9:11 Life Is Unfair
Chapters 8 and 9 eloquently voice the unfairness of life. People don't get what they deserve, claims the Teacher. Good men suffer while wicked men prosper. Everything seems determined only by time and chance. The Teacher's doubts about the afterlife (see 3:20) affected all his thinking, because he saw the utter unfairness of life around him. In contrast, New Testament authors, with a solid belief in the afterlife, showed confidence that God would ultimately judge all people with fairness.
11:5 Beyond Understanding
Even the Teacher, a man who possessed brilliant powers of wisdom and observation, had to conclude some things are beyond understanding. Failing in his attempt to "figure out" life, he fell back on simple advice: fear God and obey him, no matter how things seem to you. In essence, he concluded in favor of a life of faith. For him, an old man, much of life had already passed; in eloquent poetry he describes the decay that was already at work in his body (12:1-7). Thus he stressed, "Remember your Creator in the days of your youth" (12:1). |
