A Good Name Is Better than Fine Perfume
1A good name is better than fine perfume; and the day of death better than the day of one’s birth. 2It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men, and the living should take this to heart. 3Sorrow is better than laughter; for by the sadness of the face the heart is made good. 4The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. 5It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools. 6For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool. This also is vanity. 7Surely extortion makes the wise man foolish; and a bribe destroys the understanding.
Because Joshua obeyed God’s word, he was able to experience the miracle of bringing down the great city of Jericho. It was a miracle that could never have happened without the grace of God, who used Joshua’s faith of absolute obedience. Because God had commanded them not to make a sound while they marched around Jericho, they marched around the city quietly without making any sound at all. Then, when only the last lap remained, God commanded them to shout, so the people, Joshua among them, shouted with all their strength. At that, the city of Jericho collapsed, powerless, unbelievably.
Joshua and the people had done nothing but obey the Word, yet God gave them the blessing of conquering the great city of Jericho. And he spread the fame of Joshua and Israel among the nations, so that now the nations came to know the name Joshua. In this way, because God lifts up the names of those who walk with him, the world remembers the names of people of faith. At such times, people of faith must be humble so that Yahweh may receive the glory.
It is not that God wants the nations to fear the name of Yahweh. His purpose is for those who see the miracles to meet God, so he always wants us to obey so that he can work miracles. Now, when many people hear the name Joshua, they will think of him as the leader of Israel and of the victory at Jericho, and they will remember him as the one who stood beside Moses, always obedient, with a holy character. In this way, the name Joshua holds his walk with God, his character, the years he has lived through, his experience, and his faith. When I think of your names, too, what comes to mind is what you usually say and do, what expressions you often wear, what work you do, and how much faith you have in Christ.
A name, then, plays a very important role in speaking for who we are.
When others think of your name, how do you think you will appear to them? The picture of us that others remember is not made in a day or two, so we must always live with the same character and faith. If our names are to be honorable, it seems to me that living honest and upright lives is truly important.
Just as the name of Jesus carries the meaning of the one who will save his people from their sins, Jesus gave up his life to bear the sins of his people. To atone for sin, Jesus Christ condemned sin in his own sinless flesh and overcame death, and he has remained until now the most precious one in our hearts. The name of Jesus is more precious than anything in the world because he gave himself up and lived according to God’s will. Fine perfume gives off a rich fragrance for a while and delights people, but a little later the fragrance fades away.
But the name of Jesus Christ is life itself, which gives people life, so it is a name that can never be forgotten. The name of Jesus, who is the First and the Last, the Alpha and the Omega, is a truly beautiful name.
If you live according to God’s will, God will lift up your name and let it remain a glorious name beyond comparison with anything in the world. Anyone who exalts God can surely live a glorious life.
Ecclesiastes 7:2
2It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men, and the living should take this to heart.
A life without God is called vain even if every day is spent in a house of feasting. That is because eating, drinking, and making merry in a house of feasting lasts only a moment, and in the end a life that does not hope for heaven meets eternal punishment. When we go to a house of mourning, we find ourselves examining our own lives without meaning to. That is because, in case something terrible should suddenly happen to us, we think about whether we have done anything God would rebuke us for, and so even when we go to a house of feasting, we try to keep self-control and not lose our godly attitude.
People are born on this earth for the purpose of receiving Christ and being saved. So when a believer who worshiped God dies, it is not a misfortune; that believer has lived life well and entered heaven, so death, too, is a great blessing. Those who have not received Christ do not know that they themselves are spiritually dead, so they may pity a believer who lived in poverty and died. But a believer who was poor yet lived by faith and went to heaven is far more blessed than a rich person who holds feasts every day without God.
Only when we know that life is finite can we understand Solomon’s words that going to the house of mourning is actually more of a blessing than going to the house of feasting. Only those who realize that enjoying eternal life in the timeless, eternal heaven is the blessing will refuse to cling to eating and drinking in the world, and will always examine themselves and live lives that prepare for death.
Even while Noah was building the ark, people mocked him and were absorbed in the pleasures of life, marrying and giving in marriage. Because joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure never cease in this world, people go on living with joy and anger, sorrow and pleasure, whether their lives have meaning or not. So believers can receive eternal life only when, in the middle of a life that goes around like a treadmill, they have faith that places its hope in heaven. To lay hold of salvation, believers must keep away from the sin of living by their own nature; only then can they become born-again believers.
When Solomon said that going to the house of mourning is better than going to the house of feasting, he was advising us to look at the one who has passed away, recognize how short the time given to human beings is, and live a little more truthfully, honestly, and wisely. He said that coming to understand the meaning, value, and purpose of life and using it as a chance to pull ourselves together is a greater blessing than going to a house of feasting to laugh and chatter. I see young people these days who, when they meet hardship, do not endure even a little but despair and fall apart on their own.
Until God rescues them from their hardship, they need to strive, prepare, and persevere so that they can grow, but when they cannot see a future right away, they give up on their own, and so it takes even longer. Of course, it may be true that they started later than others, but if God is at the center, then whatever their circumstances, they must entrust the burdens of their hearts to God and be ready to run at any moment. This attitude is the mark of a child who believes in God.
Living diligently is necessary, but what matters is living a life that fits the purpose for which God sent you to this earth; how much you possess matters little after death. We must work as hard as we can while we live in this world and also have the faith that prepares for life after death; depending on whether we see the world through that faith or see only the world, we will live entirely different lives. Those who know that they cannot take a single thing of this world with them will care more about life after death than about this life, and will live for eternal life.
The Pharisees always approved of their own faith, and to show people a perfect faith, they wore fine clothes and prayed in the synagogues and on the great streets. People could not see through such hypocritical behavior and probably praised them for their good faith. Believers make this mistake too. They put on a show of devotion to win praise and recognition from people rather than praise from God, and this is truly foolish behavior. Because theirs is a faith that has nothing to do with Jesus, outwardly it looks as though they have devoted their whole lives to God, but sadly there is no fruit.
As Jesus carried the cross up the hill of Golgotha, many women beat their breasts and wept. Then Jesus looked at them and told them not to weep for him, but to weep for themselves and for their children. In the same way, you must mourn over your own sins and weep for the souls that have not been saved.
If you who have received such a precious mission fall for Satan’s temptation, become drunk on the world and on alcohol that numbs the mind, and defile the body that should be a holy temple, you will gnash your teeth and feel bitterly wronged, like the rich man who fell into Hades. The rich man always dressed in purple and fine linen and held feasts to show that he had been blessed for his good faith, so he never even imagined that he would go to hell. What you possess now is not what matters. Youth does not last forever, and death does not belong only to other people. Time flies like an arrow, so in the blink of an eye the last moment of life will come to you and demand an account of the time you have lived. If you always prepare in faith and live out God’s will before you suddenly meet the last day of your life, then however fast time flies, you will not fear death; instead, you will be able to live a mature life that even looks forward to death.
Ecclesiastes 7:3
3Sorrow is better than laughter; for by the sadness of the face the heart is made good.
This verse says that those who grieve over the deaths of people who were not saved will have the sadness of feeling the vanity of life through that death, but because they make that death a chance to look back on themselves, there is peace in their hearts. Worldly laughter, the loud laughter that comes from good things, soon disappears when difficult circumstances follow.
If you look only at the two words sorrow and laughter, you will think you ought to choose laughter, but you must think carefully about what causes that sorrow and that laughter. Sorrow that thanks the Holy Spirit for showing us the vanity of the world and earnestly longs for the Savior who will fill that life with grace is a blessing God gives. You must be able to grieve over a life you cannot fill by your own efforts. Only when we can mourn over souls that have fallen into Satan’s temptation can we pray for those souls and laugh with true laughter when we see a soul saved.
Laughter that comes from the pleasures of the world is like a mist that vanishes in the end, so on the last day of life those who laugh that way cannot help grieving when they see themselves without fruit. Only when we can judge rightly what kind of faith we have now will we not turn aside to the right or to the left. If your name is there alongside the name of Jesus Christ, nothing is more glorious than that. Where Yahweh was, there was the name of Joshua, and where the name of Gideon was, Yahweh was always with them and lifted up their names.
Where is there a more blessed name than this? Even if we grieve because of the hardships of life, if we live as new people who resemble the character of Christ, we will be able to laugh greatly with God in the eternal world.
God wants all people to be born again, resembling Christ’s nature and character, so he has raised up the wise to proclaim the Word. The wise must set aside human thoughts, knowledge, and feelings and proclaim only the Word, solely for the salvation of the souls they love. The Word opens ears that can hear wisdom and instruction, and it brings understanding of the Word. When the wise do their best to instruct us that we must practice wisdom, righteousness, justice, and equity, we must be holy hearts that know how to receive that instruction.
The Word gives prudence to the simple and knowledge and discretion to the young, so those who have wisdom become even wiser when they are rebuked, and show an understanding that attains even to sound counsel. But fools hate to hear the rebuke of the wise and despise instruction, so they grow angry even after hearing counsel, and in the end they meet disaster. Remaining proud even after hearing the words of the wise is behavior that comes from despising the wise and looking down on them. Seen this way, the word that pride goes before destruction means that people act proudly because, in the end, they look down on God and despise him, so they cannot escape the judgment of almighty God.
When fools hear rebuke and counsel, they judge it by their own thinking, so even when they are shown the right way, they fail or take the long way around. God’s word is wisdom that goes beyond human limits, so those who do not understand that wisdom end up falling because of their own wrong choices. Because human beings were made from dust, they have a nature that easily accepts the temptations the world offers and wants to act according to the thoughts the world gives.
For people with such a nature to live by God’s word, they must have the resolve to shake off the temptations of the world and a character that can refuse the thoughts the world gives.
I know how hard this resolve is, but we must carry it through. Satan will do anything if he can make even one soul stumble. Their persistence belongs to an evil that set out to take on God himself, so it goes beyond human limits, and unless we are in Christ, we cannot help but fall.
If only they can separate you from God, Satan and the world can make your name as famous as they please, make you respected as if you were someone great, and even create for you an honor that will vanish like mist. You must have the discerning of spirits to see through the cunning schemes of such a wicked Satan.
When Satan comes to you with a fake smile, you should find it so hateful that it makes your skin crawl. Only when you can see into the heart of someone who shows you favor in order to cut you off from God will you not fail spiritually. Solomon said that because the laughter of the wicked is like the loud crackling of thorns burning up in an instant under a pot, this too is all vanity. How many people must have laughed false laughs before Solomon’s power and wealth, and offered him bribes? He should have heard that laughter as the sound of burning thorns, yet Solomon heard it as praise that exalted him, and for fear that the laughter might stop, he abandoned God.
Solomon was certainly happy when Satan exalted him, but when he looked back, nothing was left, like ashes after a fire. Now, even if he regretted it, his youth was already gone, and all that remained was his foolish, aged self. If you leave the Word and cling to the world, after you die you will see yourself burning like thorns. In that place there is no one to exalt you, no one to flatter you, no one to honor your name. You will only be able to see how regrettable your past life was, how many chances you missed, and how you lived a life of vanity of vanities.
The wise are rebuking us, who are taking the long way around, not to live such lives. Those who receive rebuke with thanks will receive God’s blessing, while those who complain about the rebuke of the wise and ignore it commit the sin of despising God, so they will be disciplined by God himself.
Ecclesiastes 7:7
7Surely extortion makes the wise man foolish; and a bribe destroys the understanding.
Even if someone is wise, if they covet what belongs to others and take what belongs to the powerless and the weak, they cannot be forgiven by God. Even if someone has devoted themselves for a long time to saving other people’s souls, if they now harbor greed, take bribes, and commit the sin of exalting themselves, then sadly they will be forsaken by God. Taking what belongs to others and accepting bribes turns even the most discerning and wise person into a fool. You must never be greedy or take bribes. If you take a bribe once or twice and easily take what belongs to others, you will be rebuked by the God of justice, and even if you want to turn back, you will not be able to, because you have learned an easy way to live.
Many people today are extorting and defiling their names with bribes. There must have been a time when they lived faithfully and honestly on their way to that position, but they could not let go of their greed and have defiled even those honest years. Sin gives birth to more sin. If we firmly drive temptation away when it comes, we can deal with it even more firmly the second time, but once we sin, Satan seizes that sin, clings to us relentlessly, and drives us into the mire. This is how extortion makes the wise man foolish, and a bribe destroys the understanding.
If someone uses the wisdom God has given to take what belongs to others, that sin hinders the work of the Holy Spirit, who works for salvation, so it is hard to be forgiven. When a pastor falls, rather than a church member, it bears directly on the salvation of more people, so that sin is even heavier. That is why pastors, not knowing what mask Satan will wear when he comes, must always stay alert and live honest lives within the truth.
In every situation, you must not say whatever comes to mind or act on instinct, but think deeply about why God has given you this problem. I hope you will live thinking deeply about how God will see and judge your words and actions as you deal with this problem. A single moment’s wrong judgment can bring down the faith you have built up over a lifetime.
Anyone who has run looking only ahead to exalt God’s name will find their own name being called together with God’s name. If you have the faith that the world is a place of vanity of vanities, I hope you will live for God. Such a decision will lift up your name and make your life glorious.
The life of one who has chosen God is never regretted. It is something to be thankful for just to live under God’s protection in this life, but in heaven, which is entered after death, there will be a great feast celebrating the labor of you who kept the faith. This is the true house of feasting. The most beautiful name in this world now is Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Holy One who rescued you from sin, kept you from going into the pit of death, and became your shield against Satan’s attacks. I hope you, too, will use your names well for the name of Jesus Christ.