A Time for All Events in Life, 1-8
3:1 For everything there is an appointed time,
and an appropriate time for every activity on earth:
3:2 A time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to uproot what was planted;
3:3 A time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
3:4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance.
3:5 A time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
3:6 A time to search, and a time to give something up as lost;
a time to keep, and a time to throw away;
3:7 A time to rip, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silent, and a time to speak.
3:8 A time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.
This famous poem has been cited in everything from funerals to rock concerts (UBCS).
There are various ways of understanding it:-
(a) Taken out of context (as it often is in the popular mind) the poem offers reassurance that bad times will be balanced out by good times. Be patient, take your opportunities, work for peace, accept grief as not the whole picture, but as part of a bigger picture.
(b) Some commentators think that the author is simply describing the observed cyclical nature of life. In other words, he is observing that ‘there is a time for everything’; but not necessarily saying, ‘there is a right time for everything.’
(c) Many, however, think that this means, ‘there is an appointed time…a predetermined season’, and therefore that this passage teaches a doctrine of predestination or even fatalism. The effect of this passage is to put us in our place, to teach us that despite our vaunted sense of self-determination, we are at the mercy of the different seasons of life, and can have no certainty about how our own efforts will turn out. We are unable to fathom God’s ways (3:11).
Eaton points out that this passage is by no means purely pessimistic. Verses 11a, 12–15, after all, ‘stress that the disposal of events which humiliates men may also be the ground of their joy and security.’
‘It was of crucial importance for a wise teacher to know the right time. The Book of Proverbs does not give a list of truths that are always, everywhere appropriate, but a series of principles that are to be applied at the right time. The wise speak the right word at the right time. They know the conditions under which they should answer a fool (Eccle 26:5) and when they should refrain (Eccle 26:4). Qohelet, as a wise man, knows that there are right times for certain activities: “There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven” (Eccle 3:1). He also is fully aware that God “made everything beautiful in its time” (Eccle 3:11). But he also understands that he cannot share God’s knowledge. As a human being he can never be certain that this is the “right time,” and this lack of knowledge, this lack of certainty, frustrates him to the point that he thinks that life “under the sun” is meaningless. Humans cannot know what will happen to them next, during or after life, “No one knows what is coming—who can tell him what will happen after him?” (Eccle 10:14). “Since no man knows the future, who can tell him what is to come?” (Eccle 8:7). This leaves humans at the mercy of “time and chance” (Eccle 9:11). They cannot even know when they are going to die: “Moreover, no man knows when his hour will come: As fish are caught in a cruel net, or birds are taken in a snare, so men are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them” (Eccle 9:12).’ Longman, EDBT)
For Heim, this passage explores how we can live wisely, given
‘the apparently haphazard sequence and duration of favourable and unfavourable conditions for human flourishing are explored, exposing human limitations and emphasizing divine control.’
For everything there is an appointed time,
and an appropriate time for every activity on earth:
This verse is in chiastic (ABBA) parallelism. ‘Everything’, accordingly, is matched by ‘every activity’, which therefore clarifies the former term as referring to the situations and events of life. The rare word translated ‘appointed time’ (or ‘season) is paralleled by the most common word for ‘time’.
Huwiler writes that although God is not mentioned in this section, he is assumed to be the One who sets the right time for everything.
She adds that each pair in the list is morally neutral. It is not that good and bad things happen, but rather that different – even contrasting – things happen:
‘Although the opposites have positive and negative connotations (beginnings and endings, pleasures and sorrows), they should not be assigned moral significance: all of them are activities proper in their time, which cannot be claimed for immoral behavior. Notably, the poem does not include “a time to be wise and a time to be foolish”; or “a time to be righteous and a time to be wicked”; or “a time to fear God and a time to sin”; or “a time to be lazy and a time to be diligent.”’
Everything…every activity – these comprehensive expressions indicate that the pairs which follow are representative, rather than exhaustive.
On earth – lit. ‘under heaven’, replacing the more usual ‘under the sun’.
A time to plant, and a time to uproot what was planted – Describes ‘the natural rhythm of the agricultural cycle’ (Heim).
A time to kill, and a time to heal – The word translated ‘kill’ does not necessarily imply the inevitability of unauthorised killing (such as murder). Rather,
‘the rhythm of killing and healing simply reflects the complex realities of life, which sometimes necessitate or make unavoidable the one, and at other times afford the other.’ (Heim)
A time to break down, and a time to build up – Heim thinks that the two expressions together suggest the remodelling of a building:
‘The numerous archaeological mounds in the modern Middle East are eloquent testimony to the many levels of destruction and rebuilding that occurred over multiple generations in many of the prime locations for human habitation throughout the Ancient Near East. Ultimately, the pattern of rebuilding symbolizes the triumph of the human spirit and the tenacity of local communities, as they keep rebuilding their homes, time and time again’
A time to mourn, and a time to dance – Heim comments:
‘Both lament and dance are social activities in which human communities share in commiseration over misfortune or celebration of triumphs and other felicitous circumstances.’
A time to scatter stones and a time to gather them – This puzzling expression may refer to the effects of aggressive destruction, and the reversal of this in a time of peace.
Heim quotes Whybray as suggesting that this expression refers to
‘the need to clear away stones from a field in order to make it suitable for agricultural use (cf. Isa. 5:2) and, by contrast, to the deliberate ruining of an enemy’s field by throwing stones into it (2 Kg. 3:19, 25)’
According to Harper’s Bible Commentary, the reference ‘may be erotic’, given the mention of passion and its absence that follows immediately.
A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing – This is about intimacy, both sexual and social.
A time to search, and a time to give something up as lost;
a time to keep, and a time to throw away
As Heim states:
‘These statements evoke the need for discernment in the treatment of material possessions in the complexity of life and highlight how difficult it is for human beings to know the right course of action at any given time.’
A time to rip, and a time to sew – Lacking objects, these items invite imaginative interpretation (physical ties? Social ties?), and no one ‘correct’ answer (Heim).
A time to keep silent, and a time to speak – Knowing when to speak, and when not to, is a common theme in the Wisdom literature. Cf. the famous pair of sayings in Prov 26:4f.
A time to love, and a time to hate – The time for love is especially when love is most needed.
‘A time to hate’ is a typically Hebrew expression, which does not attempt to distinguish (as the NT teaches us to distinguish) between acts and the perpetrators of those acts.
Man is Ignorant of God’s Timing, 9-11
3:9 What benefit can a worker gain from his toil?
3:10 I have observed the burden
that God has given to people to keep them occupied.
3:11 God has made everything fit beautifully in its appropriate time,
but he has also placed ignorance in the human heart
so that people cannot discover what God has ordained,
from the beginning to the end of their lives.
He has also placed ignorance in the human heart – The word translated ‘ignorance’ can carry a variety of meanings: ‘the word’, ‘ignorance’, and ‘darkness’. But ‘eternity’ is its most common meaning, and this fits the context well: both the scheme of ‘times’ preceding, and the mention of eternal things in v14.
The sense may be that whereas there is, from the divine point of view, a beautiful plan in which everything fits into its place, this plan is largely hidden from the human mind.
‘Eternity in the hearts refers to the capacity for something larger and greater than the succession of times that are so uncontrollable. (Time and ‘purpose’/activity in v 1 form a contrast to eternity here). Human beings have a capacity for ‘eternal’ things, something that transcends the immediate situation. This does not bring comprehension of God and his ways; one still cannot understand from beginning to end.’ (NBC)
Eaton’s comment is helpful: ‘‘Eternity’ was important in Israel’s heritage. An eternal life had been lost (Gen. 3:22), an ‘eternal covenant’ inaugurated (Gen. 9:16) by an eternal God (Ps. 90:2). An eternal priesthood (Exod. 40:15) and an eternal kingdom (2 Sam. 7:13) were bestowed by a God eternally merciful (Ps. 111:5), giving his people eternal joy (Isa. 35:10). The eternity of God’s dealings with mankind corresponds to something inside us: we have a capacity for eternal things, are concerned about the future, want to understand ‘from the beginning to the end’, and have a sense of something which transcends our immediate situation. Scripture speaks of our creation in the ‘image’ or ‘glory’ of God (Gen. 1:26f.), a glory which is largely forfeited (Rom. 3:23) yet not obliterated (1 Cor. 11:7; Jas 3:9). Our consciousness of God is part of our nature, and the suppression of it is part of our sin (Rom. 1:18–21).’