Ecclesiastes 5:1-7 – a verse-by-verse devotional commentary

Main Reading: Ecclesiastes 5:1-7

So far, in Ecclesiastes, we’ve been to the courtroom—where justice ought to be… We’ve been to the marketplace—where honest work should take place…and now we’re going to the temple—where people are supposed to gather and worship God. But Solomon, the Preacher & narrator, sees that true worship is rare and hypocrisy is the norm.

Many people come and go in and out of the temple, “praising God,” praying, sacrificing, and making vows, but many of them are not at all sincere. In other words, the religious people in Solomon’s day were sinners.

Does that surprise you? I hope not. And yet, in the days & times in which we live,

we’re often surprised to discover that some of the most religious people we know

—including ourselves—are sinners…Well, the Preacher—King Solomon—is not surprised at all! And he’s going to tell it like it is, and why it shouldn’t be that way.

v. 1 — “Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil.”

I don’t say this with joy, but just to be frank with you, some of the wisest advice I’ve ever received was: “Noah, you gotta watch out for those church people…” And it’s true—you have to be careful when you go to church, because fools run amok in church…

In Solomon’s way of speaking, he might say: “there’s wisdom in religion, but there’s a whole lot of foolishness there too.”

And yet, that being said, all of the sin and foolishness that goes on among the religious community is not an excuse for you to opt out of it…Solomon says “when you go to the house of God…” not if...

Jesus told us He would send out fishers of men, and they’d catch fish and rotten fish (Mt. 13:47-50). He said that weeds and wheat would grow together in God’s field (Mt. 13:24-30). But it’s not our job to determine who’s who and try to pluck up certain people or throw ‘em out…That’s His job, and when He comes back He’ll do that exactly how He wants.

Jesus nor Solomon tell us to start removing all of the fools from God’s house…

In fact, one of the most painful things that can happen in church is when self-righteous people take it upon themselves to remove anyone they deem as a fool from the gathering. So we need to be careful when involving ourselves in religion.

Not only because we’ll run into some sinners in the sanctuary, but because we ourselves are sinners!

And one of the biggest problems across all cultures, all church contexts, and all eras of human history, is that people do not and will not listen to God. That’s right, even in religious settings…even in the House of God there are people who do not care what He has to say—so much so that Solomon has to tell us to draw near and listen.

Now, sure, some people don’t listen because their bored…Others don’t listen because they don’t believe…But worst of all, the example Solomon will harp on, is that some people don’t listen to the word of God in the house of God because they think they can do something better than that.

Rather than a relationship of gathering together to hear a word from the Lord, some people have settled for a religion of empty sacrifice. These people dream up that ceremonies are the only way to connect with God. Even worse, they think that a little ritual could get God off their backs. This was Cain’s error in the beginning (see Gen. 4:3, Heb. 11:4)... Some of the Israelites tried to buy a license to sin by making offerings (see Jer. 7:9-10, Am. 5:22-24, Mic. 6:6-7). Saul did this too—he sinned deliberately, and planned to run through a ritual to smooth it over (see 1 Samuel 15:17-22).

Others restrict religion to making moral sacrifices; starving yourself, beating yourself, punishing yourself. And in this way, all the pagan religions (Buddhism, Islam, etc.), the Pharisees, medieval monks, and some forms of Christianity are hardly any different from each other…

And there's a certain level of pride and arrogance involved in this kind of religion…How dare we—for a moment—think that there’s something we could do or not do, or say, or sacrifice that would even come close to the weight and worth of what God wants to say?

So that’s why Solomon classifies this mistake as “doing a great evil”…Did you know you could be doing religion—even a Bible-using, churchy-looking one—and be doing a great evil?!

The bottom line is that God doesn’t want us to treat Him like He’s stupid…We don’t need to show up and pretend we haven’t sinned. We don’t need to try to fool Him with money, or sacrifices, or vows. Instead, here’s what we are to do, according to God Himself: "Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat the flesh. For in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to your fathers or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. But this command I gave them: Obey my voice , and I will be your God, and you shall be my people. And walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you’" (Jeremiah 7:21-23). We are to listen to God, and hear His voice.

From day one, that has been the most important thing. Constantly, throughout the Old Testament God pleads with Israel for them to listen to Him. In fact, the commandment that Jews read or recited every day begins with “hear me, Israel”—(Deut. 6:4-5). But instead of hearing God, Solomon says, we’re too busy talking…

v. 2-3 — “Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few. For a dream comes with much business, and a fool's voice with many words.”

He just said, in verse 1, that coming to the house of God is all about listening, learning, and meditating on the word of God. And, if we’ve listened to what God says, you’d expect that to have an impact on what we say.

For one, as people who are used to listening first, we shouldn’t be too quick to speak. "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above , coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures. Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls" (James 1:17-21).

God is above. "He is in heaven, you are on earth" Solomon will say. He desired to save us by the word (drawing near to listen to what He says). Therefore, we ought to be quick to listen and slow to speak–because the words He will say will save our souls.

Now, practically speaking, here’s what that means: As Christians, we should be the last people to rush to conclusions, make judgments, or form opinions. Instead, we ought to carefully consider all the available sources, evidence, and sides of the story. But, in church—in a religious context—here’s how this plays out:

"As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen" (1 Peter 4:10-11).

When you speak in church, Peter says, speak in accordance with the oracles or prophecies of God, aka the Old Testament. [Paul told the Corinthians to not go beyond what is written in order to limit their errors (1 Cor. 4:6].

But this is not what you often see happening in church, is it…? When you go, you might hear people spouting all kinds of nonsense out of turn, without a good reason, and with little support from the Bible. And that’s because foolish people love religious talk. The fools in church are the ones who can’t tolerate quietness. They have to fill the space with their unstoppable mouths…They see church as an opportunity to perform and assume that whatever they are thinking and feeling is what God is thinking and feeling. So, if they think it, they must say it. And most of the time they do it without thinking. They publish the first draft of their thoughts without pausing to evaluate. Thinking, praying, and considering is a waste of time to many people. They have no patience for that…After all, they have goals, dreams, and visions that must come true! Great things need to happen and they need to start now and be done quickly. For these people, speed, constant talk, change, & busyness are the hallmarks of a good & growing church.

So often those who are speaking the most foolishness in churches are doing so from the pulpit… This was a problem in the Old Testament, and it still persists to this day. (see Jeremiah 23:16-26 and Ezekiel 13:3).

But this isn’t only going on in sermons, or Sunday school studies, or business meetings…The hurried speech and decision-making has also infected prayer. Solomon says here that if someone sleeps well, it’s because they’re a hard worker,

and when someone prays with many words, it’s because they’re a fool!

Jesus specifically told us not to use too many words in prayer. "And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words " (Matthew 6:7).

In the early church, Gentile believers were miraculously speaking foreign languages to spread the Gospel, but some of them were using this gift in church and speaking a language that no one could understand without an interpreter. So Paul says this: "Nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue " (1 Corinthians 14:19).

So, here’s what needs to happen when we go to open our mouths in church:

We need to recognize that we are a creation of God’s. And before we get the nerve to speak anything, we ought to first recognize that He outranks us and so we had better listen to what He’s said first. The risk or the danger in not acknowledging this is coming before God as if you’re wise like Him, holy like Him, or otherwise on par with Him—when you ought to fear Him! God is in heaven and you are on earth, Solomon says.

And this is even given to us by Jesus as a reminder in the Lord’s Prayer which begins with: “Our father who art in heaven ” (Matthew 6:9)!

v. 4-7 — “When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for He has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow. It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay. Let not your mouth lead you into sin, and do not say before the messenger that it was a mistake. Why should God be angry at your voice and destroy the work of your hands? For when dreams increase and words grow many, there is vanity; but God is the one you must fear.”

Now, aside from bad sermons, and performative prayers, the other main example of “rash speech” is making vows to God. I’m sure we’ve all, in our lowest moments, told God: “If you get me out of this, I promise I’ll never…cuss again, drink again, look at that website again…” But then inevitably, we find ourselves making the same mistakes over and over. And what we learn here is that God doesn’t need us to do that or say any of that…

Peter promised Jesus that he would die for or with Jesus, go to prison with Him,

and that even if everyone else deserted Jesus, he would stay with Him…Peter was unable to keep this vow, and Jesus knew that. "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” Peter said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death.” Jesus said, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day, until you deny three times that you know me." (Luke 22:31-34).

Solomon, the Preacher would rather us never make a promise than to make one and break it. And speaking of preachers...Jesus in His most famous sermon said this: "Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all , either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil. " (Matthew 5:33-37).

Rather than making our own vows and promises to God, it’s much better to shut our mouths and listen to the promises He will make to us.

So, what have we learned? Well, what goes on in church, religion, or the house of God, isn’t always pretty…it’s often times ugly! But you know what? Behind the scenes at the hospital isn’t so pretty either, but some extremely important and beneficial things are taking place there every day.

Yes, there are fools in Church who have no clue about all the evil things they’re doing! But Jesus is a God who has forgiveness for these kinds of people! "And Jesus said, 'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do '" (Luke 23:34).

And to help you see the kinds of important and healing things that can take place in church, you ought to revisit a story of two people who went to the house of God…One came in with a mouthful for God to hear. The other came with empty hands to receive. "He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 'Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted" (Luke 18:9-14).