25. Lessons in the House of Mourning (1)
Hymns: RHC 389 Teach Me Thy Way, O Lord 542 Saved By Grace 539 Beyond the Sunset
Study of the Book of Ecclesiastes
(Remember Now Thy Creator)
– Lessons in the House of Mourning (1)
Ecclesiastes 7:1-4
1 A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one’s birth. 2 It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart. 3 Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better. 4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.
OUTLINE
- A Good Name (v1)
- Better Than House of Feasting (v2)
- Better Sorrow than Laughter (v3)
- For the Wise of Heart (v4)
INTRODUCTION
We celebrate the beginning of life when a child is born. We think of the life ahead. The child is very much dependent upon the parents in the initial years. The parents hold the responsibility of nurturing the child to maturity and the child when grown up begins his own family. And his children comes and perhaps by reason of strength he sees his grandchildren and even great grandchildren and the end draws and one day, we shall be notified to be at the house of mourning to remember the departed.
This morning, we studied the closing days of the life of Jacob in Egypt in Genesis 48. He spent 17 years in Egypt. He lived up to 147 years. He lived to see his beloved son Joseph in Egypt and was under his care in those latter years that brought much comfort to his heart. But most of all, he was concerned that he has passed on the covenant blessings of God to his posterity. The last three chapters of Genesis were devoted to Jacob’s blessing for his children and grandchildren. For Jacob his primary concern was his final resting place. He desired that he be buried in Canaan together with his father Abraham and grandfather Isaac. He gave instructions to Joseph and asked Joseph to make an oath to fulfill his last wish to be buried in Canaan.
Genesis 49:28-33 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel: and this is it that their father spake unto them, and blessed them; every one according to his blessing he blessed them. 29 And he charged them, and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people: bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, 30 In the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a buryingplace. 31 There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah. 32 The purchase of the field and of the cave that is therein was from the children of Heth. 33 And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people.
Genesis 50:1-14 And Joseph fell upon his father’s face, and wept upon him, and kissed him. 2 And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father: and the physicians embalmed Israel. 3 And forty days were fulfilled for him; for so are fulfilled the days of those which are embalmed: and the Egyptians mourned for him threescore and ten days. 4 And when the days of his mourning were past, Joseph spake unto the house of Pharaoh, saying, If now I have found grace in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying, 5 My father made me swear, saying, Lo, I die: in my grave which I have digged for me in the land of Canaan, there shalt thou bury me. Now therefore let me go up, I pray thee, and bury my father, and I will come again. 6 And Pharaoh said, Go up, and bury thy father, according as he made thee swear. 7 And Joseph went up to bury his father: and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, 8 And all the house of Joseph, and his brethren, and his father’s house: only their little ones, and their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen. 9 And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen: and it was a very great company. 10 And they came to the threshingfloor of Atad, which is beyond Jordan, and there they mourned with a great and very sore lamentation: and he made a mourning for his father seven days. 11 And when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said, This is a grievous mourning to the Egyptians: wherefore the name of it was called Abelmizraim, which is beyond Jordan. 12 And his sons did unto him according as he commanded them: 13 For his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field for a possession of a buryingplace of Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre. 14 And Joseph returned into Egypt, he, and his brethren, and all that went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father.
Solomon in this study of Ecclesiastes has explained in great detail that truly, all is vanity under the sun. This life without God will be a life of regret in the final analysis and he brings us to a funeral scene in a vigil service to help us to see the end of a man so that we may be wise to live this “in-between” life after birth and before we take our last breath.
We will notice also a change in his style of writing from narrative to a poetical style of parallel and contrasting thoughts, very much the style of the book of Proverbs to bring us home to the godly wisdom that we have so much known him by as the man God has promised to endow with heavenly wisdom.
Consider these thoughts:
- A Good Name (v1)
- Better Than House of Feasting (v2)
- Better Countenance of the Heart (v3)
- For the Wise of Heart (v4)
(1) A Good Name (v1)
1 A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one’s birth.
When we begin life on earth, our parents give each one of us a name. We are identified by our names. And through the course of life, by the way we live, we either bring for ourselves a good reputation or a bad reputation. Of course, it is our desire that we will have a good reputation in the course of our lives and when we die we leave behind a good name or a good testimony.
Solomon is saying to us that a good reputation at the end of one’s life can be assessed as a good life. This life has been lived profitably.
He compares a good name with precious or good perfume.
ט֥וֹב שֵׁ֖ם מִשֶּׁ֣מֶן ט֑וֹב (Ecc 7:1a)
The verse 1a is written beginning with the word “good” and ending with the word “good”. The direct translation of v1a is “Good name from perfume good”. The two words “name” is “Shem” and “oil or fat, perfume” is “Shemen” is found in between the two words “good” or “tov”. And the comparator “from” attached to the word “Shemen”.
The perfume provides good fragrance. When a baby is born, the infant is bathed with precious oil – Ezekiel 16:9 Then washed I thee with water; yea, I throughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil. When a person dies, he is also anointed with oil for burial.
And they form a comparion with v7b that compares a person’s birth and his death.
וְי֣וֹם הַמָּ֔וֶת מִיּ֖וֹם הִוָּלְדֽוֹ (Ecc 7:1b)
– And day of the death from the day of his birth.
The good fragrance of a person’s life is better appreciated at his death than at his birth.
At the end of a person’s life, such a life can be evaluated by the living and assessed. How is the end of life better than the beginning of life?
Like Solomon, the Apostle Paul agrees when he said in Philippians 1:21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
To be with the Lord in heaven is far better as he enjoys the fruit of a godly life – Revelation 14:13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.
As Solomon rightly observed in Proverbs 10:7 The memory of the just is blessed: but the name of the wicked shall rot.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
1 Corinthians 4:5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.
“For All the Saints Who from Their Labors Rest”
by William W. How, 1823-1897
- For all the saints who from their labors rest,
Who Thee by faith before the world confess,
Thy name, O Jesus, be forever blest,
Alleluia! Alleluia!
- Thou wast their Rock, their Fortress, and their Might;
Thou, Lord, their Captain in the well-fought fight;
Thou, in the darkness drear, their one true Light.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
- Oh, may Thy soldiers, faithful, true and bold,
Fight as the saints who nobly fought of old
And win with them the victor’s crown of gold.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
- O blest communion, fellowship divine,
We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;
Yet all are one in Thee, for all are Thine.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
- And when the fight is fierce, the warfare long,
Steals on the ear the distant triumph song,
And hearts are brave again, and arms are strong.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
- But, lo, there breaks a yet more glorious day;
The saints triumphant rise in bright array;
The King of Glory passes on His way.
Alleluia! Alleluia! - From earth’s wide bounds, from ocean’s farthest coast,
Through gates of pearl streams in the countless host,
Singing to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
Alleluia! Alleluia!
- The golden evening brightens in the west;
Soon, soon, to faithful warriors cometh rest.
Sweet is the calm of Paradise the blest.
(2) Better Than the House of Feasting (v2)
2 It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart.
Bridges said well, “It will do us more good to go to a funeral than to go to a festival. Not that either of them are wrong. Our blessed Lord attended both. He adorned and beautified with His presence and first miracle a marriage feast. And He was found groaning and weeping at the grave of Lazarus (John 11:33-35). In both places, we may glorify Him and follow His footsteps. The vale of the house of mourning is in the lesson it teaches. Here is the end of all men. What better lesson can there be? If anything will set the thoughtless to think, this will be it. It is what all must espect – what all must arrive at – “going the way of all the earth.” (Joshua 23:14). It is the grand design of the house of feasting to destroy recollection – the house of mourning makes the last scene palpable. It is the Divine ordinance to bring the living to thoughtfulness; far gone must they be, if they do not lay it to heart, and fasten it there. A mercy indeed it is to be brought to think! A greater mercy still to be led to pray. When the solemn messenger knocks – when his entrance spreads a pall over the joyous house, then indeed does he speak to the heart – seal his impression there – and stir up the enquiry – ‘How may I meet the crisis in peace, confidence and acceptance?’ And then comes in sight the remedy – most welcome, because most fitting to the sinner’s case. ‘Sin his disorder, Christ his physician; pain his medicine; the Bible his support; the grave his bed; and death itself an angel, expressly sent to release the worn-out labourer, or crown the faithful soldier.”
At the house of mourning, we see the end of life, we see the end of a man’s life and we see that it is indeed our ultimate destination too.
Hebrews 9:27-28 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: 28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.
It brings us to Christ! And it makes out of the judgment to come. We are that near and not there till we go that way. There is still time to repent.
May it be a sobering wake-up call, Solomon tells his reader, when one chooses to go to the house of mourning. When a choice arises, it is better to go to the house of mourning.
To be continued…