1. Introduction:
This is a sermon first written in 1998. It draws on both my biblical
knowledge and that derived from my vocation as a psychiatrist, as you will see.
It is based on an Old Testament book that has always intrigued me -
Ecclesiastes.
II. The Book Ecclesiastes
What do you know about the book Ecclesiastes besides that the name may be hard to pronounce?
1.
If you grew up in the West in
the '60s and '70s, you probably know the song Turn, Turn,
Turn/To Everything
there is a Season. It has been recoded by a
number of artists over the years since.
You likely also know, being good bible students, that this well-known folk-song
is based on Ecc. ch. 3:1-8.
b
2.
Some of you who are even older,
and perhaps grew up when it was perhaps more common than often nowadays to memorize
verses for Sunday School, or even to be able to go to
summer camp, may also remember ch. 12 la: "Remember
now thy Creator in the days of thy youth".
3.
Another thing you may recall
about this collection of musings is that many are introduced by the phrase, "The
Preacher", at least that’s what he’s called in
older English
translations of the Bible. This Preacher often seems to conclude Vanity of
vanities, all is vanity, or sometimes he refers to it as madness and folly. A second conclusion he seems to come to on first reading is that
the best one can do in life is to 'eat, drink & be merry'. There are though a number of references to wisdom, which isn’t so surprising though, given the author.
III. The Theme:
The first
phrase here, Vanity of vanities, all is vanity, or a
variation of it, occurs in the book of Ecclesiastes in 29 verses, a total of 37 times. If you want to take that figure to its conclusion, it means this
idea occurs once every 6 verses on average.
That would seem to give a lot of weight to this idea, especially if one
gives it a fairly literal interpretation. After all, aren't these words written
by King Solomon, and isn't he supposed to be the wisest man who ever lived? As
with perhaps most of the books of the Bible, there are those who question
the generally accepted traditional
authorships. However, there can still be made good arguments for this work
possible originating with Solomon, so well stick with that traditional view.
The notion
that eating, drinking and enjoying life, being
merry are one’s lot in life, occurs 5 times as a phrase encompassing all three ideas, in various individual forms or
combinations in another 9 places.
Somehow though, these two ideas of vanity and enjoying life aren’t
what many of us might expect to find in the Bible. After all, isn’t it supposed
to be a guidebook for holy living? We of Protestant and Mennonite persuasion especially
have had it hammered into us that it is practically godly to work. You have all
heard of 'the Protestant Work Ethic'.
So what is going on here? Does
Solomon really believe this? Is this what the wisest man, one of the
greatest of Jewish kings, really
believes and is saying?
IV. The Title:
Yes, and you are probably also wondering
- what about that title - The Wisest Man & Mental
Health? When am I going to get to that? Well, knowing that my profession is
a psychiatrist, that title
probably no longer surprises you, does it?
As I studied this book, it suddenly
jumped out at me - Solomon was depressed?
Come on, some of
you may be saying - one could probably
diagnose some depression in anybody at some point int heir
life. Really though, if Solomon was
going through a depression when he wrote this, there should be
something we can learn here about
depression and - I will add its resolution – what one can turn to
when depressed.
You may know that depression is
becoming increasingly common in our day. In fact, the United Nations World
Health Organization predicts that within the next decade worldwide
depression will surpass heart disease as the number
one health concern.
V. The Evidence for the Writer’s
Depression:
Some of you might ask, first of alt, what is
your evidence for Solomon being depressed. I think we could pursue that in two
ways. We could look at the history we know of Solomon, at some of his life's
circumstances. More importantly though,
we can just look at the text and see what it says.
1.
Historical - First of all, what do we know about the family Solomon came from.
I don't think
we have to think very
hard to remember that, in fact, Solomon may have grown
up in some quite unhappy
circumstances. In the first place, his older
brother died very soon after
birth. That in itself can be
a risk factor for depression. Children have strange thoughts sometimes, such
as, why did I get to stay
alive and he didn't? It's the same guilt that survivors of the holocaust feel
when
their lives are
spared but those of family and friends aren't, and we know guilt can be
intimately connected with depression.
And who was Solomon's mother? None other than Bathsheba, the woman his father David lusted after when he saw her bathing on
the rooftop. You know what happened next. David got her pregnant, and - showing
how one sin leads to another - ended up having her husband killed so he could
take her as his wife. So, Bathsheba loses a husband and a son all at once.
Wouldn’t that make you depressed? Then she becomes pregnant with Solomon. I
have to wonder how her emotions during the pregnancy and after she gave birth
affected her ability to mother, how they affected Solomon’s development.
Solomon was intelligent, he was wise, he was rich. He had been
intelligent and faithful enough to ask God only for wisdom when crowned king.
Perhaps he wasn’t very confident in himself at that
point. Could that be due to some failure on his grieving mother’s part to mother
him adequately? Because of his request for wisdom though, God promised to also
bless him and make him rich and powerful.
But his father was King
David, the other one of Israel's greatest kings,
sometimes referred to as 'a man after God's own heart'? Shouldn't that mean he
grew up in a good environment, and shouldn't that result in a low risk for the
development for depression? Can you imagine what you must have thought though
when you found out that your father had your mother's first husband killed so
he could marry your mother? How safe would you feel growing up with a father
like that - if you knew? I am sure he knew. I don't think he could have grown
up in a palace, with all the family intrigue and gossip that likely went on
there, and not know. What would you then think of your father? What would you
think of your mother for marrying a man like that?
What about Solomon's brothers and sisters? No overly loving group here. One half-brother rapes a half-sister
(II Sam. 13:1 - 20). Another brother is understandably very upset by this, and
eventually has the rapist killed in revenge (II Sam. 13: 23 - 29). This is
Absalom, who then mounts a full-scale rebellion against his lather David, and
has his Dad, the King no less, running for his life. That wouldn't have been a
picture to inspire a son either. What a soap opera? It sounds pretty much like
what we nowadays would call a dysfunctional family.
On the other hand, when it came to wealth, to have all one's needs and desires met from a worldly point of
view, Solomon didn't suffer. The biblical records describe all that he had, the
wealth that he got in his trading with the then known world, the respect that
he commanded in this same arena (I Kings 10, esp. 10 - 29.) His father David had in fact set much of this
up for him, getting promises from neighbouring kings to supply materials to
build a splendid palace and temple.
However, remember that Solomon, not unlike other rulers of his day,
had many
wives - 700, and 300 concubines - female slaves.
Does this again point to something missing deep in Solomon’s psyche? Did he
seek out all these women because his mother failed him? Wouldn't that be enough to depress you though
– trying to keep all of them and their children
happy? I would say Solomon needed
all the wisdom God could give him from what we have already seen of him!
1.
Textual Evidence: So, what more may we learn of Solomon and depression from
Ecclesiastes
itself. Let's look at the text, first at The Preacher's recurring
reference to vanity. We should first explain why this
title though. Evidently the word translated preacher
is a feminine form of a word hardly found elsewhere
in The Bible. It is related to the word for assembly,
and understood then as someone who calls to those
assembled - and who does that in religious settings
but The Preacher, or as some translate it, The
Speaker?
And what does vanity mean? It doesn't mean conceited or proud, something we understand
from that word. It means vain, as 'in vain', useless. Indeed, one translation
uses the word 'emptiness'.
And what does vanity mean? It doesn't mean conceited or proud, something we understand
from that word. It means vain, as 'in vain', useless. Indeed, one translation
uses the word 'emptiness'.
What is vain or empty? Ch. 1:2 states the theme,
Vanity of vanities, all is vanity, followed by a suggestion in vss. 3-4 of why
the writer makes this statement: What profit is there in all our labour if we
pass away'? This is followed by 7 more verses in Hebrew poetic form describing
the observations of The
Preacher. Then he tells us in vss 13 - 1 g what he is
about in this book. He has decided to apply his
wisdom, to make a study of
humanity’s endeavours, of all the things that are done under heaven, to
see what it's all about.
So what does he study, and what does he conclude?
Actually, he tells us right at the outset, vs. 18, that "even
in much wisdom is vexation". In vs. 8 he had already said, "All
things are wearisome; no man can speak of them all". In 2:1 he talked
first of looking at enjoying oneself; at pleasure, at laughter, and states that
is vanity. Has our society not also looked at this? What does the constitution
of our nation to the south, the leading nation on earth say is our right:
"Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness". Is that right? Well,
entertainment certainly seems to be the order of the day. Just listen to the
laughter on TV. But isn't a lot of it really empty?
In vss. 4-li he talks of all the great things he did to obtain
pleasure9 but
concludes that this too was "emptiness and chasing the wind, of no profit
under the sun". Following this, Solomon goes on to say that another reason
that wisdom and hard work may be vanity is that the same fate overtakes the
wise man and the fool(2: 15), which is a theme he returns to a number of times.
In fact, it is in this section that the idea of the mental state of the writer
first impressed itself on me. Look at vss. 16 - 18a [Read them] "I came to
hate life". That's strong language. That's what people say when they are
what? Suicidal, isn’t it? Was this author so disenchanted with what he got out of
life that he was giving up on it?
And look at vs. 18. He goes on to wonder what sort of person would
be his successor. Will he be wise or a fool? Isn't he getting negative? Or is
he sounding reasonable? And what does he say in vs. 20, "I turned and gave
myself up to despair". What is despair if not depression? And what is he
despairing about? Again, that all he has worked for may pass to someone he may
consider unworthy, at the very least someone who didn't work for it, who didn't
earn it. Is that proper? Don't we all work to leave something for our children,
at least to try and save something for their education if we can afford it?
Don't we all, in our more noble and generous moments want to make the world a
better place for those who come after? Isn't that a good thing? But here the
supposedly wisest man that ever lived calling this emptiness. Isn't there
something wrong here'?
What else does Solomon tell us he is doing here? Vs. 23 and other
vss. refer to the vexation of it all. Here in tact he says that "An his
lite long his business is pain and vexation to him; even at night his mind
knows no rest". What is he describing? Worrying? Anxiety? Lack of
pleasure? Lack of sleep? All key symptoms of depression.
VI. The Point:
So, you may be asking by now,
What’s the point'? What if this writer is depressed?
Well, isn't the bible the book for all seasons, for all ages'?
Wouldn't it stand to reason that it would speak to one of the most common
maladies of human kind, depression? Wouldn't God want to be able to reach us in
the midst of those blackest periods of our lives?
When we stop to think about it we will recall that there are other
passages in the scriptures that are comforting to those who are feeling alone,
abandoned, depressed. The Psalms would probably conic to mind. However,
Ecclesiastes is different.
In Ecclesiastes, the writer looks at all the different pursuits of
life - pleasure, work, relationships, study - Ecclesiastes examines all these
things somewhat systematically, somewhat intellectually - and finds they all
come up short. None is entirely satisfying. What's worse, death takes it all
away from us.
Does that mean Ecclesiastes is pessimistic, all negative. Not a few
readers would think so.
However again, if one looks into it further, the picture finally
presented is anything but
bleak. If anything, there is a message here not that different than
Jesus' own words in The
Sermon on the Mount.
What does the writer here say? “Don't worry, be happy” - to quote a recent pop hit by Bobby
McFerrin
of a few years back. Well, perhaps not quite that
superficial. And he certainly didn't advocate any special
assistance in 'coping' with life and what it dishes
out.
For a brief moment (ch. 2 vs. 3) it seems Solomon did
toy with the thought of turning to wine to
see what that would tell him, much as many in the world have thought turning to
alcohol
& drugs would
help. Unlike some of these people though, Solomon did have some wisdom, and
didn't follow that approach very long. What did he say? "My mind was
guided by wisdom, not blinded by folly". Or, in vs. 12, "I perceived
that wisdom is more profitable than folly' as light is more profitable than
darkness". To turn to alcohol and drugs as a way of coping is certainly
folly.
When, in 2: 24 though, Solomon comes back to the theme
that "There is nothing better for a person to do than to eat and drink and
enjoy oneself in return for one's labours", he sees that this comes from
the hand of God. That is, he recognizes that this satisfaction too comes from
God. As he says, "Without God who can enjoy his food", but then adds
interestingly, "Who can be anxious"? I believe that what he is saying
here is that all this can only come from God in the sense that life itself;
breath, is a gift of God - so even anxiety comes because God allows life.
And what did our Lord say in The Sermon on the Mount
as recorded in Matthew ch. 6? You know the verses: "Take no thought for
your life, what you shall ea\ what you shall drink, what you shall wear (25)
... for your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things, but
seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall
be added unto you (32 - 33). Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for
tomorrow shall take care of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof
(34).
It is important to note this
continuity between the Old Testament and the New, between Solomon and his
descendant Jesus. The Bible does agree within itself.
What is the message here - I would say two things:
1. When we do
have faith, we need to cling to it to remind ourselves of it, as the writer of
Ecclesiastes did. It can and will carry us through. Some of you here have been
through very difficult times in your lives. Our own family went through a very
scary time just last month. Our formerly healthy18-year-old daughter collapsed
on us Sunday morning and almost bled to death. I can’t imagine what we would
have done without the support of our God, especially as expressed through
family, fellow church members and friends. It may be that you or someone close
to you has also been diagnosed with some illness that sounded like a death
sentence. Maybe it was a relationship that just didn't work out. I am sure you
would agree that you don't know where you might have been if it had not been
for your faith.
2. The second point is like the
first. When we have our priorities right, we can take what life
dishes
out and still have peace. Solomon wrote in the Old Testament: "You must
fear God (5:7)... It is good and proper for a person to eat and drink and enjoy
themselves in return for their
labours (5:18)...It is the gift
of God that every person...should accept their lot and rejoice in their labour.
They will not dwell overmuch upon the passing years; for God fills his time
with joy of heart". Isn't that taking about acceptance, of satisfaction,
of not worrying? Isn't that real peace?
What do we remember with
fondness? The hours we spent away from family at work? The times when we were
too drunk or stoned to remember anything? No, when all is said and done we
remember the good times – the fellowship and relationships with friends and
family, the times of good food and good conversation. You may have heard the
saying, “No one ever said on their death bed, I wish I had spent more time at
the office – or whatever your place of work is”.
In the New Testament the Apostle Paul wrote: “I have learned in
whatsoever state I am in to be content”(Phil. 4:11). Jesus said, “Peace I leave
with you, my peace I give unto you not as the world giveth, give I unto you.”
(Jn. 14:27). The message is the same, and we can turn back to The Preacher for
the last word: “Let us hear the conclusion of the matter: Fear God, and keep
his commandments: for this is the duty of all (12:13).
*******
l998/8/9, Revised 2002/9/15
Lorne Brandt
No comments:
Post a Comment