By: Gen. Jim – 8/9/24
He hath made everything beautiful in His time: also He hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.” – Eccl. 3:11, KJV;
The NKJV, the NIV et al. has “eternity” instead of “world.” The NIV footnote (vs.11) says, “God’s beautiful but tantalizing WORLD is too big for us, yet its satisfactions are too small. Since we were made for ETERNITY, the things of time cannot fully & permanently satisfy.”
“He has made everything beautiful in its time; He also has planted ETERNITY in men’s hearts & minds (a divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun, but only God, can satisfy), yet so that man cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.” – Amp. Bible
When this was penned, the context was “TO everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven,” – Eccl. 3:1. We wonder why Solomon backed away from the Living God, who was given such wisdom, knowledge, & understanding? His open statement was “vanity of vanities” (1:2), often translated, “meaningless! Everything is meaningless!” His conclusion is also its theme: “Fear God & keep His commandments, for this is man’s all” (12:13). In short, the purpose of life is to worship/serve the Living God.
We know that God gave Solomon wise sayings (Proverbs) & songs. 1 Kings 3:12 states “… I (God) have given you a wise heart…” Vs.13 states “… I have given you both riches & honor.” But take note of what follows: “So IF you walk in My ways, to keep My statutes & My commandments… THEN I will lengthen your days,” vs. 14 [see my “if” / “then” clause articles]. Don’t ever think that the “if” is not important. God again in 6:12, uses the “if” / “then” clause: “If you walk in My statutes, execute My judgments, keep all My commandments, & walk in them, THEN I will perform My Word (promise) with you…”
We ask, “Did Solomon walk in the way of righteousness?” Nehemiah 13:26 says, “Did not Solomon… sin by these things?” What things? He “transgressed against our God by marrying pagan women?” (vs.27), ref. to vs.25, “You shall not give your daughters as wives to their (pagan) sons, nor take their daughters for your sons or yourselves.” Solomon had many pagan wives [see Ezra 10:1,2].
So, what did Solomon mean by God putting the world/eternity in man’s heart?
Eternity: Hebrew, ‘ad = “a (peremptory) terminus, i.e. duration, in the sense of advance or perpetuity: eternity, everlasting, perpetually, world without end.” So, eternity can be a limited time or unlimited time, depends on the context.
There is another Heb. word, ‘âdaāh, which is prim. root meaning “to advance, i.e. to pass on or continue,” meaning in relation to our study, men’s hearts have “eternity” in them, hence, will continue to live even after physical death (in Heaven or Hell!).
Isaiah wrote about “eternity” when he said, “For thus says the High & Lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high & holy place…” Heaven, i.e. eternity is where peace is found… continually everlastingly: Hell is where NO PEACE is found & will continue everlastingly (Isa. 57:21). Souls live on eternally. This is a Biblical fact! Heaven & Hell are eternal.
Why would the KJV use “world” rather than “eternity” (NKJV et al.)?
Dr. Adam Clarke, LL.D., F.S.A, comments on Eccl. 3:11 (KJV), “haolam” (Heb.), “that hidden time – the period beyond the present, – eternity.” “The proper translation,” Clarke states, “of this clause is the following: ‘Also that eternity hath He placed in their heart, without which man cannot find out the work which God hath made from the commencement to the end.’”In essence, Clarke is saying God has deeply rooted the idea of eternity in every human heart; & every considerate man sees, that all the operations of God refer to that “endless duration.” Verse 14 says, “I know that whatever God doeth, it shall be for ever…” KJV. It is supposed, in eternity, the saints of God will know as God knows.
Verse 12 says, “I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice, & to do good in his life.” what God wants is for the human race to do good & refuse evil; make proper use of time (in the world), for what we do or refrain from doing, will decide our future (eternity). While there is the (false) belief out there (in Churchianity), God created some men for Hell & others for Heaven. God made everything “good,” “beautiful” in the beginning. BUT men & women “have sought out many schemes” (NKJV). The KJV uses “inventions.” “God made man (male/female) UPRIGHT” (Eccl. 7:29) in the beginning.
In one Bible theologian’s take on Eccl. 3:11 (where the word “world” is used), he writes, “… comes in a setting into which it fits” (Hebrews Literary Genius, p.214). He tells us that God has, by a limitation of man’s power, made it impossible for men to comprehend the whole of his/her purpose. This is the most disputed verse in Ecclesiastes. Its interpretation depends on the meaning of the Heb. word “world” / “’ôwlâm” (also spelled “hā’ôlām” (vocalized by the masoretes).
How UGLY things have become! I mean socially, racially, sexually, economically, spiritually, and yes, even physically. The present condition in the world is not at all beautiful but UGLY! Wars, disasters, plagues, … & HATE abound!
Gen. 1:3 – “Let there be light,” Gen. 1:12 – “… and God saw that it was GOOD,” Gen. 1:25 – “…and God saw that it was GOOD,” Gen 1:31 – “Then God saw everything that He had made, & indeed it was GOOD.” GOOD = BEAUTIFUL.
The exact quality of the word translated “beautiful” may range from the idea of GOOD to that of EXCELLENCE, of that which is proper to that which is appropriate. God “has put hā’ôlām into man’s [Hebrew, into their heart [or mind].”
According to Strong’s Concordance of the Bible this Heb. word means: “concealed, i.e. the vanishing point; gen. time out of mind (past or future), i.e. (practically) eternity; freq. adv. (especially with prep. pref.) always: continuance, eternal, forever, everlasting, lasting long, perpetual, without end.” “World” & “eternity” can be used in ref. to our text [Eccl. 3:11]
The “world:” There are Bible scholars (Hebrew) that state man’s heart or mind is a microcosm in which the great world is reflected: “God has set the whole world in their mind.” “Against this interpretation it is often,” states one scholar of language, “urged that hā’ôlām does not appear anywhere else in the O.T. in the sense of ‘world,’ & is first found in this sense in post Biblical Hebrew” (see Pirke Aboth 4:7). He continues: “But since the Hebrew of Ecclesiastes differs very sharply from that of other O.T. books, & since several words in Eccl. are found nowhere else in the O.T. – e.g., ‘inyān = “task,” “business,” a common expression in some scholars’ language & in post Biblical speech – this argument has no weight whatsoever.”
When I first read Eccl. 3:11, I was given to deep thought (I love to read different versions of the Bible & scholars’ interpretations). The amplifications of the word “world” always made me think of the fallen, lost world, the world we’re instructed to avoid loving (1 Jn. 2:15-17). The word “worldliness” = “love of the world” is different from what God put into man’s heart or mind. [for a deeper study see H.L. Ginsberg’s, Studies in Koheleth, NY: Jewish Theological Seminary of America, 1950, ad loc., & Robert Gordis’, The Wisdom of Eccl., NY, 1945, p.52).
The Vulgate translation is very interesting as it shows that the Hebrew MS on which it is based differed from the M.T. (Masoretic Text). It renders as such: et mundum tradidit disputation eorum, “meaning,” also [God] has handed over the world to their [man’s] contention,” which means that instead of reading (as M.T.), “in their [man’s] heart,” it read, “For their strife or contention.” I’ve looked up many scholars who made their exegesis/expostitions known on Eccl. 3:11, starting with their take on the process of opposites – 3:2-8. Prof. Gaius G. Atkins (exposition), & Prof. O.S. Raskin (exegeis) have put forth their interpretation. They relate that the Heb. MS or MSS which the Vulgate used had a text which at least makes good sense & suits the sardonic quality of other scholar’s minds. God has made every single event fit its occasion & has given/handed over, to the sons of men the “world,” which is the sum total of all events & of all God’s works – for their contending, in order that they may never grasp His purpose. (see Gen. 3:22).
The word “Eternity,” in Hebrew thought, (see Johannes Pedersen’s, Israel, Its Life & Culture 1-11, 1926, pp.490-91) history consists of all the generations of men & their experiences are fused into a great whole & “this concentrated time, into which all generations are fused, & from which they spring is called “eternity.” Heb. scholars point out that the predominate sense of ‘ôlām is “of the permanent or continuous in contrast with the fragmentary times. [see A.H. McNeile’s An Intro. to Eccl., 1904, pp.62, & 99] [see also Wildeboer & Hertzberg, who do not define “eternity” in terms of “time” but give it a “spiritual” quality].
[note: In the Hebrew Bible the book of Ecclesiastes is called Qôhe’leth or Koheleth. The opening vs., which reads, “The words of Koheleth, the son of David, King of Jerusalem;” 1:12 the author himself announces, “I, Koheleth;” Speculating exegetes have suggested that the word “Koheleth” might be a cryptogram, perhaps a kind of abbreviation formed by the initial letters of a longer name/title, such as “Rambam,” from Rabbi Moses ben Maimon, & “Rashi,” from Rabbi Shelomo (ben) Isaac. It represents a participial feminine singular from of the verb Qal, which appears to be derived from the noun meaning “assembly.” (see the Gk. trans. of the Septuagint qō·he·leṯ,)
The notion of “eternity” would not incapacitate man’s mind or heart in any way, scholars say, the conjunction which introduces the final clause – “mibbeî ‘ahser lô;” vulgate, “ut non;” LXX, i.e. “so that [in order that] not” – is interpreted as meaning “yet [or only] so that not” or “yet in such a way that [man can] not.”
They go on to say that both objections considerably weaken this interpretation. But both are removed if the vulg. reading “for their strife” is accepted. They go on to explain that the sentence would then mean either that God has given men “eternity,” i.e., all time, for their strife or has given them as subject for their strife the aggregate of the “times” & of the experiences of the generations of men. So, in this last significance it makes little difference whether we interpret “hā’ôlām” as “eternity” or as “the world.”
‘Olām is history & thus the world as a compact whole.
“Eternity,” i.e. the future, hidden time, i.e. past & future, the permanence or continuity of God’s work, in contrast with transitory beauty of the “time-content.”
So, we see that God put in man’s mind/heart knowledge (‘élem from Arabic ‘ilm; mystery (ta’alûmāh or ‘élelm); the desire to search out all that is hidden (hā’ālûm); God put “toil” in man’s heart.
There is so much more to write here on Eccl. 3:11 (from various scholars). What we can glean from all this is that God made everything good/beautiful in the beginning. Man has the ability to record all the generations of human history, events, experiences, from the beginning to the end. Human history involves the skyline, mountain peaks & mountain valleys. Man’s intuition & God’s revelation can be recorded – has been thus far. Men weary themselves in wanting to know the future – it will come! The sense of the “eternal” is ours. God has put it into our hearts & mind, yet, we only possess a limited sense of it. The future, through timeless, will unfold in time.
Here in New Mexico, it is called “The Land of Enchantment.” The charm, the mystery, is to be discovered. Ancient peoples lived here. They too sought to “know.” There are in stone the records of geological epochs whose beginnings, durations, & endings stagger one’s imagination. Ancient dwellings, ancient skeletons of both men & beast (dinosaurs etc.), ancient dwellings with pottery etc. who were these people? Footprints left in lava from ancient volcanoes. When I was in prison at Los Lunas, I saw ancient pieces of pottery in our prison yard. How many centuries old I have no idea. But when I lived at Fence Lake, N.M. I saw ancient stone axe heads, pottery with various colored designs. There were ancient native American dwellings here & there. The earthly, the terrestrial.
We must wait with patience for the full discovery of that which to us seems intricate & perplexed, acknowledging from the beginning to the end we cannot rightly judge nothing before the time. Because of the FALL, man cannot see clearly. Paul the apostle put it so aptly: “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. – 1 Cor. 13:12, NKJV.