Board index ‹ Specific Bible verses, texts, and passages ‹ Ecclesiastes

[Mel B]

Hi! In Ecclesiastes 7 what does it mean by the first part of the chapter where it talks about a sad face is good for the heart and it’s better to go to the house of mourning than a house of pleasure

[jimwalton]

Oh, so glad you wrote. Ecclesiastes is one of the most powerful pieces of wisdom literature about what life is really like. It’s a series of vignettes of people’s search for order and meaning in life. We have this feeling, “If only…” (more money, more time, more opportunities, fewer setbacks, whatever), then life would come together for me. The point of the book is that even if you got some, or even all of those things, you’d probably still have a sense that it wasn’t enough.

The reason the Bible gives is that self-fulfillment will never bring what really fills your soul. These things may all be well and good, but it’s not what life’s about. They actually divert and distract us from the deep truths. True and authentic satisfaction, peace, meaning, and order come from God alone, not from inside you, any experience, any pursuit, accomplishment, or accumulation (wealth, pleasure, honor, status, fame, happiness—what have you). The pursuit of God is your only chance for meaning, peace, satisfaction, order, and wisdom.

The book is divided in half. Chapters 1-6 are vignettes of empty pursuits: education, pleasure, work, money, service, justice, religion—but none of them truly works. Chapters 7-12 offer a solution: revere God, recognize the good gifts God has given, and remember that God will be our judge on that Day. As J.I. Packer writes, “Despite everything, the pursuit and practice of modest, quiet, industrious wisdom is abundantly worthwhile and cannot be embarked on too early in life. His conclusion is found in 12.13-14."

On to chapter 7, to address your question. Chapter 6 ends by posing the question, “What is good?” Chapter 7 begins the answer.

V. 1: A good reputation is a worthy quest. You don’t want to get to the end of life and have forgotten to live. You want to look back on your life with peace and satisfaction, not with regret and sorrow. Yet even a good reputation can have a lack of total fulfillment. It doesn’t bring you all you want. You may still get to your deathbed and be glad it’s all over.

V. 2: Often pain, sorrow, and grief teach us more about life and what’s important than any of the pleasures and happiness. It’s not like we should walk around in a state of despair and depression, but suffering can surely keep us sober and reflective. Our awareness of life’s limits and vulnerabilities can lead us more toward wisdom than all the wealth, pleasure, and education could ever hope to do.

V. 3: Good times, the easy life, pleasure, and status can be so deceptive and misleading us, lulling us into a false sense of security. Usually when things are going well we are less apt to think deeply, search diligently, or ask the right questions. When things are going well, it probably won’t be long until some wish is unfulfilled, you regret some road not taken, or you realize how you have compromised your values and sacrificed some of your character. You stopped paying attention because things were going well and you were riding the wave. Ecclesiastes is honest, though depressing: it will catch up with you. No one benefits with extended periods of ease, pleasure, wealth, position, status, and power. Life is more realistic than that, and so should your outlook. A regular dose of suffering helps you keep your head on straight.