclesiastes as a whole
1:52and for interpreting Ecclesiastes. And
1:54the first is that there is a six-part
1:58structure that's kind of hidden right
2:00here in the beginning of Ecclesiastes.
2:03So by tomorrow we'll be at a turning
2:05point in the book of Ecclesiastes. Okay.
2:07So chapter 1, okay, verse 12 all the way
2:12to chapter 6 verse 9 kind of is one big
2:17section of Ecclesiastes. And then
2:20chapter 6 verse 10 all the way to really
2:25128 is what we would say like the second
2:29half of Ecclesiastes. So a big thematic
2:32change. And in this first part of
2:35Ecclesiastes, which starts out at
2:37chapter 1 verse 12 and goes all the way
2:40to chapter 6:9, we're going to get a
2:44refrain, a repeated phrase over and over
2:47and over again. You could probably guess
2:50what that refrain is. Before I tell you
2:53what the refrain is, I'll give you all
2:55the verses. Okay? Ecclesiast, we're
2:57going to get it six times. We're going
2:58to get this exact same phrase in
3:00Ecclesiastes chapter 1 verse1 17 2 11 2
3:05verse1 17 26
3:084 6 and 6 vers 9 I'll say those again
3:12we're going to get the exact same
3:14refrain in Ecclesiastes
3:161 17 2 11 2 17 26
3:234 6 and 6:9 I'm going to read those
3:27verses for you. Ecclesiastes
3:291, okay, verse 17 says this, "Then I
3:33applied myself to the understanding of
3:35wisdom and also of madness and folly.
3:38But I learned that this too is a chasing
3:41after the wind." Okay, a chasing after
3:44the wind. Let's read chapter 2 verse 11
3:47says this. Yet when I surveyed all that
3:49my hands had done and what I had toiled
3:53to achieve, everything was he. Hebrew
3:58word is hevel. Meaningless is a really
4:01bad translation of that word. But the
4:03Hebrew word is he doesn't mean
4:06meaningless. It means vapor. It means
4:08smoke. Everything is vapor. Everything
4:11is smoke. A chasing after the wind.
4:14Nothing was gained under the sun. That
4:17phrase under the sun going to be very
4:19very important. Chapter 2:1 17 says
4:22this. So I hated life because the work
4:25that is done under the sun was grievous
4:28to me. All of it is he a chasing after
4:32the wind. Okay. Chapter 2 26 says these
4:36words. To the person who pleases him God
4:38gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness.
4:40But to the sinner, he gives the task of
4:42gathering and storing up wealth to hand
4:44it over to the one who pleases God. This
4:47too is he meaningless translated, but
4:51that's not a good translation. This too
4:53is he a chasing after the wind. Realize
4:56if you're noticing a pattern. Okay.
4:58Chapter 4:6 says this, "Better one
5:02handful with tranquility than two
5:04handfuls with toil and chasing after the
5:09wind." And then finally, Ecclesiastes
5:126:9.
5:13What is it going to say? I wonder if
5:15it's going to mention chasing after the
5:16wind. Well, ding, ding, ding. It is
5:19going to say chasing after the wind.
5:22Chapter 6:9 of Ecclesiastes reads as
5:24follows. Better what the eye see than
5:28the roving of the appetite. This too is
5:32a chasing after the wind. So, six times
5:36in this opening section of the book,
5:39we're going to get the repeated phrase
5:40chasing after the wind. That everything
5:42is he he too is he. He Now, if you
5:47weren't here yesterday, let me just kind
5:49of catch you up to speed that the
5:52translation meaningless for the Hebrew
5:55word he is actually a pretty poor
5:57translation choice. One of the
6:00interpretive keys that unlocks the book
6:02of Ecclesiastes for us is when you begin
6:04to realize that the author isn't saying
6:06that life is meaningless. The author is
6:08saying that life is he. I don't know if
6:11you've ever tried to grab smoke or to
6:14grab vapor. You can't you can't grab it.
6:17You can't manipulate it. You can't
6:19control it. And if the big idea for the
6:22book of Job is that Yahweh can't be
6:24controlled, then guess what? The big
6:26idea for the book of Ecclesiastes is
6:27that life can't be controlled. That
6:30there is a randomness to life. There is
6:34a chance aspect to life. That life
6:38cannot be controlled. I want you to
6:40think about Ecclesiastes and Proverbs in
6:43tension with each other. Essentially,
6:46Proverbs is a saying, hey, if you do
6:48this, this is what's going to happen.
6:50And the author of Ecclesiastes is going,
6:52"Yeah, I did that. It didn't work."
6:54Like, no, life's not that simple. Life
6:58is complicated and life is he. Every
7:01time you go to grasp it, to control it,
7:05it slips through your fingers because
7:08life cannot be controlled. Life's not
7:10meant to be controlled. It's meant to be
7:12lived. Life's not meant to be
7:14controlled. It's meant to be enjoyed.
7:16Life's not to be meant to be controlled.
7:19It's meant to be accepted. And there's a
7:22difference between living life, enjoying
7:24life, and accepting life versus trying
7:26to steer life and control life. Life is
7:29not a steering wheel. It's smoke. And
7:33there's no handles on it. It It's he.
7:35Okay. So then it says, so this too is he
7:39a chasing after the wind. Now, every
7:42time we get a chasing after the wind is
7:44actually the end of a poem or a section,
7:49which means that this opening movement
7:51of Ecclesiastes is split into six parts.
7:55Six parts. Now, this is fascinating
7:57because Ecclesiastes is going to give a
8:01commentary or a response to Genesis. Now
8:06remember, Genesis is following a
8:10seven-part creation narrative. Okay? God
8:13does everything in seven days. Okay? But
8:16man is created on day six. So by
8:20creating a sixpart poem here at the
8:23beginning of Ecclesiastes, there's this
8:26underlying phrase called under the sun.
8:29Under the sun. Everything is he under
8:32the sun. Everything is he here on earth
8:37like when you take heaven out of the
8:39equation. Everything is toilsome and
8:42laborsome when you take God out of the
8:45mix. Actually Jesus is going to say a
8:48lot of the same ideas as Ecclesiastes.
8:51Guess what Jesus is going to say? Do not
8:53store up for yourselves treasures on
8:55earth where moss and rust can destroy
8:57and where thieves can break in and
8:59steal. but rather store up for
9:01yourselves treasures where? Not under
9:04the sun, but beyond the sun. Store up
9:07for yourselves treasures in heaven where
9:10moth and rust cannot destroy, where
9:12thieves cannot break in and steal. And
9:14so this repeated phrase, under the sun,
9:17under the sun, under the sun, is
9:18supposed to get you as the reader to go,
9:22now wait a second. Are we stuck here
9:24under the sun? And the answer to that is
9:27no.
9:29Because of the shed blood of Jesus, we
9:31have the promise of eternal life. And we
9:33are not we're living here under the sun,
9:36but we're not living for under the sun.
9:39We're living for a life beyond the sun.
9:42And when you take eternity out of view,
9:47then yeah, everything here is simply he
9:52it's it's vapor. It's vanity. It's dare
9:56I say meaningless. And so all of our
9:59toil has no real point if heaven's not a
10:04reality. Okay. So six sections in this
10:08opening movement because the author is
10:10really trying to show us we are one
10:14short of God's ideal. Okay. God's ideal
10:17is seven. We're at six. 67. No, just
10:21joking. God's ideal is seven. Okay. And
10:25we are stuck at six. that that's
10:27honestly what's going on here. Okay. So,
10:30if you read Ecclesiastes and you're just
10:32kind of like, "This can't be true."
10:34Well, it is true. It it is a a purely
10:40human perspective on life. And the goal
10:44is to say, man, I've got to add God to
10:47my life. I've got to add a seventh
10:49element to kind of perfect and complete
10:52what's happening. So, six is the number
10:55of man. Seven is a number of completion.
10:58And numbers have biblical importance.
11:01And so what's happening in this opening
11:03movement of Ecclesiastes is the author
11:06wants you to compare what they're saying
11:08to the ideal that we have in Genesis.
11:11Here's the next thing. And all of our
11:13nerdy nuggets are really going to focus
11:14on work and toil. We're supposed to be
11:17comparing Ecclesiastes to an edenic
11:21ideal where Adam and Eve are two workers
11:24in a garden. two workers, two people who
11:27are given work to do. And the reality of
11:30the situation is that since the fall,
11:33since Genesis 3, we still have work to
11:36do, but we have work to do in the
11:39context of imperfection, not perfection.
11:42And so, Ecclesiastes is going to offer
11:45tons of wisdom on our toil, our toil,
11:49our laborsome toil, our work, our jobs.
11:52Okay? And so with that context, let's
11:55dive into our nerdy nuggets. Family, the
11:58wait is over. My brand new book,
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12:52today. All right, back to the episode.
12:55Ecclesiastes 4:es 1-3 are all about
12:58oppression. And then we get to
13:00Ecclesiastes 4:es 4-16. This we're going
13:03to spend the most of our time today.
13:05It's going to give a commentary on four
13:09different kinds of work. So, let's go to
13:11Ecclesiastes chapter 4 and we're going
13:13to start reading at verse 4. Says this,
13:16"And I saw that all toil and all
13:19achievement spring from one person's
13:22envy of another." This too is he chasing
13:26after the wind. So, what is he saying?
13:28He's saying there's an ideal that God
13:32set in place for Adam and Eve for how
13:34they were supposed to work. And it did
13:36not include envy or selfish ambition.
13:39And so the moment that we allow work
13:43based on envy and empty ambition to
13:47drive us to motivate us, man, you're
13:50building your life on you're trying to
13:52grasp smoke. This is not wise. Okay?
13:55God's ideal was that you was never that
14:00you were trying to build your business
14:02because you were envious of another
14:03person's business or you're trying to
14:05build, you know, your marriage because
14:08you're envious of of another person's
14:10marriage. And how much of our striving,
14:14of our competing, of our toil is really
14:18based on envy and empty ambition. So
14:21that's the first thing that the author
14:23wants to challenge. Hey, this whole
14:26toilsome,
14:27you know, part of life, the nineto-5,
14:30the grind. Like, how much of it is built
14:34on envy? Like, I'm not content with the
14:37house I have. I need a bigger house.
14:39Therefore, I need to work more hours and
14:41I need to become a workaholic. And now I
14:45don't spend time with my family. Why? Be
14:47because it was all kind of fueled by
14:49envy and empty ambition. Okay. Second,
14:53Ecclesiastes 4:5. Okay, if the author is
14:57going to say that envy and empty
14:59ambition are, you know, are a chasing
15:02after the wind. But then in verse five,
15:04he's going to add another dynamic. Fools
15:07fold their hands and ruin themselves.
15:10Wow. Okay, that's laziness. Remember, a
15:14little sleep, a little slumber, a little
15:15folding of the hands to rest, poverty
15:17will come on you like a like a bandit.
15:20All right, that's what Proverbs says. So
15:22the moment you see fold fold their fools
15:26fold their hands, it's going to say,
15:27man, hey, in the same way that envy and
15:30empty ambition are are going to lead to
15:34an empty life, guess what? Laziness is
15:37also an issue. Okay, laziness and the
15:41avoidance of work is a bad posture to
15:43have in life. Unwise posture. Third.
15:47Okay. So, the the the author here has an
15:50issue with work that's based on envy and
15:52empty ambition. The avoidance of work
15:55totally and laziness. Okay. That that's
15:58also meaningless. That's he. But then
16:01verse six, okay, better one handful with
16:04tranquility than two handfuls with toil
16:07and chasing after the wind. So, what is
16:09the author saying? that being a
16:11workaholic is also not the goal for
16:15which Adam and Eve were placed in the
16:16garden. They weren't designed for envy,
16:19empty ambition. They weren't designed
16:21for laziness. They weren't designed for
16:22workcoholism. You see how the Bible is
16:25trying to steer us away from any
16:26extremes. Okay. And then fourth, what's
16:29the fourth issue that the author has of
16:31toil or work or our occupations?
16:36Okay. Verse seven and 8 says this again.
16:40And I saw something meaningless where
16:42under the sun. This is not how this
16:45supposed to work in heaven. But this is
16:47how it works here under the sun. When
16:49heaven's removed from the situation,
16:52this is how men do life. This is how men
16:54and women do life when God's not
16:56involved. There was a man all alone. He
16:59had neither son nor brother. There was
17:01no end to his toil. Yet his eyes were
17:04not content with his wealth. For whom am
17:07I toiling? He asked. And why am I
17:09depriving myself of enjoyment? This too
17:12is meaningless, a miserable business. So
17:15what does the author have an issue with?
17:17The work of the lonely is the worst of
17:20all. If relationships are abandoned for
17:24the sake of riches, this is an issue.
17:27Now, historically, this has been an
17:30issue of the industrial age. Okay? In an
17:34agrarian society, fathers worked long
17:37hours, but they spent more time with
17:39their children because guess what? When
17:41you're working on the farm or you're
17:42working in an agricultural setting, your
17:45kids do the work with you. So, your kids
17:48help you milk the cows and your kids
17:49help you harvest the corn and your kids
17:51are helping you. So, it's the industrial
17:54age that forced men into factories. And
17:57the moment that men had to leave the
17:59home or leave the farm to go work in the
18:02factories, it's the moment that men are
18:05now isolated from their families doing
18:08work and having to choose between family
18:11and work where God's original design is
18:14integrated. Okay? God didn't build a
18:16factory. He built a garden. God's garden
18:20was designed for Adam and Eve to work
18:23it, to till it, but to do it with one
18:26another. And so, I was watching this
18:28documentary on the Dallas Cowboys, and
18:30Jerry Jones was saying that he bought
18:32the Dallas Cowboys so that he could work
18:35with his children. Said, "I bought this
18:37team so I could work with my kids." And
18:39so, when he bought the team, he called
18:41his son, called his daughter, said,
18:42"Quit your jobs. You're going to come
18:44work for the Dallas Cowboys." And man, I
18:47I looked at Jerry Jones and I said,
18:49"This man just guilt-free told
18:51everybody, I bought this team so that I
18:55could be a better father, so that I
18:57could be a better like family man." And
19:00you know, I've met so many pastors who
19:03get called all kinds of foul names
19:06because they hire their kids. That's
19:08nepotism. That's favoritism. That's
19:10this. That's that. You better believe
19:12it, buddy. Yeah. Like Ecclesiastes is
19:16saying the person who has to look listen
19:19to verse 8. There was a man all alone.
19:22He had neither son nor brother. There
19:25was no end to his toil. Okay. Yet his
19:29eyes were not content with his wealth.
19:30He's having to sacrifice the
19:33relationship with his son and his
19:34brother in order to work. Who am I
19:36toiling? He asks. And why am I depriving
19:38myself of enjoyment? This too. It's
19:41meaningless. to miserable business. Then
19:44we get into the most famous lines or
19:46some of the most famous lines. Okay? And
19:48this gets applied to marriage all the
19:51time, but it's not really about
19:52marriage. It's about work. Now, marriage
19:54is work, but you get what I mean. Like
19:56actual employment. Okay? This gets
20:00applied to marriage, but in its original
20:02context, it's just a better vision for
20:05how to work. And what does it say? Two
20:07are better than one. The author is now
20:10saying, "Hey, don't work alone. Don't
20:13work in a way that's isolated. Don't
20:16work in and and not be there for your
20:18kids or not be there for your brother.
20:20Two are better than one because they
20:23have a good return for their toil or
20:26their labor." We're still talking about
20:28work. That's still what the author's
20:30talking about. He's not talking about
20:31marriage. Talking about work. If either
20:33of them falls down, one can help the
20:35other out. But pity anyone who falls and
20:38has no one to help them up. Also, if two
20:41lie down together, they will keep warm.
20:43How can one keep warm alone? Though one
20:45may be overpowered, two can defend
20:47themselves. A cord of three strands is
20:50not easily broken. What Ecclesiastes is
20:53saying is that isolated work is actually
20:57not the best work. This idea of like,
20:59well, let me just leave me alone. Let me
21:01work by myself. That's actually not the
21:04way that God designed us to work. God
21:06designed us to work in teams. If I can
21:09move into our Thomas truth, I'll say it
21:11this way. This I've had to learn this
21:13the hard way. If you want to go fast, go
21:16by yourself. But if you want to go far,
21:19go with a team. I have had to slow down
21:22so that I could go with a team. I have
21:25had to not work the way that I would
21:28naturally work so that I could go with a
21:31team. Elijah gave me these stats before
21:33the episode that uh the the first three
21:36years of Arma, man, I was a hotthead. I
21:40had so many goals I was trying to toil
21:42and achieve. I was trying to attain and
21:45accomplish. And we went through, I
21:47think, 15 different employees in that
21:49three month in that three-year period.
21:51High turnover. And I just kept blaming
21:54everybody. Nobody can keep up with me.
21:56Nobody can keep up with me. Nobody can
21:57perform at my standard. And then I
22:00decided, you know what? The turnover is
22:02terrible for the culture. And so I
22:04decided as a leader, it's time for me to
22:06slow down. Let's toil less. Let's
22:10achieve less. Let's do less. You know
22:14what's funny? We've had no turnover in
22:16the last two years. And uh or
22:19significantly less turnover. Cam, who's
22:22in the studio with me, has been on staff
22:24with us for years now. Sarah just
22:26celebrated a year. Elijah's been with us
22:27for five years. Way less turnover. And
22:30you know what's funny? In those first
22:32three years, while I was so frustrated,
22:34just trying to do it my way. If the team
22:36would just listen to me and just do it
22:38my way, we would be okay. If everyone
22:40would just have my capacity or work at
22:44my pace, we could do this. We got to
22:47maybe a thousand subscribers. And then I
22:51switched the way that I worked. I
22:53decided, you know what? I can't be the
22:56superstar who who tries to score all the
22:59points by myself. I gotta submit to some
23:02kind of a triangle offense. I gotta
23:05submit to a system where my skills are
23:08actually best highlighted in the context
23:12of a team. And man, we went to 5,000
23:15subscribers because the thing that I was
23:18trying to achieve, we would never
23:20accomplish it trying to do it the way
23:22that I was trying to do it. And you know
23:24what? I began to realize the reason that
23:26two is better than one is because if one
23:29person accomplishes everything on their
23:30own is really just for their ego and for
23:33their pride. But when you begin to
23:35accomplish things as a team, oh man, you
23:38begin to realize, yeah, two really are
23:41better than one. And it's not my
23:43intelligence that wins the day. It's my
23:45ability to submit to the group,
23:47surrender my ideas to the group, to
23:49compromise that actually makes us
23:51strong. It's funny. I was on staff at a
23:53church one time and uh literally the
23:56production director, the lighting guy
23:57posted this on Instagram, he said, you
24:00know, the lights when they let me do
24:01them by myself. And you know, it was
24:04beautiful. It was incredible. And then
24:06he posted another one that said, "The
24:07lights when they make me involve
24:08volunteers." And it was just crappy and
24:11shabby. And I thought to myself, well,
24:13this guy needs Ecclesiastes bad, man.
24:16Because two is better than one. Two is
24:19better than one. it it of course it it's
24:22not as good. But the reality of church
24:25is that church is a group project. And
24:28if you hate group projects, then you're
24:30going to hate life. A group project
24:33always frustrates people who either want
24:35to, you know, put the put the weight on
24:39everybody else or take the weight from
24:41everybody else. But at some point, you
24:43got to realize two are better than one.
24:46And the way that we should be working is
24:49a lot like Jerry Jones. I bought the
24:52Dallas Cowboys so that I could work with
24:53my kids. And we should be the kind of
24:56leaders who relentlessly say shamelessly
25:00say, "No, man. What what good is it if I
25:03built this company, if if I did all this
25:06stuff, but like I didn't do it with my
25:08kids. I didn't do it with my wife. I
25:10didn't do it with a team. I didn't do it
25:13with a group of people that I can share
25:15the wins with. And that's not just true
25:17for Solomon and the book of
25:19Ecclesiastes. That's true for you.
25:20That's true for me. I hope the context,
25:22the nerdy nuggets, and the timeless
25:24truth helped today and added value.
25:27Tomorrow we've got day 334.
25:30We're going to be looking at
25:31Ecclesiastes chapters 78, and 9. I hope
25:35that Ecclesiastes is adding value. I
25:37hope that I'm hopefully I hope that I'm
25:40helping it to make more sense and not be
25:43depressing because it's not a depressing
25:45book. It's a book full of hope if you
25:46interpret it correctly. I'll see you
25:48tomorrow. I love you. I'm so proud of
25:50you. Till next time. Peace. Thanks so
25:53much for joining us on the Bible
25:55podcast. If this episode was helpful,
25:58how about you leave a comment, share
25:59with a friend, and subscribe so that you
26:02never miss an episode. To learn more
26:04about the show, head to the bible
26:06department.com. We'll see you right back
26:08here tomorrow.

About this transcript

This page contains the full transcript of Day 333: Ecclesiastes 4-6 | Read The Bible In A Year | Bible Study with Dr. Manny Arango by The Bible Dept., generated from the public captions YouTube serves with the video. The transcript has 4,196 words across 583 segments, with the original timestamps preserved so you can click any line to jump to that moment in the embedded player.

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