Ecclesiastes 7:1 – Take courage! Death is not the end.

Ecclesiastes 6 closed with Solomon asking two rhetorical questions. He wanted to know about life’s present reality and what he should do in the light of the brevity and transitory nature of earthly life. And he also wondered what would happen when the earthly has ended. When he reflected on the questions he took time to consider several propositions life presents itself. He compared those propositions and saw that some are better than others and should be preferred. The word “better” keeps recurring in the first twelve verses of Ecclesiastes 7. It suggests that he was taking a close-up look at different aspects of life, weighed them carefully and concluded that some seemed more advantageous to adopt than others.

In Ecclesiastes 7:1, he began by saying that a good name is better than precious ointment. One’s reputation, he insists, is better than the perfume one splashes on himself. To possess fragrance and sweet-scented ointment was a valuable possession in the days of Solomon. Yet in verse 1, he said a good reputation is more to be priced. Of course, we know that for reputation to be admired it must be undergirded by a great character as well as integrity. No point having a reputation and no character to match up. Why so? It’s because the character is the real you that God knows and sees. Reputation is the person others see in you. People may wear perfume and give an image of importance but what advantage would it be if he lacks character? Hence reputation backs by one’s godly character are to be preferred to having and wearing well-scented perfume to look and smell impressive.

The fact that reputation is better than precious ointment also sets up the foundation for Solomon to compare between one’s birthday and one’s funeral. This he does so to continue his theme that life is empty and vain. So, death here comes as a relief that finally, the misery of an empty life is over. Some people who have a hard time in life may conclude the same way. This is fallacious. Such people fail to see that all situations in life are part of God’s honing process. There is no moment in our life, whether congenial or uncongenial, that God is not apprised of. If we are receptive to His dealings, He takes each of our encounters in life and through them, help us become a better person. God’s modus operandi is not to deliver us out of our troubles, He always deliver us through our troubles.

For us believers, we have reason to take this verse more optimistically. We are reminded of what Paul said, “To be absent in the body is to be present with the Lord.” And he asserted again in Philippians 1:23, saying “For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain.” Notice it or not, we need to know that the adventure of living for the Lord exposes us to the paradoxes of Christian living. We like the comfortable words of Jesus such as “Come into me all who travail and heavy laden and I will give your rest.” Or “Lo, I am with you always until the end of the ages.” But we need to also embrace the uncomfortable words of Jesus, like, “If anyone would come after me, let Him take up His cross, deny Himself and follow after me.” Yes, we may all be born to finally die, but in Christ, we all must die, yes die to sin, so that we may truly live. Regarding physical death, let’s hear the words of our Lord in John 14:1-3, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” How comforting!