Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ecclesiastes 11:3
If the clouds be full of rain, they empty [themselves] upon the earth: and if the tree fall toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be.
3. If the clouds be full of rain ] The thought is linked to that which precedes it by the mention of the “evil coming upon the earth.” In regard to that evil, the sweeping calamities that lie beyond man’s control, he is as powerless as he is when the black clouds gather and the winds rush wildly. He knows only that the clouds will pour down their rain, that the tree will lie as the tempest has blown it down. Is he therefore to pause, and hesitate and stand still, indulging the temper
“over exquisite
To cast the fashion of uncertain evils”?
That question is answered in the next verse. It may be noted, as an illustration of the way in which the after-thoughts of theology have worked their way into the interpretation of Scripture, that the latter clause has been expounded as meaning that the state in which men chance to be when death comes on them is unalterable, that there is “no repentance in the grave.” So far as it expresses the general truth that our efforts to alter the character of others for the better must cease when the man dies, that when the tree falls to south or north, towards the region of light or that of darkness, we, who are still on earth, cannot prune, or dig about, or dung it (Luk 13:8), the inference may be legitimate enough, but it is clear that it is not that thought which was prominent in the mind of the writer.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Unforeseen events come from God; and the man who is always gazing on the uncertain future will neither begin nor complete any useful work: but do thou bear in mind that times and circumstances, the powers of nature and the results to which they minister, are in the hand of God; and be both diligent and trustful. The images are connected chiefly with the occupation of an agricultural laborer: the discharge of rain from the cloud, and the inclination of the falling tree, and the direction of the wind, are beyond his control, though the result of his work is affected by them. The common application of the image of the fallen tree to the state of departed souls was probably not in the mind of the inspired writer.
Ecc 11:5
Spirit – The same Hebrew word (like pneuma in Greek and Spirit in English) signifies both the wind Ecc 11:4 and the Spirit (compare marginal reference). The Old Testament in many places recognizes the special operation of God Job 10:8-12; Psa 139:13-16; Jer 1:5, and distinctly of the Spirit of God Job 31:15 in the origination of every child. Compare Gen 2:7.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Ecc 11:3
If the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth.
Black clouds and bright blessings
It was raining very heavily when I was thinking over this text. When I came here I found that you had not had a drop of ram. This seemed to me like an example and an illustration of the sovereignty of Gods dispensations. In one part of the Church Gods grace descends in a flood, while another part remains as dry and arid as the wilderness itself. He hath the key of the rain, and it is for us to ask Him to give us of the dew and the rain of His Holy Spirit.
I. Comfort for the timid. The clouds are black, they lower; they shut out the sunlight; they obscure the landscape. The timid one looks up and says, Alas! how black they are, and how they gather, fold on fold! What makes them black? It is because they are full, and hence light cannot pierce them. And if they be full, what then? Why, then it will rain, and then the hot earth will be refreshed, and every little plant, and every tiny leaf and rootlet of that plant will suck up moisture, and begin to laugh for joy. If the clouds were not black, you might not expect rain. If your afflictions were not grievous, they would not be profitable. If your adversities did not pain and trouble you, they would not be blessed to you. We have heard some people say, If this trouble had come in such and such a shape, I would not have minded it. But God meant you to mind it, for it was in your minding it that it was blessed to you. I do not know–how can I tell–what is your particular trouble; but you may well believe that He who appointed it, He who measured it, He who has set its bounds, will bring you to the end of it, and prove His gracious design in it all. Do not think that God deals roughly with His children, and gives them needless pain. It grieves Him to grieve you. It is easy to have a faith that acts backwards, but faith that will act forwards from the point of your present emergency is the true faith that you want now. Hath God helped you out of one trouble after another, and is it to be supposed that He will leave you in this? Do ask, then, for grace that you may believe while you are still under the cloud, black as it looks, that it will empty itself in blessed rain upon you. So will it be on the largest possible scale in the whole Church of Christ. There are many clouds surrounding the Church of God just now, and I must confess that, with all the religious activity there is abroad, there is very much to cause us great sorrow. But we must not yield to fear. The Master knows.
II. An argument with the doubting and the desponding. It is a law of nature that a full thing begins to empty itself. When the cloud gets full, it no longer has the power of retaining its fluid contents, but it pours them down upon the earth. Well now, I want you to draw an argument from this. Our gracious God never makes a store of any good thing, but He intends to give it to us. Just think for a moment of God, our gracious Father. He is love. He is all goodness. He is a bottomless, shoreless sea, brimful of goodness He is full of pardoning goodness to forgive sin. He is full of faithful goodness to watch over His children; full of bounteous goodness to bestow upon them all that they want. Now, if there be such a plenitude of goodness in the leather, it must be for some object–not for Himself. Why should it be given to Himself? It must be there for His creatures. Is it not written that He delighteth in mercy? We know that He maketh the sun to shine upon the evil as well as upon the just. Then I, even though I be evil, will hope that this store of goodness in the heart of the everlasting Father is intended–some of it, at any rate–to be poured out upon me, poor unworthy me. Ah, troubled, doubting soul! think again; let me ask you this time to muse a little upon Jesus Christ the Son of the Father. Now, if thou believe Christ to be a cloud that is full of rain, for what reason is He full? Why, that He may empty Himself upon the earth. To proceed yet further, I would ask the doubter to look at the infinite fulness of power which is treasured up in the Holy Spirit. Is thy heart hard? He will empty His softening influence upon it. Is it dead? His quickening power shall there find a congenial sphere. Art thou dark? Then there is room for His light. Art thou sick? Then is there a province for His healing energy.
III. The text furnishes a lesson to Christians. The drift of the passage is, of course, to be gathered from the connection, and it was intended by Solomon to teach us liberality. If your pocket is full, empty it out upon the poor and needy; and if God has endowed you with much of this worlds substance, look out for cases of necessity, and consider it as much the object of your existence to bestow help upon the needy, as it is the design in the creation of a cloud that it should empty itself upon the earth. When a man once gets into the habit of giving to the cause of God, it becomes as much a delight to contribute of his substance as to pray for Gods bounty, or to drink in the promise. Let the wealthy empty themselves upon the earth, and this shall be the way to fill themselves. But, though not many of us are entrusted with much wealth, we have other aptitudes to be useful. Some Christians have a considerable amount of ability to serve the Lord. They are, perhaps, able to speak for the Master. Now, I think that wherever there is some knowledge of Gods Word, a personal acquaintance with its power, and a facility to speak, we should exercise our talent, if it be but one; and if we have ten, we should not keep one of the ten to ourselves. Some Christians have a large amount of experimental knowledge. They are not eloquent, they are not educated, but they are wise. If you have any experience, let me say to you–do, as you have opportunity, tell it out; empty it upon the earth. If you have gained some knowledge of God, communicate it. If you have proved Him, confess to a generation about you that He is a faithful God. Observe, lastly, when it is that the clouds do empty themselves. The text says, when they are full. This is a broad hint, I think, to the Christian; it tells him when to work. David was to attack the Philistines at a certain signal. When thou hearest the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry-trees, then thou shalt bestir thyself. Take this as a Divine signal; when you are full, it is time for you to set about doing good, emptying yourselves upon the earth. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 3. If the clouds be full of rain.] Act as the clouds; when they are full they pour out their water indifferently on the field and on the desert. By giving charity indiscriminately, it may be that thou wilt often give it to the unworthy: but thou shouldst ever consider that he is an object of thy charity, who appears to be in real want; and better relieve or give to a hundred worthless persons, than pass by one who is in real distress.
Where the tree falleth, there it shall be.] Death is at no great distance; thou hast but a short time to do good. Acquire a heavenly disposition while here; for there will be no change after this life. If thou die in the love of God, and in the love of man, in that state wilt thou be found in the day of judgment. If a tree about to fall lean to the north, to the north it will fall; if to the south, it will fall to that quarter. In whatever disposition or state of soul thou diest, in that thou wilt be found in the eternal world. Death refines nothing, purifies nothing, kills no sin, helps to no glory. Let thy continual bent and inclination be to God, to holiness, to charity, to mercy, and to heaven: then, fall when thou mayest, thou wilt fall well.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
If the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth: learn, O man, the practice of liberality from the very lifeless creatures, from the clouds; which when they are filled with water, do not hoard it up, or keep it to themselves, but plentifully pour it forth for the refreshment both of the fruitful field and of the barren wilderness.
In the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be: these words contain either,
1. An argument to persuade men to charity, because they must shortly fall or die, and then all opportunity of being charitable will be lost, and they must expect certainly and eternally to reap whatsoever they have sown, whether it hath been mercy or unmercifulness. Or rather,
2. An answer to a common objection against it, because we are not certain whether the person who desires our charity doth really need it, or be worthy of it. To this he answers, As a tree when it falls, either by the violence of the wind, or being cut down by its owners order, it is not considerable whether it falls southward or northward, for there it lies ready for the masters use; so thy charity, though it may possibly be misapplied by thee, or abused by the receiver, yet being conscientiously given by thee, it shall assuredly return to thee, and thou shalt reap the fruit of it.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
3. cloudsanswering to “evil”(Ec 11:2), meaning, When thetimes of evil are fully ripe, evil must come; and speculationsabout it beforehand, so as to prevent one sowing seed of liberality,are vain (Ec 11:4).
treeOnce the stormuproots it, it lies either northward or southward, according as itfell. So man’s character is unchangeable, whether for hell or heaven,once that death overtakes him (Rev 22:11;Rev 22:14; Rev 22:15).Now is his time for liberality, before the evil days come (Ec12:1).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
If the clouds be full of rain, they empty [themselves] upon the earth,…. They do not retain it; sad would it be for the earth if they did; but they let it down softly and gently, in plentiful showers upon each of the parts of the earth without distinction, by which it is refreshed, and made fruitful; nor are they losers by it, for they draw up great quantities again out of the ocean, and so constantly answer the ends for which they are appointed. And so rich men, who are full of the good things of this world, should not keep them to themselves, and for their own use only; but should consider they are stewards under God, and for others, and should be like the full clouds, empty themselves; and give to those who want of what God has given them, freely and cheerfully, bountifully and plentifully, and that without respect of persons, imitating their God and Creator, who sendeth rain upon the just and the unjust, Mt 5:45; and such in the issue are no losers, but gainers; they fill again as fast as they empty;
and if the tree fall toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be; where the seed falls, and it grows up into a plant, and to a tree, there it continues, whether to the north or to the south; and so accordingly brings forth fruit, and such as it is men partake of it; to which purpose Jarchi, and who applies it to the disciple of a wise man, who is profitable in the place where he is, not only in life, but after death: or where the fruit of a tree fall, “there they are”, so Aben Ezra reads the last clause in the plural number; that is, there are persons enough to gather the fruit; and so where a rich man is, there are poor enough about him to partake of his bounty: or as when a tree is cut down, let it fall where it will, there it abides, and is no more fruitful; so when a man is cut off by death, as he was then, so he remains; if a gracious and good man, and has done good, he is like a tree that falls to the south, he enters into the paradise of God, the joys of heaven; and if not a good man, and has not done good, he is like a tree that falls to the north, he goes into a state of darkness, misery, and distress; see Re 22:11; or however, be this as it will, he is no more useful in this world; and therefore it becomes men to do all the good they can in health and life, for there is none to be done in the grave where they are going: or else the sense is, that as when a tree falls, whether it be to the south or to the north, it matters not to the owner, there it lies, and is of the same advantage to him; so an act of beneficence, let it be done to what object soever, a worthy or an unworthy one, yet being done with a view to the glory of God and the good of men, it shall not lose its reward: and so this is an answer to the objection of some against giving, because they do not know whether the object proposed is deserving: though some think the same thing is intended by these metaphorical expressions, as is suggested in the latter part of Ec 11:2, that evils or calamities may come upon men like heavy showers of rain, which wash away things; or like storms and tempests of rain, thunder and lightning, which break down trees, and cause them to fall to the north or to the south; and thus in like manner by one judgment or another men may be stripped of all their substance, and therefore it is right to make use of it while they have it.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
With this verse there is not now a transition, (as when one understands Ecc 11:1. of beneficence); the thoughts down to Ecc 11:6 move in the same track. “When the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves on the earth: and if a tree fall in the south, or in the north – the place where the tree falleth, there it lieth.” Man knows not – this is the reference of the verse backwards – what misfortune, as e.g., hurricane, flood, scarcity, will come upon the earth; for all that is done follows fixed laws, and the binding together of cause and effect is removed beyond the influence of the will of man, and also in individual cases beyond his knowledge. The interpunction of 3 a: (not as by v. d. Hooght, Mendelss., and elsewhere , but as the Venet. 1515, 21, Michael. , for immediately before the tone syllable Mahpach is changed into Mercha) appears on the first glance to be erroneous, and much rather it appears that the accentuation ought to be
but on closer inspection is rightly referred to the conditional antecedent, for “the clouds could be filled also with hail, and thus not pour down rain” (Hitz.). As in Ecc 4:10, the fut. stands in the protasis as well as in the apodosis. If A is done, then as a consequence B will be done; the old language would prefer the words … ( ) , Ewald, 355 b: as often as A happens, so always happens B. carries (without needing an external object to be supplied), as internally transitive, its object is itself: if the clouds above fill themselves with rain, they make an emptying, i.e., they empty themselves downwards. Man cannot, if the previous condition is fixed, change the necessary consequences of it.
The second conditioning clause: si ceciderit lignum ad austraum aut ad aquilonem, in quocunque loco cociderit ibi erit . Thus rightly Jerome. It might also be said: , and if a tree falls, whether it be in the south or in the north; this sive… sive would thus be a parenthetic parallel definition. Thus regarded, the protasis as it lies before us consists in itself, as the two veim in Amo 9:3, of two correlated halves: “And if a tree falls on the south side, and (or) if it fall on the north side,” i.e., whether it fall on the one or on the other. The Athnach, which more correctly belongs to , sets off in an expressive way the protasis over against the apodosis; that a new clause begins with veim yippol is unmistakeable; for the contrary, there was need for a chief disjunctive to . Meqom is accus. loci for bimqom , as at Est 4:3; Est 8:17. Sham is rightly not connected with the relat. clause (cf. Eze 6:13); the relation is the same as at Est 1:7. The fut. is formed from , whence Ecc 2:22, as at Neh 6:6, and in the Mishna ( Aboth, vi. 1;
(Note: Vid., Baer, Abodath Jisrael, p. 290.)
Aboda zara, iii. 8) the part. . As the jussive form is formed from , so ( ) passes into , which is here written . Hitzig supposes that, according to the passage before us and Job 37:6, the word appears to have been written with , in the sense of “to fall.” Certainly has the root-signification of delabi, cadere, and derives from thence the meaning of accidere, exsistere, esse ( vid., under Job 37:6); in the Book of Job, however, may have this meaning as an Arabism; in the usus loq. of the author of the Book of Koheleth it certainly was no longer so used. Rather it may be said that had to be written with an added to distinguish it from the abbreviated tetragramm, if the , as in , Isa 28:12, and , Jos 10:24, does not merely represent the long terminal vowel (cf. the German-Jewish = thou, = the, etc.).
(Note: Otherwise Ewald, 192b: , Aram. of (as ) = .)
Moreover, , as written, approaches the Mishnic inflection of the fut. of the verb ; the sing. there is , , , and the plur. , according to which Rashi, Aben Ezra, and Kimchi interpret here also as plur.; Luzzatto, 670, hesitates, but in his Commentary he takes it as sing., as the context requires: there will it (the tree) be, or in accordance with the more lively meaning of the verb : there will it find itself, there it continues to lie. As it is an invariable law of nature according to which the clouds discharge the masses of water that have become too heavy for them, so it is an unchangeable law of nature that the tree that has fallen before the axe or the tempest follows the direction in which it is impelled. Thus the future forms itself according to laws beyond the control of the human will, and man also has no certain knowledge of the future; wherefore he does well to be composed as to the worst, and to adopt prudent preventive measures regarding it. This is the reference of Ecc 11:3 looking backwards. But, on the other hand, from this incalculableness of the future-this is the reference of Ecc 11:3 looking forwards-he ought not to vie up fresh venturesome activity, much rather he ought to abstain from useless and impeding calculations and scruples.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
FULFILL KNOWN RESPONSIBILITIES DESPITE UNCERTAINTIES
Verse 3 affirms that there are events in life, beyond the control of man. Therefore, he should leave such to the Almighty, and proceed with his known responsibilities, Gen 3:19; Pro 10:4-5; Pro 12:11.
Verse 4 continues the thought of verse 3, and warns that undue delay in planting or other necessary activity, to wait for change in conditions beyond man’s control, will prevent achievement of needed objectives, Pro 6:10-11; Pro 10:4; Pro 12:11; Pro 22:29.
Verses 5 and 6 suggest that as man accepts, but does not know, the way of the Spirit, or how bones grow in the womb, so also should man sow his seed in the morning and cultivate it until evening, trusting God to cause it to prosper, as He deems best, Joh 3:8; Psa 104:23; Psa 139:14-15; Joh 1:3.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
THE RELATION OF SHADOWS TO SHOWERS
Ecc 11:3.
THIS is the season of dark clouds and heavy rainfall, a time appropriate to the treatment of this text. When the clouds gather, children and nervous tempered people sometimes say, A storm is coming; we fear it will be a cyclone, and sweep us to death.
But when the clouds open, they break into refreshing showers only, and result in reviving vegetation, enlivening all nature, and leaving the very air more fresh and sweet.
The text intends to show that it is so of the storms of life, to teach us that the blackest clouds to come, causing timorous ones to cower and cry out for fear, are not often enemies intended for our hurt, but blessings in black disguise, for if the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth.
There is a wonderfully wide application to this truth.
DOMESTIC LIFE HAS ITS DARK DAYS
True love never runs smoothly, so the old adage says, and there is something in this speech. The severest quarrels that courting-couples ever have, come to those who love best. They feel so deeply that darker clouds can come to them than to flirts or hypocritical pretenders; but while it is so that true love never runs smoothly, it is also a fact that no storm of anger is likely to do more for mutually devoted people than bind them by stronger bonds. They may scrap and separate, but the cloud of misunderstanding that threatens to-day will break tomorrow and provide each with tears and apologies and increased affection. Why this making up of lovers is so refreshing that some people are tempted to fall out for the simple privilege of putting things to right in the next meeting. Paul said, Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid!
But we have this to say, dont look on that dark day in your domestic affairs as the end of all lovers or marital bliss! If the cloud is a great one and black, and threatening, so much the more reason for compelling it to send you showers. The thunder storm may distress us and make us afraid, but if we are wise enough to set the barrels under the eaves, our washing will be easy for a month afterward.
My sweetheart and I do not always agree, nor live always in the sunshine of love; but I am glad to testify to newly married, and those yet to be, that in forty years no cloud has come so dark or ominous that we could not get out of it showers that sent the roots of love deeper, and made her fruits the more sacred and sweet. Dont be discouraged by the dark day. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, and love will live again.
The kindest and the happiest pair
Will find occasion to forbear;
And something everyday they live
To pity and perhaps forgive.
SOCIAL LIFE ALSO HAS ITS DARK SEASONS
The most of us have at some time or other come under social clouds that obscured the sun and blackened the whole horizon. Perhaps poverty has put us there; possibly conscience has played her part, and it may be that our own missteps, or false statements of enemies have effected such fear.
I shall never forget how, as a youth of nineteen, with all the social instincts and ambitions of that age, there were dark clouds seen on every side. My first year at college came near being the crucifixion of all my hopes. I learned that year how little the rustic knew and how poorly country breeding prepared one for happiness among those of better social advantages. My commoner clothes were a daily crucifixion and my English, evilly affected by the tongue of the colored people who abounded about the Kentucky home, brought me many a blush and tended to discouragement. But I thank God, now, for every shadow of youth. I see in connection with it a refreshing shower, and I can say, without boasting, that life is sweeter to me, and all social joys seem the more privileges because of the shadows that then obscured the horizon.
There was another period also, when, because of religious convictions that separated me from the old associates, the social sky blackened. It is often so, that to accept Jesus as Saviour, entering actively upon His service, is to be ostracized by that circle of companions who, though gay and godless, are still attractive.
It was a dark day for A. J. Diaz, when, in Cuba, he confessed Christ as his Lord and denounced Catholicism. It was a black hour when my early teacher, Rabbi Salin, saw that Jesus Christ was his Messiah and accepted Him as such. His friends cut his acquaintance. His relatives anathematized his name, and even his father, mother, brother and sisters scoffed at his faith and scorned his proffered love. It looked then to that young preacher as if only storm and darkness came to Christians, but if the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth, and where the shadows lie deepest, the rarest blossoms will burst into beauty. Diaz came to move in a wider and better circle than his boyhood ever knew. The black clouds that separated him from his own loved ones, swept by, and in the light that followed their going he found his own mother and other members of his house redeemed, and Rabbi Salin long sleeps with the dead, but when he was buried a whole southern state mourned.
No man ever did the right without encountering cloudy opposition, and no man ever encountered opposition to do the right without learning new lessons in Divine love, and coming into a larger and more sacred social realm.
IN BUSINESS LIFE THERE ARE BLACK DAYS
I need not emphasize that assertion. The times upon which we have fallen have given it sufficient emphasis. Very many get between the upper and nether millstone of slow trade and money stringency.
The horizon of business life is overspread with black clouds just now, and men cannot see beyond them, or around them; it is one of the greatest trials that ever comes to a man. Henry Ward Beecher declared that no man that has not experienced failure in business can possibly imagine the suffering incident to passing from financial success to bankruptcy. It is truly a trial of trials. It takes the very heart out of one, discouraging his spirit and distempering his views. But then also often, the blackest cloud gives the greatest promise of refreshing rain. A mans life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth, but what he is, instead. Job endured as in the pit. His oxen and camels and children were taken away; his wife was smitten and he himself did not escape, but Job came out of the process, refined as by fire, sweeter for the shadows that had gathered about him, as the storm seems to gather about one in a black night.
It is a question whether a man has the experiences that fit him for the purest life until he has seen hard times, felt strong rubs, suffered all the apprehensions and depressions of failure.
Years ago, according to the Boston Traveller, a half dozen business men of that city were talking together concerning the essentials to success. Upon many points they differed, but upon one they were in perfect agreement, namely, that twenty years of poverty and struggle in early life were the sinequanon of business success. All the speakers were millionaires of national repute; self-made men of mercantile sagacity, and they spake wisely.
It may be dark. Distressing things may occur.
We may fill up the days with sighs and fears, and spend the nights dreaming of disaster, but if we are Gods, He will take care of His own. The clouds that gather about us will empty themselves and refresh us. We will learn with the Apostle Paul how to abound and how to suffer need, and having suffered, we will have sympathy for them that suffer. Out of our need, economy will come, and out of our need, prayer and a sense of dependence upon God. The very man and woman who has these things is rich, for a mans life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth, but in his fidelity to himself, his faithfulness toward his fellows, and his affection for God.
I have read somewhere of a parable from a gardener, who had wrought assiduously to keep the weeds from: his garden, but walking there he saw a fat one flourishing. He was ready to cut it up with his hoe when he noticed a fine bean stalk already beginning to twine about it, and convert this solitary stalwart enemy into a friend of good support, a strong staff on which to climb into the sunshine. The gardener said, Go on my wise one; turn your enemy into an instrument of advantage and the higher and stronger he becomes the surer your support, and the sweeter the sunshine into which you can push yourself.
And so, beloved, use the noxious weeds of business depression and distress; instead of sitting under their shadows to mope and die, climb by their very branches into that upper and better world of sympathy, economy, faith and love; defy the black clouds by remembering that when they burst, you must be blessed in the refreshing showers.
THERE ARE TRYING TIMES IN RELIGIOUS LIFE
The disciples of Jesus Christ knew such times often and in severest measure, and the true disciple of Jesus Christ is likely to fall upon the same dark daysdays of heavy cloud and threatening storm. But what of it?
We pray best under pressure. The times when I have been nearest God have been those seasons when much seemed against me. When all is prosperous, our prayers are put up indifferently and possibly even forgotten all together, but when the dark clouds gather and the storm threatens and the season of distress is on, and danger is nigh, then we pray whether we ever prayed before or not. Even the unbeliever, in times of adversity, presents the spectacle that Paul did to the people who had known him as persecutorwhen first they saw him upon his knees, they said, Behold, he prayeth!
Dr. Talmage tells of a ship captain who put out with his vessel loaded with a number of passengers from Buffalo, thinking to cross Lake Erie very early in the season. The ice was still afloat, and when they had gone far out into the lake, the captain looked and saw the ice was closing in on him on all sides. He saw no way out but destruction and death before him. He called unto the cabin passengers and all the crew that could be spared from their posts, and told them that the ship must be lost unless God interposed, and although he was not a Christian, he said, Let us pray, and they all knelt asking God to come to their deliverance. Then he went back on deck, and the man at the wheel shouted, All right, captain, it is blowing northwest now.
While the prayer was going up in the cabin, the wind changed and blew the ice out of the way. The mate asked, Shall I put on more sail, captain? No, responded! the captain, dont touch her. Someone else is managing this ship.
Ah, beloved, when the winds are fair and the skies are clear, we handle the helm, but when there are icy troubles and misfortunes on every side, when we find ourselves shut in and endangered, then it is that we turn our affairs over to God and find that He is conducting the immortal craft of our life.
We trust most in time of trouble. Christ proves Himself a present help in time of trouble. So long as Peter was walking on the waves he said nothing of his dependence, but when he began to sink, he cried, Lord, save me. When Paul was on the tempest-tossed ship that for fourteen days had not seen the sun, his fellow-passengers lost heart and believed the end at hand, but Paul saw in that storm an additional reason for putting his faith in God, and in consequence an angel came to say, Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar. Somebody said, One of the chief purposes of trials and afflictions is to make us send for our Saviour. If the famine had not reached the land of Canaan, the sons of Jacob never would have reached their brother Joseph. Blessed is the trial that impels us to go to our Elder Brother for aid, and teaches us trust.
We attempt more when we are tried. We are even equal to most in times of trial. Truly the darkest days of religious life, of pastoral service, have always been the hours before the dawn, and I have learned not to fear the cloud that is not bigger than a mans hand, nor to feel that with every clap of thunder there is sure to be a cyclone, with every crisis, a crash.
Suppose in church life the pastor does come upon times of criticism, what of it? It is his to work ahead, looking to God only for reward. Supposing our efforts to provide for the support of the church are not wholly successful today. Is that any argument it shall not be accomplished tomorrow? Nay, verily, unless we be discouraged! Cowardice and discouragement have little place in the Church of God. Cheerfulness and confidence are the beloved children of the Christian spirit, and whatever trials may come, whatever opposition may arise, whatever storms may gather, it is mine and yours, if you be His, to struggle upward and on, knowing that he who serves God will succeed in the end.
I have been in the ministry for forty-seven years, and in all that time I have sought not to sound a discouraging note with reference to the work of Christs Church. If a spiritual drought is on, it is mine to pray for the clouds that bring the rain.
If dissension arises, it is mine to cast in lots with that company who seek to serve God rather than condemn the people that carry the heavy loads; if there is a shortage in the treasury, it is mine to put a subscription against that shortage instead of flaunting it as evidence of faithlessness on the part of the faithful; if the meetings are not full, it is mine to remember that if present, I can make one more. In other words, it is mine to honor Christ by a cheerful, courageous and serviceable spirit, and say of the clouds, that may come in consequence, if they be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth.
We are told that at the assault on Fort Hudson, Color-sergeant Kerney was the first to mount the parapet. As he reached the summit of the fort he was terribly wounded by a shot which shattered his knee and thigh. As he fell, he grasped the flag, and resting the staff against his body he kept the flag afloat until the assault was repulsed. Then he crawled off the field on one hand and foot, still holding the colors in the air. As he entered the hospital, where the wounded were being cared for, they all cheered him. In response the sergeant answered, Boys, the old flag never touched the ground. That is the spirit of the true soldier, and that is the spirit which Jesus Christ expects of you and me. Whatever comes, let us not let the colors of our God and our Christ trail in the dust.
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
(3) The world is ruled by fixed laws, the operation of which man has no power to suspend.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
3. If the tree fall The idea of a reversal of fortune is continued. A “tree” by the rivers of water, fully flourishing, may be undermined and washed out in time, when the full clouds send down their floods, and the tree falls and lies utterly helpless. So one now prospering in trade, or, like Wolsey, in politics, may in an evil time “fall,” to lift up himself no more. Then if he, like “the tree,” has blessed others with shelter and generous fruit, they will take hold and lift him up.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
If the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth: and if the tree fall toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be. (4) He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap. (5) As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all. (6) In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good.
Nothing can be more beautiful than these verses; and both in a natural and spiritual sense, they open a large scope for the most improving meditation. The chief tendency of the whole passage, however, is to teach the inability of man in his highest attainments, to cater for himself; and how much the wisest ought to look up in every concern, both of this world, and of that which is to come, for divine direction. Under the similitude of the husbandman’s unconsciousness, whether the morning seed, or the evening seed, be most prosperous, the attention to winds or clouds, for the regulation of his conduct and the like, the Preacher most strikingly sets forth the blessedness of waiting upon the Lord for direction. If the farmer sows his seed in ever so promising a soil, yet unless the dew and the rain from heaven, and the sun’s heat, and cloud’s fatness, be graciously dispensed in their season, there will be no harvest. Reader! can you need a more striking subject of instruction, respecting the spiritual seed of the gospel? is it not the Lord that gives us fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness? Is not Jesus the bread of life to his people? And is he not the Father’s gift to his people? And as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, is it not Jesus that by his coming from heaven, hath visited the earth, and blessed it, and made it very plenteous? It is true, indeed, that the kingdom of God cometh not by observation. And so the Lord Jesus himself observes in that beautiful parable, Mar 4:26-29 – But this is similar to what the wise man here said in this chapter. We know not even in natural things, how the bones of the child grow in the womb: and is it wonderful that in spiritual things, the seed of grace cast into the heart, should spring we know not how? But is it not blessed to refer all, and to depend for all, and seek a blessing for all, from Him who is excellent in counsel, and faithful in his promises? Isa 55:10-11 ; Deu 32:2 ; Act 14:17 . Perhaps there is not a portion in the whole Bible more pointed, to set forth the nothingness of man, and the necessity of referring all things to the divine agency, than these verses of Solomon.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Ecc 11:3 If the clouds be full of rain, they empty [themselves] upon the earth: and if the tree fall toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be.
Ver. 3. If the clouds be full of rain. ] As the sun draws up vapours into the air, not to retain them there, but to return them to the earth, for its relief, and the creatures’ comfort, so those that have attracted to themselves much riches should plentifully pour them out for the benefit of their poorer brethren. Clouds, when full of great and strong rain, as the word here signifies, pour down amain; and the spouts run, and the eaves shed, and the presses overflow, and the aromatic trees sweat out their precious oils; so should rich men be ready to distribute, willing to share. But it happens otherwise, for commonly the richer the harder; and those that should be as clouds to water the earth, as a common blessing, are either “waterless clouds,” as St Jude hath it, or at best they are but as waterpots, that water a few spots of ground only in a small garden. The earth is God’s purse, a as one saith, and rich men’s houses are his storehouses. This the righteous rich man knoweth, and therefore he “disperseth,” as a steward for God; “he giveth to the poor; his righteousness,” and his riches too, “endureth for ever.” Psa 112:9 Whereas the wicked rich man retaineth his fulness to rot with him; he feedeth upon earth like a serpent, and striveth, like a toad, to die with much mould in his mouth, and is therefore bidden by St James to “weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon him,” for his cursed hoard of evilgotten and worse kept goods. The rottenness of his riches, the canker of his cash, the moth of his garments, “shall be a witness against him, and eat up his flesh as fire.” Jam 5:1-3 He shall be sure to be arraigned as an arrant thief, as a cursed cheat; for that, having a better thing by him, he brings a worse; Mal 1:14 and being a rich man, he makes himself poor, lest he should do good to the poor. As Pope Alexander V said of himself that when he was a bishop he was rich, when a cardinal he was poor, and when he was pope he was a beggar. I should sooner have believed him if he had said as his successor, Pius Quintus, did, Cum essem religiosus, sperabam bene de salute animae meae; cardinalis factus extimui; pontifex creatus pene despero: b When I was first in orders, without any farther ecclesiastical dignity, I had good hopes of my salvation; when a cardinal, I feared myself; but now that I am pope, I am almost out of hope.
And if the tree fall toward the south,
a Domini marsupium.
b Corn. a Lap. in Num 11:11 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
the clouds: 1Ki 18:45, Psa 65:9-13, Isa 55:10, Isa 55:11, 1Jo 3:17
if the tree: Mat 3:10, Luk 13:7, Luk 16:22-26
Reciprocal: Gen 1:6 – Let there Gen 1:7 – above Job 36:20 – cut Job 40:12 – in Ecc 9:10 – for Mal 3:10 – pour you out Rev 22:11 – that is unjust
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Ecc 11:3. If the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves, &c. Learn, O man, the practice of liberality from the very lifeless creatures, from the clouds; which, when they are filled with water, do not hoard it up, but plentifully pour it forth, for the refreshment both of the fruitful field and the barren wilderness. And if the tree fall, &c. As if he had said, Therefore, let us just now bring forth the fruits of righteousness, because death will shortly cut us down, and we shall then be determined to unchangeable happiness or misery, according as our works have been.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
11:3 If the {b} clouds are full of rain, they empty [themselves] upon the earth: and if the {c} tree falleth toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be.
(b) As the clouds that are full pour out rain, so the rich that have abundance must distribute it liberally.
(c) He exhorts to be liberal while we live: for after, there is no power.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Do not wait until conditions are perfect before you go to work, but labor diligently even though conditions may appear foreboding. [Note: Cf. Delitzsch, p. 396.] After all, God controls these conditions, and we cannot tell whether good or bad conditions will materialize.