The Vanity of Worldly Circumstances

We make things good through the timely use of what God has given us; for in this way everything will be beautiful in its own time, and 'behold, all things are very beautiful' (Eccl 3:14). 17 He knew that all things which God has made shall be for ever; nothing can be added to them, and nothing can be taken from them, and God did this so that they might stand in awe of His face. If 'all things which God has made shall be for ever' (Eccl 3:14), then God did not make evil, and therefore evil shall not be for ever. 18 From the manifold wisdom nothing can be taken away, and to it nothing can be added. He made it, he says, so that men, being lovers of knowledge, might cease from evil; 'for all shall depart from evil by the fear of the Lord' (Eccl 3:15). 19 That which has happened is already, and all things that are to happen have already happened, and God will seek the one who is being pursued. If 'blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven' (Eccl 3:15), and the kingdom of heaven consists of the words of the ages of things happened and things to happen, then blessed are the persecuted, because they themselves shall know the vision of things happened. For this is what God is said to seek: the one whom He enlightens with knowledge, and not to seek the one whom He does not enlighten with knowledge. 'I wandered, says David, like a lost sheep; seek your servant, for I have not attended to your commandments' (Ps 119:63); and he himself was being persecuted: 'many, he says, are the ones driving me out and distressing me; from your testimonies I have not departed' (Ps 119:75). 20 There I said in my heart concerning the talk of the sons of men, that God judges them, and to show this that they are cattle (Eccl 3:18). He has now named the life of man as talk; for if we are to give accounts concerning every idle word on the day of judgment, in which both the pure and the impure are revealed. 21 Eccl 3:19 Both for them is an encounter with the sons of men and an encounter with the cattle; one encounter for them. As the death of this is, so the death of that is, and one spirit for all; and what did man exceed the cattle? Nothing, for all things are vanity. 3, 20 All things go to one place; all things came from the chaos, and all things return to the chaos. 3, 21 And who knows if the spirit of the sons of men ascends

Does it go up to the heavens, and a spirit of the beast descend down to the earth? 3:22 And I saw that there is nothing good except that which a man rejoices in regarding his works, because it is a part of him (Eccl 3:22); for who will lead him to see that in which he might become with it? He speaks of things commonly happening to all men, both the righteous and the unrighteous in this world, such as life, death, sickness, health, wealth, poverty, the loss of limbs, women, children, and possessions, from which it is not possible to distinguish the righteous from the impious before the judgment. He also says that it is common to them to be from the dust and to return again to the dust, and that they have one soul, not by number, but by nature; 'for spirit,' he says, 'is one for all' (Eccl 1:2). But now he has called the man who comes into honor and does not understand, but through irrational pleasures has been compared to the unthinking beasts and has become like them. But even through these things, the righteous and the unrighteous will not be clearly known before the judgment, because many unrighteous have turned to righteousness and been exalted, and many righteous have fallen from virtue and been humbled. So what excess did I find in these things? Now, nothing, he says. For all is vanity except for the spiritual joy, which is found to occur upon the works and the virtues of man; for the one who has fallen from this joy will not return again to do those things which contribute to its possession. 22 That even the irrational soul is called spirit. 23 4:1 And I turned back and saw with all the slanders that had happened under the sun; and behold, the tear of those being slandered, and there is no one to comfort them, and from the hand of those slandering them is strength, and there is no one to comfort them (Eccl 4:1). Slanders refers to those things set against us; 'for deliver your servant unto good,' he says, 'let them not slander me arrogantly' (Eccl 4:1); and again concerning the Savior Christ he says: 'and he will humble the slanderer and will stay with the sun.' But those being slandered before Christ were the men to whom there did not exist a comforter, who was the one saying these things: 'I urge you, I the prisoner, in the Lord, to walk worthily of the calling wherewith you were called, with all lowliness and...'

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