Note: Pastor Mark will be out of town this Sunday for family vacation. Brad Billheimer is preaching on the birth of Samson. He offers the following “preview”:
Now the lords of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to rejoice, and they said, “Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hand.” And when the people saw him, they praised their god. For they said, “Our god has given our enemy into our hand, the ravager of our country, who has killed many of us.” And when their hearts were merry, they said, “Call Samson, that he may entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison, and he entertained them. They made him stand between the pillars. And Samson said to the young man who held him by the hand, “Let me feel the pillars on which the house rests, that I may lean against them.” Now the house was full of men and women. All the lords of the Philistines were there, and on the roof there were about 3,000 men and women, who looked on while Samson entertained.
Then Samson called to the Lord and said, “O Lord God, please remember me and please strengthen me only this once, O God, that I may be avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes.” And Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and he leaned his weight against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other. And Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” Then he bowed with all his strength, and the house fell upon the lords and upon all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he had killed during his life. Then his brothers and all his family came down and took him and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had judged Israel twenty years. – Judges 16:23-31
There is a phrase that you will sometimes find used in the sports world; it is called “being a Monday Morning quarterback.” This is where the sports fan watches the ballgame on Saturday or Sunday and then takes the following several hours to dissect every detail so that by Monday morning, they can perfectly identify all of the mistakes that were made by their favorite team. No one associated with the game is safe in this situation. The coach’s mistakes are on full display with their play calling and clock management. The players’ mistakes are plentiful on the field, and don’t even get the sports fan started on the referees. And it goes without saying that the sports fan does all of this critical analysis from the comfort of their favorite chair while also complaining that their frozen lemonade is too cold. The Monday Morning quarterback has all the answers with all the luxuries of hindsight and the time to process it. Of course, those are luxuries that the actual team and officiating crew never possessed.
It is easy to look at Samson’s final moments with the luxury of hindsight, and think, “If Samson had only done X instead of Y then he would not be in this situation.” We so easily assume the role of judge, but we are not the judge in this story. We are the people who need to be delivered! And we need to be delivered in the midst of a seemingly impossible situation. As Samson cries out to Yahweh, we are left to wonder if there is any hope for sinners like us? But this passage does not leave us any time to ponder that question. As soon as Samson cries out, Yahweh immediately and definitively remembers his deliverer with the returning of his strength.
Samson’s story reminds us that there is hope for sinners in need of deliverance. Yahweh brings hope to dark places even to the main chamber of Dagon’s Temple and even to the darkest of all places, Golgotha, the Place of the Skull, where our Lord’s Cross was raised. Out of such darkness, our Lord delivered us from our sins so that we might live with Him forever in the age to come.
And that’s the gospel.
Come hear it preached and enacted in the supper with Jesus this Sunday.
If you see in a province the oppression of the poor and the violation of justice and righteousness, do not be amazed at the matter, for the high official is watched by a higher, and there are yet higher ones over them. But this is gain for a land in every way: a king committed to cultivated fields.
He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is a vapor.
When goods increase, they increase who eat them, and what advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes?
Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep.
There is a grievous evil that I have seen under the sun: riches were kept by their owner to his hurt, and those riches were lost in a bad venture. And he is father of a son, but he has nothing in his hand. As he came from his mother’s womb he shall go again, naked as he came, and shall take nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand. This also is a grievous evil: just as he came, so shall he go, and what gain is there to him who toils for the wind? Moreover, all his days he eats in darkness in much vexation and sickness and anger.
Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the good labor with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot. Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil–this is the gift of God. For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart. – Ecclesiastes 5:8-20
In chapter 3, Solomon teaches that the wise mature in the outlook that God is in control of every time and season. Then, in chapter 4, he poignantly teaches that the wise mature in relationships and work for the community. This is followed with the first half of chapter 5, where he teaches that the wise find their place in God’s house, which means sins of the tongue will be put down. Each one of these is enormously important for godly people, but they are also common pitfalls. Is there another big snare? Yes, the second half of chapter 5 is about finding our place in life with respect to money.
The first two verses have some especially difficult Hebrew to translate. The meaning is nonetheless obvious: there will always be someone with more money than you! Interesting too is Solomon’s wise counsel: “do not be amazed at the matter.” In other words, “Get over it.” There’s no need to be shocked or vexed; there will always be economic inequality in life under the sun. In this passage, “the poor” are the oppressed and the “high official” is the oppressor. The Hebrew suggests a better translation would be the “haughty and ambitious,” rather than the traditional “high official.” Each haughty and ambitious person has someone more haughty, ambitious, and rich above them!
The point is that people everywhere are trying to climb the social ladder. No matter how high you get, there are people who are still higher. This is the way it will always be under the sun, and don’t get stuck in this rat race. The wise recognize it, aren’t vexed by it, and avoid it.
He then tells us: “He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is a vapor.” Put a little differently: if you love money you will never have enough. It’s like saltwater: the more you drink, the thirstier you become. It doesn’t matter how much money a person makes, it never feels like enough. I knew a man who made half-a-million dollars a year, and he complained about being strapped for money (actually, he blamed his wife!). Solomon says that living this way is vaporous.
There are at least 5 more points in the passage, and they all lead to the same conclusion: “Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the good labor with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot.” Preacher Solomon has reached this conclusion several times before in the book, but here we are assured that God is the one who gives wealth, and what you get is your lot. The wise find enjoyment in it and avoid the vaporous pursuit of more than his or her lot from God.
When we look at the life of Jesus in the gospels, we see there a man who was utterly content with His lot. He knew that He had exactly what God had given Him. He is never worried, and counsels His disciples not to worry about it either (with a mention of Solomon!): “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.”
Come hear it preached and enacted in the supper with Jesus this Sunday.
Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil. Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few.
For a dream comes with much business, and a fool’s voice with many words.
When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow. It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay. Let not your mouth lead you into sin, and do not say before the messenger that it was a mistake. Why should God be angry at your voice and destroy the work of your hands?
For when dreams increase and words grow many, there is a vapor; but God is the one you must fear. – Ecclesiastes 5:1-7
Looking carefully at this passage last week, we saw that there is something called “the sacrifice of fools.” Certainly, a wise person does not want to offer such a sacrifice, so what is it anyway? If I retranslated the verse slightly, it would go like this: “Walk prudently when you go to the house of God; and draw near to hear rather than to give the sacrifice of fools.” The opposite of hearing or listening is talking. Hebrews 13 makes it clear that there is another sacrifice that is made of words, “let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.”
Here we find that “the sacrifice of fools,” at least in this context, is an offering of words—words hastily uttered before God. And ignorance is not an excuse either—the end of v. 1, for they do not know that they are doing evil.
Roughly the second half of the passage has to do with another kind of words at God’s house: vows. Apparently rash vows are a mark of the fool as well. Ananias and Sapphira come immediately to mind. They made a financial pledge, but it really was only a way to try to enhance their reputation at church! A word to the wise: “When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow.” Certainly you do not want to set God against you. Fear the Lord.
There’s a wonderful line in Psalm 90:17, “Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!” I pray daily, for instance, that my work as a pastor will be both faithful, and that the Lord’s favor will be evident—that my work, by His great power, will be established. The prayer of the wise seeks such favor from the Lord upon their work, otherwise work without the Lord’s favor is a vapor. But the fool disregards the duty to keep his or her vow and thus their mouth leads them into sin, suggesting “before the messenger that it was a mistake.” It is not difficult for the Lord to destroy the work of your hands, and a Certified Financial Planner can’t thwart it.
“For when dreams increase and words grow many, there is a vapor; but God is the one you must fear.” Dreamers are going to dream, and talkers are going to talk, but that’s all a vapor if you don’t fear God.
It is the duty of Christians to be the kind of people whose word can be trusted even without the need of swearing oaths. That’s exactly what Jesus did. He feared God. He knew when to speak and when to remain silent. We cherish and study every one of His words in large part because there are so few of them. He is often ridiculed for speaking so little, and ridiculed for the precise wisdom He spoke. He would take no rash vow although Satan’s temptations to do so were enticing. That’s because Jesus is the wisdom of God, the King of kings. He was never rash with His mouth, and the vows He made, He kept. And it is by those vows we are saved. And that’s the gospel.
Come hear it preached and enacted in the supper with Jesus this Sunday.