Which is Better

DEVOTION

ECCLESIASTES

WHICH IS BETTER

Eccl 7:1-6

7:1 A good name is better than fine perfume, and the day of death better than the day of birth. 2 It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of every man; the living should take this to heart. 3 Sorrow is better than laughter, because a sad face is good for the heart. 4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure. 5 It is better to heed a wise man's rebuke than to listen to the song of fools. 6 Like the crackling of thorns under the pot, so is the laughter of fools. This too is meaningless.

NIV

Once again Solomon makes some comparisons between several things, such as life and death, a wise man and a foolish man, and sorrow and laughter, mourning and feasting. There are more but let us take a look at each one as they are spoken. There is something to be said about having a good name, although we are not very interested in fine perfume. However in the day of Solomon as even during the life of Jesus fine perfume was a very expensive commodity. When Mary poured perfume on Jesus, even his disciples were indignant because they said it could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor. That was a big deal, very expensive stuff. So a good name is better than all the money it costs to buy that expensive perfume. A good name means we mean what we say, our name is our word. People either know we always speak the truth or they don’t. It is not good to be known as having a bad name, or people to think badly about us. Why would the day of death be better than the day of life? We celebrate life usually a lot more than death.  When someone dies, we usually mourn, or go to the house of mourning. When someone is born we usually have a party of sorts, we go to the house of feasting. So then why does Solomon think the opposite is better, to mourn because of a birth and feast because of a death? Is this from a human perspective or a divine one? Certainly God is the giver of life. Yet as a believer we might think death, at least the death of this body, would be better than being born. We are not certain we would like to live all our life all over again, starting at birth. But the day we step into eternity should be a day of rejoicing. We all are going to die. There is not one person alive, not one person who has been born that is going to not die. Death is inevitable, there is nothing we can do to escape it. It will claim every person. So then, during these few moments of life, we should take to heart the destiny that awaits us, death. Are we going to go down to the grave, or are we going to rise to meet the Lord. The choice seems simple enough yet many have decided to live for all they can get in life and refuse to accept what death brings, or just don’t care. Some who do not believe in God, or heaven and hell, could not care less about what happens after death, so live it up, make merry, feast away while they can. The rest of this saying is about the fool and the wise. It is a wise thing, it is true wisdom to see the truth of God and that he is the only hope for life after death. Sorrow is better than laughter. That is the idea that thinking with wisdom about eternal matters is far better than the fools who simply live for the temporary pleasures of this short life. No, we will not listen to the song of the fool, we will listen to the word of God. Their lot, their destiny is so horrible to even think about. Yet we should in the sense that we have a new song they could sing, if only they heard it. If we remain silent and do not sing the new song, the music of God, they cannot hear it and if they do not hear, they cannot believe. So let us sing our song, the song of the Lord, let us spread his song wherever we go. That is living with wisdom, rather than with foolishness. This is better.